"Pitbull "attacks boy and his father

[shandoggy1]

Taunton, Massachusetts: An 11 year old boy getting on a school bus yesterday was grabbed from behind by his back pack and bitten by yes, another pitbull! his father was bitten also trying to get the dog off of the boy on his hands. The boy received nine stitches to his side (stomach) and the father had his hand treated. When the police went to the dogs owners house the dog tried attacking the cops and was shot to death. Unfortunately, we all know it is the owners fault for the way these dogs get brought up. But something seriously needs to be done with this popular breed and precautions need to be taken. I don't believe in banning the breed from citys and towns but serious fines need to be put on the owners if there dog attacks (any dog). I also feel that if a dog bites a person once it shouldn't be given another chance. Here in massachusetts where I live dogs get a three bite chance the third time they have to get euthanized. This pit had already bitten once and now look what happened! I love the bully breeds but there are to many owners that just don't have a clue!!

[PitBullie09]

I love Pitbulls. Everyone here knows that. I dont believe in banning either- I think you should have to pay high fines too. People these days are so stupid they have to take loving creatures and turn them into beasts. *sigh*

[Kade]

I agree that owners need to be educated. Unfortunately, a lot of people who acquire these breeds are more interested in defending their right to own the dog than in actually training it.

If my friends and their untrained, intact, 1-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier are any indication, there is a lot of ignorance out there. These are the people you would think of as "good" owners for the breed, but the truth is that they spend a lot more energy being angry about BSL than taking responsibility for their dog (who is about two months away from killing their cat, IMO).

This goes for so many breeds, though. Not just bullies.

I think dog owners should have to take a test!

[Chelsea]

The other day, in San Diego, a cop pulled a guy over for something. The guy opened his truck door and tried to run away, the cop chased after him/caught him, and the guy's pit jumped out of the truck and attacked the cop. The cop first tried to beat him away, but the pit kept right on at it, and he was eventually shot to death. His owner was arrested. It's such a bummer.

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by Chelsea

The other day, in San Diego, a cop pulled a guy over for something. The guy opened his truck door and tried to run away, the cop chased after him/caught him, and the guy's pit jumped out of the truck and attacked the cop. The cop first tried to beat him away, but the pit kept right on at it, and he was eventually shot to death. His owner was arrested. It's such a bummer.

Well, in that case, the dog could actually been trying to protect his owner...because how was the dog supposed to know that the Cop was the good guy and his owner the bad guy?
That just shows a Pitties loyalty...his owner (who may have treated the dog badly, or may not have) was being chased by somebody, so the dog jumped out and atacked the guy that was chasing his owner. The Cop tried to hurt the dog to get him off, but the dog stayed at the guy to protect his owner.
Because if that story was something like, "A PitBull jumps out of a truck and attacks a robber who had just mugged his owner till the police arrived...dog was shot to death by mugger," the Pits would be put in good light.
The Pit in the above story did the same thing in my made up story...just against the wrong side. But how is a dog supposed to know that?

And I agree...they really need to do something about passing a test or something before you are allowed to own one of these dogs.

[Chelsea]

Those were pretty much my thoughts, Ritz. I mean, I totally understand the cop shooting him - I would, if it were me getting attacked, but it's still sad. I blame the owner for trying to run away in the first place.

[TribalRats]

I agree. I know my Rattie would lick anyone who came to the car window as long as I didn't care however if I were to pull some rookie move like jump out of the car and run fromt he cops, the cops then tackling me and trying to handcuff me my little 13lb ball of muscles would be all over them. Trying to protect me.
Totally understandable to me that they had to get the dog off the officer by any means. This would have been true had it been a Pit, Rat Terrier or even a Pug. If kicking hte dog off is not working......In my view, this is owner caused not Pit caused.

[linnie]

would you believe last night on the news a child was attacked by a pitbull and the father was asked to go and see if the dog the police had in custody looked LOOKED like the right dog.

Hell I hope there is no one out there that resembles me who turns out to be a killer I might find myself in trouble.
NO proof... just if he looked like the dog. Makes my blood boil

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by linnie

would you believe last night on the news a child was attacked by a pitbull and the father was asked to go and see if the dog the police had in custody looked LOOKED like the right dog.

Hell I hope there is no one out there that resembles me who turns out to be a killer I might find myself in trouble.
NO proof... just if he looked like the dog. Makes my blood boil

Linnie was that the kid in the pram incident?

I'm at a loss as to what we can do to stop these stupid things happening.

Cass.

[linnie]

Cas I am not sure of all the details but heard the part about them not knowing what dog it was. Which makes me wonder how they intended to identify it.
If the child was in a pram I would think the parent with the child would have protected it from ANY dog

[Tiffany0204]

I think it's sad too, and up here they've now "banned" pitbulls. I've said it before and I'll say it again, most of the time, there's no bad dogs, only bad owners.

Personally I agree with some of the above comments, like if you have an agressive breed, would making it be on a leash at all times mandatory help? Or how about a soft muzzle if it's outside?

During the flux of "pitbull bitings" here I noticed that nearly every one was with a dog who wasn't leashed and was running free. But you do see alot of those cases as well where the owner is just as shocked as everyone else and said that their dog was never prone to biting before.

Do you think that's genuine? Or do you think that they're trying to save their butt? Hard to tell, but it's the dogs that suffer and get the poor rap, I just think there should be a better way to figure something like this out.

Now that pitbulls are banned, it's just a matter of time before they start banning other breeeds as well, German Shepards, Rottweilers (sp?) etc etc.

It makes me so mad!

[BriPilot]

Most people I see around my area own pit-bulls because they think it makes them look tough. It's mostly "trailer trash" type thugs who don't give a care in the world about properly training their dogs.

While I agree for the most part that there are no bad dogs, only bad owners, I do disagree in the case of the Pit Bull. The breed is inherantly dangerous and in my opinion (as unpopular as it may be), they all need to be destroyed.

I have rarely ever heard a Pitt Bull owner say "Hell yeah I knew he'd bite someone one day, just figured they'd deserve it." No dog owner will usually admit that their dog is prone to bite... but ya know... how many mad-chihuahua attacks have you seen? Any schnauzer's teaming up to kill anyone recently???

Pit-Bulls and Presa Carnarios are bred for one thing, and that is pure brute strength. There is no other reason I can see to own one. And yes... to those of you who own pit-bulls who don't think your dog will bite... I pray for you when it decides to do so.

[Kade]

Originally Posted by BriPilot

how many mad-chihuahua attacks have you seen? Any schnauzer's teaming up to kill anyone recently???

You will find that there are a lot of cases of other dogs attacking. There was a very high profile case recently of a Pomeranian who killed a baby. And in those murderous dog packs that are usually reported to be "pit bulls", there are usually mutliple breeds, including Border Collies.

Here's the thing: it is the deed, not the breed. But a lot of irresponsible owners don't know how to keep their dog from achieving the deed. We're talking a willful, independent breed (more so, IMO, than GSDs, Dobermans, Rottweilers) with terrier drive. In the right hands, these can be great dogs. In the wrong hands, they can obviously cause enormous amounts of trouble.

The problem is that they are in so many "wrong hands". In Los Angeles it is a real problem. Down at Venice Beach, dogs are banned from the boardwalk because gang members would train pit bulls to be mean, sic them on police officers, and not care if the dogs got shot and killed. In essence these dogs are weapons.

But then -- take away one kind of weapon and they'll rush out and find another one. So I don't know what to think. I do wish there were less pit bulls around -- easily 50% of mutts in this city are part pit. But that doesn't mean I want all of those potentially great dogs destroyed.

[Pugdawg1]

I do not agree that all pit bulls should just be killed and done away with. I can't imagine that. But I do think there should be some VERY strict regs on who can have them.

For what it's worth.. I've been bit by a chihuahua, a pug and a small mix over the years.. and it HURT. I've known a few pit bulls, and yet to have had a problem

But I do have zero desire in owning a pit bull. I don't want an animal that can do so much damage if something does go wrong. I want nothing to do with that. I'll stick to my silly little snorting pugs.

[Sayuri]

The pitbull problem is a slippery slope. You go banning one breed, thinking it won't affect you and thinking you've solved a problem...next thing you know there are legislators and uneducated yahoos calling for the banning of your breed too. (Border collies, Weimaraners, Corgis...I've seen them all on bsl lists).

I will never support any form of bsl. I echo other posters that say it's the deed and the owner, not the breed. Pits need a dedicated, intelligent, and well educated owner to ensure that they develop into the best dogs that they can be - I'm not for denying them that chance just because there's a bunch of jerks discovering how easy it is to exploit the characteristics that make them such amazing dogs.

The other thing that I think is important to note is that half the time the animals being reported as pits aren't pits at all. I've seen lab, gsd, mastiff, and border collie mixes that were reported as pits or pit mixes. I've seen dogs that were poorly bred monstrosities and mixes of large and powerful breeds, developed by jerks that were intending to make the ultimate fighting dog - and then they were given the label "pit bull." Well, the traditional and original pit bull, the *true* pit bull, is the American Pit Bull Terrier. It's not a 150 lb nightmare - it's somewhere around the neighborhood of 40-55 lbs, if I'm not mistaken. So now you have a boatload of people, both in the media, and outside of it, that are randomly deciding what gets called a pit bull and what doesn't. Our country actually has a list of around 5-6 breeds, as well as a list of characteristics to look for in mixed breeds, that are officially called "pit bulls." When you have that many opportunities to make statistics, as compared to something like a Sibe or a GSD which only has the members of its breed, of course you're going to look way worse in comparison.

So why don't we see stories about attacking Schnauzers or Chihuahuas? Well for one thing, many of those incidents don't get reported. Often times the owners don't think it's serious enough, the damage wasn't horrendous, or everyone just thinks "It's a harmless little dog." Other times it gets reported but it sure doesn't make for sensational news, so no one hears about it. Just because you don't hear about it, doesn't mean it's never happened. I volunteer at the Humane Society and did a stint at Noah's Pet Project. This put me in close contact with dozens of pit bulls. These were animals put into extremely stressful circumstances, and not once did I have a bad experience. Those dogs treated me as if I was their personal goddess. To date, the only breeds I've ever been bitten by? A toy Poodle and a Chihuahua. And again, I chalk it up to owners - in both cases the owners didn't think it was a big deal, because the animal was so small.

Another thing I like to look at is this: if we're going to include all of the breeds that media and society include as "pit bulls" let's take a look at the Staffordshire Terrier, and the American Staffordshire Terrier. I go to dog shows all of the time - to date I have never seen a judge, exhibitor, or another dog attacked in either of these rings. The animals are always excellently behaved, well-socialized, friendly, and outgoing. What gives? Again, I look at who owns them and who breeds them. People that love and understand their breed, don't take its power for granted, educate the public, and are the first to stand on the front lines of bsl.

I tend not to take anything in the bsl range for granted. My breed has never made the cut, but after looking at the breeds that *have,* I'd be a fool not to have my eyes open. Shibas are capable of doing a ton of damage, particularly if they're in the wrong hands. I'm not going to let my right to share my life with these animals be taken away because some idiot didn't do their research, or figured out that they could exploit the traits that, in better circumstances, make my breed an amazing one to live with.