You have an animal in your home that is capable of killing your child because reasons. No worries, though.
You're the Siegfried and Roy of dog trainers. There's no chance that anything will go wrong with your special snowflake.

Like I said, I get it. From where you're standing it's foolish. When something happens you get to be the guy that stands over me and points and says I told you so. I'll go ahead and end with your logic. Enjoy your statistically more dangerous drive to work.

This point has been made dozens of times itt. There is no shortage of available dogs. There is no unique benefit to owning a breed that is capable of doing the damage a pit can do, barring, of course, that one owns it for that very purpose.

You may be the greatest owner in the world. I doubt that anything will go wrong with your dog. The fact that it is always a possibility, no matter how small, coupled with the fact that it's a completely unnecessary risk, is what makes it a dumb choice.

I have to drive to work. I don't have to drive to work without a seat belt while hanging my head out the window.

heater,

May be the greatest dog owner in the world? The guy has a dog with more training and credentials than any of us, please show him some respect.

One thing various pit owners, itt and elsewhere, keep saying is that their pits are the sweetest, nicest, gentlest dogs... (when raised right)

Here;'s the thing: No, they're not. Almost all dogs, of almost all breeds, can be amazingly sweet and nice and gentle, particularly when they're raised right. I think we all get that the great majority of pits are nice, provide wonderful companionship, etc. etc. But the great majority of dogs are nice, provide wonderful companionship, etc. etc. This supposedly amazing trait that pits have is just an an amazing trait that dogs have. This is an animal in which selection, over the course of tens of thousands of years (intentionally for the last few thousand at least, unintentionally before that, has favored individuals who got along with people well, so now, shockingly, most get along with people well.

But within that species of sweet, nice, gentle animals, we now have a lot of people choosing from strains that have been selected for aggression, territoriality, tenacity, and the ability to do damage. And that selection, even though breeders have recently tried to, in effect, un-select for it, has given us sweet, nice, gentle animals with a greater than average tendency to get upset and hurt people.

Pits aren't better at being companion dogs when they're nice, and they're more likely than other dogs to turn un-nice and more likely when they do to be lethal.

Bigben,

Look at that picture. Look at the space your kid has.

All,

I'm not saying dogs aren't allowed on couches or aren't allowed to play with children, I'm reacting to bigben stating the dog is fully aware the humans in his pack are his complete and only master. The picture seems to contradict that statement. Fwiw, dogs can be a lot of fun and full of joyful playfulness without them recognising the humans dominance in all cases.

What if I argued I live in a more dangerous than I'd like to admit neighborhood, where the possibility of burglary is a reasonable concern (as much as car accidents, for this example) this type of dog is as much a deterrent as putting on your seatbelt for example. Pretty rare in practical application that this benefit comes into play, but nevertheless it's a security blanket. We also live an active outdoor lifestyle that we are able to bring the dog along and it doesn't hamper or slow what we hope to do. He's more fun and is a better 'fit' for how we live. I concede I won't come up with enough justifiable reasons to persuade you nor am I trying to, but the benefits do exist.

My dog is not agressive, I have him in case he needs to attack a burglar.

I completely understand and respect that assertion. To take it from a still photo though is still ignorant. The child called the dog up to sit with him and I took the photo because I thought it looked cool. The dog also got down when my son, not saying a word, pointed down.

That's what you got from that? Be more sarcastic and pretentious plz

I would argue that burglars tend to avoid homes with any dog because dogs make noise. I'll keep this in mind the next time I read a story of a dog mauling a burglar rather than a child or senior citizen, though.

Active lifestyle? I don't have an answer for that one. There's a massive shortage of dogs that enjoy walking/running afaik.

I'm sorry, but there's nothing that you're going to come up with as far as a benefit that pits provide that some other breed that is less likely to / less capable of mauling someone doesn't.

i had heard dog barking was the biggest deterant in preventing burglars

tho i can't find it right now in googling from anything i'd consider legit

a few sites argue that's reason to have a small dog because they bark more

Yeah, sorry. Your point was actually valid of course: there aren't any other breeds that are not agressive, while still fitting for an outdoor lifestyle.

I'm not meaning to be condescending, but after working with pit bulls in an animal shelter and being bitten by them, it pisses me off that people won't admit to getting the dog because they think it's badass.

The only attraction to a pit bull is his agressiveness and that he's known for that in society.

Fwiw I did enter this thread by stating that I've grown up in a family of breeders and owners of various dogs, Danes, rotts, shepards & Belgian malinois etc, and in MY experience, the staffys have been the most docile and intelligent, and physically capable. A dangerous line of rotts and Germans most definitely exists but you would be blanket stereotyping to say all pits are bad no matter what the upbringing. It's hypocritical to say they have predisposition to be violent similarly to saying Muslims or black people have a predisposition to be terrible human beings. You are purposefully ignoring circumstances. I've personally seen 4 generations from the line my pup is from and all have been without incident.

annnnnnnd we're back to the race argument

I guess I should have stated I don't get my animals from the shelter, where it could very reasonably be argued they have predispositions for aggression lol. I guess Sarah Maclaughlin singing never did it for me

It was just a simple point at objective thinking. I'm not interested in a race discussion. But you go ahead

I know I'm not, I stated as much. The argument I'm making is that the purported risk isn't constant or reasonable as described by pit haters itt

I think it's also worth noting that 'aggression' doesn't necessarily mean violent, in that many dogs especially larger ones like tug of war, chewing on toys/furniture, etc. it is a natural tendency that almost ALL larger breeds have. When I'm referring to aggression it is in this manner.

Oh, it's already been done. Maybe you should read the thread.

Cliffs: your simple point at objective thinking is LOL.

I don't think I need to revisit race arguments itt titled 'should pit bulls breed' to know what will be there when I read it. My views and posts itt came from my own line of thought. The objective thinking is in the fact I have raised and also observed many various breeds, many generations deep, and the perceived 'bias' would be in that I came to my own conclusions based on that. Not saying any breed is better or worse than another, just that the one I have favoritism towards has performed better in all of that time spent observing.

I know you don't know me, but I've raised and rescued Bull Terriers for thirty years. I expect them to let a kid do anything they want and enjoy every minute of it. (And not start playing overly rough with little ones.) I can certainly look them in the eye, take their food away, bark at them or play anyway I want and they should love every second of the interaction.

I live on the edge of the wilderness, so they have to deal with animals periodically, but I expect them to still be the same comedic "five year old in dog suits" that they are famous for. Kids come up to us constantly and she loves it.

A kid ran up to us wearing a coonskin cap with tail on it the other day and she thought that he had an animal on his head, but she just looked at that hat and smiled and that's a dog that survived on the mean streets for almost a year before she was caught.

Mine and the ones I've had before him are exactly the same. It's as if he doesn't know he's a 'pit bull' or whatever that should mean. He acts like a lap dog and is completely submissive to all dogs and people, always dying for affection and playtime. I believe this trait came from a history in his line of treating and raising them correctly.

I live in a similar environment to you it sounds, he'll run and bark and chase birds and small animals all day but has no idea what to do if he gets to one. When our cat passes by him in the hallway, he turns into a total sissy dog and she whoops his ass whenever he tries to paw at her and play lol.

Apparently you do, because you brought it up again. If you actually knew what would be there if you read it, you wouldn't have done that.

This and grunching may end up being your undoing.

Aside from that, just putting on a that guy CLINIC.