this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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A few years back we adopted a 100lb pit who was rescued from a dog fighting ring. He was evidently very sweet from the beginning, but extremely protective of my wife. We could be sitting next to eachother and laugh a little too hard and it would set him off.
There were a few times in the beginning where he came at me with murder in his eyes and I'd have to pin him down and pop a leash on so I could put some space between us. We got one of those poles that helped a lot. I'm a buck 30 dripping wet with no training of any sorts and at the time was constantly drunk, yet it was simple enough to figure out how to take control of the situation while minimizing harm to anyone involved. He definitely got a little banged up, I bled a time or two, but at the end of the day we were both alive.
I can't imagine the incompetence, cowardice, and utter disregard for life that it takes to shoot a dog. Get fucking bit, distract it so someone else can gain control, don't be a fucking pussy.
Dogs kill people. It’s not always 2 adults, one dog. Sometimes it’s 2 dogs, one woman or one child. The victim could be the dog’s owner, or it could be someone out for a walk and two strange dogs on the loose.
I totally get that, I've been horrified of dogs since I got my arm tore up when I was in high school and almost lost my hand stupididly try to save a pug from a German Shepard on the loose by throwing my arm in the middle. That shit is horrifying. Why I decided I wanted a giant pitbull when I couldn't walk past a poodle without taking my eyes off it? Who knows.
But in a case where there's multiple "trained" cops and animal control on the scene. I think the cops stand a good change to walk away with nothing more than a couple puncture wounds and a restrained dog instead of a dead one. I can definitely see situations where you have to shoot it, I don't think this was one of those situations.
Pit bulls are a menace. They are not a fully domesticated breed and should require a license to own.
We have a pitbull and a beagle. When my son was born our pit would protect our son from the beagle. Beagle hated our son for the first year and would show teeth if he got too close. Our pit would stand in between them, theyve fought a few times and our beagles still alive. I've seen him gently take my beagles toys away from my son then bring him something else to play with.
My wifes whole family has little dogs and they're all awful with kids and aggressive. My pitpull gets protective of the house when people come over but all it takes is a little reassurance that we're all safe, I went over my sister in laws a while ago and her dog was snapping at all the kids there within 5 minutes.
Pit bulls are absolutely wonderful, the issue is the people who realize that they could rip a leg off and treat them like shot, or they don't realize and still treat them like shit.
Not generalizing small dogs or saying all big dogs are peaceful monks, but every pit I've seen that wasn't actively being used in fighting or as a guard dog has just been a goofy teddy bear for the most part.
The issue with pitbulls is once that aggression switch is flipped, it's flipped. There is no calming them down and once they latch onto something, short of incapacitating them or shoving smelling salts up their nose, they aren't letting go until whatever they're biting is dead or has stopped moving.
Most pitbulls that are raised right can go their whole lives without that switch ever being triggered and will never hurt a fly. Most privately owned big cats (pumas, leopards, etc.) are the same way when raised right and go their whole lives without hurting anyone. But we consider big cats raised this way tame, not domesticated, and require licenses for those who choose to own them.
Why? Because they are still a dangerous animal who's aggression towards people/other animals has not been fully bred out of them. If they attack, there's no calming them down. And it only takes one incident to turn things into a nightmare. People who choose to own them should be aware of that and prepared for the dangers. And the danger is great enough to others that they should be regulated and controlled, not just freely allowed to any idiot that thinks they're a cool pet.
Pitbulls are not domesticated. They can be tamed, they can be trained, but that potential for uncontrolled aggression is not gone. There is a concern and a danger with them that you just don't have to worry about with breeds like a Golden Retriever or a Labrador. Other aggressive dogs like German Shepherds or Rottweilers will typically listen to their owners and disengage from an attack, or at least can be pulled off of their victims. But not Pitbulls. They will latch on and continue to maul their prey until one of them stops moving.
Pit bulls are domesticated animals selectively bred by humans. They are domestic canines and are, in fact, the same species as all other domestic canines, canis lupus familiaris. Is your claim that no canine is domesticated? Changing the meaning of words to try and make a point only makes your entire statement dubious.
There are so many stories of pitbulls being great and perfect companions until one day something sets them off (a new person, a smell, a movement) and they get laser-focused on attacking something or someone, ignoring every thing else around them. They are so strong and can easily overpower people.
I like dogs and I like pitbulls, but I would never adopt one.
I do agree that people should be more responsible, but I think that includes all dogs in general. I've seen plenty of dogs who don't listen to a thing their owners say when they get locked into something, pitbulls included. And there seems to have been a stereotype of your average pit owner being on the more irresponsible side.
This is anectodal, but my guy had a lot of issues with animals in the yard, he killed a few snakes and would damn near try to break out of the window if he saw a rabbit I'm the garden. We did a couple weeks with a dog trainer last year and now he still loses it at the rabbits in the garden, but it only takes one word to get him to stop barking and sit down. He'll whine at the window for an hour and wants to keep checking but he's more than under control. When he finds a snake in the yard he'll bark like crazy but won't go within 5 feet of it anymore unless it comes to close to one of us, and then still it only takes one word to get him to retreat.
On the flip side my neighbor has a big golden doodle (I think, it's of those generic family dogs) who is absolutely wonderful, off leash constantly and will always listen to her owner, her recall is phenomenal. Unless she gets locked on something, she hates squirrels and cats, and so far has unfortunately killed at least one squirrel and one of the neighborhood cats. I was out there when she got the cat and even for that sweet well behaved dog who "wpuldnt hurt a fly" there was absolutely no stopping her and when she was done with the cat she went into kill mode looking for something else,. She ended up biting her owner while he tried pin her down and get her in the house. But she's a good breed, so no one is worried about her.
I think the issues your laying out are valid, but not strictly to pits. If my neighbor had a pit instead of a golden doodle that pit would've been taken away and the neighbors would throw a fit. If I had a golden doodle it wouldn't be worth telling you about.
It's not the breed, it's the owner.