Posts: General / Pit Bulls - good or bad doggys?

Do you think the Pit Bull breed should be wiped out or are the infrequent Pit Bull related injuries purely a result of poor training?

This thread inspired by Amy's facebook status.

i think they're all ngrs.

When I was looking to get a dog, I came across quite a few articles debunking many Pit Bull related myths. One study showed they behave more favorably under experimental stress/panic environments and stimuli (84% pass rate Pit Bulls vs. 77% for the average, if I remember correctly). Also, they do not posses the most lethal jaws, pressure wise. They fall in the slightly higher than average area, but far lower than the top jaws, like the Rottweiler. Their jaws, functionally speaking, are no different than other common breeds.

All that said, I didn't check the credibility of the information, but they weren't geocities subdomains at least.

My experiences with Pit Bulls has been favorable. Also, my previous family dog of 18 (non-dog) years was a hybrid wolf (82% wolf, rest was husky and somethin' else). A lot of people would tend to fear our dog just 'cus it was a wolf. Though it was the sweetest dog ever. Never threatened a human once. She did, however, take the alpha female choke position on a few other dogs, to make them submit, but never injured them.

I love pits. My favorite's are pit/lab mixes. The few I've met have always been really nice temperament and tons of fun.

Poor training

My opinion (which is apparently so controversial it caused Amy's friend to insult me and my entire nationality) is that regardless of wether or not most pit-bull attacks are due to poor training, the fact that they still occur throws into question what the point is for keeping the animals around.



Just like it would be difficult to argue that every human criminal had a harsh upbringing, some dogs will probably commit an 'offense' regardless of how they were trained.  Some people are just crazy, some dogs are too! 



It's not like a pit bull can accomplish some incredible doggy feat that other breeds lack (unless you got one specifically to take down a bull), so what is the point of taking the risk, no matter how minute? 

We should probably ban turtles as pets as well, for fear of Salmonella contaminations.

kyle: We should probably ban turtles as pets as well, for fear of Salmonella contaminations.

I see your point BUT it is a bit different in that you don't have to train the turtle to do anything in the case of salmonella poisoning, whereas with a dog you are relying on the owner to put time and effort into training the dog, and even then accidents happen! 



(For the record, I dont' really see the point of having a turtle as a "pet" either, barring a shipment of mutagenic ooze.)

They may not have any individual traits that no other dog has, but they do have many simultaneous traits that very few other dogs collectively have.

Having spent considerable time around these dogs, I would be quite happy to own one and to let others do the same, even if that meant some restrictions were placed on ownership, such as a license or safety course.

i wouldn't ban pit bulls themselves.

i would simply ban the people interested in owning them.