@jfunk As a responsible pit bull owner who has had to deal with that pesky lab or retriever all teeth and snarls charging at my leashed pit bull; I would encourage you to tread softly when you use a specific breed as your negative example thank you.
You are correct JessicaRabbit any breed of dog can play the roll of the vicious dog causing problems in the scenario I layed out above. That said, just because you are a responsible Pit owner dosn't meen that are (just as with any breed), but unfortutly its sad fact that pits make a the largest percentage of dog breed in shelters, lending credence to the the view that the pit owner population must also contain the most unresponsible owners. Kudos to you for being one of the responsible pit owners and showing the world that steriotypes are far from all ways being corrcet. Lol for the purpose of the above mention scenario it could just as easily be a Silky or a chiuaua.
@jfunk Also know that the reason pit bulls are the largest population in shelters is multi-layered.
First and foremost pit bull is NOT a breed, it is a classification created by politicians. Included in the pit bull classification are the following breeds: American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Bull Terrier, English Bull Terrier, Cane Corso, Presa Canario, Dogo Argentino, Cao Fila Sao Miguel (I could go on). That kind of expands the breed. Imagine how large the population would be if we classified all retrieving dogs as one breed?
Second, when people continue to propagate this stereotype the wrong people are going to continue to be drawn to these dogs. If they are painted as the dog of choice for tough guys and as you stated "thugs" then why would any family want to have one of these dogs. Sure Helen Keller had two, so did Bing Crosby, Thomas Edison, The Little Rascals. Sure the APBT was the first dog to receive a Military award for valor, and has one of the highest ratings in temperament testing Breed Name Tested Passed Failed Percent American Pit Bull Terrier 804 695 109 86.4% American Staffordshire Terrier 627 528 99 84.2% Staffordshire Bull Terrier 117 105 12 89.7%
FYI Golden Retriever 764 649 115 84.9%
Clearly the issues ISN'T the dog, perhaps we need to start looking on the other end of the leash.
And considering cities like Denver are literally taking family pets from peoples homes (regardless of whether they have committed ANY wrong-doing, but because their family pet was a "pit bull type dog") and KILLED them. I will stand up say something when anyone continues to paint my family member as something they are not.
Pit bull type dogs are the largest population of dogs in the country, not just in shelters, and every day you don't hear of the MILLIONS of pit bulls, who are service dogs, therapy dogs, or just plain devoted companions. It is much more newsworthy to portray them as snarling hell beasts. They did it to German Shepherds in the 50's-70's and to Dobermans, and to Bloodhounds in the 1800's.
The above situation could have just as easily said "that pesky random off-leash dog that some numbskull just lets out without supervision to do it business"
@JessicaRabbit you are 100% correct on all accounts there, and I am sorry for any damage I have done anyones perception of pits. In the same post that this conversation originated from I spoke to shibamistress about pre-conveived notions, so to make the above mentioned statement was a double failure on my part. If you would have read up though you would have seen that I had alread edited and fixed the statement in conflict before your last post.
for some reason when I click edit, make my change, and then click save comment it is not reflecting the changes I make. I tried to insert (dog breed x) inplace of pit
Back on topic. Toki plays "fetch"....in his own way. He will do it a few times then get bored. Or he will have other ideas that don't involve fetch. I did not teach him this, except for the drop part. Which, I'm not convinced he really knows "drop" entirely.
Comments
First and foremost pit bull is NOT a breed, it is a classification created by politicians. Included in the pit bull classification are the following breeds: American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Bull Terrier, English Bull Terrier, Cane Corso, Presa Canario, Dogo Argentino, Cao Fila Sao Miguel (I could go on). That kind of expands the breed. Imagine how large the population would be if we classified all retrieving dogs as one breed?
Second, when people continue to propagate this stereotype the wrong people are going to continue to be drawn to these dogs. If they are painted as the dog of choice for tough guys and as you stated "thugs" then why would any family want to have one of these dogs. Sure Helen Keller had two, so did Bing Crosby, Thomas Edison, The Little Rascals. Sure the APBT was the first dog to receive a Military award for valor, and has one of the highest ratings in temperament testing
Breed Name Tested Passed Failed Percent
American Pit Bull Terrier 804 695 109 86.4%
American Staffordshire Terrier 627 528 99 84.2%
Staffordshire Bull Terrier 117 105 12 89.7%
FYI
Golden Retriever 764 649 115 84.9%
Clearly the issues ISN'T the dog, perhaps we need to start looking on the other end of the leash.
And considering cities like Denver are literally taking family pets from peoples homes (regardless of whether they have committed ANY wrong-doing, but because their family pet was a "pit bull type dog") and KILLED them. I will stand up say something when anyone continues to paint my family member as something they are not.
Pit bull type dogs are the largest population of dogs in the country, not just in shelters, and every day you don't hear of the MILLIONS of pit bulls, who are service dogs, therapy dogs, or just plain devoted companions. It is much more newsworthy to portray them as snarling hell beasts. They did it to German Shepherds in the 50's-70's and to Dobermans, and to Bloodhounds in the 1800's.
The above situation could have just as easily said "that pesky random off-leash dog that some numbskull just lets out without supervision to do it business"
Toki plays "fetch"....in his own way. He will do it a few times then get bored. Or he will have other ideas that don't involve fetch.
I did not teach him this, except for the drop part. Which, I'm not convinced he really knows "drop" entirely.