mata leon.. he obviously didnt have it on tight enough or maybe the dog managed to keep a paw in there
Horse feces. I own a pitbull and hes about the nicest dog you'll ever met. I hate all the negative press that pitbulls get. They are great dogs. It all boils down to the owner. You could train poodles to fight and they'll be just as vicious as the stereotype pitbull.
exactly. i own a pitbull as well. she might lick you to death, but i wouldn't worry about a mauling. my wife does dog rescue and we rescue pit bulls all the time, because there are just so many of them due to overbreeding by typically poor, uneducated people - be it for fighting purposes, to look cool, whatever. fact is, pitbulls actually are genetically very athletic pound for pound. its true. they're like the roy jones of dog breeds. but any large dog can mess you up. heck, there really isn't even a pit bull breed. but dogs that fall into that category, and are then on the news in some type of attack, are predominantly unneutered males that have been trained in one way or another to be guard dogs, attack dogs, fight dogs, etc. If it was German Shepherds that were the popular fight/guard dogs of the time, most of the attacks you hear in the news would be about that breed. but all breed talk, and kidding about the situation aside, that was an awesome thing that boy did. As I said, pit bulls can be very strong, and if trained to attack, vicious. the kid definitely deserves some hero status.
I don't think it's ALL about the owner. Maybe it's the training, and maybe it's the type of people that often have them that facilitates such behavior, but they are built in a way that makes them able to do massive harm/kill. A poodle is not. I don't know, but when I see a pitbull running loose in my neighborhood, it concerns me. That said, if I saw ANY big dog of a breed that is known for attacking, it would concern me. Fair to the breed(s)? Maybe not. Blame all those people that DO train them in such ways, and those that can't keep them in check. Seems to happen a lot, and I don't think it's just the media making it up. Focusing on it? perhaps to an extent. Poodle? not so much. Can't say I've heard of any or seen any vicious/deadly poodle attacks. Maybe the media covers them up.
I can make no generalizations about the pit bull breed, and even have a friend or two that swear that they are the sweetest dog around, however, I also know of at least two people that have been attacked by pit bulls. The problem about pit bull attacks is that when they DO attack, they are vicious and strong, and their attacks almost always lead to serious injury. It may be true that they attack no more often than a bichon frise or a poodle, but their attacks are devastating when they do occur, that's what worries me about them. In both examples of pit bull attacks I personally know, both were family owned house dogs that grew up with their families. In both instances they attacked with no provocation, and in both instances they sent people to the hospital. In one case it was a visiting child to the house that the dog did not know, and in another case it was the teenage daughter of a family that had been around the dog for 8 years and had raised it from a puppy. These personal experiences with the breed and the fact that if it DOES attack it WILL do damage makes me very wary of any pit bull that I come across.
You don't think there are inherent genetic tendencies for certain breeds? No physical ailments... but temperament.
I can vouch for poodle attacks. I was attacked by a poodle TWICE when I was a young girl and a few years ago. I still have a bite mark on my leg from that stupid poodle.
Damned media. We can, at least, assume that you survived the encounter, yes? I'm sure all dogs might bite someone in some instances, but comparing poodles to pitbulls and separating them only by "training" seems a bit of a stretch. that's all I meant.
I didn't say lots of poodle attacks happen. Just said that if someone where to take poodles or any other dog and breed them to fight like what some do with pitbulls, you'd have similar results.
What if it was some dude's pet tiger and he was taking the same stance as you? I think in this situation size does matter. And temperament. Why is the assumption always that if a pitbull bites someone it's because someone trained them to fight?
Of course. But all scientific studies actually show pit bulls to rank above average from a temperament perspective. The most commonly sourced study being the fairly comprehensive American Temperament Test Society. http://www.atts.org/statistics.html http://www.nopitbullbans.com/?page_id=31 http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/topic.php?topic=103 among breeds with significant sample size, "pit bulls" rank above average and above Rottweiller's, German Shepherds, etc. And well above other big dogs (Mastiff, Akita, Doberman, etc.) small dog breeds are actually more commonly aggressive. a lot of chinese (chow-chows as an example) and east asian breeds can also be more standoff-ish and unfriendly, as some of them were at least partly originally bred for food as opposed to companionship or tasks. that's not to say there is complete fallacy over pit bull injuries. some things are blown out of proportion. no, there is no such thing as pit bull lock jaw. But, certain statistics definitely DO show, that while all types of breeds bite (again, chow chows show up more than most, really), Rotweillers and Pit Bull attacks generally have contributed to the most fatal attacks. Of course, everyone knows that you have to carefully interpret statistics. it's somewhat dated now (2001), but the below is a good read about how you have to be careful about interpreting statistics and drawing conclusions from them: http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/pdf/AVMA Report.pdf At the end of the day, as someone who is very familiar with the breed and other breeds, it is clear, to me, that there is nothing inherent in a "pit bull" personality or temperament that makes it more dangerous. There are items inherent to their size that do make them more dangerous, but not any more so than any other bigger, athletic breed. And there are most certainly things inherent in the way a number of pit bulls are treated, bred, raised and trained that can make them more dangerous. I am always cautious around dogs that I don't know in general. Everyone should be. I am certainly cautious around dogs that appear aggressive. I don't have kids (yet), but when I do, I'll definitely make sure they know they just can't run up to any dog and try and pet it...or cat, or talk to a stranger, etc. I'll do my best to keep them out of dangerous situations in general, let them know that there are dangerous dogs out there, that by sheer numbers and breeding tendencies, at the current time (and this may change, it wasn't always the pit bull that was the vilified dog of the time) pit bulls have the potential to be very dangerous - whereas a chihuahua may bite them, but it might not hurt so much. see above. it's not necessarily that it is a dog that is trained to fight, but that relative to other breeds, it is scientifically "proven" to be just as unlikely, if not more so, to attack than any other breed - unless raised to do so.
I don't know about the entirety of this either, but it's a good base point. Some people keep tigers (Was it siegfried or roy that got chomped? no matter).. and I'm sure they'd tell you theirs is the sweetest ever. I doubt that house cats, no matter how they might get trained, would have been such a good show, but I'm guessing he'd rather have been bitten by Morris than by that beast, no matter how close they are/were. I'm also guessing that people choose pitbulls as guard dogs or for fighting due to their physical ability, not necessarily their mental temperament, though I don't doubt that is possible too. They are physically potentially threatening. Bottom line. Poodles might be able to be trained as a guard dog, but if given a choice, I'd take my chances with a ninja poodle over a slightly pissed pit bull any day. As for the comparison, again, I don't think you'd see similar results. Amount of attacks? maybe. Severity? I doubt it. I'm agreeing that maybe their temperament isn't necessarily predisposed to be agressive. I emphasize maybe (the above studies seem to be done by those that don't want pitbulls banned). But I'm also saying that those things are tough... and knowing how many people do breed them to be agressive, just seeing one loose makes me concerned. Yes, rottweilers, huskies, chows, and even shepherds would concern me a bit too, but these days, it seems more people are going the pitbull route regarding training dogs to be agressive. All pitbulls? no, but they don't exactly wear signs saying "I'm one of the good ones". I'm a dog fan kinda person, and don't think a ban on pitbulls makes sense... but I don't want one, and when I see my neighbors with one, or worse, see one alone and loose on the street, it does concern me at least a bit, initially.
