First UK pit bull amnesty begins

BBC ^ | 1/2/07 | n/a

[kanawa]

I suppose that would make them penis-grabbers, would it not?

They'll pry my........oh, nevermind. ;~)

[solosmoke]

These dogs were bred to bait bulls, yes, but before that and after, they were trusted ranch hands that were used for pretty much anything, including hanging out with the family. Some of the most notorious winning fight dogs slept in the bed with their owners.

These dogs are stubborn in their work, yes, but not to their owners. They are highly trainable. The reason why they have been used for dogfights and holding large animals is because of this stubbornness, or "gameness". No larger dog could do the job, although stronger they might be. The pit bull has such a willingness to please the owner they will literally do anything for that satisfaction. This is also where the tradeoff comes. If someone wants a brutally aggressive dog, they could train a pit bull to be that way. They could also train a pit bull to be the sweetest, most obedient, most athletic certified therapy dog. However, having said that, if most of the owners of this breed are trying hard to make vicious dogs, how come there aren't more deaths? There are about four to six million of these dogs alive right now. If even a fourth of those owners are bad, why aren't they more successful at training a bad-a$$, vicious man-killing dog?

Breeding.

That's right. These dogs were bred to bite, to fight, to take punishment no human could endure, all while wagging their tails. But during this cruel bootcamp that was their existence, the one thing the dogmen did right was to simultaneously train the dogs to be extremely human friendly.

They absolutely HAD to be able to separate a dogfight without getting bit, and this includes people the dogs may have never seen before. So yes, these dogs cannot be trusted around other animals. But neither can many other breeds of dog, including most terriers. They are hard wired to want to fight other dogs, and even though many of them can be around other pets just fine their entire lives, because of their breeding, it would be wise to only let them around other animals supervised.

The pit bull is the most stolen dog. This is not only because the wrong people want them, but because it's so easy to do. A well-bred pit bull will let you in its yard even if you are a stranger. It might even show you its toys. Some people have had to get another dog to guard their pit bull. They are supposed to be friendly to every person they meet.

Here are some statistics for you, courtesy of the American Temperament Test Society, the AKC, UKC, and the CDC:

When testing different breeds of dogs for unprovoked aggression, the average passing score for all breeds was 81.2%. Here's a breakdown of some popular breeds, along with pit bull type dogs:

miniature poodle 76.2
chihuahua 71.4
doberman 76.8
collie 79.0
australian cattle dog 78.1
border collie 79.7
dalmatian 81.6
saint bernard 82.9
german shepherd 83.1
american pit bull terrier 83.5
american staffordshire terrier 83.3
boxer 84.7
golden retriever 83.7
staffordshire bull terrier 84.7
bull terrier 90.9

According to the CDC, approximately 60 pit bull type dogs are responsible for deaths in the past 20 years. They say type because their stats are taken from the media reports, and there is no way of identifying a breed that way. There have been many breeds mistaken for pit bulls, including labs, so it is very hard to say if those 60 were really pit bulls. It is doubtful, considering even today dogs are getting misidentified as pit bulls when they do something wrong. An example of this is the boxer mix that killed an elderly lady in Kansas City. It was called a pit bull over and over again, and it was obvious to anyone educated on the breed that it was not a pit bull, but for some reason, it never got corrected, and now the pit bull haters have one more death to add to their list. This happens all the time. We rarely get a picture in the news when this happens, and many times when we do, it is found that the dog is not what the reporters say it is. The CDC no longer compiles data for this reason.

Of the approximately 76 million dogs in this country right now, pit bulls represent almost 10% of their entire population. Considering there are 150 breeds recognized by the AKC and twice that much by the UKC, you can plainly see these dogs are one of the most popular right now. There are literally millions of them. Many of them have decent homes and are loved by families. Some of them are used for the wrong purposes and end up on the news. Others are with people that just don't understand how to take care of a dog, and they end up on the news sometimes too.

The last thing this can be classified as is a breed problem. This is an educational and law enforcement problem. This is painfully obvious when you see what a large percentage of attacks and deaths come from intact male dogs, (90%) and how many are from chained dogs (22%) and dogs running loose (30%), and lastly packs of dogs (64%). These stats are from the CDC and they are comprised of all breeds.

There is so much on this subject that opinionated people don't know. There is a large amount of evidence to the contrary of what the media and PETA would have you believe. All that is required is a little research, and you will see how much of the rumors about these dogs are really true, and how much is simply myth. Perhaps with a little education, we can all see the problem for what it is and take steps to appropriately dispatch it.

[dervish]

My Vet has one and the dog comes to the office every day with him.

[dervish]

Great post!

"The pit bull has such a willingness to please the owner they will literally do anything for that satisfaction. "

My pit was almost the only dog in obedience competition that was not food trained. Praise was enough.

[Dysart]

My pit was almost the only dog in obedience competition that was not food trained. Praise was enough.

Exactly my experience as well. It's amazing to have a dog eager to learn what it is that want them to do without a food-based reward at-the-ready. Sure flies in the face of my previous experience with dog training.

Somebody else on this thread implied that they are not easily trained, which only tells me he/she has zero empirical evidence to draw upon. I began a correcting post, but thought I'd save the keystrokes.

[Tailback]

In my experience, it is the mentality of the owners that causes most problems with these dogs.

I agree completely. I worked as a garbage man in Portland, OR for 5 years and it's still the old fashioned walk into the yard and empty your can into a carry can and take that back to the truck routes. I was bitten by one dog and that was a golden retriever. The dog was loose in the yard with the owner and she said "Don't worry, she doesn't bite". I made two mistakes, I believed the owner, and I entered a dog's territory with it's master nearby. The dog only got hold of my pants leg and I beat the crap out of it with the garbage can lid till it let go.

A friends ex-girlfriend had a highly trained and well socialized Pit-Bull (Sammy) and one drill weekend I stayed at her place rather than drive the hour and a half home. (we had a few adult beverages) Sammy after knowing me for all of 20 minutes slept with me in the guest room while my friend and his girlfriend stayed in the master bedroom. Yeah I got the raw end of that deal but it goes to show that it's not the breed that's the problem. My 60 pound black lab mix scares the crap out of the 150 pound rottwiler (Bear) across the street. Bear is a big teddy bear while my dog has been encouraged to be aggressive within our property. When the wife and I take our dog to the no-leash doggy park though our dog doesn't even look funny at even the most annoying and aggressive dogs running around. It's all about proper training.

[kanawa]

It is doubtful, considering even today dogs are getting misidentified as pit bulls when they do something wrong

Here's an attack attributed to a 110 pound "pit bull"

Here's a picture of what historically a pit bull looked like...

They were never anywhere near 110 pounds and still aren't today.
"Desirable weight for a mature male [APBT} in good condition is between 35 and 60 pounds. Desirable weight for a mature female in good condition is between 30 and 50 pounds."
Whatever this dog being reported in the story is, I'd be willing to bet it is not a pit bull.
Maybe an American Bulldog?...or some Mastiff mix? ...or?
People don't realize that if "pit bulls' were banned,
dogs such as the one in this story wouldn't be affected.
There is no way one could say it had characteristics "substantially similar' to the pit bull type.

[Feiny]

You did not know that because it is not true.
Muleskinner knows not of what he types.

http://www.answers.com/topic/english-white-terrier

[kanawa]

Another interesting read I came across earlier...

http://molosserdogs.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=content&tid=3341&title2=English%20White%20Terrier

[kanawa]

The dogs were bread to bite the noses of bulls and hold on until they brought the bull to his knees.

Easier said than done...

[Sender]

So the vast majority of dog attacks were from non-neutered males? I am not surprised. They would have the testosterone and the terrirtorial behavior.

I am a dog lover. I also have a beautiful pair of neutered dogs, one male husky and a female labrador mix. They have been raised around small children and they know who is the boss. I am not worried about them at all. Dog safety is important, as is knife safety and gun safety...but where do we draw the line? Do we really want government beaurocrats in charge of common sense?

[BruceysMom]

I have a copy of a news story at work, (I tried doing a search and I couldn't find it) where a woman was in her yard and was attacked by a dog, a Chow I think. Two Pit bulls jumped her fence and drove the other dog away. I'm a groomer and we do lots of Pits, I've never been bit by one. Cocker spaniels on the other hand.......

[adam_smith_76]

Most people think a pit bull will protect them, but in 90% of the cases, an assailant will take the pit bull away and use it on the owner. Too often children play with a pit bull when the parents aren't home and a tragic accident happens. Or they may bring a pit bull to school and hide it in their locker.

People can bring in their dogs for cash. Hunting varieties for £50, easily concealable varieties fetch £100. We just have to get the pit bulls off the streets. Too often there is a heated argument, and someone pulls out a pit bull.

[oldenuff2no]

Comparing Pit Bulls to an inanimate object isn't accurate or intelligent. No gun or knife has the ability to move by itself or initiate an attack by itself. Pitt bulls have been bred for the last few hundred years to "bite and fight." It is an instinct that no amount of petting or family loving can take out of them. Stock dogs are bred to work, bird dogs and hounds are bred to hunt, pitts are bred to bite and fight. I've been training dogs for over 4 decades. I can't make a hound different by "Thinking or feeling." You can't take the instincts out of a fighting dog by "Thinking they should be different" either. I've trained about every big dog breed there is. When I have a pitt on the end of a leash I know it every time another big dog goes by.
The statistics on dog attacks say it all. The #1 dog for attacking people are Pitt Bulls. The #1 dogs for killing children are Pitt Bulls. I've heard all the excuses but none of them will take the fight and bite out of a Pitt Bull.

[MadMitch]

England is utterly, merrily, insane
_____________________________________

Very true but this amnesty is in Ulster.

[Tijeras_Slim]

They're cute, but you know they'd defend you in a jam.

[Tribune7]

LOLOLOL.

When they outlaw APBTs, only outlaws will have APBTs.

[monday]

"Well looky here...another self-appointed "expert".

And you have trained exactly how many?"

Attacking me personally instead of the facts only shows you have no argument. I will therefore assume you agree with me, you just don't like me stating the truth in public.

BTW I have trained, or attempted to train about 12 Pit Bulls and a couple of Pit Bull mixes. Admittedly these were quote "problem" dogs so my experience with Pit's might be somewhat skewed, but I am sufficiently experienced with the breed to stand by what I said.

[CDHart]

"And ALL breeds have some that are aggressive."

We have a little Lhaasa Apso that showed up in our yard a couple of years ago. He's the sweetest little thing, unless he thinks he's being cornered, and then he becomes very aggressive. We love him but wouldn't recommend having him around children. To a large extent it depends on the upbringing the dog has had.

Carolyn

[dimeadozen]

Yes, and assuming most of society doubtless will not take the responsibility of own a violent breed, then for the protection of others the law has to step in.