Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Thanks to the 2 previous posters for your reasoned, thoughtful replies. Your pit bull stories are undoubtedly similar to countless thousands of others that we'll never hear a word about. Unfortunately, it seems some small number of these perfect pets has some type of trigger experience happen and a tragedy of varying levels of injury or even death occurs. I'll bet the owner's trust and feelings about their dog is identical to yours. So what to do?
My mother has a mini-dachshund that she has completely ruined, it's extremely over protective and has bitten people including me. Hateful dog. Thing is, at it's worst it can inflict a few puncture wounds.
We currently have 2 dogs, 1 50 lb rescue dog of unknown but hound-ish origin who would only bite if cornered after a full retreat, and an Australian Cattle Dog who is the best dog I've ever had. Runs, mountain bikes with me, loyal companion, crazy smart. Problem is he's dog aggressive so I have to be careful with him at all times in public. His brother was raised very similarly and is not at all. Both would defend their owners. Knowing the breed and how he is I'm vigilant when I have him out.
Well, here's the thing: 1) there's a lot of misinformation floating around what triggers a lot of these tragedies, and 2) there's often a lot of incomplete information regarding the dog's actual behavior.
I don't claim to be an "expert", but I've had several dogs in my house over the last 20 years. I've fostered a few "end of life" dogs, mostly ridgeback rescues, and I often dog sit for folks since I'm semi-retired and "work" from home. So, I'm pretty familiar with dog behavior. Also, I've owned a dog who was aggressive to (some)humans, which was a real learning experience for me. My own opinion: dogs very rarely "snap". I'm sure it happens, but if you drill down to specific incidents, it's actually quite rare.
In the OP's story, we know the dog bit a person while guarding property. That's some really unsound behavior, but it's really unlikely it was first time the dog exhibited the behavior (even if it's the first time he'd bitten someone). More likely, the owner ignored quite a few signs--some subtle, some maybe non-so-sublte. My own dog was find 95% of the time, but there were plenty of early warning signs that he was potentially aggressive. I went to a professional dog trainer, spent a ton of time with him and became aware that a) there was a problem, and b) got some tools to deal with it. Not saying the guy in the OP was a bad guy or anything, but I'm willing to bet that he missed quite a few pretty obvious signs regarding his dog's temperament.
Secondly, at least as it related to dog fatalities, the overwhelming factor (over 95%) is the reproductive status of the dog. If you have a pitbull, have it spayed or neutered, period. The next factor is how the dogs are kept. Dogs (of any breed) that are left tethered for an extended period of time and treated poorly are much more likely to be aggressive. Sadly, pitbulls are subjected to both of those conditions at a disproportionate rate, so the statistics paint them as inherently dangerous. Take an un-neutered lab, tie him to a tree and throw out some scraps occasionally--then have a small child wander into the yard. My guess is that this won't end well.
Again, I'm not saying that dogs always act reliably. They're all part wolf after all. But true incidents of a dog "snapping" are pretty rare, and it's more likely to happen with a dog that tends to exhibit pretty strong guardian tendencies.
One last thing I'll mention, that was mentioned to me by the shelter worker when I adopted mine 10 years ago: if you're adopting a pit bull from a large city animal shelter, your chances of getting a sound of sound temperament are about as good as you can get. Simple reason is 95% of them get put down, since they're hard to adopt. I needed a dog that was good around cats, so I asked to have him temperament tested with the cats at the shelter. This particular shelter told me it was a non-issue. Due to space limitations at the shelter, if a pitbull exhibited any aggression towards cats it had to be euthanized... There was a MUCH higher bar the pitbulls in the shelter had to meet--and given the strength and genetics of the dog I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's the reality though, and the limitations of a shelter dealing with more animals than it can handle.
Thanks to the 2 previous posters for your reasoned, thoughtful replies. Your pit bull stories are undoubtedly similar to countless thousands of others that we'll never hear a word about. Unfortunately, it seems some small number of these perfect pets has some type of trigger experience happen and a tragedy of varying levels of injury or even death occurs. I'll bet the owner's trust and feelings about their dog is identical to yours. So what to do?
My mother has a mini-dachshund that she has completely ruined, it's extremely over protective and has bitten people including me. Hateful dog. Thing is, at it's worst it can inflict a few puncture wounds.
We currently have 2 dogs, 1 50 lb rescue dog of unknown but hound-ish origin who would only bite if cornered after a full retreat, and an Australian Cattle Dog who is the best dog I've ever had. Runs, mountain bikes with me, loyal companion, crazy smart. Problem is he's dog aggressive so I have to be careful with him at all times in public. His brother was raised very similarly and is not at all. Both would defend their owners. Knowing the breed and how he is I'm vigilant when I have him out.
Well, here's the thing: 1) there's a lot of misinformation floating around what triggers a lot of these tragedies, and 2) there's often a lot of incomplete information regarding the dog's actual behavior.
I don't claim to be an "expert", but I've had several dogs in my house over the last 20 years. I've fostered a few "end of life" dogs, mostly ridgeback rescues, and I often dog sit for folks since I'm semi-retired and "work" from home. So, I'm pretty familiar with dog behavior. Also, I've owned a dog who was aggressive to (some)humans, which was a real learning experience for me. My own opinion: dogs very rarely "snap". I'm sure it happens, but if you drill down to specific incidents, it's actually quite rare.
In the OP's story, we know the dog bit a person while guarding property. That's some really unsound behavior, but it's really unlikely it was first time the dog exhibited the behavior (even if it's the first time he'd bitten someone). More likely, the owner ignored quite a few signs--some subtle, some maybe non-so-sublte. My own dog was find 95% of the time, but there were plenty of early warning signs that he was potentially aggressive. I went to a professional dog trainer, spent a ton of time with him and became aware that a) there was a problem, and b) got some tools to deal with it. Not saying the guy in the OP was a bad guy or anything, but I'm willing to bet that he missed quite a few pretty obvious signs regarding his dog's temperament.
Secondly, at least as it related to dog fatalities, the overwhelming factor (over 95%) is the reproductive status of the dog. If you have a pitbull, have it spayed or neutered, period. The next factor is how the dogs are kept. Dogs (of any breed) that are left tethered for an extended period of time and treated poorly are much more likely to be aggressive. Sadly, pitbulls are subjected to both of those conditions at a disproportionate rate, so the statistics paint them as inherently dangerous. Take an un-neutered lab, tie him to a tree and throw out some scraps occasionally--then have a small child wander into the yard. My guess is that this won't end well.
Again, I'm not saying that dogs always act reliably. They're all part wolf after all. But true incidents of a dog "snapping" are pretty rare, and it's more likely to happen with a dog that tends to exhibit pretty strong guardian tendencies.
One last thing I'll mention, that was mentioned to me by the shelter worker when I adopted mine 10 years ago: if you're adopting a pit bull from a large city animal shelter, your chances of getting a sound of sound temperament are about as good as you can get. Simple reason is 95% of them get put down, since they're hard to adopt. I needed a dog that was good around cats, so I asked to have him temperament tested with the cats at the shelter. This particular shelter told me it was a non-issue. Due to space limitations at the shelter, if a pitbull exhibited any aggression towards cats it had to be euthanized... There was a MUCH higher bar the pitbulls in the shelter had to meet--and given the strength and genetics of the dog I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's the reality though, and the limitations of a shelter dealing with more animals than it can handle.
