tell me all you know about Pit Bull Terriers owners only please not the horror

[CerridwenLorelei]

stories and why they are evil...

What was their original purpose and what does it mean when someone says they are for 'pull" ?

Someone dumped one on us. We think because people confuse pits and boxers often. We are working with the vet to find her a home and fast. I think I may have found a pit rescue (please Goddess) she is very sweet and very very very young.
I had friends that had them in high school and during my first marriage so know a little but not a lot.
Thanks!

[boricuaqueen327]

here is a good link for a pro-pitbull site. they have lots of links to the origin of the breed and what they were bred for.

site

[Girl In The Fire]

What was their original purpose and what does it mean when someone says they are for 'pull" ?

Depending on your sources they were originally bred as pit (fighting) dogs. Many peopel think that becuase they were bred for fighting it means that they are human aggressive, it is not true. Dogmen of the past culled man biters quickly and with out second thought. They simply could not risk going into a ring to seperate to fired up dogs that would potentialy turn on them. Becuase of the heavy culling APBT's should not be aggressive towards humans but some level of dog or animal aggresion is not abnormal. Those that are human aggressive should be euthanized immediatley. People also used/use them as vermin dogs and for hunting. Some sources claim they were used as farm utility dogs as well.

When someone says a dog is for "pull" it is a reference to weight pullling. Weight Pulling is a dog sport where dogs pull large amounts of weight a short distance on special sleds or carts and the dogs use special harnesses. It is not cruel or mean as some people assume and it is a fun positive things for the dog to do.

You can also check out http://www.pbrc.net/home.html there is alot of great info on finding a proper home and links to rescues all over the US

www.pitbullforum.com is good as well for information and to post her in the rescue section.

If you have any other questions let me know...

[Marco Esquandolas]

My Kiley girl was an APBT. She just passed on Wednesday. She was nothing but sweet. She was so good with my 3 boys (my kids). THey did everything to her-pulled her ears, nipples, poked her eyes, rode her like a horse, you name it and they did it to her. She never got upset with them. Not even once, and I'm not exaggerating. She was such a gentle, easy-going soul. They really are people pleasers. They want us to be happy, and they are good companion dogs. They grin too. freakin coolest thing to see a dog grin.

They aren't evil dogs by nature, and are rarely human aggressive. Breeding the bad ones that should have never been bred in the first place is a good amount of how the "bad" ones came to be in the first place, and those are the ones that end up on the news, giving a bad name to all of them. **sigh**

[shannon0218]

Like the others have said, pits were not bred to be human aggresive. Where I see the problems (at least in Canada) is that pit bull ownership attracted some unsavory sorts, this meant that not only was aggression towards humans not culled out, in certain cases it was sought. Because of the "bad rap", people with their hearts in the right places started to rescue the breed. Thats great but again in Canada, it meant that care was NOT being taken to NOT include these lines where human aggression had been sought out and bred for. Pits in Canada are not a recognized breed and as such we have no "good" breeders who are monitoring blood lines and taking care. Basically here, the bad guys are breeding but the good guys are rescuing.

As a trainer in my opinion the number one first and foremost problem with pits is lack of respect for the animal. People are SO enthusiastic about clearing the animal's name that they put blinders on for what these dogs are capable of. They take the love too far. They are convinced that if you love them and put them on your couch they will be the greatest dogs and NEVER have any aggression. However this is a breed that was bred to work. This is a breed that was bred to show aggression to another dog. This is a breed that was bred to NEVER back down, so just like a husky that hasn't been specifically bred to pull in ages will still pull and just like my german shepherds that haven't been bred to herd for decades will still herd, a pit bull will still fight given the right environment. Owners who treat them like super short haired labradors are doing a disservice to the breed and to the dog. Respect needs to be given and shown to a dog's capabilities and his bloodlines. Treating him like a big pussycat does not mean that's what he'll be.
Pits NEED strong leadership, they need to be respected for what they are, they need to be trained and socialized from a VERY early age--just like any other working dog.
Basically, love does not remove the dogs inate drives. I can't love my german shepherd out of herding instinct. I can't love him enough to make him not protective. A beagle owner cannot love the hunt drive out of the dog. A border collie owner can love the herding instinct and ball drive away.

Respect is essential in any breed but especially so in pit bulls and other working breeds.

[Girl In The Fire]

Awww Phishmama I am sorry to hear about your loss. It is hard to loose a good dog and a good friend.

Shannon your post is 100% dead on. Most pit rescues do a great job of being upfront and truthful about the breed and a pros and cons of it... I always cringe when I see a couple local all or mix breed rescues take in and adopt out bull breeds. They usually label them as Boxer mixes and try to play them up as Labs or Goldens... They are probaly great dogs but they are not Labs or Goldens and they should not live in same sex households or go to dog parks or be adopted out to people that think they can love the dog aggression out of them... People like that do as much damage as a the dopehead ghetto morons that breed their human aggro "fighting" dogs that are usually just starved skeletons that could not fight their way out of a paper bag

[CerridwenLorelei]

I wonder about her this dumpee

she took my handicap placard for the car from me and ran to the back door of my car and waited for me like umm helloo what the heck are you waiting for?
and as much as I love my boxers dearly and they are spoiled rotten she has a bit more of the hercule poirot little grey cells going iykwim!

[Michelle_F]

All that I can add is that while most game bred dogs (actual fighting line pits) aren't human aggressive, some of the famous old time pits were notoriously aggressive towards people--alot of money is involved in dogfighting and human aggression was occasionally overlooked if it made money. Zebo and Jeep are two examples who have been linebred upon. So, even in the game bred dogs, it shows up now and again. Most pits you'll see aren't game bred, but rather backyard bred. It's a tribute to the pit generally that they have an unbelievably high success rate in temperment testing. They are typically very stable dogs--which is why alot of novice owners, of the kind that shannon describes, are surprised when they suddenly act like pits when challenged at a dogpark. They are bred to be good at fighting--and I think, like most things an animal is good at--to enjoy it. If they get the opportunity to fight, they might decide they like it--and will then seek it out. The trick seems to be to never allow them to find out if they like it.

Aaron, using Michelle's account...

[Michelle_F]

RE: weight pulling. Weight pulling is scored by percentage of body weight, as well as by total weight pulled. Pits are pound for pound as strong or stronger than any dog. Little pits are used for percentage competition (usually 30# and under) Big pits (often either red or brindle) are used for the higher weight class competition. They're all still pits, mind you, but I'd expect to see more human aggression in the bigger ones than the small ones overall. This is just because the big ones are more impressive and more likely bred for that--and also because some of the big weight pull lines have Dogue de Bordeaux and other stuff in them to make them bigger. This might have the side effect of them being more human aggressive.

Aaron, using Michelle's account...

[CerridwenLorelei]

well it may be moot

she slipped off while we were at dinner last night ( I told dh to get a lead for the back! I have been taking care of mum at hospital and not had time) and neighbor said her grandkids were playing with her and she knocked one down and he got a scratch from the sidewalk and she licked it. Since she licked his face his parents were worried about rabies -which the vet can't give her until after the second amitraz dip. he is going to get the rules on home detention or see if he can get us a price break on the remaining 8 days of detention at the vets. Otherwise we have to just take her in to the vets in the morning and put her down anyway after doing the rescue and starting the treatments.
She should have been crated but I guess dh didn't think to do it ( see what happens when mom isn't home to nag lol )
and I love my neighbor but some of her grandkids are well to be honest they will plunge the knife in your chest while looking you in the eye and saying 'its not me/i am not doing it.."
I guess it is true no good deed goes unpunished and maybe just MAYBE next time dh might LISTEN to me and realize that I just MIGHT know what I am talking about when I say a particular thing needs to be done!

I told the parents I would make sure all drs bills etc got paid and they said it was just a scratch that needed neosporin and a bandaid so I offered to replace any that they had to use...and if something should come of the quarantine (doubtful both the vet and cdc said since the vet has treated her twice already) I would be doing the right thing covering his health costs and any counseling he would need from rabies shots trauma. Which I am pretty sure isn't going to happen. Like the vet said its slim to none she has it but since they called about the slurping we have to follow the book. Better safe than sorry

[shannon0218]

Am I missing something???? Why does the dog need to be quarentined for licking the kid??? Is that actually a law in the US???? Also, especially if it was a lick there is NO reason why you can't home quarentine. That and vaccinating after the fact is like closing the gate after the cows got out, it has ZERO bearing. No doctor in their right mind is going to vaccinate a child against rabies cause a dog licked him, that's so freakin insane it's not even funny.
And why is she being dipped???

[CerridwenLorelei]

because of the scratch he got from the sidewalk and she

licked the scratch on his face (I don't fault my neighbor for worrying in this case since someone dumped this dog but she worries to the extreme end of things and her youngest son who is 40 does the same-they instantly and i do mean instantly imagine the worst case scenario for everything! do not say your chest hurts sitting next to them or you will find yourself in the back of an ambulance being treated for heart attack only to find out your bra strap is too tight)
No its not a law about licking but since the scratch is an open wound and they panicked a lot when I wasn't home last night and called the vet today (we use the same vet) it had to be reported to the health department. Especially since her vax status is in question. The vet still thinks she is not a stray but lost, especially with the placard bit. But no ads for a missing dog, no one has called the shelter or the pd. Anytime anyone says I am worried about rabies its an automatic call to the Health dept. And since she licked an open scratch that she caused its quarantine.
And you would be surprised at some of the country docs that WILL start rabies injections to 'be safe instead of sorry" even before the ten days are up even just for scratches and not bites. Well two of them have retired but I am sure there are some that took their place. Those two started the series before the head ashes results were even back most of the time.


She is being dipped because one of the two things he did find wrong with her when we took her in was puppy mange. Which he said was due to her being malnourished. That the demdantic mites took over since her immune system was not strong.

I disagree with the vet and still think she was dumped on us. Not uncommon in the country. Plus I still think it was a case of people thinking boxers and pits are the same ...