Let me confuse you with some facts then before you get your German Shephard. Note that Pit Bulls are BY FAR the most populous of these and any other dog breed. But then, that doesn't make the news does it?

 

Other dog populations (United States):

 

(estimation) Pit Bulls: 5,256,000

(estimation) Rottweilers: 900,000

(estimation) German Shepherds: 780,000

(estimation) Chows: 240,000

 

Fatal attacks by these breeds of dogs (1979-1998):

Pit Bulls: 66

Rottweilers: 39

German Shepherds: 17

Chows: 8

 

When we divide the population by the fatal attacks, we can get a percentage based on the dogs probability of fatally attacking a human.

 

Pit Bulls: .00125 %

Rottweilers: .00433 %

German Shepherds: .00217%

Chow: .00333%

 

Pit Bull Statistics | Defend Pit Bulls

 

So I stand by my earlier posts regarding Pits:

 

There are too many and many bred discriminately (for aggression) by boneheads.

Too many are owned by boneheads.

They are a powerful breed as are the others above and must be managed (as should all dogs). (My daughter has both a Rottweiler and a German Shephard, and they are great family dogs, but she always keeps complete control over them.)

The breeding needs to be managed downward and discriminating towards the lower energy attributes.

To typecast 5+ million dogs due to the 1% doesn't really make sense.

 

I understand what you're saying. But it's pretty tough for me to have much sympathy for the pitbull breed, quite honestly - and primarily because of the specific examples I posted above. I also think it's a pretty damning statistic that in 45% of the pitbull attacks documented in the 15 year '94-'09 study, the dog belonged to the victim's family.

 

That aside, I would question several types of breeds along with the pit bull - although I personally see the pit bull as one of the most dangerous. I believe the insurance industry would agree with me for the most part as well, with their list of 11 dangerous dog breeds that generally, and at very least, up the cost of your homeowners insurance, and will often times lead the insurance carriers to refuse coverage all together:

 

• Pit Bulls & Staffordshire Terriers
  
• Doberman Pinschers
  
• Rottweilers
  
• German Shepherds
  
• Chows
  
• Great Danes
  
• Presa Canarios
  
• Akitas
  
• Alaskan Malamutes
  
• Siberian Huskies
  
• Wolf-hybrids
  

I'd like to see the attack statistics on some of the breeds - particularly Shepherds, Great Danes, and Huskies - but all in all, I think their list makes a decent amount of sense.

I really have no opinion on which breed is bad and so on, but something that I see out of control in todays society, is the consideration as pets as family, and as human. THEY ARE NOT!!!! I own dogs, I love them, I grew up with dogs in my house. But Dogs are to obey humans they are to be below us in the pecking order. They must have boundaires and discipline like most successful humans. These people get these dogs and let them have run of your house, do what they want, with no training or obedience, and they claim that territory as theres then as all animals do they will defend it with violence. Its really common sense for an old farm boy like me. Especially concerning breeds that are loners, and or dominant breed such a pit bull.

Very sad.

 

Maybe I'm a mean person; but every time I hear of an incident like this, it makes me realize that many people today aren't fit to own dogs or have children.

Very sad.

 

Maybe I'm a mean person; but every time I hear of an incident like this, it makes me realize that many people today aren't fit to own dogs or have children.

 

That's not mean in the least. It's just the truth.

No breed of dog is all bad or all good. However, due to simple physics, I would prefer to be bitten by a Pomeranian rather than a Pit Bull. In just the same way that I would prefer to be attacked by a Rainbow trout rather than a Great White shark.

 

As to dog attacks on small children: small children(like dogs) are unpredictable, and don't possess the reasoning to understand dogs and know how to behave around them. Also, dogs are pack animals who view humans as members of their packs. Based on size alone, adults usually figure into the pecking order higher than children, let alone infants and small toddlers. This goes for all dogs; not necessarily just large breeds, or breeds that are reputed to be agressive.

 

All dogs need socialization, training and a great deal of attention. Unfortunately, that is usually not the case. I have seen x-rays of penned dogs who had anywhere up to 5 POUNDS of gravel in their stomach. They didn't eat it because they were hungry, they ate it because they were bored.

 

In the case of purebred dogs, their genetics and evolution require that they do a "job." They're not going to be happy dogs otherwise. So, for example, if a person owns a hunting dog or a herding dog, and they're not letting them hunt or herd, they must substitute enough excercise and activity to compensate for what the dog was originally bred to do. Chaining a large dog to a tree, crating it most of the day, or leaving it to its own devices in a small, confined area doesn't measure up.

 

I, personally, don't want to be around breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Cairns or Dobermans. I don't want to be around tigers either, trained or not. But I can't ever fault animals for behaving like animals. I can fault human adults for being irresponsible, lazy and ignorant.

No breed of dog is all bad or all good. However, due to simple physics, I would prefer to be bitten by a Pomeranian rather than a Pit Bull. In just the same way that I would prefer to be attacked by a Rainbow trout rather than a Great White shark.

 

As to dog attacks on small children: small children(like dogs) are unpredictable, and don't possess the reasoning to understand dogs and know how to behave around them. Also, dogs are pack animals who view humans as members of their packs. Based on size alone, adults usually figure into the pecking order higher than children, let alone infants and small toddlers. This goes for all dogs; not necessarily just large breeds, or breeds that are reputed to be agressive.

 

All dogs need socialization, training and a great deal of attention. Unfortunately, that is usually not the case. I have seen x-rays of penned dogs who had anywhere up to 5 POUNDS of gravel in their stomach. They didn't eat it because they were hungry, they ate it because they were bored.

 

In the case of purebred dogs, their genetics and evolution require that they do a "job." They're not going to be happy dogs otherwise. So, for example, if a person owns a hunting dog or a herding dog, and they're not letting them hunt or herd, they must substitute enough excercise and activity to compensate for what the dog was originally bred to do. Chaining a large dog to a tree, crating it most of the day, or leaving it to its own devices in a small, confined area doesn't measure up.

 

I, personally, don't want to be around breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Cairns or Dobermans. I don't want to be around tigers either, trained or not. But I can't ever fault animals for behaving like animals. I can fault human adults for being irresponsible, lazy and ignorant.

 

Good and fair post! :thumb:

So, about 1 1/2 years ago my girlfriends youngest daughter brings home a little puppy her then boyfriend had gotten her...a female Chihuahua. Never thought I would like this bred of dog, but she grew on me and is rather cute and she interacts with me more than anyone in the house. Well, I have come to find out that Chihahuas can be very aggressive at times, and plum psyco at others. But heres something I never have to worry about...her chewing my face off or ripping off an arm when if/when she has an aggressive spell. If she was an 80 pound block of muscle dog, like a full grown pit, and she did what she does now, I would be terrified beyond belief, and I'm 6'5 300 pounds...but with a 4 pound dog who thinks shes the size of a horse its at best funny, at worst annoying.

 

Point being? Some people are just plain stupid, and unfortunately it seems an unusually high percentage of these really stupid people have dangerous dogs, specificly pit bulls in this day and age. Put stupid people together with an inherantly dangerous, severe damage causing breed and you have an outcome like this one. So, in all the pit bull attack stories in the past 10 years, if we could go back and replace pit bull with, lets just say Chihuahua, guess what happens? We aren't having this discussion, these attacks don't make the news, nobody is dead, and maybe the worst that happens is somebody goes to the hospital and gets a few stitches and maybe has to get rabbies shots.

So, about 1 1/2 years ago my girlfriends youngest daughter brings home a little puppy her then boyfriend had gotten her...a female Chihuahua. Never thought I would like this bred of dog, but she grew on me and is rather cute and she interacts with me more than anyone in the house. Well, I have come to find out that Chihahuas can be very aggressive at times, and plum psyco at others. But heres something I never have to worry about...her chewing my face off or ripping off an arm when if/when she has an aggressive spell. If she was an 80 pound block of muscle dog, like a full grown pit, and she did what she does now, I would be terrified beyond belief, and I'm 6'5 300 pounds...but with a 4 pound dog who thinks shes the size of a horse its at best funny, at worst annoying.

 

Point being? Some people are just plain stupid, and unfortunately it seems an unusually high percentage of these really stupid people have dangerous dogs, specificly pit bulls in this day and age. Put stupid people together with an inherantly dangerous, severe damage causing breed and you have an outcome like this one. So, in all the pit bull attack stories in the past 10 years, if we could go back and replace pit bull with, lets just say Chihuahua, guess what happens? We aren't having this discussion, these attacks don't make the news, nobody is dead, and maybe the worst that happens is somebody goes to the hospital and gets a few stitches and maybe has to get rabbies shots.

 

Your post is valid of course on all points. My daughter is a veterinarian, and she frequently has to patch up other animals who have been attached by Chihuahuas. Of course, if they had been attached by a Pit, there probably would be no patching up to do. But that would the same for a Rottweiler, a German Shephard, a Mastiff..ie. any powerful breed. Support of your point regarding owners is that as I posted before, there are too many Pits bred (and owned by boneheads) and the statistics I showed evidence that. Overpopulation and breeding leads to under management of a powerful dog. I support control and management down of the population and restrictive breeding of Pits. However that seems to be not our way...kind of like gun control...don't like em', ban em'....which, although I am not a gun enthusiast, I wouldn't support either.

Pit bull mauls a 2 year old in Union County. The owner was arrested. Not much detail in the story.

 

Toddler mauled by pit bull in Union County » Evansville Courier & Press

Pit bull mauls a 2 year old in Union County. The owner was arrested. Not much detail in the story.

 

Toddler mauled by pit bull in Union County » Evansville Courier & Press

 

Not surprising. Parents should be put in jail if they have kids and a pit bull.

Another 2 yr old killed in GA by Pit Bull. When are parents going to learn. Sad it has to happen like that.

Dog had been in family for 8 yrs.

 

Georgia toddler killed by family pit bull inside home | Fox News

156 out of 268 (58%) fatal dog attacks in the last 10 years have come from pitbulls.

I saw Akita's were listed on a list of dogs that sometimes prohibit insurance coverage. We had an Akita, had her from the time she was weaned until she was about 1 1/2. One dayout of the blue she jumped at my son and tried to bite him in the face, just barely scraping the corned of his cheek. I decided that we were not going to take a chance and my father in law wanted the dog so he took her. Several months later my son went to pet the dog, (something he had done several times over the past few months) and again the dog snapped at him and tried to bite him in the face. I use this as an example that any dog has the ability to lash out not just pits, BFWIW I would NEVER own a Pit.

Parent should know:

 

Pit Bulls + kids = not good

 

Seriously, why take a chance. It is only a dog. It can never replace a kid.

I have known three people personally to own pit bulls. One of the dogs was a family dog, and was honestly as sweet as could be - until it walked up to my 6 year old cousin while he napped on the couch and bit his face, nearly tearing his lips off of his mouth. The second one I knew belonged to the family of a girl I dated in high school. To the best of my knowledge, that dog lived its life peacefully and without incident. The third belonged to a good friend of mine. She was as sweet as could be, was VERY well trained, and VERY obedient - until one day when my friend was taking her for a walk and she decided to hamstring an elderly woman who was walking by on the sidewalk.

 

Got beers with a good friend of mine on Saturday. He had two pit bulls that were both as nice as could be...had them their whole lives. They really were as sweet as could be from what I had seen of them, and they even had apparently slept in the same bed as his daughter for years.

 

He got an urgent call on Friday afternoon from his wife to haul it home from work in a hurry because the two dogs attacked each other and were literally tearing each other apart. He got home and the dogs had torn one another apart, but were still alive and fighting. Said the entire first floor of his house was coated up 4 feet on the walls with blood.

 

I'd told him when he got the dogs that I thought it was a bad move and that I was concerned for the safety of him and his family. At the time he had given me the same "pit bulls get a bad wrap because of their owners and because they are abused or mishandled"..."you don't understand how sweet my pit bulls are" routine that you hear from ever other pro-pit bull owner out there. On Saturday he was telling a completely different story.

Edited February 14, 20179 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue