Are pitbull mixes safer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who get pit bulls are antisocial so most likely don't make good dog owners anyway. I keep my kids the hell away from them.

Ahem I am antisocial, a weird infj, and I have loved dogs since a child. I am also the OP. The people like my cousin are very extroverted and social. I know a lot of social pitbull owners. They usually have tattoos, no regard for law and order, are friendly, outgoing, but are a type that is affectionate to everyone and wants to look like a do good er by rescuing a dangerous dog.

[Anonymous]

My mom is 76 with an 8 year old pit mix she’s had since she got her from a shelter as a puppy. I’ll have to check for hidden tattoos and signs of lawlessness next time I see her. Who knows what things that woman has done during the pandemic! I told her to stop being so friendly and hanging out with all those parolees, that it could only lead to having a pit bull.

[Anonymous]

Maybe? When I bring a dog into my home for potentially 15+ years, I want a good fit and I want it to be til their death. I want it to work out for all of us long term. I want a dog that is not just managed, but amazing. I want little kids to be able to mess with their food and toys and them not flinch. I want the dog to get along seamlessly with other dogs and be a goof that plays with the Pomeranians and the St. Danes. I want a dog that tolerates it's owners doing basically everything. Tummy rub during mealtime? Fine. Responds great to training? Of course. Got ahold of something that they should not have touched and you can do "leave it" or unlock their jaw? Yes, siree.

Pit owners may have a different calculus and I am not saying all are vicious but in general, no I don't like them or pit mixes. I've met some decent pits but almost none of them meet my requirements. The most common being they're hyper aggressive with other dogs. As an owner, I would never want such a reactive breed. Sure, maybe they're good at home, but they're not very social? I don't like that. I don't like the "friendly to attack dog" in 2 seconds mentality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom is 76 with an 8 year old pit mix she’s had since she got her from a shelter as a puppy. I’ll have to check for hidden tattoos and signs of lawlessness next time I see her. Who knows what things that woman has done during the pandemic! I told her to stop being so friendly and hanging out with all those parolees, that it could only lead to having a pit bull.

It is so f u c king dangerous for a weak older woman owning a pit. They overpower them on walks and that pit could end up killing a dog or child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom is 76 with an 8 year old pit mix she’s had since she got her from a shelter as a puppy. I’ll have to check for hidden tattoos and signs of lawlessness next time I see her. Who knows what things that woman has done during the pandemic! I told her to stop being so friendly and hanging out with all those parolees, that it could only lead to having a pit bull.

It is so f u c king dangerous for a weak older woman owning a pit. They overpower them on walks and that pit could end up killing a dog or child.

Agree. And another thought. The father of a friend had a very sweet pitbull. When he was in the hospital my friend took care of the dogs and planned to adopt the dog when her father passed. However , one day when she was feeding the dog, without warning the dog snapped and bit her in the face. She had to get plastic surgery 😢.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People will come out of the wood work here to defend pit bulls but the reality is they were bred for certain traits and they all have the potential to be unsafe. I too know someone who was mauled by one, no warning and they did nothing to provoke it. I wouldn't let one of those murder machines into my home if you paid me and I don't let me kid get near them either.

what traits? Other than being muscular dogs I don’t think they have other traits that other dogs don’t have.

Pointers were bred to point, border collies were bred to herd, and retrievers were bred to retrieve. You can try all you want, but you aren't going to teach an English Setter to herd sheep better than a border collie. Pitbulls were bred to fight and enjoy it. They are bred for "gameness", to bite, not let go, and enjoy it. They were bred to not give the traditional signs of escalating aggression, (a snarl, a growl, an airsnap), and to jump right to the bite, hold, and shake. There is often no clear warning when a pitbull is about to attack, when compared to normal dog behavior. That's why, during a pitbull attack, people can beat a pitbull with a baseball ball ( https://nypost.com/2019/10/02/bronx-man-says-he-hit-pit-bull-with-baseball-bat-20-times-to-stop-attack-on-4-year-old/ ), hit it over the head with the leg from a wheelchair ( https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/09/02/dog-owner-recounts-attack-that-killed-his-mom-and-sent-him-to-hospital/ ) or the cops can show up in the middle of a mauling and taze a pitbull ( https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/outreach/back-to-school/arkansas-man-mauled-to-death-by-pack-of-pit-bulls-authorities-say/527-5a6ffda1-626e-4be9-9c60-e6be6ab056db ), and the dog will continue to fight and try to kill. Goldens love to retrieve, and a biting pitbull is in its element. Pictures of pitbulls in flower crowns or tutus do not negate that these are dangerous animals. Any animal can bite, but no one compares a mosquito bite to a shark bite. Other dogs can bite, but a vast majority of maiming and fatal dog attacks are from pitbulls and their mixes.

+1

I’ve done a lot of research on dog attacks in conjunction with prosecuting dangerous animal cases. I won’t be in an enclosed space with a pit bull or pit bull mix and I carry pepper spray when I walk my dog (border collie) specifically for protection against pit bulls and other bully breed dogs. If one ever ran and me or my dog I wouldn’t hesitate to do everything in my power to kill it, no questions asked and no chances given.

But then I’ve seen the photographs of children and adults mauled to death by someone’s sweet pit bulls. I’ve seen the anguished grandparents whose grandchild was ripped to shreds in front of their eyes by their sweet pit bull mix that never before showed a sign of aggression and lunged at their grandbaby’s throat without warning or provocation. I’ve read story after story of good owners killed by their own pit bulls.

Honestly I think they’re the ugliest dogs around too - but they definitely all look like killing machines to me after the horrific cases I’ve seen. Having one is like keeping a loaded gun in the house accessible by toddlers.

[Anonymous]

There has been such a misguided propaganda machine put in place on behalf of bully breed dogs, and shelters are placing them in families with children left and right. It’s really scary and stupid. Some people actually argue that there is ‘racism’ against bully breeds - a perfect example of the utter lack of science knowledge and common sense in so many people today. The shelters are so full of these breeds and mixes that if you want something that isn’t a bully breed/mix like I did when I recently rescued, you often have to rescue outside your own geographic area to find a suitable dog.

It’s terribly sad for the dogs themselves - they are not an easy breed type to manage for a lot of people and often end up recycling through shelters multiple times, or on the end of a chain in the backyard, or being used as a bait dog, or being euthanized after they’ve bitten or mauled or killed someone. There is no need for these breeds anymore for the purposes for which human beings originally bred them; it would be the kindest for them and the safest for society if we extinguished the breeds altogether. But, freedumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Pitbull mix looks 100% Pitbull to me.The rescue said he is a mix of a , which made us feel a safer, I have to admit. They said he was part foxhound. But who knows? When he was really little, his ears looked big and we thought that is where we are going to see the Foxhound. He had not other characteristic that we could see that looked foxhound like. Well he grew into his ears and now looks literally like the dog on the wikipedia page for American Pit Bull. It could actually be a photo of him there is such a likeness.

We're not giving him back because he seems sweet and we have had him almost a year now, but I'd be disappointed if the shelter just said "pit bull mix" to get him adopted. We're afraid to do the Wisdom panel because if it shows purebred pit that could have implications on things I'm told like insurance or in places with BSL.

But is it possible the shelters are just sitting around saying, "pit-bull lab mix" or "pit bull hound mix" based on no real knowledge of the dog's background?

Most of the time shelters do not actually know the lineage of the dogs that come in. They will either go with what the surrendering individual told them or take their best guess based on appearance. They aren't going to know and cannot be expected to know with any certainty what the breed makeup of an available puppy is.

Exactly this! When we adopted our puppy from the shelter we were told he was a cocker spaniel. He ended up being a pit/hound mix. Luckily, I didn't care either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Pitbull mix looks 100% Pitbull to me.The rescue said he is a mix of a , which made us feel a safer, I have to admit. They said he was part foxhound. But who knows? When he was really little, his ears looked big and we thought that is where we are going to see the Foxhound. He had not other characteristic that we could see that looked foxhound like. Well he grew into his ears and now looks literally like the dog on the wikipedia page for American Pit Bull. It could actually be a photo of him there is such a likeness.

We're not giving him back because he seems sweet and we have had him almost a year now, but I'd be disappointed if the shelter just said "pit bull mix" to get him adopted. We're afraid to do the Wisdom panel because if it shows purebred pit that could have implications on things I'm told like insurance or in places with BSL.

But is it possible the shelters are just sitting around saying, "pit-bull lab mix" or "pit bull hound mix" based on no real knowledge of the dog's background?

Most of the time shelters do not actually know the lineage of the dogs that come in. They will either go with what the surrendering individual told them or take their best guess based on appearance. They aren't going to know and cannot be expected to know with any certainty what the breed makeup of an available puppy is.

Exactly this! When we adopted our puppy from the shelter we were told he was a cocker spaniel. He ended up being a pit/hound mix. Luckily, I didn't care either way.

Let the pits die in the shelter. Adopt from a rescue that has non dangerous dogs.

[Anonymous]

I believe the term is "staffie"

[Anonymous]

I just don’t understand why shelters are so willing to adopt out pit mixes. I think the should all be euthanized. A neighbor last month walked her two pit mixes and she couldn’t control them as she passed a home where a poodle was napping on a porch. The pit bull mixes pulled so hard they broke free and killed the poodle. The lady with the pitbull mixes then hid her dogs.

We tried to adopt a dog from a shelter but the vast majority were all pit bulls or pit mixes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meanest dog I ever fostered was a tiny chihuahua. Pit bull, one of the sweetest.

All dogs are individuals.

This is an utterly ridiculous statement that ignores science and thousands of years of specialized breeding and human intervention in dog breed development. You will never breed two poodles and end up with a great dane, or have a pug that can compete with a sheltie in agility. Humans created dog breeds for a reason, and have been able to reliably predict the behaviors of most dog breeds.

What expertise do you have with dogs? I don't claim to be an expert but I have fostered about 50. FIFTY. you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand why shelters are so willing to adopt out pit mixes. I think the should all be euthanized. A neighbor last month walked her two pit mixes and she couldn’t control them as she passed a home where a poodle was napping on a porch. The pit bull mixes pulled so hard they broke free and killed the poodle. The lady with the pitbull mixes then hid her dogs.

We tried to adopt a dog from a shelter but the vast majority were all pit bulls or pit mixes.

Perhaps your irresponsible neighbor should have muzzled her dogs, perhaps she should have walked them one at a time, perhaps she should have trained her dogs better, perhaps there should be more legal repercussions for irresponsible dog owners. None of that is breed specific, none of it has anything to do with a shelter adoption and none of it is the dogs' fault.

[Anonymous]

If you go to the local shelter, almost all dogs are either pitbulls or pb mixes. It is so heartbreaking to see those dogs there and nobody much wanting to adopt big dog.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps your irresponsible neighbor should have muzzled her dogs, perhaps she should have walked them one at a time, perhaps she should have trained her dogs better, perhaps there should be more legal repercussions for irresponsible dog owners. None of that is breed specific, none of it has anything to do with a shelter adoption and none of it is the dogs' fault.

I can't believe you say this with seriousness. Genetics absolutely influence behavior. Decades to centuries of breeding for specific behavioral, never mind physical, traits leads to.....specific generally predictable traits. Are there variants & outliers, of course. It's also a spin of the roulette wheel when you mix breeds as to what traits will manifest. Sorry but political correctness that is so valued by the human species, does not transfer to the canine.