Quote:
Originally Posted by cneuy3
He never barks and honestly seems as if he'd never bite a soul. Just casually comes over as if he wants to hang out with my dogs or play.(He's seen me play ball with one of my goldens outside in the drive way area, etc)
Pits generally don't bark before they attack. They will attack without warning. This is one thing that makes them particularly dangerous. While other dogs may attack out of fear, or because they are territorial, or protective, pit bulls often do it out of sport (ie attacking is their job, its what they like to do).
Quote:
Originally Posted by cneuy3
I've also seen one of these dogs get out of a house in another area when I was taking my two dogs for a walk and it attacked my one dog before it's owner quickly called it back. My dog wasn't hurt it just sort of snapped at it's back before quickly retreating when it's owner shouted it to come back. Atleast in that instance it responded to it's owner.
That's amazing because when a dog, pit bull or otherwise, is in fight mode they tend not to listen to anyone. Pit bulls are the most tenacious dogs and will fight until they are dead. You could spend 10+ minutes trying to separate a pit bull from another dog.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cneuy3
Anyway, I'm in the opinion that's it's probably mostly irresponsible owners that cause the crazy ones and cannot control their dogs and/or purposely turn their dogs into a weapon with the way they raise them and this breed probably attracts those type of idiots over other breeds.
Do you know how many idiots own Labradors? Labs are one of the most wide spread abused dogs out there and yet you'll rarely hear about Labradors killing children or elderly people. Pit bulls are cut from a different cloth. They have terrier DNA and terriers are bred to kill (ie killing things is their job).
Pits don't need to be trained to fight. They are bred for it. A pit bull is supposed to be dog aggressive naturally. It sounds like your experience with 2 poorly bred pits has skewed your perception of pit bulls.
Of course, ymmv because "pit bull" isn't a single breed but rather a group of breeds including many mutts whose true behavior can not be anticipated because it's not clear where the dog inherited its genetics. A true fighting dog would be a well-bred pure American Pit Bull Terrier. On the flip side I've seen a lot of American Bullies (a pit bull variant, not to be confused with American Bulldog) that are mostly for show (ie can look like a tough pit bull) but functionally couldn't kill a rat.
I do agree that the responsibility of the pit bull lies with the owner. There are a lot of bad dog owners across all breeds, but a pit bull requires a level of commitment above and beyond that of a normal dog. Under no circumstance should a pit bull be allowed to get out of a fenced yard. Under no circumstance should a pit bull be left alone with small children. Under no circumstance should a pit bull not receive its daily exercise. etc etc etc If you make a mistake like this with a beagle or a border collie or a saint bernard the consequences are far less than if you do so with a pit bull.