So, my neighbor has three pitbulls

In reply to 16vCorey:

My friend had a black lab/ pit mix. Biggest damn softie I have ever met other then my aunt and uncle's dobermans.

The single sweetest dog I've ever met is my buddy's 90# pit Bane (named well before the movie). I've been around dogs all my life, the ones I've had and hundreds of others, and I'll admit that I got a little intimidated the first time he trotted up to me, dragging his 250# human behind him. But he immediately sat next to me, leaned on my leg, and pushed my hand with his muzzle to pet him. He's seriously like a giant friendly cat. Nothing makes him happier than human attention. He's a 90# affection sponge.

Single worst dog I've ever met was the same buddy's girlfriend's 10# shi-tzu. Old, mean, unpredictable. I gave that little bitch a wide berth because there was no telling when she'd go off. Evil little thing.

When we only had our 85# male pit, he had a stray cat buddy in the yard before the cat got re-homed. He'd charge her and bark and want to play, she'd glance at him, aloof and uninterested. He barks his head off, growls and acts all tough with dogs on the other side of the fence, but our friend's 20# runt female pit mounted him first time she was over, and he loves playing with my mom's 10# hound mutt. The only thing he kills is my bread, which is his favorite treat when I let it stale and get good and crunchy. He was around when our house got robbed in February of '11, and we found him upstairs chilling nervously with the pork jowl the burglar gave him out of our fridge. We named him Linus because he always has a worried look on his face, and he came with a blue blanket that served as home base when he first arrived. He's the most chill dog I've ever met. He's like getting his throat scratched, he's with not getting pet, he can hang out with you or not. Whatever, it's cool.

My 60# female pit is a hunter. We had a bit of a mouse problem over the winter, and she got 11 of them before they figured out they should move somewhere without a killing machine stalking them. She just bites them once to break their back/neck, sets them down, then runs to one of us to tell us what a good job she did. Same with creatures in the yard. She's caught a few birds and a couple squirrels. She'd probably catch one of the stray cats in our neighborhood if they were dumb enough to wander in the yard, but they're fairly savvy city strays, so they know where they're unwelcome. With people, her biggest flaw is, again, wanting attention. Moreover, she seems to want to to be inside your neck, like she can't get close enough to you to receive all the love she can get. She's called Lucy because she usually finds a way to exploit Linus' general lackadaisical attitude to her own advantage - take his toy, get the pets, etc.

A few of my friends and my girlfriend volunteer with our city's main stray organization, and 99% of those dogs are pits. Two or three per enclosure, and the shelter has been at capacity (now 250 dogs) since Day One. Despite the noises, smells and generally unpleasant overstimulation of being crammed in a shelter 22 hours a day, those dogs are visibly happy - ecstatic - when they're out on a walk. I know I'm an anthropomorphizing sap, but you can tell they're grateful for a little sunshine, grass, fun new stuff to pee on, and some one-on-one human attention.

They're awesome dogs - pure love and loyalty. I've had dogs all my life: Labs, Goldens, mutts - all rescue dogs, everyone of them fantastic (except the one Doberman that was too aggressive with kids - he had to go back to the shelter). I probably won't ever have anything but a pit now that I've seen their true nature.

Yes, this is all anecdotal evidence. But it's enough to convince me.

I had a lab/britanny spaniel mix that kept the yard clear of any critters, used to bring me the carcasses as presents. Happened a few times when I would take her for a walk, a loose dog would come up acting vicious and she would just give them this stare like you've got to be kidding me. If she was attacked by another dog she would finish it and put the other dog in its place. Never attack first but never lost. Watched her do it to a young pit once. But was the biggest softie around kids, would take anything the kids would do and come back for more. I had to watch her around kids, especially little ones because she loved playing with kids but was often bigger than them, she was 80lbs. I've seen her knock a 4yo a couple feet with her tail unintentionally, then turn around a stand over the kid licking her. She never meant any harm with kids, just loved them. Really the best and smartest dog I've ever had.

Daughter has a boxer/pit mix that is the biggest softie. Don't think he knows he's supposed to be mean, doesn't know how to hurt anything.

Know someone with a Husky/wolf mix. Gotta keep it away from any other animals as it would just as soon kill it that put up with it but does do well around kids and people.

slefain wrote: I blame the neighbor for letting their cat outside. Letting your cat roam comes with the understanding that something may kill it, be it a dog, raccoon, possum, coyote, another cat, or a car.

or a hawk. i saw a neighbor's cat get totally berkeleyered up by a hawk about a week ago. i was like "berkeley yeah, hawk!" i tried to high-five it, but one of it's talons punctured my palm and i had to go to the hospital.

i made up that last part. my palms are tougher than leather.

AngryCorvair wrote: or a hawk. i saw a neighbor's cat get totally berkeleyered up by a hawk about a week ago. i was like "berkeley yeah, hawk!" i tried to high-five it, but one of it's talons punctured my palm and i had to go to the hospital. i made up that last part. my palms are tougher than leather.

hahaha

AngryCorvair wrote:

slefain wrote: I blame the neighbor for letting their cat outside. Letting your cat roam comes with the understanding that something may kill it, be it a dog, raccoon, possum, coyote, another cat, or a car.

or a hawk. i saw a neighbor's cat get totally berkeleyered up by a hawk about a week ago. i was like "berkeley yeah, hawk!" i tried to high-five it, but one of it's talons punctured my palm and i had to go to the hospital. i made up that last part. my palms are tougher than leather.

And that right there, is why 95% of the time, I think Angryp is hilarious.

Joey

I was attacked by a boxer when I was around 14. I was walking down the alley behind our house coming home from my sisters apartment. I noticed the dog in a non fenced in yard. It had a huge chain coming off it's collar. I paused for a moment because I had never seen it before. Seeing the chain I thought it was safe to proceed. Big Mistake! The other end of the chain wasn't attached to anything. This thing was coming at full speed. I froze, didn't know what to do. It leaped at me froma distance. All I saw was teeth coming right for my face. I threw my arm straight up in the air and as it hit me I turned deflecting the blow. Luckily it didn't knock me down, if I would have went down I think it would have continued to attack. I screamed as loud as I could in the highest pitch a 14yo could muster. The dog backed of but stood staring at me about fifteen feet away. I didnt know how I was going to get away and was hoping for someone to come by so the dog would be distracted. After what seemed like forever I decide to make a break for the fenced in yard about five feet behind me. I turned and ranthen jumped over the fence and ran as hard as I could through their yard, I didn't even stop to turn around until I got home. Luckily it was winter and I had a very thick coat on. After I took the coat of I looked at my arm and blood was running down. It took a couple chunks out directly on my tricep. We went to the hospital and I got rabbie shots. We searched the neighborhood but never seen the dog again. I have no fear of dogs, even large breads.

The most aggresive dog I've ever been around was a chow. the owner of a little bait shop near our campground had him chained up in front of his store. That dog was pure evil and had intentions of killing anything that moved.

I've never owned a pit but poth pits that I knew and spent time around have had the most gentle and playfull temperments of any dog I've seen.

I had a customer that had an Akita in a 3/4" plywood pen 10'X10' in his basement. I had to work down there for about an hour and a half. The dog was going crazy attacking the pen tryng to get out. Every time he would hit the would it would bow and I was scared it would break out. I asked if he could move the dog somewhere else so I could work. He said he couldn't go near it, it would attack him.He said it was his sons dog. His son lived in New york and he was the only one that could get near it. I got the feeling that the dog had attacked someone and he was hiding it for his son.

the problem was 3 dogs. that equals a pack, and they can be very unpredictable. if one of them sees and chases 'prey' so will the others. then its a bloodbath.

i have a 16yo pit. best dog i've ever owned! watched him being born. i have to carry him down the stairs now. but used to climb trees, and if prompted could jump up and rip the blades off a ceiling fan!

here are my boys. white is American bulldog, little guy is my pit

Pit bulls and Siberians are naturally born killers. Anybody who disagrees is full of b.s. and is making up excuses. Sure, they can be loving to humans, but not other animals.

My black lab is completely comfortable with my 5 cats and never chases other cats. \he's even made friends with a local porcupine. That won't happen with a pit bull.

TR8owner wrote: Pit bulls and Siberians are naturally born killers. Anybody who disagrees is full of b.s. and is making up excuses. Sure, they can be loving to humans, but not other animals.

Ummm.... My Pit hasn't killed either of my two cats, my Frenchie, my Chihuahua or anything other than an occasional insect.

In fact, she's scared of the other animals.

We consistently have deer in our back yard. I took the three dogs out one night to pee and a Doe snorted. The Chihuaha didn't care, the Frenchie took off running after the doe, and the Pit was so scared she ran straight into the glass on the screen door trying to get back in the house. In fact, we have taken our Pit to the vet TWICE to have her treated for wounds from the cats.

Your narrow-minded opinion is completely false.

Ugh, 4 pages of speculation, conjecture and anecdotal stories that prove nothing. This topic seems to come up at least twice a year.

You guys can argue about pit bulls until you're blue in the face. If you don't like them, then stay away from them. If you're paranoid about them, carry pepper spray. The real problem is the other end of the leash, not the pedigree of the dog.

I hate Chihuahuas. Haven't met one yet that I've liked. I sure don't go around trying to ban them based on their breed and the propensity to bark and nip at people. I just choose not to pay attention to them.

Pits are very very sweet. That isn't odd at all. So sweet in fact that some people who have owned them for awhile think sweet means they wont fight or hunt or show pack aggression or hurt a cat that shows up in their fenced yard. There are many breeds who will do those things but Pits often manage to work their way into complete trust from the owners and the free reign that goes with it because they are so good at affection.

TR8owner wrote: Dogs are naturally born killers. My black lab is completely comfortable with my 5 cats and never chases other cats. he's even made friends with a local porcupine. That won't happen with a pit bull.

FTFY. It's in their nature, cats too for that matter. One breed is no different than another in that respect.

Labs can and will attack as well. One of my friends recently had their lab kill their chihuahua in an unprovoked attack.

As others have noted, I've had Pitties and cats living together in harmony. Heck I had 2 pits when I had my farm and they never went after a single cat, duck, chicken or pig and there were plenty of them to chase on the farm. My housemate got a St Bernard and that thing was hell bent on decimating the chicken population however.

And these guys totally change my opinion of the breed! Totally great dogs, well behaved, we trained by their owner. Untill they killed another neighbors cat who did get into their yard. I don't like living two doors down from such aggression. I really liked these dogs, and was really beginning to look on the breed much more favorably, as these are really great dogs, up to this incident. Now I'm back to not being sure again... Joey

Didnt read the whole thread, so im sure this has been said multiple times already:

What the hell kind of post is this? You're trolling dog people? " I liked dogs until i found out they sometimes kill cats". Seriously?

I guess you didnt grow up around them. I grew up adopting every stray that came by out in the country where people used to dump dogs constantly. It was normal for me to have 5 to 7 dogs at a time, and at one point after a few pregnant strays came up and had their litters my family had 23 dogs at one time. Even now, my parents still have 5 dogs and either adopt or adopt out a dog once or twice a year. Thankfully the stray traffic has slowed.

That whole time, we also had cats. Ive picked up the pieces of so many cats, i couldnt tell you how many.

There was a time when the dogs we had didnt bother the cats and they mingled in the same space. Then we built a fence.

Putting dogs in a fence is basically telling them "Im assigning you to guard this important strategic asset and i want you to use any means necessary to defend it", and that will include barking at anything that comes remotely close to it, and attacking anything smaller than a dog that goes inside of it. This is dog nature. You can try to train your dogs to accept certain specific cats in their space, but that STILL doesnt mean they wont kill the next stranger cat that drops in. Most of the cats i ever had to scrape into a plastic bag and throw away were cats that the dogs had stared across the fence at for years.

And let me tell you something about cats, too. Ive had over a hundred dogs if you count the litters we adopted out, and ive only had maybe 20 cats, but its enough to tell you this: In all the years ive lived with and watched outdoor cats, ive only seen ONE that didnt EVENTUALLY, FOR SOME STUPID REASON, wander into the dog yard after YEARS of not feeling the need. And die. What im saying is this:

If you put dogs in a fence, and there are cats anywhere in a mile radius, eventually there will be conflict and death. It is dog's nature to defend its territory and to hunt, and it is cat's nature to not respect artificial borders.

You can either go all god complex and try to train the dog out of your dog so it's an even less offensive slave/toy, or you can do what i was lucky enough to experience where i grew up: dont fence them in.

But if you're going to get all in huff when you find out that the 10, 20, maybe 100 hrs you dedicate to your dog's 10+ year life wasnt enough to completely overrule countless millenia of nature at work and the dog will occasionally/eventually attack or kill SOMETHING, you just shouldnt have dogs.

I'm sorry, this needs to be clarified. I never said that I liked dogs until I found out they kill cats. Not at all. I wouldn't say that. If you notice I said these dogs had changed my opinion of this breed. I never liked pitbulls untill I met these three. Now I do. All I pointed out was that it made me nervous now. I figured on this forum people would understand, or respectfully disagree. But instead I get treated like I suggested to euthanize all pits, and anyone who owns them is an idiot. I got called a racist. I got called a troll. All for suggesting that maybe there is some middle ground between "my pit is a big slobbering softie who is afraid of everything" that some people think they are, and the bloodthirsty killers others think they are.

This forum never used to be so...like this. It's sad.

Mods, can we lock this turd of a thread? Besides, I posted in the wrong section.

Joey

Vigo wrote:

And these guys totally change my opinion of the breed! Totally great dogs, well behaved, we trained by their owner. Untill they killed another neighbors cat who did get into their yard. I don't like living two doors down from such aggression. I really liked these dogs, and was really beginning to look on the breed much more favorably, as these are really great dogs, up to this incident. Now I'm back to not being sure again... Joey

Didnt read the whole thread, so im sure this has been said multiple times already: What the hell kind of post is this? You're trolling dog people? " I liked dogs until i found out they sometimes kill cats". Seriously? I guess you didnt grow up around them. I grew up adopting every stray that came by out in the country where people used to dump dogs constantly. It was normal for me to have 5 to 7 dogs at a time, and at one point after a few pregnant strays came up and had their litters my family had 23 dogs at one time. Even now, my parents still have 5 dogs and either adopt or adopt out a dog once or twice a year. Thankfully the stray traffic has slowed. That whole time, we also had cats. Ive picked up the pieces of so many cats, i couldnt tell you how many. There was a time when the dogs we had didnt bother the cats and they mingled in the same space. Then we built a fence. Putting dogs in a fence is basically telling them "Im assigning you to guard this important strategic asset and i want you to use any means necessary to defend it", and that will include barking at anything that comes remotely close to it, and attacking anything smaller than a dog that goes inside of it. This is dog nature. You can try to train your dogs to accept certain specific cats in their space, but that STILL doesnt mean they wont kill the next stranger cat that drops in. Most of the cats i ever had to scrape into a plastic bag and throw away were cats that the dogs had stared across the fence at for years. And let me tell you something about cats, too. Ive had over a hundred dogs if you count the litters we adopted out, and ive only had maybe 20 cats, but its enough to tell you this: In all the years ive lived with and watched outdoor cats, ive only seen ONE that didnt EVENTUALLY, FOR SOME STUPID REASON, wander into the dog yard after YEARS of not feeling the need. And die. What im saying is this: If you put dogs in a fence, and there are cats anywhere in a mile radius, eventually there will be conflict and death. It is dog's nature to defend its territory and to hunt, and it is cat's nature to not respect artificial borders. You can either go all god complex and try to train the dog out of your dog so it's an even less offensive slave/toy, or you can do what i was lucky enough to experience where i grew up: dont fence them in. But if you're going to get all in huff when you find out that the 10, 20, maybe 100 hrs you dedicate to your dog's 10+ year life wasnt enough to completely overrule countless millenia of nature at work and the dog will occasionally/eventually attack or kill SOMETHING, you just shouldnt have dogs.

Look, we would all do well to remember that dogs have some wicked-ass teeth for a reason.

Banning a dog breed is stupid. Ignoring thousands of generations of selective breeding is also stupid. With two greyhounds I'm not going to be buying a pet rabbit anytime soon. Similarly, if I owned two of the molosser breeds, I'd keep an eye on them around strangers.

TR8owner wrote: Anybody who disagrees is full of b.s. and is making up excuses.

Death to all extremists!

TR8owner wrote: Pit bulls and Siberians are naturally born killers. Anybody who disagrees is full of b.s. and is making up excuses. Sure, they can be loving to humans, but not other animals. My black lab is completely comfortable with my 5 cats and never chases other cats. \he's even made friends with a local porcupine. That won't happen with a pit bull.

Just curious. How much experience have you had with dogs? Not just your dog, but large numbers of different dogs with different temperaments in different situations. I have seen Siberians who live with cats and I have seen labs who chase and kill cats. My sister had a black lab who brought home dead cats and dead birds. Dropped them right on the back porch as a gift. Feral cats who landed in her back yard did not live long. Individual dogs within the breed will vary in behavior depending on breeding, treatment by the owner and training. My uncle had labs that he used for duck hunting. He kept them outside in a specially built kennel and unlike my dogs, they were never house dogs, but he did spend a lot of time and money training them for what they do. They did not care for cats.

I have also seen smaller female pit bulls who were used as bait dogs who were actually afraid of cats as well as other dogs, people and even their own shadows because of the way they were treated.

In general, Labradors are bred to bring back dead birds without eating them or damaging them. They are hunting dogs. What part of hunting does not involve killing some kind of animal?