Right? I guess it's my responsibility to plan my walks (no dog involved) around the pit bull owner walking her dog because the scent of my granddaughter's dog or our cat may be on me. And if the pit bull looked at me I may show some anxiety.
Im not saying that crappy dog owners shouldn’t take better responsibility. As someone who has trained dogs all my life (Rottweilers, pit bulls, etc as well as small dogs), I’m just explaining why a perfectly normal pit bull would react that way to a dog it walks by. Pit bulls behaviors are very similar to a Scotty but with a much much more powerful bite. Also just like I think people who own guns should have minimal training like drivers ed and should be required to have liability insurance, I think that new large breed dog owners should be required to have training and have the dog carried on one of their insurances. Given that there are so many crappy dog owners with large breeds, it’s at the point where it’s smart to teach your kids etc how to handle a situation where you interact with a large breed dog with a crappy owner.
Your closing paragraph is what I took issue with. "You can’t do anything to prevent other people from being bad owners but you can train yourself and your dog effectively to prevent that bad owner and their pit bull from having a negative reaction to your dog." I need to train ME and MY DOG to keep the aggressive dog from negatively reacting to ME and MY DOG.
Many pit bull owners have a complex that they have to PROVE that their little angel baby would never hurt a fly. They let them around small children and dogs with no leash, act like you're the butt when you walk on the other side of the street with your dog, etc. These same owners are shocked, shocked...SHOCKED I tell you...when their sweet baby angel rips the face off a toddler or treats the neighbors small dog as a chew toy. Oh, and most of them either don't realize or don't care that most homeowners policies no longer cover pit bulls.
Post by me on this same subject over 16 years ago!! https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/everyday-idiots.76644/page-2#post-1330518
When you go to the pound/shelter, most of the dogs there are pitbulls. I think it has a lot to do with the breed and also the type of people who get them. Usually people who don't understand the commitment and responsibility of owning any type of dog and how far into the future that ownership extends. They are the ones that think they could own the most dangerous and unpredictable of dogs. It's sad, really. Go into a broke neighborhood and you'll see them loose on the streets. Them and chihuahuas. Had a cousin who would sick his pit on mailmen. He was the type that typically owned pitbulls. Then, I have another cousin who has some giant pits who is the type that needs to prove they're sweet things even though they've killed neighborhood pets and small livestock. Didn't know that that type of pitbull owner was a thing.
My late cousin, RIP, had a Chihuahua he named Dildo. The little beast had a "member" almost as big as he was (thus the name), and was bat **** crazy. He liked to go up to girls and attempt to sexually assault their ankles. My aunt, when she came to visit my cousin, persisted in calling the creature Bilbo. Soon, everyone was calling him Bilbo, except my cousin, his wife and me. None of them, except for my cousin and I, had read the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. My aunt knew what a dildo was, apparently, but not a Hobbit.
