I've volunteered at Town Lake Animal Shelter exclusively with the dogs and have done dog walks through mobile apps as a side hustle and extra exercise. My experience are small dogs are the worst to deal with. No, they won't kill you, but you got a lot of shitty owners that think because their dog is small, it doesn't need behavior training. So I've personally been bitten hard by small dogs just trying to put a leash on them. You can tell they're the type of small dog that only listens to their owner and only some of the time. Give me a hyper pittie puppy that will try and pull me on the leash for a 20 minute walk only to get fatigued after about 10 minutes after trying to move me around at it's leisure. I'm a hard person to budge even for your bigger energetic dogs and they all wear out eventually. May not walk the longest distance just trying to work on correcting behavior, but they'll still get to go potty and will still burn energy trying to pull me around like a sled snagged against something all without using negative reinforcement. The pitties at the animal shelter in my experience have been extremely hyper, but also extremely sweet. I'll still get my injuries like minor cuts from the claws on their paws underneath my t-shirt when jumping up to try and get me to play with them but I've never felt in danger around any pittie by myself. The dogs with reports of attacks on other dogs generally are kept separate and tested for rabies to see if that could be the cause, but otherwise still get attention from humans where they won't attack. The worst are the dogs that have been beaten so savagely from the previous owner that dropped them off, they won't even move from their corner of their little cage and takes multiple visits for many minutes at a time just to gain their trust that you just want to pat them on the head and be around them and not beat them to mold them into some some guard dog. I'm kind of in the minority camp with dobro that really it's the owners who are a reflection of their dog and emulate their behavior. Pitties are incredibly sweet dogs that I love. The problem is when you get potential owners that want a pitbull because they think it makes them look hard and actually like it's aggression as a puppy instead of putting in the work to train it. At the same time I also agree with people that say you shouldn't trust a dog that approaches your dog off leash and assume things are going to go well. I mean, it's easy to read dog behavior when it's just looking to sniff and say hello compared to not. If you got a small dog on a walk, pick it up and turn your back to the unwelcome dog. Dogs are far less likely to attack a person than a dog so acting as shield to your little dog is going to protect it. If walking a bigger dog you can't lift out of reach from an unwelcome one, make your leash taut so your dog(s) are on one side of your body which is shielding them from the unwelcome dog off leash on the other side of your body. Dogs have an estimated intelligence of roughly a 2 to 3 year old toddler but still with dog logic attached to it. I just think to myself when dealing with any dog, would I be an ******* to a little **** still in diapers even if it's misbehaving? No? Then why would I treat this dog any differently.
I have a pit and whenever I've walked her and there was another person walking their dog, because of the stigma surrounding the breed, I would move out the pathway so there's no conflict. Not a big deal. Even if it's just a person walking by themselves. Plus it gives me a built in excuse to not interact with people lol works out great
Maybe I should be angry for people putting words in my mouth. I never said that the physical traits of a large breed are not dangerous. Pit bulls were literally bred to have a strong enough jaw to pull down a Bull. That's a dangerous F-ing weapon in the wrong hands. I'm literally talking about THE DOGS themselves though. Their nature, and the way they behave. If you don't care to learn about that, and only see their physical traits as their personalities then so be it. Sorry that this is so hard to comprehend. Every dog in my experience is the same. They need to be part of a pack, they need to know they are not the pack leader/alpha, they need structure, exercise, rules, socialization, and affection. A pit bull reacts nearly the same as a Westie given the training they've had, and their owners structure in their lifestyle. Almost identical in their personalities. COMPLETELY different physical traits. And I totally disagree that small dogs cannot be dangerous. I've seen far too many Chihuahuas that have zero training, think they are the alpha, and bite little kids in a way that could serious hurt a young child. So I repeat... all dogs and dog owners need to be trained. Especially large breeds, and pit bulls and other large breeds should be regulated like any other industry that distributes tools that are dangerous in the wrong hands. Also I was attacked by a German Shepard as a little child. I know that if it was a Yorkie that attacked me it wouldn't be nearly as dangerous of a situation. But with what I know about training dogs for years is that the Yorkie and the German Shepard probably would react nearly the same in any given situation if they were trained the same. But yes... completely different consequences. Worst case scenario could be the death of a small child, and the worst case scenario with a Yorkie would be stitches. I'm not an idiot guys.
I'm not blaming anyone. As I said I was attacked by a German Shepard as a small child. It wasn't my fault. However I'm talking about the nature of a dog, and why they would bite someone, or lunge at someone they walk by, or why they get excited, or why they ignore that person/dog. It's not your fault that you have to think about training yourself, and your dog to react to bad owners/their dogs, but I just think it's better to be safe than sorry. I've also trained my child on how to react where if she was playing in the yard and a dog came running after her what she should do. And I come back to the dog walking/crossing paths with another dog situation. In the dog universe they are pack animals, and that is a situation where IN THEIR MINDS, one pack is crossing another pack. They aren't humans that have natural reactions to be neighborly. Their natural reaction is territorial and protective of their pack. If they believe they are the alpha of their pack, and they cross another pack in a walk in their minds, they need to react. This could be a pit bull that in another situation lays down next to a cat, and toddlers, and is perfectly harmless in any other situation. But it's the walk that creates a scenario where a Pit Bull who IS NOT TRAINED WELL, and think they are the alpha could snap at another dog/person on a walk because of the nature of the walk itself.
Its not just that they disproportionally attack, they also do WAY more damage when they DO attack. Even if the attack doesn't result in a fatality, they often result in serious injuries that can last a lifetime.
We took in a pit bull from my cousin when I lived close to Ft Worth. She was a sweet dog, high energy...and a total psycho when she was scared, especially when a thunderstorm would roll through the area. I took to putting her in the most interior closet when that would happen and after a couple of times she would pace around until I did it when a storm could be heard in the distance. I also saw her scale a six foot fence when there was thunder. It was like a movie, almost unbelievable to watch. She was very high energy and would get worked up to a point where she would nip my hand when I was throwing her toys for her. When we decided to move back to Houston, I told my cousin that I couldn't take her with us. There was no way in hell I could keep her down here with the crazy thunderstorms we get constantly. A few months after we left my cousin's husband sent me a picture of the wall she chewed through when they left her closed in a room when they were gone and a thunderstorm came through. The moral of the story is that different breeds have different dispositions and pits are high energy and easily excitable and will take a lot of training and structure to keep in check, so going off of the thread topic and other comments, if they're just a trophy they're going to be trouble.
Yeah but that's the point. There are plenty of people who simply just do not gaf about what the dog is thinking and why, and they shouldn't have to. If you decide to own a dog then it's on you to be responsible for it. Going back to the OP, if someone clearly doesn't want to associate with you or your dog and goes out of their way to make that clear, why would you have the audacity to force the issue. Like b**** gtf away from me... you get what I'm saying?
Of course they shouldn’t have to be a dog whisperer, but i just personally believe every dog owner needs basic training. You are absorbing another life into your family. For the dogs well being and your own benefit I think it’s important to be fair to them to have some basic understanding of their nature. Understanding the importance of walking your dog and how you walk your dog is sort of dog training 101. The walk is the basis for establishing those rules of your pack.
I got a crappy neighbor with three dogs he leaves out almost 24/7 that bark incessantly at NOTHING and have knocked over several fence boards/the fence is leaning from them constantly jumping on it.
What about people walking through the neighborhood with no pet who come across the same situation? Should they have "training" too?
You literally said this. They're ****ing dangerous as hell dude. You come across as some myopic dog trainer who thinks dogs don't have a mind of their own and can't reject your commands whenever they want. Pit bulls are not dangerous but Chihuahuas are... next on Geraldo.
No. If you don't own a dog, I would expect that you don't have dog training. If people who don't have dogs and don't want dogs want to still train their children how to react if a dog interacts with them that they think could be a threat, I think that's a good idea, but that's up to them. Again.. if you own a dog, regardless of breed, I think training is a good thing. This isn't that complicated.
How many times do I have to explain it to you? Their personality & their nature are one thing. There physical abilities are what is dangerous. THAT is what I was referencing. You are clearly smart enough to know that and are still for some reason trying to egg this on, and carry on some personal vendetta that apparently you have against dog trainers. The pit bull physical traits are what is a dangerous weapon that a bad owner can abuse, and be a danger to their social surroundings. No dog should be bred for those physical traits to be pets in a normal neighborhood. However the ones that are still alive aren't naturally born to be evil sociopathic murdering monsters who need to be euthanized at mass. The ones that are alive now, need to be well trained in stable well experienced scenarios... which is why I've had more than one myself. I prefer Rottweilers who are my favorite breed (even though I strongly am against buying a pure bred and will only rescue) but Pit Bulls are really good dogs if trained well, and are trained to be the the beta in their pack. However, yes... there are far too many people who are not equipped to train a pit bull so yes they are dangerous under those bad owners. This is just such a weird attack on people who care about dogs, especially dogs that get abused and euthanized unnecessarily more than any other dog I know of. Sorry not sorry.
I don't think anyone is really arguing against this. The issue I (and I think others) have with your posts in this thread is that the OP brings up a situation where a "crappy" owner did something stupid, and you're like - "Well if you and your dog had training ya'll would have reacted better." That's like saying "WELL IF YOU HAD SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING YOU WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN MUGGED!!!!!" I mean... NO ****. While it's not wrong it comes off as abrasive.
So the guy who plans to rob the store DOESN'T put his mask up the only time in 100 years it's appropriate to wear a mask. Criminals are idiots, every time.
Maybe it does if you don’t understand that I’m talking about the nature of the canine world and walking in a pack crossing another pack. In the nature of the dog world you can trigger another dog to react in a way that you think is an attack (when in reality it’s a territorial reaction) by the way you walk by another dog and their owner yes. No it’s not your fault and yes the other dog owner is in the wrong for not having the training to correct their dog that reacts to your pack. Sorry if that seems offensive but it’s the truth about dogs and the nature of going on walks. It’s not just a stroll for them even if it is for us.
