Lady with the rescue street pit here. I fully recognize that if my dog were vicious he could absolutely eviscerate a person. He’s powerful and strong in ways I didn’t realize dogs could be as I only had toy breeds in the past. The same can’t be said of a small dog. If he wants to bite or knock someone over he can and he’s only 65 pounds but it’s all muscle. Fortunately he is a great dog and I did get him a trainer when I knew he’d be staying. Responsible breeding (and personally I think this breed should be eliminated due to their treatment and mishandling) and pet ownership is a must. |
Depends on which dog park |
People may baby and coddle and "spoil" their pets more, but that's not proper training, socialization and handling. Dogs are not purse pets or accessories. |
You sure know a lot of people lol |
It's the same as "a dog that can easily kill another". No dog that's properly controlled and contained will be killing anyone/anything. There's an extraordinarily small margin of error here, and it truly requires multiple system failures. That's what separates a "good owner" from an idiot who lets their dog (any breed) off leash in public, in the public fountain, loose in their yard unsupervised/unattended, etc. and a liability. Fatality should NOT be the metric. I don't want my toddler getting bitten by your chihuahua "emotional support animal" in the grocery store. I don't want someone's "friendly" off-leash lab bowling over my kid at the park. Good owners don't let these things happen. |
It's almost like I've worked with dogs for multiple decades now, innit? |
Eliminate an entire category of dogs instead of eliminating the stupidity of some owners? Nuclear approach. And where are you going to draw that line? An aggressive shepherd, akita, rottie, dobie, bernard, LSD/Maremma, pyrenees, anatolian... hell, even a pissed off border collie could really screw up someone's day! |
Ever watched sheepdog trials? |
I’d argue it’s the same as route spaying and neutering all pets to curb the overpopulation. Are there responsible pet owners yes? The problem is the small minority who aren’t who are causing major issues. The pit breed is abused and discriminated against. It would be in the breeds best interest to not continue. |
But what breed will be the next villain? The small minority of irresponsible jerks is actually pretty easy to track and trace, which means they could be fined and stopped if we had better legislation, permit requirements for breeding dogs (of any kind), etc. As strategies go, "kill off all the pit bulls" isn't reasonable, or feasible, or even likely to solve the problem of stupid backyard breeders, who will simply pick another breed to exploit and overbreed. |
I’m confused about socialization. Seems like people on here say dog parks are bad and every vet, trainer etc agrees (I don’t see that, but whatever). So how does a dog get socialized then? |
Yes, and? |
Capable of causing serious or lethal injury seems like a good metric to me. The chihuahua or border collie is unlikely to kill or maim someone. That’s the thing that you seem to miss. Ime, even ‘good’ owners, ‘ethical’ breeders and ‘well trained’ dogs can make mistakes. I don’t think a pet that can kill or maim someone when a mistake is made should co exist in communities with others. Full stop |
Thank you. The best behaved dogs in the dog class I went to were pit bulls. It used to be Rottweilers, German shepherds, and Dobermans with the rotten reputations, when it's truly the fault of irresponsible dog owners who don't train their dogs and want to have a "badass" dog to intimidate people. Also the fault of unscrupulous breeders who don't breed for temperament, and who sell dogs to idiots. |
I think this person was trying to point out the incredible quickness and agility of a Border collie. |