Lol. Uber 
.
Audrey, I am a huge dog lover, but I do agree with you on this one. Different breeds have different traits as you say, and prospective owners should be aware of that fact.
It is beyond my understanding why anyone would have pitbull type dogs at all. For sure they may appear friendly, but the problem is that if they, for whatever reason, decide to be unfriendly then disaster strikes, they are extremely powerful and have extremely strong jaws, you quite simply don’t stand a chance against them. As some of you may remember we had some Russians move into the house behind us along with a pitbull x staffie. They are still there and since the first days when the dog would hurl itself at our fence it has obviously got used to us and our voices and actually comes to the fence whining for our two little dogs. Oh he looks nice and friendly then, but, let him hear a strange voice in our back garden and he hurls himself at the fence barking and snarling. At the present time the Russians are in the process of building a high wall at the front of the house they rent because a few months ago their next door neighbour on the road outside their house had to park her car in front of their, then low wall, due to roads being dug up, and Bova, the dog, jumped up the wall and bit her quite badly on her arm. The police came and of course wanted to see the dog’s paperwork, which evidently was in order but they were not happy with the premises, hence this new high wall going up. Presumably the owner of the house has given permission for this wall, but who knows, he is back living in Wales. The police insisted on the matter going through the courts and already there has been one hearing, there will be another one sooner or later, nothing moves very fast here. I also have a friend in Texas who has happily allowed her 15 year old son to have a Pitbull, in my opinion a disaster waiting to happen and to be honest I am amazed that she even considered allowing him to own this dog. I think it is very irresponsible and quite frankly downright stupidity.
As for it being a matter of how the dog is treated, I can’t agree with that either, some dogs are sweet natured, some are not, some are downright cranky and always will be and if you happen to come across a cranky pitbull type dog, Akita, Mastiff, whatever, that gets upset at something, then you are in big trouble. Such dogs should never be considered as family pets, not ever. I know some will disagree and I love dogs, well all animals actually, but I would no more consider owning, or having on my property, any such dog any more than I would own a full grown Lion. Such dogs are disasters waiting to happen and should only ever be in the control of experts, i.e. military etc.
My next door neighbour has just bought a …English Mastiff …now about a year old .A big dog …leant on the dividing
fence and pushed it over …I am beginning to feel a little dubious about it
can someone please tell me about the traits of these …
Excuse me - this is beginning to feel very uncomfortable. May we stick to the subject and not attack fellow posters.
Yes, I agree. I’m afraid we have a case of opposing personalities and mindsets where we end up at loggerheads on certain subjects - dogs and religion. I can’t tolerate her replies and she can’t mine. I’m at fault here mainly, though not totally. Apart from these altercations brought on by the topic subject we get on fine.
Anyway she has put me on ignore again now so presumably no more arguments.
Either look on the Kennel Club website under the appropriate breed, or google the specific breed club info.
Quite right ST.
clumsy …i totally agree with everything you’ve said…everyone has their own opinions and thinks differently about this breed of dogs…but too many lives have been lost or people scarred for life…i personally don’t think they have a place in a family home…as you say each and every dog has a different nature…i would never feel safe being near one…
It’s all down to picking the right dog for you and your circumstances isn’t it really, not just the breed you like the look of. We scaled down when it became obvious another medium/large dog would not be possible for me to walk safely. And best decision we made as a Chihuahua will be able to be walked easily by me for many more years.
But this case as I was saying earlier was more about an epileptic who knew her dog was dangerous to her which poses a question - how do we ensure people don’t make these mistakes ?
I firmly believe a puppy is not born bad…It’s when Humans enter their lives that they learn the bad ways. It’s bad or inexperienced owners that I feel are to blame. If people would only get their butts off the sofa and go to Dog Training Class they will be taught and may even enjoy it. Also it will do the right thing for the dog.
I’m not quite so sure, different breeds definitely have traits and breed from two aggressive dogs I think you will see some behaviours from those parents in the puppies.
It isn’t always that simple either. We had two Dalmations - brother and sister. The male was a very gentle, caring and playful dog; his sister was aggressive with anyone and anything that wasn’t a family member and she detested children being anywhere near her (yet her brother loved children). Dogs are not born with a blank sheet - it already has genetic code written on it just as we have.
I agree that training is important, and I don’t think a puppy is “born bad” either. However, I have to disagree to some extent with your post. Dogs are not humans. They cannot control base instincts. They do not have the concept cause and effect… and cannot be expected to think through consequeses of their actions as humans can.They are not being “bad”… they are being dogs. Dogs have inborn instincts and traits which they cannot help but act on. The Pit Bull is aggressive when the proper trigger is present. No amount of training is going to stop an instinctive reaction from happening once it is set in motion. Pit Bulls are dangerous in that regard.
According to a newspaper article I read, she’d tried to sell the dog about 3 years ago because it was aggressive and was always fighting other dogs! Whether she was unsuccessful or her boyfriend blocked it, the article doesn’t say, but it tried to go for her whenever she had a fit.
has the dog been put to sleep
Not sure, not watched any news yet or opened up my paper, but according to that article in Thursday’s DM the dogs were being examined by police to establish their makeup.
I’ve noticed this story has gone very quiet on the news - not sure why, as it was so awful.
It is an awful story - no doubt about that whatsoever, however, as I have pointed out so many times death by dogs is still extremely rare and insignificant when compared with death by cars and other accidents. I’m much more scared of the 4x4s on the country lanes where I live than I am the dogs (of all breeds).
Yes Mark the stories ‘are always there’ because you will always get people who are totally unsuited to owning certain types of dogs.
Dogs don’t ask to be born or to find themselves in the hands of unsuitable owners but it happens rather like you get inexperienced teenagers in charge of cars who go on to kill people . We don’t blame the car do we, it is the driver at fault because they can’t handle it .
Good point, Meg.
Gwyn