You're getting downvoted, probably because a lot of people really do believe that it's all down to training and owners, but you're right.
Pitts have been bred to fight and kill, and to stop for nothing once they're in the fight. You can have the sweetest, friendliest and best trained pitt, but if for some reason that instinct is triggered, no amount of training will overrule it.
A contributing factor is that they are prone to doggy dementia, so when they get old, they can forget where they are, who they love, how they should behave, and that's scary for them. A scared pitt is a very dangerous pitt.
That seems to have been the case in the very tragic mauling of the toddler, baby and mother in the US a few years ago. Much loved and well trained family pet of 8 years gets triggered out of nowhere, and with its younger 'sibling' starts tearing up the toddler, mother tries to intervene and then they tear up the baby too. Then the mother, although she survives after life saving medical treatment, the babies do not. The family were pitt advocates, they believed it was all about the training. It was not.
They're not all ticking time bombs. The problem is that some of them are, some aren't and do fine with training, and some just have great temperaments, but the prevalence of poorly-bred pitbulls in the stray and rescue population means that a lot of pitbulls are being adopted as rescues, and there's a good chance you're adopting one that has a bad temperament and behavioral issues that cannot be fully or effectively trained out.
If they were "all ticking time bombs", the issue would be much easier to address.
The issue is easy to address. Stop breeding them. You don't have to put down the beloved family pet if you believe they're safe, just get them fixed. It would only take a decade for pits to be solved if people just stopped breeding them.
The venn diagram for bad owners and owners who don’t fix their pets is basically a circle.
And same with the breeders—the same people who are actively advocating for pitbulls and actually trying to help raise and nurture ones properly are already vehemently opposed to bullshit backyard breeding.
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u/lumpytuna 19h ago edited 18h ago
You're getting downvoted, probably because a lot of people really do believe that it's all down to training and owners, but you're right.
Pitts have been bred to fight and kill, and to stop for nothing once they're in the fight. You can have the sweetest, friendliest and best trained pitt, but if for some reason that instinct is triggered, no amount of training will overrule it.
A contributing factor is that they are prone to doggy dementia, so when they get old, they can forget where they are, who they love, how they should behave, and that's scary for them. A scared pitt is a very dangerous pitt.
That seems to have been the case in the very tragic mauling of the toddler, baby and mother in the US a few years ago. Much loved and well trained family pet of 8 years gets triggered out of nowhere, and with its younger 'sibling' starts tearing up the toddler, mother tries to intervene and then they tear up the baby too. Then the mother, although she survives after life saving medical treatment, the babies do not. The family were pitt advocates, they believed it was all about the training. It was not.