Comment

Comment by Kyle, Megan and Loki on September 25, 2009 at 9:31am

Sorry yo uhave to deal with badly trained dogs. No fun in that, I almost punted one of the neighbourhoods shih-tzus that always lunges at Loki, he almost got him once. Any vicious dog should be dealt with systematically and quickly, I don't care how big or small. And like Eins Mum said, Chihuahua are dangerous, most damage I've ever had done to me was from terrapoo...

Shame to see all the pitbull hate though, beautiful wonderful dogs they are.

The worst for dog to dog aggression I've seen in my area, is Jack Russels. Seriously, a good 9/10 in my neighbourhood are not dog friendly at all.

Comment by Bev Levy on September 25, 2009 at 8:33am

I also am glad it turned out OK. As a doberman owner I have to say the owner was at fault and I am glad he obviously realized that. Hopefully he will realize that having his dogs off leash endangers their lives as well as others.
Any dog breed is capable of being a danger to others but certain breeds are capable of doing more damage. If someone makes a decision to get a larger breed they should be responsible enough to commit to the training needed to control your dog. Unfortunately the dogs get the punishment for the owners short comings.

Comment by Valerie and Simon on September 25, 2009 at 7:49am

I don't think it's fair to admonish an entire breed just because of the stupid behavior of PEOPLE. Dogs will do what dogs will do -- and this applies to ANY breed of dog.

I have a pitbull mix -- she's mixed with beagle, but the pit is definitely the dominant physical breed in her. She is a sweet girl, 10 years old, and my corgi Simon is only 6 months and already HE is the alpha. She totally submits to him and frankly, I think she's kind of AFRAID of him at times! Right now they are snuggling on my bed.

The owners of those pits sound like irresponsible, and probably STUPID people who have no business having ANY dog of ANY breed, let alone a large dog like a pit that can be prone to aggression if not properly trained. What you described is THE number one reason why I don't walk my dogs in my neighborhood -- because too many idiots have dogs that just run amok or that they can't control because they have no business having a pet in the first place. Also, it is stupid people like this that breed irresponsibly and/or don't get their dogs fixed, and then they breed more dogs that will get farmed out to MORE stupid people who shouldn't have dogs. I could rant on this all DAY here!

Incidentally, Josie, my pit mix, was a foundling. At five months, she was found dumped at a gas station in the California desert by my then roommate. I decided to keep her, even though this was not a breed I would have chosen. SHE chose ME. She was meant to be my dog. She had some serious behavior issues, and without proper training she very well could have been a 'bad dog'. My guess is the pond scum that dumped her did so because they didn't know how to 'handle' her (she was still a BABY!!!! FIVE MONTHS!!!) and instead of working with her and training her, they just figured getting rid of her was the better option. With me, she went through obedience training and got lots of love and affection, and 10 years later she's still here and I wouldn't trade her for anything. She's very sweet and shy and just needed someone to teach her how to be a good girl.

Lastly, I had a friend in HS that had these two doxens. OMG, HORRIBLE dogs. Would yap incessantly for HOURS when you went to her house. And you couldn't even pet them. They would snap and growl and bite at anyone who didn't live in the house. They were a nightmare. First time in my life that I ever hated a dog, which I thought would never happen. But I don't hate all doxens -- I just hated THOSE doxens, because of what my friend and her family ALLOWED them to become thorugh poor discipline and lack of training.

Comment by Potus on September 25, 2009 at 7:30am

I share your anger, not necessarily about pit bulls specifically but to all dog owners who let their dos run around off leash. I understand owners walking their dogs off leash and am fine with that- even in your circumstance I am at least happy that the owner was nearby to stop his dogs (although aggressive dogs dshould probably always be kept on a leash outside). But what I can't stand is people who let their dogs walk around in a neighbourhood totally on their own. The amount of times I have had to tug Potus down the street in order to get him away from some roaming dog. I've even had to pick him up when he's soaking wet and muddy to get him away from a slightly aggressive dog. You have the fear that the dog is going to attack yours as well as the annoyance (for me anyway) that this dog will follow you home and hang around. So many people in my neighbourhood do this and its so infuriating!

Comment by Beth on September 25, 2009 at 7:13am

Oh, when I said my aunt has seen Russells kill another terrier, I did not mean her dogs have done this.

The pit bull rescue sites mostly say that your pit should not be off -leash with strange dogs, and can play with other carefully selected dogs under supervision. They also say your dogs should not be left loose in the house together. Any dogs can get in a fight, but again pits were selected in their history to be "game" and that is why many just won't let go, even if the other dog has clearly lost the fight.

Comment by Beth on September 25, 2009 at 7:10am

Linsey,

I have checked my facts quite a lot, but thanks for the suggestion.
We would all agree (I hope) that because people selectively bred Beagles to hunt rabbits, they are exceptional rabbit dogs. And because people selectively bred Border Collies to herd sheep, they are exceptional herding dogs. That is not to say every Beagle is a great hunter, or every Border Collie a great herder, but the tendency is there and Beagles, for example, are notorious for not being safe off-leash because they will follow their nose.

For some reason I cannot fathom, people understand that yet think that Pit Bulls, which were selected in their history for fighting, are the one breed exception where selective breeding has utterly failed and it's not "the dog."

Terriers in general have a tendency to be very scrappy. As I mentioned, my aunt keeps Jack Russells and she won't have more than two at a time because she has seen them gang up on and kill another Russell. Unlike quite a lot of lines of dogs, terriers have been bred with a fairly strong kill instinct (bird dogs, for example, may get snarky but most of them have the kill instinct selected out of them so they won't harm the game). Pit bulls are very big terriers who, in their past (even if not in the most recent litter) were selected as fighting dogs.

My Corgi was not "bred to herd" but his ancestors were, and he still retains herding instinct. That's what I meant when I said pit bulls were "bred to fight." A good pit should be human friendly, and they have different "fuses" when it comes to other dogs, but even a very well-socialized pit might not ever be safe off-leash with other dogs.

Comment by Geri & Sidney on September 25, 2009 at 3:55am

Thank goodness the guy protected Koby like that, and that everyone is ok!

Once we were out walking our three dogs, and an unleashed pit got away from his owner and made a charge at us. It was so scary! In this case, the guy jumped on his own dog and wrestled him away, losing his shorts in the process! Thank goodness he was not going commando is all I can say. o_O
He was very apologetic, and they have since moved away. Sidney did not become afraid of dogs from this, at least not normal-acting dogs. There is a teeny tiny little thing that goes on therapy visits with us, it must weigh three pounds, goes by the name of Pixie. She decided to keep snapping at Sidney until he hid behind my daughter, as if to say "Mom, make it go away". Sidney is very wary of little dogs now.

Comment by Shippo & Koga Corgis on September 25, 2009 at 2:49am

"take what you will of that I've never seen anyone punch a golden retreiver in the head to get it to release"

Maybe not, but my family and I had a golden when I was younger, who tore a basset hound's ear off, and mangled the owner's arm so badly that she was put in the hospital. I stand by what I said before, and that is ANY dog can be aggressive. That doesn't make them a monster. It makes them a DOG. An ANIMAL.

It is also my firm belief that most people are not responsible enough to own a high energy, high drive breed such as a pit bull. Obviously, these owners were not capable of properly training OR containing their dogs, so now the breed gets yet another dent in its reputation because of stupid, idiotic dog owners.

Quite sad.

Comment by John Wolff on September 25, 2009 at 1:33am

OTOH, we have a pink-nosed pitbull with a highly responsible owner in our neighborhood, and it's the most gentle dog you could imagine. Perhaps noteworthy, the owner is a woman. She wants the dog for companionship. She's not a twisted adolescent male into the power trip.

Comment by christy fry on September 25, 2009 at 1:15am

I actually live next door to 3 pitbulls the 2 males are fine However the female is so aggressive that she can never be around other dogs except her pack. Now the neighbor brought home a puppy a year ago now. I was sleeping when I was woken up by HORRIBLE SCREAMING he had decided to let them meet in the backyard. when I got outside SUGAR had the puppy by the throat he had to wrap a towel around her head and PUNCH HER REAPTEDLY TO GET HER TO RELEASE THE PUPPY. take what you will of that I've never seen anyone punch a golden retreiver in the head to get it to release. The only thing that saved that puppy's life was his bukle got lodged sideways in her mouth so he only had a mouth print of little punkcher wounds. ANIMAL CONTOL GAVE HIM A WARNING ONLY

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