Mutt Luv 

And the gang

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
                                           ~Author Unknown~

Nothing is ever as hard as the thought of having to do it.

Plus, I like to do a lot with my dogs, and it is frankly a pain to have to worry about what a dog aggressive dog might do all the time.    

Other reasons I wouldn't consider owning a pit bull include insurance concerns (it is very difficult to get or keep homeowners insurance if you own a pit bull and may be impossible to find a place to rent) and the ever-present possibility of breed bans.   I don't want to wake up to a headline that announces that I have to move in order to keep my dog and I don't want the fate of my dog hanging on the responsibility (or lack of same) of the average pit bull owner.  

Also,  with the huge number of pit bulls dying in shelters every day, I couldn't see buying one from a breeder, but if one gets one from a shelter, one is (by definition) getting an irresponsibily bred pit bull.   This means that it is very possible that the dog was bred (or came from lines that were recently bred)  for dog fighting or even for human aggression.   Not nice traits and both can cause  a lot of heartache.

Plus pit bulls have a ton of health problems, from a very high incidence of immune problems (lots of demodectic mange) to hip dysplasia to cardiac and thyroid problems.   Very few breeders do anything in the way of health screens.  

All in all, pit bulls are (or at least can be)  nice dogs who are in a ton of trouble because of not so nice people.    

It is doing a huge disservice to pit bulls to claim that dog aggression is not part of the breed, and that all it takes is proper training and/or socialization and it won't be a problem.    Many, many pit bull owners discover this is not true and discover that despite huge efforts to train and socialize their dogs, dog aggression is still a serious problem.   Go here:   to read the opinions of a number of pit bull owners,  all of whom acknowledge dog aggression as an issue in the breed.    And these are "responsible" pit bull owners, none of them bought dogs bred specifically FOR the trait of dog aggression  (although plenty of people are still breeding pit bulls for that trait) and none of whom encouraged dog aggression in their dogs.    Sadly for pit bulls, most of them don't understand that dog aggression it is a huge problem, especially for a breed (like pit bulls) that is in such deep trouble.    These pit bull owners justify breeding dog aggressive pit bulls and say things like "if you don't like dog aggression, don't get a pit bull."  As the one voice of reason on this issue on this board points out, if your dog is aggressive and wants to kill other dogs, that isn't only an issue for you, it is also a legitimate concern for your neighbor, who frankly didn't choose to own a pit bull and doesn't want to live next door to a dog who might very well kill his dog if your dog happens to get loose.  

If you want to look at the views of pit bull people on dog aggression, type "Pit bull Talk" into a search engine and scroll down to the thread about dog aggression.  Or just go to ANY responsible pit bull website.  NONE of them will claim that dog aggression can be trained and socialized out of pit bulls.    It can be managed, although (as noted) sometimes successful management requires huge sacrifices from both the dog (who may have to spend huge amounts  of his life in a crate) and the owner. 

Of course, there are non-dog aggressive pit bulls, just as there are labradors who have no desire to swim and retrieve and border collies with no herding drive.    They are in the minority.  Indeed, one of the main excuses (and it is only an excuse) that the pit bull community gives for failing to breed away from the useless trait of dog aggression that kills so many pit bulls is that it is impossible to find enough non-dog aggressive dogs to maintain quality.    I believe that is bogus, but even the UKC American Pit bull standard admits that most pit bulls are dog aggressive to some degree.   

"

Wow.  You know, it's funny, but I don't see a lot of clients with APBT's who have aggression problems.  When I do, it is usually a pretty quick fix, the dog reacting to the owners apprehension when another animal approaches. 

I do know this...  My neighbors, and THEIR neighbors, have between them 5 APBT's all in close proximity to my home.  I also do group training, and there are a few APBT's on the field.  At home, my dogs have been attacked by a Lab, GSD, Husky mix, and some floofy little white dog, to name a few.  But NEVER by the APBT's. 

A HUGE part of the problem with the APBT is IGNORANCE as to why they behave the way they do.  They are tenacious, yes.  Get them on a bite and they want to hang on with all their strength, it's part of the bulldog job and heritage, NOT dog fighting.  Go back to the beginning!  Anyway, someones little ill-manner fluffer comes over and pisses off Mr. APBT and somebody is getting hurt.  Oddly enough, my own experiences tell me that it is usually the OTHER dog that starts it, the APBT just finishes it. 

Now, I don't live in the inner city, and the APBT's near my home, and that I train with, have at least somewhat knowledgeable and responsible owners.  But if indeed Carol is correct that this is a 'breed' issue (genetic) then why is it not prevelant despite demographics?  I see more dog aggression out of Pekes and Chihuahuas.

I also checked the site she gave (hit 'quote' and you can see it in the code) and it seems an awful lot of these people have multiple dog households, which is not exactly supportive that dog aggression is a 'breed' problem.

Edit:  I should also mention, there IS NO SUCH THING AS A "Pit Bull" BREED.  It is the APBT that is most commonly referred to, but a great many "Pit Bulls" are actually CC's, Presa's, AB's, Etc. that are called "Pit Bulls" by the ignorant media and others who simply cannot tell one breed from another.  So again, to attribute this to a 'breed problem', may  not be entirely accurate .

Terry B

America is a large friendly dog in a very small room.  Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair. - Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975)

Mutt Luv 

And the gang

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader.
He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
                                           ~Author Unknown~

Nothing is ever as hard as the thought of having to do it.

My girl has been in two tussles. One was when she was a pup and was with a Border Colli. My girl tried to steal her ball and the collie ripped my dogs lip open, I thought for sure this is when I'd see what degree of aggression she had in her but she turned tail and stuck her head between my knees. She was still a pup so i chalked it up to that.

The second incident was just 3 months ago, we moved into a new home and the neighbir was extremely paraniod that we had a pit bull. She had a "wonderful golden retriever who was a great family dog" We decided to introduce them at the park down the street to avoid territiorial wars or frusteration through the fence. They were both leashed and we introduced them, they were happy so we let them off. They romped for about 5 minutes until my girl took off in a full sprint and thats when they golden's prey drive must have kicked in. She flattened her ears, tore off after my dog and bit her so bad she had to have three stitches in her ear. The neighbor said my dog must have been giving off bad vibes, ha ha. That is the most ridiulous thing I've ever heard.

Anyhoo my main problem with anti-pit bull people is that a majority base their opinions on what they hear on the newsd and not with actual encounters with the breed and that is a terrible form of breedism.

And regarding what

chinsNdobermans said about the pit bull ads you see in the paper.....true pit bull owners dont consider those dogs pit bulls. The breed standard is considerably smaller then those overgrown hippos and just recently the #1 oversized pit bull  breeder "razor's Edge" has just came forward and admited that he mixed themn with American Bulldog undocumented to provide a larger pit bull. I do not consider those dogs American Pit Bull terrier and to speak frankly I am tired of getting the flack for other irresponsible owners. Here is my Aurora..... proper APBT size

"For every pit bull attack on a human you can give me, I can give you 15 human attacks ona pit bull"