Pit Bull Kills Boy, 12

[mod12]

why anyone keeps a breed that is known as aggressive puzzles me. i grew up with dogs in our house. my father hunted with beagles. he had a female that was mean and one day she went hunting and never came back. i have never been bitten nor have any of my 5 children. i've had 1 beagle, 2 labs, a brittainy and 1 english setter. the setter was the only male. when the setter was about 4 years old he was laying in the garage when a neighbor child, 6 years old rode a "big wheel" into my driveway. the dog ran into the drive and nipped him on the heel. the next day the dog was gone. it is irresponsible to keep a vicious dog. i agree with jeff.

 

[280PLUS]

Again you are blaming the dog and not the owner. First rule of dog ownership. If your dog does something bad it is your fault not the dog's. Chewed up your slippers? Your fault not the dog's. Chewed up your neighbor? Your fault not the dog's. Who suffers? The dog.

I'm not a Pit Bull person and I have nothing against them. I'm a Doberman person. My family has had several. All sweet as pie because that's the way they were treated. My mother cooked them stew fer cryin' out loud! And brushed their teeth. LMAO. And they were all big too.

They had a habit of being four legged table sharks though

I've almost got my wife talked over her fears and into one.



Unfortunately, the Doberman is, much like the Pit Bull, subject to any number of cogenital defects due to the excessive inbreeding carried out by fly by nighters. Most Dobermans don't make it much past 9 years old. 9 is old for a Doby.

 

[only1asterisk]

I agree that the owner is responsible for the dog’s actions, but not every dog is fit for family/service life. Some dogs are not fit to live in concert with people from birth and should be destroyed immediately.
Any dog that has the slightest aggressive tendencies should be watched closely and at the first hint of trouble should be destroyed.
Any dog that bites a child should be destroyed. I don’t care if the dog was being bothered while it ate or being given a rectal exam with a fireplace poker. If a dog looks cross eyed at a child, I’ll kill it dead.
The first thing a dog in my house learns is its place in the chain of command. If there are any dominance issues that aren’t overcome quickly I get rid of it.


David

 

[280PLUS]

Dogs are aggresive by nature. All dogs, whether they have ever shown aggressive tendencies or not should always be watched closely when around children and strange adults for that matter. And I agree that dogs that DO show aggresive tendencies should be kept away from children unless closely supervised. There are just some dogs that don't do well around people they don't know and it's the owner who doesn't address that correctly is the one who's dog(s) cause harm in most cases. To suggest that dogs should be put to death upon birth seems a bit severe, to put it mildly.

IMHO any dog raised in the correct manner from a newborn will never be a threat to anyone or anything.

I do agree that any dog that has SEVERLY bitten anyone or bitten less severly twice should be put down. But that again is just another example of the dog suffering for the ineptitude of it's owner.

Probably the most frightening dog I have ever seen was this absolutely vicious St Bernard. Who's ever heard of a vicious St Bernard? He was in the pound. He was chewing on the chain link fence of his enclosure and distorting the wire when I seen him. He had been mistreated by his owner and was scheduled to be put down. Looked like any other lovable old St. Bernard.

How they ever even got him in the cage is beyond me!!

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Apologies to the Pit Bull people,

[Darth Vader Voice]Apologies accepted Captain Nida.[/Darth Vader Voice]

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I risk to differ. Cats have a different language than dogs, but it can be read with ease once you know it. It is much more ear, eye and whisker centered, with the tail playing less of a role. Some head motions also come into play, ie: a head shake combined with a strong nasal exhalation seems to be a dismissive gesture, akin to a "Talk to the hand" in us. They also have a wider range of vocalizations. After living multiple cats for 15 years, I can almost read their minds, and know when one is up to no good, feeling anxious, content or playfull.

I am frankly tired of the kneejerk cat apologists on this forum. Cats are bad. Why can't you just accept that?

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

Why anyone keeps a breed that is known as aggressive puzzles me.

No such thing as a "vicious breed." There are some breeds that tend to be slightly less tolerant of human beings, and more likely to aggress against them than others, but they were bred specifically for security work. Pitbulls, however, are, by nature, on the opposite side of that spectrum since, for centuries, any human-aggressive Pitbull that sprang up from a litter was ruthlessly disposed of in order to preserve this people-friendly trait. The breed has a natural aversion to human aggression, which can usually only be overcome with extreme maltreatment (e.g., being left on a chain in the yard) and aggression conditioning. A typical home-raised Pitbull is one of the least human-aggressive dogs you will ever find. You should try to find some in your community and get an introduction. You will be amazed at what you will typically find. Most people, who've never actually met a Pitbull, will find it hard to believe, since most people are conditioned by the media to think Pitbull = bad dog.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

9 is old for a Doby.

My Doberman lived to be just shy of 13 years old. He was perfectly well till he was 12, just a little slower than he used to be. Then heart failure caught up to him, and he declined rapidly. He was the best dog I ever owned, or knew of. Loved kids. Knew friend from foe. Was trained in protection, and exercised perfect judgment in this. Would attack on command, but if introduced to someone by a family member, would be extremely friendly right from the start, without a period of getting to know them required. He was about as close to the perfect dog that I can imagine. Too bad dogs live such short lives.

 

[only1asterisk]

280,

My sentence was poorly worded. I meant to say that a dog found innate temperament unsuitable to human uses should be destroyed as soon as its flaw is realized (it takes a few months to establish). However, I think most canine aggression comes from dogs that are not properly socialized, not inbord personality flaws.
Aggressive dogs are not he only ones that are dangerous. Some of the worst dogs I have ever seen were cowardly, sulking and snapping at people. In some ways these might be worse.


David

 

[280PLUS]

Asterisk, sorry, I mistook what you said. I go to a lot of people's house's in my job. I'm always happier to find a big lug of a dog than one of those small yappy ones. They feel their lack of size needs to be made up for with aggressiveness I think,

Hawkeye, you were lucky. Our last one (110 lb female) was everything you describe. She wasn't trained in protection but woe on the person who she felt was threatening mom. We used to call her our "ferocious" Doberman because under that ferocious looking exterior was a pussy cat. Even when she got big she thought her place was in our laps. She started having seizures at about 9 (which is when I was told 9 was old for a Doby) and we had to put her down. One of the sadder memories I have.

But I swear, you wouldn't BELIEVE that St. Bernard unless you saw it yourself!

 

[Sindawe]

I am frankly tired of the kneejerk cat apologists on this forum.

Simple truism that embodies why cats are superior to dogs.

"What cats bury, dogs eat."

Cats are bad. Why can't you just accept that?

Cats are not bad. They are evil incarnate. I would regularly come home to find the afor mentioned dachshund I used to have trapped in a back room while my sisters two cats would take turns teaching the dog the "Order of things".

Any dog that bites a child should be destroyed. I don’t care if the dog was being bothered while it ate or being given a rectal exam with a fireplace poker. If a dog looks cross eyed at a child, I’ll kill it dead.

I guess I just don't like kids, since I can not understand that. We had dogs in the house when I was growing up, and I leaned early what was and what was not acceptable behavior around dogs. My favorite was Weimaraner. Lovely, tolerate animal that would take all sorts of guff from a kid. Play with the ears, be used as a pillow or toe warmer. Get near her bone however, and growls would be given as warning to stay away. I gather that she'd have been put down these days for "food aggression".

Years back some friends used to to have a Dobie in the house, along with their then 5 y/o son. The child took a likeing to shoving his fingers up the dogs nostrals to the 2nd joint, until one day the dog had just had enough and nipped the kid to make him stop.

OH NO!! The dog bit the BABY!!!

Dog was gone by the end of the day. I think the kids got a police record now.

 

[280PLUS]

I woulda probably bit the kid myself...

Oh, big as the old Doby was, she didn't mess with the cat! Not after the first time anyways. LOL

 

[torpid]

Any dog that bites a child should be destroyed. I don’t care if the dog was being bothered while it ate or being given a rectal exam with a fireplace poker. If a dog looks cross eyed at a child, I’ll kill it dead.

Well so much for self defense.

I guess the kids who get off on torturing animals should stop by your place then for some "kicks" since the dogs won't fight back.

On the other hand, maybe they'll get lucky and actually provoke a dog to bite, and then they'll get to watch you execute it!


Seriously though, if my child has jammed a poker up a dog's rectum (or equivalent violence against the animal), I'll explain to the kid (in the children's mental health waiting room) that the bite was totally justified in the circumstances, and hope the vet understands the situation with the dog's injuries.

.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

From the day I was born, to this day, I have never been without at least one dog, and usually one of the "Serious" breeds, i.e., German Shepherds, Dobermans, Pitbulls. I was attacked by a German Shepherd when I was eight, but it certainly wasn't mine. It was the family's down the street. This dog was crazy, and someone accidentally let it loose. It saw me, chased me down and took a couple of chunks out of me before a neighbor saw it and chased it off with a crow bar. That dog also put my brother in the hospital a year later. My brother got a nice chunk of change from it, but that's another story. Point is, I was born into a house with large dogs, grew up with them, had them sleep in my room, and they were my constant companions (except when I got bit by the neighbor's dog). Never was bit by any dog of mine. I considered them good friends, and didn't torture them. Was taught better from an early age, and have little sympathy for a kid who tortures a dog. They pretty much deserve what they get, and I wouldn't blame a dog for snapping in self defense.

 

[pax]

This one hasn't been gun-related for some time, so I'm closing it.

Thanks for playing nicely, folks. Pets tend to be one of the hot button topics, so it was good to see this thread going so smoothly.

pax