[Bean Counter]

I decided at one time to adopt a German Shepherd puppy that was orphaned at 10 days old. I named him Schultz, because he knew nothing....

I enrolled the two of us in Puppy Kindergarten, and it was taught by a Hampton, VA K-9 Officer; and he impressed me because most of the training was for the owner, to teach them how to properly communicate with the dog. He stressed that every breed of dog needed a different, but similar, degree of discipline to constantly reinforce who was “Alpha Wolf”.

Schultz would listen to me, but in my absence HE was alpha wolf and that meant he was unsuitable as a pet in an urban setting. He refused to submit to my wife and we had a very close call with the dog where he literally treed a mailman, who used all of his pepper spray to no effect. Schultz was adopted out to a new owner with more space that suited him better than my neighborhood did.

I have a very good friend here now that is master of a pure bred American Pit Bull bitch named “Lucy”. Lucy is absolutely the sweetest dog I have ever known, and she just loves it when I come over to visit, and she can snizzle my moustache...I think it must be better than her Mom’s because she never stops loving me....

I trust her implicitly, but she is such a strong dog I would very much hesitate to leave her with a baby. I don’t think she would ever deliberately hurt a baby, but simply because of her size and build, she is certainly capable of it, no matter if her intent was innocent or evil. Lucy weighs a good 80 pounds and is solid, well fed muscle...imagine any animal that size against a young child.

I keep seeing these articles that seem to demonize the breed when it also appears that the animal was put into a situation for which it was ill suited, ill prepared, underestimated, and ultimately ill supervised by a human being.

Dogs can’t help being dogs. Sometimes that brings about very tragic results.

[Getready]

I think your last sentence sums it up. Dogs will be dogs.
One cannot fully trust a dog left on it’s own as it will,
when challenged, fearful or hungry, resort to it’s wild
defensive/offensive/feeding behaviour.

[pnz1]

What is the difference in American Bull dog and American Pit Bull dog? We have been told ours is an American Bull/Basset mix..

[Ditter]

I have been told by several vets that dogs don't always recognize babies and small children as human. While they would not be aggressive with an adult, they will attack a child the same way they would attack a rabbit or a squirrel, as prey. That sounds like what the pitt in this story did.