Comment here if you've got questions or thoughts during the show!
3 Comments
Becky said:
Pit bulls are nice dogs but there is something in their brains that flips when they attack. They can't stop fighting until they or the one they're attacking dies. That's why they're the favorite for dog fighting.
It's too bad that people breed dogs to be like that. Therefore, I wish pit bulls would stop being bred.
Cindy said:
American Pit Bull Terriers (the breed) are not, repeat NOT human agressive. Public media and "Pit Bull Attacks" head line news are feeding into a media hype. Its unfortunate that so many clueless,uneducated people tend to believe what they hear when in fact they do not know the truth. Here is one fact, a dog that weighs 90 pounds is most likely NOT an American Pit Bull Terrier. Please people stop putting labels on these dogs when you dont have the knowledge.
Jon said:
Yes. Different breeds *DO* have some broad differences in temper that can be ascribed to the breed (read most any dog book that talks in detail about various breeds and you will see such comments made, frequently.) These are only tendencies, though, not die-cast guarantees. Nurture has a lot to do with the result, obviously. So it's a combination.
Pit bulls can be very sweet, indeed. And I don't think any of us can say that a pit bull raised alike some other breed will have any increased tendency to attack and bite someone. But as Becky points out, once they are sufficiently angered to bite (as any other dog can be angered), some kind of switch flips -- a unique switch that just this breed seems to have in far more abundance than other breeds -- which makes it impossible for them to regain themselves. They are in a mental fixation they cannot break. I haven't ever seen this happen in other breeds, though I think it still may be possible.
We had an arctic wolf we given to us through animal aide, at an age of one year old. At the time, we had a few other dogs we were caring for, temporarily until homes could be found, too. This wolf got into a fight with another dog -- a serious, deathly struggle by all my ability to guess at the time. It scared us so much that I just jumped into the middle to break it up. The wolf bit me on the leg, deeply -- so deep that the hole in my leg took two months to heal. However, as soon as he noticed that he'd bit me very hard, on accident, you could almost see the sudden "Oh, geez. Big mistake!" He fully realized his mistake, let go of my leg, and stopped fighting, as well.
This, from a wolf dog that had only been with us for less than a week. Very smart, and completely able to recognize, even in the middle of a terrible struggle with another dog, when something went wrong. He was able to break out of his earlier mental commitment and think on his own.
Had this been a pit bull, though, I doubt it would have worked out so well for me. The switch, once flipped, is stuck.
None of this flies in the face of the excellent experiences of pit bull owners who raise and/or treat their pets with love and lots of care. It's not that pit bulls are *more* likely than other dogs... just that if the rare occasion does happen (or not-so-rare when they are raised poorly and with abuse), they can get trapped by their genes chosen strongly by intentional human selection processes.
It appears that pit bull breeding is out of control, as well. Of the ten puppies currently displayed by the Oregon Humane Society's web page tonight, four of them are pit bulls.
Pit bulls are nice dogs but there is something in their brains that flips when they attack. They can't stop fighting until they or the one they're attacking dies. That's why they're the favorite for dog fighting.
It's too bad that people breed dogs to be like that. Therefore, I wish pit bulls would stop being bred.
American Pit Bull Terriers (the breed) are not, repeat NOT human agressive. Public media and "Pit Bull Attacks" head line news are feeding into a media hype. Its unfortunate that so many clueless,uneducated people tend to believe what they hear when in fact they do not know the truth. Here is one fact, a dog that weighs 90 pounds is most likely NOT an American Pit Bull Terrier. Please people stop putting labels on these dogs when you dont have the knowledge.
Yes. Different breeds *DO* have some broad differences in temper that can be ascribed to the breed (read most any dog book that talks in detail about various breeds and you will see such comments made, frequently.) These are only tendencies, though, not die-cast guarantees. Nurture has a lot to do with the result, obviously. So it's a combination.
Pit bulls can be very sweet, indeed. And I don't think any of us can say that a pit bull raised alike some other breed will have any increased tendency to attack and bite someone. But as Becky points out, once they are sufficiently angered to bite (as any other dog can be angered), some kind of switch flips -- a unique switch that just this breed seems to have in far more abundance than other breeds -- which makes it impossible for them to regain themselves. They are in a mental fixation they cannot break. I haven't ever seen this happen in other breeds, though I think it still may be possible.
We had an arctic wolf we given to us through animal aide, at an age of one year old. At the time, we had a few other dogs we were caring for, temporarily until homes could be found, too. This wolf got into a fight with another dog -- a serious, deathly struggle by all my ability to guess at the time. It scared us so much that I just jumped into the middle to break it up. The wolf bit me on the leg, deeply -- so deep that the hole in my leg took two months to heal. However, as soon as he noticed that he'd bit me very hard, on accident, you could almost see the sudden "Oh, geez. Big mistake!" He fully realized his mistake, let go of my leg, and stopped fighting, as well.
This, from a wolf dog that had only been with us for less than a week. Very smart, and completely able to recognize, even in the middle of a terrible struggle with another dog, when something went wrong. He was able to break out of his earlier mental commitment and think on his own.
Had this been a pit bull, though, I doubt it would have worked out so well for me. The switch, once flipped, is stuck.
None of this flies in the face of the excellent experiences of pit bull owners who raise and/or treat their pets with love and lots of care. It's not that pit bulls are *more* likely than other dogs... just that if the rare occasion does happen (or not-so-rare when they are raised poorly and with abuse), they can get trapped by their genes chosen strongly by intentional human selection processes.
It appears that pit bull breeding is out of control, as well. Of the ten puppies currently displayed by the Oregon Humane Society's web page tonight, four of them are pit bulls.