Why are we so scared of pitbulls?

[herm0016]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steffen-baldwin/the-lies-damn-lies-and-st_b_8112394.html

the "stats" are bogus.

pits are great dogs.

 

[Fritzo]

My daughter just got one from a shelter that had half of his teeth knocked out after he was thrown out of a moving van. His name is Carlos, and he's a big sweeeetie...but admittedly scary. The scary part comes from the fact that he thinks he's a tiny puppy and not a 60 lb. beast, so he'll jump and romp around on you when he's happy, which is kind of like playing "catch me!" with a steamroller

 

[zinfamous]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steffen-baldwin/the-lies-damn-lies-and-st_b_8112394.html

the "stats" are bogus.

pits are great dogs.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/06/troublemakers-2

 

[herm0016]

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/06/troublemakers-2

That is the most wandering inconclusive and unstructured thing I have read in a long time. Utter trash. is the conclusion just ban them because its easy to do and nobody cares, or that its a stupid way to deal with problems that are much more ingrained and really have nothing to do with the dog.

pit bulls, violent crime and how NYC stratigies policing, the dea, us customs? and then back to pits.

generalizations are bad? we should generalize to prevent bad things? who knows. fire this writer.

its about on par with other newyorker stuff i have read, including the one about the wild horses in Wyoming that gets nearly all its facts wrong and comes to the conclusion that they are pretty and we should not cull them because they are pretty to look at.

 

[Ns1]

//edit

ugh, sorry, lost my self control there for a sec.


backing away from this thread again.

 

[zinfamous]

That is the most wandering inconclusive and unstructured thing I have read in a long time. Utter trash. is the conclusion just ban them because its easy to do and nobody cares, or that its a stupid way to deal with problems that are much more ingrained and really have nothing to do with the dog.

pit bulls, violent crime and how NYC stratigies policing, the dea, us customs? and then back to pits.

generalizations are bad? we should generalize to prevent bad things? who knows. fire this writer.

its about on par with other newyorker stuff i have read, including the one about the wild horses in Wyoming that gets nearly all its facts wrong and comes to the conclusion that they are pretty and we should not cull them because they are pretty to look at.

Heh, some of Gladwell's stuff definitely reaches, quite a bit, but the first assumption you make is incorrect. Basic premise is that bad data is bad data, and basing policy around bad, poorly understood, misdirected data is bad policy.

Overall, the argument is very much against banning a specific breed, especially "pit bulls" because of generalizations and bad data. I guess you were impatient.

 

[Red Storm]

The issue is that they are very strong creatures that cannot be quickly and easily subdued when needed. Bad owners are definitely the root of the problem, but why should you put your trust in a complete stranger and hope they are a good owner?

 

[kage69]

Im welsh you moron.anyways this is going nowhere.im out.

There's a good taffy. Run (like a Welshman) along now, go find some cockles to suck on.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

The issue is that they are very strong creatures that cannot be quickly and easily subdued when needed. Bad owners are definitely the root of the problem, but why should you put your trust in a complete stranger and hope they are a good owner?

I personally don't, in fact I assume most pet owners are idiots. Trusting an animal means trusting it's owner (for pets) or it's nature (for wild, and sometimes for poorly raised pets). Incidentally I also hate the notion of putting down an animal that's attacked others, the owner should be punished. If I had it my way, a (revokable) license would also be required to be a pet owner, with knowledge and training required.

 

[kage69]

I'm about to get a Pit Boxer mix, just waiting for the puppy to to get to age. Pit's are deadly monsters of dogs. Boxers are hilarious and goofy. So at least if the Pit part comes out and the I get mulled to death, I'll die probably chuckling at whatever court jester antics come out of the the Boxer side.

I'll be sure to video tape it for Youtubes.

No argument there. Great dogs in my experience, and damn do they have lots of energy. Like, Jack Russell energy almost!

 

[Zanovar]

There's a good taffy. Run (like a Welshman) along now, go find some cockles to suck on.

Lol,you still having a go.silly twat.

 

[lxskllr]

Im welsh you moron.anyways this is going nowhere.im out.

 

[Zanovar]

hahaha

 

[Denly]

This world need more Steve Irwin, well at least we still have Cesar Millan.

 

[Rifter]

Im not, one of my good freinds has 2 of them. They are the most kind and well behaved dogs i know. Nothing but love and loyalty. I enjoy all the time i get to spend with them.

 

[kage69]

This world need more Steve Irwin, well at least we still have Cesar Millan.

Do we? Whatever happened to that guy? He was everywhere for a long time, wicked successful, then he just kind of disappeared. I heard he got divorced, but haven't seen or heard of him anywhere since.

Edit: Oh damn, didn't know about the suicide attempt! Nevermind. I knew about Daddy the dog passing away, hadn't heard about the rest.

 

[Ns1]

Do we? Whatever happened to that guy?

he still has shows running on-air and he runs classes + centers in FL + CA.

 

[Perknose]

Why are we so scared of Mayne?

Would you let your kids around him?

No way. He bites.

 

[MrSquished]

I have a lab / pit mix, best family dog you could imagine.

me too. except my guy is more pit than lab but he has got some in him. he is such a friendly loving dog who loves people plus other dogs. he will chase a cat though. that's about as mean as he gets

 

[Denly]

Do we? Whatever happened to that guy? He was everywhere for a long time, wicked successful, then he just kind of disappeared. I heard he got divorced, but haven't seen or heard of him anywhere since.

Edit: Oh damn, didn't know about the suicide attempt! Nevermind. I knew about Daddy the dog passing away, hadn't heard about the rest.

Yes we do, not because of their technique but their leadership. They taught us we don't have to be afraid but to respect them.

As for Cesar live can f you up bad no matter who you are, it looks like he is back on his feet again.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I'll admit I have an irrational fear of pits based on crap I've read/seen in the media that I can't get over. I have a bit of a phobia with dogs in general, although we've had 2 in the last 15-20 years, but I have a general lack of trust with pits specifically. Which I really shouldn't have because I have two close friends who both own several of them and they've been nothing but great dogs. I'm most distrustful when my daughter is around them. Like I said, completely irrational.

 

[NetGuySC]

For me it is thirteen years of animal control experience. Locally we had a fatality three years ago of a four year old, killed and partially eaten by the family pit bull. One 9 year old girl, the family pit bull, as she bent over to pet it, jumped and latched onto her face, the parents beat the dog off and it then latched onto her arm breaking it. When I talked to the grandparents at the hospital, the girl was in surgery getting her nose reattached. 11 year old boy, leg was bitten and then broken by a stray pit bull. Local government official was at a house and was attacked by several pit bulls, they tore his face up. He had multiple surgeries to rebuild his face over a couple years. All dogs will bite, most dog bites result in several puncture wounds, when pit bull;s bite they usually latch on and shake resulting in a lot of damage. I don't think pits bite anymore than any other breed and maybe less than some breeds like chihuahuas, but they tend to do much greater damage when they do bite. That's why I wish the pit bull breed would be no more.

 

[momeNt]

I suspect that in like maybe 3-7 years when hipster millennials start settling down and having children reach the age to accidentally trigger their rescue pits, they will start fading from popularity. Right now though they are really surging in popularity. Each one of these millennials will scoff and tell you they are far more afraid of their grandmothers chihuahua, but that will not put their child's face or body back together when their trendy rescue is done with them.

Best of luck and stay safe out there.

 

[lytalbayre2]

Interesting topic as this is something I'm dealing with now where a relative owns a pit and my young children are sometimes around it. This makes me extremely uncomfortable and I've even fought with my wife about this.

For me, I understand and agree with the general idea that maybe pits get a bad rap. But at the sametime, I do think they are large animals and are capable of doing extreme damage with ease. And perhaps they do have a tendency to bite/maul to the extreme where other breeds wouldn't follow through as much.

But my discomfort lies with all large and medium breed dogs, not just pits. My kids are 5yrs and under. My older is barely 45lbs.... a 50-90lbs dog of any breed is capable of extreme damage.

And, despite what anyone says, I believe dogs are often unpredictable. They operate under "pack behavior" and anytime someone is involved who is not part of the normal pack, unpredictable behavior may occur. This could be fear based, them wanting to assert their dominance, or even rough play.... in any scenario, it only takes a second for a dog to bite or maul and cause death or extreme damage.

Plus, kids judgement and sensitivity is often really non-existant. So they could easily be getting signals from the dog that they aren't interpreting correctly, resulting in the dog attacking....

It's a mix of everything, and It's just not worth the risk of exposing kids to any large dog.

That's my opinion. And it's also why I get pissed when I see people in parks or beaches letting their big ass dogs run around unsupervised....

 

[MrSquished]

I suspect that in like maybe 3-7 years when hipster millennials start settling down and having children reach the age to accidentally trigger their rescue pits, they will start fading from popularity. Right now though they are really surging in popularity. Each one of these millennials will scoff and tell you they are far more afraid of their grandmothers chihuahua, but that will not put their child's face or body back together when their trendy rescue is done with them.

Best of luck and stay safe out there.

I had no idea pits were hipster cool. I adopted my pit Feb of 2016 and didn't go to the shelter specifically looking for a pittie mix. Around these urban parts though they are simply the vast majority of rescue animals so good luck. Turns out this fella is a super friendly lovebug. My friends watch him a lot until I get a new place next month and one of them brings him around his girlfriend's 4 year old all the time and he is very good with kids. To each his own.