Bite by three dogs...what to do?

[pgellis]

Ben, you are correct.

David took some statistics that he Googled to try and make his point. Pit Bulls are the most mis-identified breed out there. The term "Pit Bull" is actually a catch-all phrase for many "Bully Breeds" including American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Bulldog and many mixes of these breeds with other breeds.

I'm sure the stats that David took lumped many mixed breed dogs into his 64% of attacks by Pit Bulls, but when he said that Pit Bulls only make up 6% of all breeds, I'm sure that number relates to American Pit Bull terriers that only make up a small percentage of all the dogs that are termed a "pit bull".
Law enforcement and the media continue to mis-identify the true breed of most dogs involved in attacks.

My pit-mix came from a high-kill shelter in Georgia where every dog in that shelter was labeled a "Pit Bull" on their information sheet. It was just easier for the over-worked employees to label every mixed breed dog a pit bull.

I said that David's response was ignorant because it's obvious that he doesn't have any experience at all with "Pit Bulls". Educated yourself before you make such a blanket statement. I have owned my dog for almost three years and I also volunteer on weekends at a shelter dedicated to finding homes for pit bulls. I would include myself in the "ignorant" category too before my experience with these wonderful dogs. But I have learned so much about these dogs.

So according to Dave, he would want me and Ben to euthanize our pets because "they should all be euthanized"......how ignorant.

[packs]

Wow these pitbull posts blow my mind. Are either of you guys aware that pitbulls make up the majority of dogs available for adoption at shelters? So it could be that this person rescued the pitbull and adopted a dog someone had thrown away or abused. If saving a poor dog's life means you have "less than a full deck of cards" then so be it. Have you ever owned or known a pitbull? What was your experience? I have many friends who have adopted pits and they're all sweethearts, a direct reflection of their owners.

Also any dog is dangerous in theory. Your POV that pitbulls are some ubiquitous bad guy dog is misguided. Those collies bit someone too, remember?

[BicycleSpokes]

I do not know the accuracy of the statistics quoted by David above. But even the pro pit bull articles I have read will generally acknowledge a disproportionate attack rate for these breeds. While this is usually CORRELATED to poor ownership, it is enough information for me personally to choose not to own one.

For the record, I do not place myself in the "euthanize all pit bulls" camp, and am sure most, including yours pictured above, are very nice. But the specific case being discussed here involves a clearly dangerous group of dogs, the most aggressive described as being the pit bull. Why argue that this neither reflects on the dog nor the specific owner who has seemingly raised it?

[packs]

I think the attack rate is really only a reflection of the fact that pits are most often trained to attack either other dogs or humans by their owners. I would imagine that the attack rates for German Shepherds and Dobermans are equally high amongst all dog breeds for the same reasons.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by pgellis

My pit-mix came from a high-kill shelter in Georgia where every dog in that shelter was labeled a "Pit Bull" on their information sheet. It was just easier for the over-worked employees to label every mixed breed dog a pit bull.

I said that David's response was ignorant because it's obvious that he doesn't have any experience at all with "Pit Bulls". Educated yourself before you make such a blanket statement. I have owned my dog for almost three years and I also volunteer on weekends at a shelter dedicated to finding homes for pit bulls. I would include myself in the "ignorant" category too before my experience with these wonderful dogs. But I have learned so much about these dogs.

So according to Dave, he would want me and Ben to euthanize our pets because "they should all be euthanized"......how ignorant.

Same story here. My wife and I volunteer at a no kill shelter, and a majority of the dogs they pick up are pit mixes of some sort, because those are the ones that get abandoned the most. We also foster dogs to help them find homes, since some get more stressed in a shelter environment then others.

We have 4 in our house right now. 2 ours and 2 from the shelter. Pitties being a very broad stroke breed, they are all different from each other, in both appearance and temperament.

Some pits can be a challenge to work with and other are an absolute breeze. They can be as vastly different from one another as people.

I'd like to think we're not nutcases, but that's for other people to figure out on their own.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Phil was wrong this post is much stupider than the one he quoted because this one also has some made up statistics.

Well, Einstein, enilghten us then. What are the REAL statistics?

Originally Posted by pgellis

David took some statistics that he Googled to try and make his point.

Are you disputing the accuracy of the statistics?

[pgellis]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Well, Einstein, enilghten us then. What are the REAL statistics?




Are you disputing the accuracy of the statistics?

Did you read what I stated? Yes, I am disputing the accuracy of your stats. I stated that law enforcement and the media have inaccurately labeled dogs involved in attacks as "pit bulls", so your numbers are off. Did law enforcement or the media do a proper DNA test on these dogs? No they didn't.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Yes, I did read your post. It sounded like this...

Originally Posted by pgellis

blah, blah, blah...

Sure, your dog is different. It would never attack. It's a loving family pet that is good with kids, right?

Save it. I hear the same old story every time a pit bull attacks.

The statistics I quoted are facts from non-biased sites that have no agenda. You clearly have an agenda since you are a pit bull owner.

Why do dog fighters (ummm...Michael Vick, Edward Faron) choose pit bulls? Why not dachsaunds? Why not poodles? Why? Because pit bulls are the most vicious breed of dog there is.

[packs]

And did you read what I posted? Your stats are artificially inflated even if accurate. Pit bulls are trained to fight other dogs and humans by their owners at a disproportionate rate compared to other breeds. The key phrase here is trained to fight by their owners. They choose pit bulls because they are plentiful and cheap. How much does your average dachshund run?

What you're saying is no different than me saying that boxers get into more fights than your average person, therefore boxers are inherently more violent and prone to fights. That would be a misleading statement for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that boxers train to fight whereas average people do not.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by packs

Pit bulls are trained to fight other dogs and humans by their owners at a disproportionate rate compared to other breeds. They choose pit bulls because they are plentiful and cheap. How much does your average dachshund run?

They are not chose because they are cheap. That's stupid!

They are chosen because of their aggressive nature.

If you were a dog fighter, do you want the cheap dog or the aggressive dog?



Edited to add: Since you were too lazy to actually do any research, I did it for you. Here is a link to an article about Eddie Faron "The Godfather of Dog Fighting"

http://blog.dogsbite.org/2008/12/ed-...-has-been.html

At the time of his arrest, authorities siezed 127 pit bulls. He claims to have sold the dogs for $500 each, but authorities believe he sold them for $1200-$7500 each. Kind of blows a hole in your 'cheap dogs' theory doesn't it? Anything else ridiculous you want to say?

[packs]

No offense but dachshunds, poodles, and the like are all show dogs. You can fight any dog you want I guess if that's your thing. But if economics is your motivator, why would you buy expensive dogs to have one murder the other?

I don't think what I said is stupid at all. It's practical. You are also avoiding essential facts like that pit bulls are trained for fights by their owners, something you haven't responded to at all. How do you feel about the collies involved?

[pgellis]

Yeah my agenda is to try to educate people about pit bulls and that is the agenda of pro-pitbull websites.

I guess you don't have an agenda do you?

So answer the question Dave.....should Ben, Dave and myself euthanize our pets so you feel better?

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by packs

No offense but dachshunds, poodles, and the like are all show dogs. You can fight any dog you want I guess if that's your thing. But if economics is your motivator, why would you buy expensive dogs to have one murder the other?

I don't think what I said is stupid at all. It's practical. You are also avoiding essential facts like that pit bulls are trained for fights by their owners, something you haven't responded to at all. How do you feel about the collies involved?

I edited my previous post to include financial data about the cost of pit bulls that are trained to fight. Why would you buy expensive dogs to fight? Because there is a lot of money involved with dog-fighting.

So you're saying all pit bull attacks are the result of their owners training the dogs to fight. Ummm, ok.