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I don’t believe in banning a breed, but I do believe people who breed “vicious” breeds should have to have a license.
The reason you don’t hear about the little dogs biting is because a poodle doesn’t kill. Pitbulls were bred to fight. They were bred to have high pain tolerance and the jaws have more power than other breeds. The locking jaw thing is a myth, but pitbull have the determination and strengh to keep hold even while beating it on the head and body. Other breeds just don’t do this.
While there are responsible and good owners out there, I believe it take a certain (knowlegeable) person to own one.
Around here it seem every hoodlem has one so he can show off how studly he is by his dog. In turn the dog learns to act agressivly to get approval from his master.
I love pitbulls. I think by far, they are one of the most beautiful breeds out there. Would I ever have one for a pet? Not a chance. I have two little kids and it’s not worth even the slightest chance of an attack. The power of these dogs and the single-mindedness when they do attack is not comparable to a poodle.
I think to own one, there should be background checks as the potential to be a weapon is there and has been witnessed.
While I don’t believe in making the dogs suffer because of bad owners, at some point you have to protect the innocent from ignorant people.
Anyway, that’s my take on it. Good luck with your papers.Rusti wrote:Banning breeds never works. People will just move on to another breed.
True, last breed banned that I know of was the Doberman, we see very few of them now. Pit Bills were the replacement. Wonder what breed will be next?
Personally most of the pits I have known have been sweethearts.
The ones that are problem dogs are usually the ones trained to be mean, either to guard or to fight in the pits. It also doesn’t help that the pit bulls trained to fight are often let loose to become feral when they lose once too often. Since they already hate and fear humans, but know our behavior, having them running in feral packs is bad news.
The only time I have been seriously bitten and needed stitches, the dog responsible was a golden retriever, and I had petted her many times before that day. She also gave no warning whatsoever, just snapped at my face unexpectedly when I leaned down to pet her as I always did. We still don’t know why she did that, she had never been hostile towards me before.
Since her owners hadn’t kept her rabies up to date, she ended up quarantined for a few weeks. But it all worked out, and I don’t even have a visible scar…lucked out since she got my lip.
Anyway, banning breeds is just a waste of time, but it makes people think that the authorities are “doing something” about the “problem”. So that’s why they are banning these breeds.
So far I believe that Canada, and several of the states have jumped on the “ban the pit bull” bandwagon, I know for sure that Iowa has, not sure which other states have.
Kyrin
About 10 years ago I was attacked by a Giant Schauzer. It bit me in the leg twice before the owner pulled it off me. I was coming down some stairs and the dog was at the bottom and jumped up to bite me. I’d hate to think what it would have bit if I’d been on the ground floor (It was very big and could easily reach my throat and face from the floor). Nobody ever complains about Giant Schnauzers. That was the meanest dog I ever met.
It was destroyed right after that. I reported it to the police/animal control because the owner said, “Oh, she bites everybody.” That didn’t reassure me. They trained her to bite people in order to guard the house. I was a guest of the upstairs renter. I don’t think they should’ve had a dog like that in a place like that, with renters and such.
A couple years before that I lived with a boyfriend that had a Rottie, and that was the sweetest dog I’d ever met. I don’t think breeds matter. It’s how the dog is raised and trained. But I have to say, I’m terrified of Giant Schnauzers now.
A few places around here have banned pitbulls. Not sure if they’ve moved on to target other breeds. But it’s almost always the owner, not the dog… (unless the breeding is really wonky, which, unfortunately, is happening more and more.)
When I lived in the Phoenix area a decade ago, I think they were talking about banning Chow Chows. I came across a dozen or so of them, and only two were nice. But I don’t blame the breed. I looked at the owners and saw very clearly the reason why those other Chows were vicious.
I’ve only ever been scared of one Rottweiler – my brother-in-law’s. She was the biggest dog I have EVER seen, including breeds that normally dwarf Rotts. She was very protective of family, and my hubby would pretend I was hurting him. She didn’t like that, and he got a real whooping once we left. But I’ve never had any problem with any others. I think they’re a beautiful breed.
My grandma and 2 of my uncles have had Doberman Pinschers longer than I’ve been alive. Not ONE has ever bitten someone… there’ve been a couple snaps, but never unwarranted, and most of those were with my grandma’s current 12-13 yr old who’s just responding to pain from being so old. I wouldn’t hesitate to have a Dobie of my own, if the right opportunity arose.
I, personally, will be getting a German Shepherd as soon as I have the house & yard appropriate for a dog of that size. But yet another breed that I’ve seen lots of people be afraid of. But even my friend, who was bitten in the face as a child, doesn’t have a problem with Shepherds as a whole (she’d just be cautious)… so what’s their excuse?People are stupid. Most bites from the big breeds happen because people don’t pay attention to the signs (excluding over-protective dogs that are just crazy). If you’re in it’s territory, pay attention. If it growls, then get the hell away, figure out what you did wrong & don’t do it again. Good lord, go research dog body language, and then pay attention when around dogs that can rip your face off. See? Crisis aborted. Really.
Oh yeah, and I found this and thought I’d share:
The caption reads: Attention Doberman owners: are you tired of people looking at your “dangerous killer” dog in fear? Well, why not disguise your Doberman as a poodle with this costume?I have heard that poodles are the meanest dog even tho you don’t hear about them in the paper that often. Wasn’t there a thread about Pitbulls somewhere here? I owned a Cocker Spaniel when I was younger and she was really nice. The only time she would try to nibble on me is when I was play fighting with her. Some people have said that Pugs can be really mean, but my dogs love everyone and they don’t bite or bitten anyone.
emerald212 wrote:About 10 years ago I was attacked by a Giant Schauzer. It bit me in the leg twice before the owner pulled it off me. I was coming down some stairs and the dog was at the bottom and jumped up to bite me. I’d hate to think what it would have bit if I’d been on the ground floor (It was very big and could easily reach my throat and face from the floor). Nobody ever complains about Giant Schnauzers. That was the meanest dog I ever met.
It was destroyed right after that. I reported it to the police/animal control because the owner said, “Oh, she bites everybody.” That didn’t reassure me. They trained her to bite people in order to guard the house. I was a guest of the upstairs renter. I don’t think they should’ve had a dog like that in a place like that, with renters and such.
A couple years before that I lived with a boyfriend that had a Rottie, and that was the sweetest dog I’d ever met. I don’t think breeds matter. It’s how the dog is raised and trained. But I have to say, I’m terrified of Giant Schnauzers now.
There’s a proper way to train a dog to watch the house/protect, and that obviously wasn’t it. I feel very sorry for the dog, but the owners deserved that. You should be able to ‘turn off/on’ a good protection dog like a light switch, not teach it to bite *everybody*.
My dog is trained to protect me and my house, but you’d never know it meeting her. She’s friendly and even great with kids. And she’s a German Shepherd.
Have you thought about comparing bite statistics with ownership statistics?
I mean… say there’s 5 poodle bites, 25 golden retriever bites, and 10 doberman bites in a given area in a year, and you can show that there’s 500 poodles, 2500 golden retrievers and 1000 dobermans in that area? IF that turned out to be the case, you’d have your argument right there in cold, hard facts.
skigod377 wrote:The numbers of people hurt by pits is staggering compared to other breeds. Over double Rottweiler bites… but these are the dogs that are popular now….
I cant believe they actually ban breeds. There is absolutely nothing out there besides CDC statistics that people are quoting. Those statistics have been disproven and yet they still ban a breed! Ridiculous.
Do you mean that the statistics showing that the number of people hurt by pits has been disproven? I’m curious, how did they disprove those statistics?By the way, I also agree that its the training (or lack thereof) — not the breed — that determines how a dog is going to behave. But even the gentlest animals can be unpredictable, and someone can always unintentionally provoke an animal out of ignorance, so the only real solution is for pet owners to be knowledgeable and sensible enough to prevent problems from occurring.
I have a chow, he is the 4th chow I have owned and they have all been big babies. The one I have now is 11 3/4 years old and I call him a chicken chow because if a stranger comes towards him he runs behind me and peeps around my legs. My friend has a pit bull that was the same way. Another friend has a yorkie that bites so you can’t always just by the breed. Chows have a bad reputation in fact in FL you almost can’t get homeowners insurance (aside from hurricanes) if you have a dog that is on the vicious list. I told my insurance company Tristen is a heinz 57.
Oddly the only dog in our family that was a biter was a fox terrier. She belonged to my grandparents. She absolutely hated kids. In her defense, she was teased by the kids that lived next door to my grandparents on a daily basis. I’m just sorry she took it out me. 🙁
I think pitbulls need to be controlled or regulated in some way. Why?
1. They are the breed of choice for drug dealers and hoodlems. No, I’m not saying all people who have pitbulls are drug dealers, but most drug dealers that have dogs have pitbulls.
2. When people say, it’s not the dog, it’s the owner, you need to look at an average person. If you need a knowlegable owner for the breed so the dog won’t become violent, the breed needs to be regulated in some way.
3. There’s a reason why pitbulls have gotten a bad rap… Cause there have been more serious injuries/deaths from pitbulls than any other breed. A group of people didn’t just open the breed directory and pick a breed to target at random… These dogs were bred specifically for fighting. And it’s not that long ago they were openly being fought.Like I said, I love the breed. But wouldn’t trust one with my kids. It wasn’t too long ago here that a nice family pitbull killed it’s owner’s ten year old boy.
You can say the boy did something to it to provoke it, but when a dog gives that kind of reaction, you have to look at the breed. If the owner had a poodle, the kid would still be alive.Great topic btw…
One problem is that a very great many dogs that bite will be labeled as pits, when they’re mutts of indeterminate breeding (often with no apparent pit blood) or even apparent purebred of non-bully breeds. I worked in the animal control field, saw it constantly. “VICIOUS PITBULL ATTACKS CHILD!” read the headlines, see the dog and its a Walker coonhound. (but it has short hair, so it’s a pit…)
Of course, if it also happens to be brindle… had a family very angrily return a pup we’d adopted them, saying we lied about the breed, their vet insisted it was a pit because it was brindle… it was a GREYHOUND pup from a litter dumped by a closing racing kennel!
In my experience, little dogs= hates kids and will bite usually, can’t blame them, the world is intimidating because of their size and scared dogs deliver the most bites, probably why chaining a dog will make it bite. Their bites are often as not brushed off, though. Second (and most common biting breed/mixed breed) is Chows (and their close cousin Shar Peis); many shelters in this state automatically put down any Chow or dog suspected of being part Chow. Partly they’re mostly owned by losers, but a great many in good homes even turn out nasty- sorry darjeb, known hundreds and only a few were nice dogs. (Oriental breeds in general often aren’t the sweetest dogs) They were never originally bred as pets or to work with people guess is why. Terriers in general tend to be sharp, but they were bred to be that way. Bigger dogs= fewer bites, but those bites will be more serious and will almost always be reported. Most pits are total sweethearts even when they have known horrible treatment, but a pit is a powerful dog and attack is going to cause real injury or death. And the instinct to fight/kill other animals tends to be strong in them as a breed, so the normally sweet pit goes for Mrs. Jones’ Yorkie when it threatens the pit as Yorkies do, she tries to rescue her dog, ends up getting attacked herself by the battlelusting pit, which won’t end with just a bite…
A Chow, for instance, may be more inclined to bite, but it will probably be just a single snap and release bite, not a pit grip.
Sorry for being longwinded, having worked in the field it’s a pet topic. I don’t think breeds should be banned, even though there are some you couldn’t pay me to take (I do not but would own a pit). I do think owners who have had a vicous dog should be banned from owning any more dogs, unless they can establish (such as through vet records) that the problem was in the dog (i.e. rage syndrome, which seems to be a growing problem in many breeds) and not its raising/training/handling. Nor do I think insurers have a right to say whether you can own a dog, or what breed(s) they may be, unless you have had a problem with dogs (which should be law enforcement problem, not insurance one).Hopefully this story of mine will help you.
I rescue Miniature Pinschers. I have 8 Min Pins a 1/2 Dachshund/1/2 Min Pin and a Dachshund.
I have one Min Pin Female who is about 8 years old who was set to be euthanized at the local shelter when she was 2, because she was attacking the family cats and she hates and will bite women. She loves men. But, initially she bit me quite severely when we took her in. She weighed about 8 pounds. The owners were the second owners, and her original owner was a single man who moved out of the country. She reacted violently when placed in a hope with other animals and women…
I have a Min Pin Dachsie mix that was given to us because she jumped on tables and drank from peoples glasses and she also was a bitter when she didn’t get her way.
I have a female Min Pin who is 13. We took her in at about age 8, when her elderly owner was placed in a nursing home, she went to other family members, who obviously abused her. It took her 4 years before she would let my husband pick her up. She would initially fear bite, especially men. Probably there was abuse by a male family member.
I have a 4 year old Dachshund whose owner was placed in a nursing home. The dog was fed table food its whole life and had it’s own rules. She occaisionally tries to bite me when she doesn’t want to follow my rules.
Last, but not least, 9 of my dogs attacked a female cat that fell over my fence. Fortunately, I was home and was able to save the cat. None of my dogs weighs over 20 pounds, but I have pad locks and a 6 foot vinyl privacy fence with a cement chain wall.
I do this because I have some very abused dogs, that have all improved under my care, but I would never risk a child getting in my yard. Min Pins and Dachshunds have a very high prey drive and will kill other creatures unless you have them completely under control.
So in truth, my Min Pins can be just as aggressive as a Pit Bull, Rottweiler, Cane Corso….if you ban one breed you alm ost would have to ban them all.
My Min Pins could hurt a small child in a pack. They could potentially kill a small child. I work with them and take safety precautions, but I believe it is the humans who are ultimately responsible, not the BREED!
Kaya Eschete
eschete344@bellsouth.netThis is definitely a pet peeve of mine.
Years ago they did a study in NYC of the average pit bull owner. I forget the exact numbers but all the owners were male but one, none had gone to college and most had never finished HS, most had a history of being arrested and NONE of the dogs had been to the vet. Obviously a scewed study – lots of RESPONSIBLE pit owners take their dogs to the vet. But they are also the dogs that don’t attack people. The pits in the study were probably dogs that had been fought. These dogs are tortured almost from birth – and then we are surprised that they attack people. I’ve talked to dog catchers and cops that break down and cry about the conditions these dogs are kept in. And the worst part if these dogs are rescued? Almost all of them have to be euthanized since they are a danger.
I love pet pit bulls – they can be the greatest dogs. But never trust 3 together – 3 pits is a pack and they will act like it. And even the best pit may show aggression to other animals – generations of breeding to attack other animals can be hard to overcome.
There really are two problems with biting dogs, in my opinion. Owners and breeding. Even the best dog can be ruined by the wrong owner, either deliberately or accidently. And in the US, at least, some of the breeds have been ruined by overbreeding and inbreeding. The American line of German Shepherds? The majority are fear biters. And we completely ruined the American Cocker Spaniel over a decade ago. And do you know what the behaviorist at Cornell says the up and coming nasty breed is? The Golden retriever. Yup, the all time best family dog. In fact the nastiest dog I ever saw was a Golden. And labs – they’ve been the most popular dog for a couple of years now. So they are getting inbred.
I know the ACLU has successfully fought breed banning in a couple of areas. The constitution prohibits laws directed against a particular group of people (I forget the exact wording) and the ACLU has fought against laws affecting “pit bull owners” plus in many areas the laws were considered rascist because the average pit bull owner IN SOME AREAS are African American males. (I know lots of other people own pits – but some inner cities that tried to ban pits the majority of pit owners are AA).
However, there are some dogs that are just wired wrong and do need to be euthanized. There was a case in NJ where a Doby (and I love Dobes) attacked his owner and sent her to the hospital. So the owner sent the dog to the shelter and paid $300 for the dog to be euthanized. Only there was a “clerical error” and the dog was adopted to a rescue and they adopted the dog to another woman. So the police were about to arrest the boyfriend for slitting his girlfriend’s throat when they realize there are tooth marks. They look over at the dog and he’s dripping blood from his muzzle. Turns out the new owner tried to trim his nails and the dog killed her. Can we say lawsuit? Actually 2 – the family of the dead woman and the original owner.
What we really need to do is make the animal cruelty laws stronger – actually send people to jail and, depending on the act, for years not months. NBC just had a good report about dog fighting. Breeding and “training” (read torturing) the dogs is very popular right now – people can make a lot of money at it and they figure it is a lot safer than selling drugs. And if they get caught? Many states it is only a slap on the wrist and maybe a fine. And since some of the stud dogs go for up to $10,000 the people just keep doing it.
Sorry, Ski, you hit a hot button. 😳
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