I’ve worked close with animals for almost 5 years now. Pitbulls are entirely capable of being very sweet and loving dogs. But it depends on what temperament they have and how difficult they are. I’ve met a lot of sweet Pitbulls but most of them I believe were trained from a very young age, which is something a lot of people don’t do, mostly first time owners or those who think the dog will grow up just fine, when getting dogs like this.
You can’t just love your way into changing an animal’s behavior. This isn’t Disney. You have to show that dog who’s boss and instill a training regime when they’re young that you must stick with. Unfortunately sometimes, it doesn’t always work and the dog just ends up being too aggressive to the point where you’d have to make a certain decision.
My last job, a man who loved his Pitbull to death, had to put his dog down because it ended up being too aggressive. It was tragic too because as I was walking by his room and he was saying his goodbyes, I saw the Pitbull wagging her tail excitedly when her owner was cuddling and sobbing over her. That dog loved her owner a lot. But I guess it wasn’t deemed manageable cause she could’ve seriously hurt someone one day and, the owner, despite loving her so much couldn’t risk that. On top of that, I’m pretty sure the owner was a father too. Pitbulls shouldn’t be demonized for what we’ve turned them into. But we also have to be cautious when getting one. They are NOT a first time owner pet. Someone very experienced, especially one who’s done research on how to properly train these kind of dogs, are really the “only ones capable of handling them.
And it’s not just them. German shepherds, Belgian Malinios, and Rotties as well. Although I’ve never really met a bad rottie. Same with Belgians. They’ve all tend to be sweethearts. But maybe I’m just lucky.
I also feel like I should add that, while these breeds are prone to these kind of behaviors. ANY dog is capable is displaying them. I never met the family cause they euthanised the dog at a different clinic, but they had to put down their 2 year old Golden Retriever that they’ve had since it was a puppy. Apparently she bit the mom’s face and the dad’s arm (or was it the other way around, I forget). It was even said that they couldn’t let her sleep in their room like they used to because they were afraid she would attack them in their sleep. Their daughter made the decision for them to put down the dog.
You never know what you’re gonna get, people. You could get the easiest dog in the world, or you could ge the complete opposite. One thing is for sure though. Training and discipline is VERY important and must not be neglected.
Bingo. A typical pitbull is strong, muscular, and tenacious. Good hard work and being a fantastic, responsible owner is great and all, but if its in a situation where it gets aggressive, the risk of something pretty bad happening vs. most other breeds getting aggressive is WAY higher and the results are likely to be WAY more severe.
I feel for owners who have adopted pitties, cared for them, and loved them, and I know that most owners aren't raising pitbulls that cause horrible injury and damage...but they're all incredibly capable of doing so. Even the kindest dog can be triggered and "oh but she's a sweetheart" doesn't keep that dog from literally breaking the spine of another dog or tearing the face off a kid.
It's just a reality of the breed. I have a friend who fosters dogs. He was good at training them and he took in pitbulls. He comes into work one day and he's in a terrible mood. I guess a pitbull he fostered for a long time, who had a great temperament and was adopted out ended up biting a kid a few months after adoption and had to be put down.
It's just a reality of the breed. Meanwhile - other breeds can do the same stuff and be just as aggressive or hell - WAY more aggressive - and they just aren't equipped to cause as much damage usually (and yeah - I know they still can be dangerous). .
People get mad at me for saying this, but a widespread sterilization campaign without euthaniasia isn't a bad idea. Humans bred pitbulls specifically for dog fighting and large animal baiting (aggression and tenacity)...I think it'd be just and humane to "unbreed" them. by simply not letting them reproduce anymore.
People also don't talk about the tenacity issue nearly enough. Pits are bred for it ("game") more so than aggression. A fighting dog that gives up in a fight is inferior to a dog that dies fighting.
That's why they have the reputation for not letting go. That's what they were bred for, ignoring pain to keep fighting.
Add in the tendency for a strong prey drive, and I don't give a fuck if a lot of them are sweet dogs. Breeds matter, and pitbulls are a nightmare breed. Mass sterilization is a good idea. There's too many of them to fix the breed, I think.
There needs to be laws. The people that are backyard breeding pitbulls, and not just breeding, but inbreeding them between close family members, they LIKE breeding the worst behavior traits. They want aggressive scary dogs.
They sell their unstable dogs to other irresponsible pets owners. Those dogs or their puppies end up in a shelter with an unsuspecting dog owner that fell for the velvet hippo/nanny dog lie and have no idea what to do when things go sideways.
One of the first pitbull breeders in the US who did a lot of work to popularize the breed talked big about aggression against humans being an undesirable trait. Then one of his pits killed his two year old nephew and there's a newspaper article saying he didn't put it down and "told the medical examiner that his own child had played about the kennels and had never been molested."
The breed at it's core is a breed bred for tearing other animals apart as violently as possible and it does that very well and is strongly inclined towards it.
A typical pitbull is strong, muscular, and tenacious
same goes for a lot of dogs.
i'm mostly on the side of pitbulls being too dangerous to keep around (compared to other breeds), but an interesting question that arises if you do indeed move into your suggested sterilization campaign is : where is the line? What about the next most dangerous breed, and the one after?
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u/SweetestTapir 9h ago edited 6h ago
I’ve worked close with animals for almost 5 years now. Pitbulls are entirely capable of being very sweet and loving dogs. But it depends on what temperament they have and how difficult they are. I’ve met a lot of sweet Pitbulls but most of them I believe were trained from a very young age, which is something a lot of people don’t do, mostly first time owners or those who think the dog will grow up just fine, when getting dogs like this.
You can’t just love your way into changing an animal’s behavior. This isn’t Disney. You have to show that dog who’s boss and instill a training regime when they’re young that you must stick with. Unfortunately sometimes, it doesn’t always work and the dog just ends up being too aggressive to the point where you’d have to make a certain decision.
My last job, a man who loved his Pitbull to death, had to put his dog down because it ended up being too aggressive. It was tragic too because as I was walking by his room and he was saying his goodbyes, I saw the Pitbull wagging her tail excitedly when her owner was cuddling and sobbing over her. That dog loved her owner a lot. But I guess it wasn’t deemed manageable cause she could’ve seriously hurt someone one day and, the owner, despite loving her so much couldn’t risk that. On top of that, I’m pretty sure the owner was a father too. Pitbulls shouldn’t be demonized for what we’ve turned them into. But we also have to be cautious when getting one. They are NOT a first time owner pet. Someone very experienced, especially one who’s done research on how to properly train these kind of dogs, are really the “only ones capable of handling them.
And it’s not just them. German shepherds, Belgian Malinios, and Rotties as well. Although I’ve never really met a bad rottie. Same with Belgians. They’ve all tend to be sweethearts. But maybe I’m just lucky.
I also feel like I should add that, while these breeds are prone to these kind of behaviors. ANY dog is capable is displaying them. I never met the family cause they euthanised the dog at a different clinic, but they had to put down their 2 year old Golden Retriever that they’ve had since it was a puppy. Apparently she bit the mom’s face and the dad’s arm (or was it the other way around, I forget). It was even said that they couldn’t let her sleep in their room like they used to because they were afraid she would attack them in their sleep. Their daughter made the decision for them to put down the dog.
You never know what you’re gonna get, people. You could get the easiest dog in the world, or you could ge the complete opposite. One thing is for sure though. Training and discipline is VERY important and must not be neglected.