Post by Strider on Aug 5, 2009 17:27:18 GMT -5
I'm going to try and help dispel some myths about these dogs, I'll try and address whatever happens to come up along with a few points of my own beforehand.
1) Some people believe pitbulls to be inherently violent and vicious dogs from birth, others believe it to be a matter of nurture, not nature.
I myself believe the latter, these dogs are just like any other dog. If you abuse them, they will react like any other breed of dog and become distrustful and aggressive. The media just loves them too much, and many myths have come from this media attention, such as the idea that their jaws "Lock." They are the same as any other dogs.
www.dogwatch.net/myths/lock_jaw.html
2) They also make terrible guard dogs unless violently forced (like any other dog could be) because violence towards humans was bred right out of them. Referees in dog fights sometimes had to separate two fighting dogs, any dog that attacked a referee was culled.
3) Most 'pitbulls' (in reference to the actual American Pit Bull Terrier) are misidentified.
www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
(See for yourself, can you find the pitbull? This is one of many tests you can find with a simple google search.)
There are several breeds that look very similar, and rarely are attacks by labs ever reported.
Why is this?
Which is going to grab more attention?
"Labrador attacks young boy" or "Pitbull attacks young boy"?
4) Personally, if you asked me whether I'd trust a pitbull or a chihuahua, I'd say the pitbull.
I'd be more worried about the small dogs because sometimes they can be spoiled. People tend to encourage aggressiveness in small dogs.
If a big dog gets aggressive, people are on it RIGHT AWAY. But if the little fluffy chihuahua is growling people have a tendency to say "Aww its trying to look tough."
And then people have a tendency to bring those little dogs up near their faces and throats.
5) All the regulations will affect is the responsible owners, making their lives and their dogs' life hell. People who have them for the worse reasons obviously aren't going to follow the law because dogfighting is illegal anyway.
The people owning the dogs for fighting are just going to move on to a new breed. Years ago people were complaining about Rottweilers and Dobermans. Every time you ban, they just switch. Soon we'll only be able to own little shih tzus and poodles.
6) Animals don't attack for no reason.
If you make an animal, any animal, feel scared or threatened it will attack. If you corner a little bunny rabbit and make it feel threatened it'll bite you.
Children can be terrible to animals and for the sake of both the dog and the child, a child should never be left unsupervised with any dog. There was once a dog that was put down for attacking a child, and it was only later they discovered a pencil shoved into his ear.
7) Pitbulls are actually more tolerant of harassment than many other breeds. They were bred for a high pain tolerance, so they will put up with a lot more tail pulling/ear pulling/eye poking from the aforementioned children.
IMO, it's little more than racism in canine form. [data]thanks for reading and please post what you think
1) Some people believe pitbulls to be inherently violent and vicious dogs from birth, others believe it to be a matter of nurture, not nature.
I myself believe the latter, these dogs are just like any other dog. If you abuse them, they will react like any other breed of dog and become distrustful and aggressive. The media just loves them too much, and many myths have come from this media attention, such as the idea that their jaws "Lock." They are the same as any other dogs.
www.dogwatch.net/myths/lock_jaw.html
2) They also make terrible guard dogs unless violently forced (like any other dog could be) because violence towards humans was bred right out of them. Referees in dog fights sometimes had to separate two fighting dogs, any dog that attacked a referee was culled.
3) Most 'pitbulls' (in reference to the actual American Pit Bull Terrier) are misidentified.
www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
(See for yourself, can you find the pitbull? This is one of many tests you can find with a simple google search.)
There are several breeds that look very similar, and rarely are attacks by labs ever reported.
Why is this?
Which is going to grab more attention?
"Labrador attacks young boy" or "Pitbull attacks young boy"?
4) Personally, if you asked me whether I'd trust a pitbull or a chihuahua, I'd say the pitbull.
I'd be more worried about the small dogs because sometimes they can be spoiled. People tend to encourage aggressiveness in small dogs.
If a big dog gets aggressive, people are on it RIGHT AWAY. But if the little fluffy chihuahua is growling people have a tendency to say "Aww its trying to look tough."
And then people have a tendency to bring those little dogs up near their faces and throats.
5) All the regulations will affect is the responsible owners, making their lives and their dogs' life hell. People who have them for the worse reasons obviously aren't going to follow the law because dogfighting is illegal anyway.
The people owning the dogs for fighting are just going to move on to a new breed. Years ago people were complaining about Rottweilers and Dobermans. Every time you ban, they just switch. Soon we'll only be able to own little shih tzus and poodles.
6) Animals don't attack for no reason.
If you make an animal, any animal, feel scared or threatened it will attack. If you corner a little bunny rabbit and make it feel threatened it'll bite you.
Children can be terrible to animals and for the sake of both the dog and the child, a child should never be left unsupervised with any dog. There was once a dog that was put down for attacking a child, and it was only later they discovered a pencil shoved into his ear.
7) Pitbulls are actually more tolerant of harassment than many other breeds. They were bred for a high pain tolerance, so they will put up with a lot more tail pulling/ear pulling/eye poking from the aforementioned children.
IMO, it's little more than racism in canine form. [data]thanks for reading and please post what you think
