It probably came up in a Bad Roommate context and not anything dog-specific.



I had a Bad Roommate, who in hindsight really wasn't that bad when grading on a curve, who bought a dog from a breeder basically as a fashion accessory; more of a sleek and cool aesthetic than a tough and scary aesthetic but that's still the same reheated soup. Six months later he decides ain't nobody got time to take care of a living creature and moves out, leaving the dog with me. To give an idea of this dude's judgment, he tells me he's gonna come back and get the dog in a week but had already revealed to one of my BFFs that he's planning on just leaving the dog altogether. Which was fine ultimately as at that point I was leaning towards not even letting him take the dog. So I became a Pitbull Owner.

You're probably gonna need to start slower. Ask him how many pitbulls there are.

Pretty sure I hadn't heard that before. Wp though.

Referencing wild animals is compelling but also isn't that clear cut. I don't know any wolf owners, but there are plenty of examples of people with first generation wild animals as pets and there are people who own animals like raccoons or pouched rats that have a tendency to be only a few (sometimes one or two) generations from wild. You get a lot of problems with it but also some great results. Raccoons, for instance, similarly to monkeys, very often become a big problem when they hit maturity, but plenty of them go on to make great pets. Pouched rats are highly intelligent and can be trained to do all sorts of things without thousands of years of domestication (https://www.apopo.org/en) but tend to be quite destructive and can become aggressive if not well handled as they reach maturity. I know people who have tamed squirrels and such, and someone who owns civets, a kinkajou, and some other rare animals. You can find people who have trained foxes. There are varying degrees of whether you'd consider them "pets" in the companion animal sense, but most are well tamed and very handleable.

Wolves tend to be a lot less responsive to training, like to be domineering, have a much smaller socialisation/attachment period, and don't play so well with other dogs and animals. Still, you can find trained ones (it's hard to find many definitive examples because you can't be sure whether they're crossbreeds, and the internet is full of "wolf-dogs that are probably not very close to actual wolves other than appearance).

Genes influence behaviour. There's no way other than some biological components to explain why dogs are far easier to train than cats. The open questions are how much and to what extent environment play a role. When it comes to the differences between domestic breeds, it's definitely not clear cut that a pitbull's genetic predispositions are a long way from a chihuahua, and even less clear that any such predispositions are anything like insurmountable problems to a competent owner and handler.

One of the reasons dogs are so popular is that, for the most part, they genuinely enjoy training and respond to simple rewards. This isn't a component that, as far as I'm aware, anyone is saying that pitbulls lack. How readily trainable an animal is is a huge factor. And so I come back to this; it's not always the owner's fault, except it kind of is.

This is purely anecdotal, but I've known quite a few vets (a parent being one), and they all have a list of breeds that they dread. If they know a Dogue De Bordeaux is coming, they break out the heavy duty muzzles. The Dog's Mind by Bruce Fogle, talks about breeds and temperament a little, but from memory his work also bears in mind the relation of physical characteristics. A simple one being the difference in exercise requirements between say a Yorkshire Terrier and a Border Collie. Collies are notorious for being destructive, but in no small part is that down to their tremendous energy levels. They need exercise and they get bored easily, and when they lack that, they tear stuff apart. That kind of lack of understanding or consideration has led to uncountable numbers of ruined sofas.

Long ago in my family there was a wold shepherd half breed. It ate the neighbor's sheep, nearly ate the neighbor's two year old, and was shot at repeatedly. The family thought it was the sweetest, most intelligent dog.

Self-delusion is strong in dog owners.

Yeah, well that's what I said before about how you always hear "He's never done anything like that before" after dog attacks. It almost certainly did, but nobody recognised the behaviour for what it was or cared to anything about it.

The owner of every dog that ever attacked me said that. I just attribute it to their being liars.

A family member said that to me after his dog that had previously bitten me bit my kid.

Dog owners are the bottom rung of humanity.

We're well into pure anecdotal territory, but I'm hesitant to call them liars. My experience is that people don't really understand dog behaviour and body language and that they have unreasonable expectations.

One of the things to look for is when you next see a police dog. People are intimidated by them, and rightly so, but when they're on the end of the lead, barking wildly, look for how relaxed their face is, a relaxed stance, and sometimes even a wagging tail. They train them by getting them to enjoy the chase and the takedown. The dog is loving every second of barking at passers by. You don't want a genuinely savage, aggressive dog because you need one that follows commands instantly and isn't terrified by a high pressure situation. You're basically just teaching them that some people are chew toys.



Check 45 seconds or 1:05 for what I mean.

On the other hand, you get people who think their dog is just a little timid around strangers when they're showing you all the warning signs of a dog about to snap (arched shoulders, bared teeth and such). One of the reasons you get nervous aggression in dogs owned by old people is that they pick up social queues from the owner, and the owner is often surprised and nervous by a sudden knock on the door or approach by a stranger. And then that old person is like "Well, he's never bitten me", and they're telling the truth, but they've socialised the dog to fear people.

Scariest dog is a very quiet one.

?? Seriously ??

If the dog bit your kid it would be easy enough to force them to put the dog down. I would've immediately taken the kid to the ER and had them notify the appropriate authorities.

I'm pretty sure some of these dudes got a bootleg DVD that was overdubbed in Mandarin then subtitled back to English such that Smaug The Dragon became Goldfinger The Pitbull.

whoa keep that thing on a leash bro

I mean, how else can we explain this dumbass ****,

which on its face seems like the easiest "right, and pitbulls are dogs, Q to the E to the mother****ing D" ever?

called it

One of the things I always hated about the Hobbit is why does that pitbull like gold so much. Based on what I know of real life pitbulls it should be out killing for fun and not hoarding gold. Makes no ****ing sense.

behavioral genetics is weird i guess

Dog left a scar on my kid's face. I'm not reporting a family member to the authorities. In any case the owner was rather occupied trying to stop me from putting the dog (and its owner) down then and there.

I've known countless dog bite incidents. Never has a single one been dealt with through formal channels.

Dog owners are mostly people who need someone who will simultaneously fawn over them and do what it's told. Mostly such people are a huge pain in the ass for everyone else. More so when they don't clean up after their animals.

Real talk I'd pay you for life coaching to teach me how to be this blissfully unaware.

Pit bull eats babies face.

Dog owners are right there with smokers and rich people when it comes to a sense of entitlement.

If the world were run by dog owners, they'd be ****ting in the pile of cigarette buts next to me on the bus.

And yet somehow when I take a dump in the park everyone loses their minds.

Yeah, but this whole time you've been describing your jerk sister or first cousin or somebody.

So your jerk brother's jerk dog bit your kid and The Power Of White Man Storytime compelled you to concoct this fantasyland about a group of people, dog owners, who are just about as diverse as the larger set 'all people'. It's incredible.