Do you think parents are irresponsible for owning pit bulls?

If both you and your husband are the type of people who are able to handle a powerful breed like that and always keep them under your control (always), I think you’ll do OK. But keep Cesar’s phone number handy just in case.

Pitbulls are usually only bad when dumbasses train them to be bad.

I remember one pit bull that I was told was never aggressive, and she’d had two litters when I met her, so she was mature. But I didn’t know her very long.

Your job as a dog owner is to make sure that your dogs are never a threat to your children or anyone else’s children. If you can’t keep that from happening, you shouldn’t own that particular animal. Should a dog owner’s negligence lead to the death of an innocent, that needs to be punished.

I totally agree with all of these answers so far

@Captain_Fantasy If an animal is a threat to any human unprovoked, I think it shouldn’t be owned by anyone… in that case euthanasia should be considered. Some people may think that’s too far, but I think it’s being responsible.

A strong pack leader can lead any other dog in the pack even the pitbull. Be a strong pack leader and the dog will be fine. Many people have pits and children and they are happy healthy families.

Having personally seen what a pit bull can do to a two year old in a few seconds I would be not keep them.

For those that are interested the dog decapitated the child

yes

One of my best friends was roommates with a friend of his who owned a pitbull. This dog was awesome, she was so friendly and fun. She would run up trees; it was crazy to see. They shared the house with a few other friends for at least a year or two.

One day when my friend and the dog were hanging out on the couch, unprovoked and without warning she attacked him and ripped his lip open from where it meets his nose on down. He needed plastic surgery.

I’m a big dog lover, and not once did I ever get the sense that this dog was bad or capable of attacking a person, and yet it did. After that I changed my opinion on this particular subject. I knew this dog’s owner, and he is a really good guy who loves his dog as much as anyone can. He always took great care of her and never mistreated her. The only explanation I can think of is that there’s something inherently dangerous about the breed and that even though the vast majority never “snap,” you just can’t ever be certain. I think any parent would be ludicrous to take that chance.

heres what you have to ask yourself…..if theres even the remotest chance of an attack to your children by your dog ,does that dog need to be there? my german shephard that i’ve had for eight yrs took a snap at me because i inadvertantly petted him where he had gotten a series of shots from his vet. no harm done. he didnt bite or lunge. but if i was a child?
totally my fault. imagine a young child ,say 2 to 5 yrs old grabbing hold of a dog where he dosent want to be grabbed. far fetched example? maybe.. but with a dog like a pitbull or any of the breeds of dog that tend to lock their jaws when they bite ,the results can be life altering. or ending.
look..chihuahua’s bite more people than any other breed. but you have to agree if your gonna git bit you dont want to get bit by a pitbull. if they were my kids? no pitbull. but thats my opinion and my decision.
only you know your dog. good luck.

i must also add,for people with little dog experience, that a dog takes direct eye contact as being “confrontational”. kids are on the same eye level as most medium to large size dogs. this by itself has led to many bites and attacks of children.
that is why it is SO VERY IMPORTANT to socialize your puppy. once he is ok’d by the vet to be healthy enough to be around different people,let him be with and handled by as many different people and kids as is humanly possible. your puppy and the world at large will be a much happier and SAFER place because you did.
ok i’m done.

@stallion44107 We also have 2 bullmastiffs, a breed that is known for pushing it’s limits with dominance and can be aggressive and is also twice the size of a pitbull. If we look them in the eyes, they look away submissively. They’re a powerful and potentially dangerous breed, but a great individual dog. My opinion is that any breed can have dogs like these including the pitbull. If these pups don’t grow to be well-mannered sweethearts like our bullmastiffs, then we will not keep them. Great answer above, by the way!

thanks.. remember DOG is GOD backwards. ( thats not blasphemous i hope) theres no bad dogs..only poorly trained ones. best of luck with the pups.bye.

Youbetcha

I’ll tell you from experience – it’s in the breeding, and the raising, of the dog.

My husband had two pits when I met him. Bub was the product of two dear friends’ dogs, and the lines had been in their family for a couple of generations. In short – he knew exactly what was in that boy. Winston was a runt he rescued from a puppy mill, as inbred as they come.

Bub was insane as a puppy – just destructive. He ate a linoleum floor. He jumped through a closed window to chase a cat. He used to vault himself over six-foot fences. He never harmed a child. The only adult he ever bit was a crackhead that broke into my hubby’s apartment. The guy apologised and left. As Bub got older, he mellowed out and became my “guardian”. He’d follow me from room to room, and always stay between me and the door. We could walk him without a leash, because he’d never leave our side. We were his people, and he was family.

Winston was the easiest trained dog Jason ever had. He was potty-trained in two weeks flat. He learned all the “sit” “shake” “lay down”, etc. However, when Winston was two, my hubby’s mom moved in with him. She is a dementia patient, and she used to close Winston up in rooms, constantly told him he was a bad dog and why couldn’t he be like Bub, etc. At one point, he started going cujo on random occasions.. he was the dog that attacked my son. Fortunately, I was standing right there when it happened, and threw the damned thing across the backyard before he got a grip on the baby (less than a year old at the time). ((to be completely fair, we had a dashshund at the time as well, and he’s the one that started the attack. We got rid of both dogs.))

I think it’s a combination of nature and nurture. You can’t blame the breed, as each different dog has such a different personality.

Not at all. I love Bully breeds and am yet to own or even meet one that has shown any signs of aggression towards people. I do think that people are irresponsible if they leave any dog alone with a child even though I was pretty much raised in amongst a pack of big dogs! Most of the dogs I know are very unlikely to harm a person but I would never take the risk and leave a child alone with them for the simple reason that you never know what goes on behind closed doors. Kids don’t always know how to act around dogs and could easily do something that would cause the dog pain resulting in a nip or a bite. For the protection of the dog and the child I like to be able to see what is going on and correct any behaviour that I think could cause problems.

I would own a Pit Bull in a heart beat if they were legal to do so in this country. I am a firm believer in the “deed not breed” theory. Until the day comes when they are legal I will stick to my beloved Staffies!

Not irresponsible but maybe gamblers. Unless you know the dog you choose to keep in your family home has been bred for calm temperament then you might be wise to make strict rules for your kids being around the puppies as they grow, test their boundaries with you and their strength.

I’ve written several times on fluther about our 99% of the time sweet pit female. Today she made her 3rd attack on my small breed dog, again she’s gone for the kill and again, we have no idea what sets her off. We made a rule to keep the two of them separate at all times but occasionally someone slips and we have injured animals and people to look after.

Our dog has no canines anymore (she was a rescue dog that had been abused) but her bite is so powerful that the smaller teeth puncture and rip. My fiancee is 6 ft, 200lbs and built like steel he wasn’t winning the wrestling match to get her off my dog today. Smaller people have no chance reigning a leashed pit in “go” mode.

To me, this is like having a pet shark. It may not mean to eat you but an investigative bump, nip or slap is going to mess you up. These dogs don’t know their strength and what’s said about their lockjaws is true. If you’ve ever seen Shark Week when they show how a shark grabs a prey animal and thrashes it, smashes it and continues to adjust their bite, that’s how a pit does it. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and no longer think people exaggerate about the ferocity of these dogs.

With so many other dogs available for rescue and sale, why why why would anyone chance their kids’, relatives’ and spouses safety?

It is my opinion that some breeds should not be owned by first time dog owners, or owners who are not highly disciplined. The pit bull is one because they are such powerful animals that when they are grown and if they are not properly trained, they can become dangerous. And of course dog owners who actually trains them to fight, makes them so unpredictable and damaged that the dogs must be destroyed.

The Presa Canario Dog is one that if anything has a much more aggressive and tricky temperament than the pit bull, and it also has a very high prey drive, which can make it a tricky animal to have around children. This website gives a thumbnail sketch of the kind of life you must be willing to lead if you have one. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/canarydog.htm