Any other Pit Bull owners here?

[donalgdon]

Just wondering if anyone else here owns a Pit Bull.

My wife and I adopted a five month old Pit Bull a few weeks ago. I've become completely enamored with her for these weeks and I'm continually impressed by her temperament and skills, intelligence, attitude toward people and other dogs. She's such a fine specimen. I can see why so many people are passionate about this breed. I am so deeply impressed with her that she's taken the top spot as "favorite breed" in my heart as a lifetime dog lover. I've owned and trained a dozen different breeds, but this is my first Pit Bull.

[herbhunter]

We have a Golden Retriever. The breed was my wife's choice but now I can't think of a more desirable breed in terms of a balance between intelligence and temperament.

[donalgdon]

Golden Retriever's are also wonderful dogs. I think between that and a Lab, I'd say they are in my top five. I'm not much of a fan of small dogs. They always seem too yippy to me, so I've never felt drawn to them, but there's just something about a medium to large size dog that appeals to me, not in a macho sense, or anything, because I don't want an aggressive dog, but they just seem calmer, in general. Maybe the little dogs have a hard time dealing with the Napoleon complex, I guess.

Nahla (our Pit) has only barked once in all these weeks. I've taken her out every day on walks and biking and she's reacted extremely placidly to all other neighborhood dogs and/children, even the dogs that barked aggressively at her, etc. didn't get a rise out of her, nor did she cower from it. She just kept on going, confident and happy. It's such a joy to have her around, and she's adapted so well to our other dog who is a terrier mutt.

[naill]

I can see no reason why anyone except the military or police needs a pit bull. They should be banned. We need to pass laws that would make it illegal to own or breed pit bulls.

[donalgdon]

Mar 5, 2013 18:01:48 GMT -5 @naill said:

I can see no reason why anyone except the military or police needs a pit bull. They should be banned. We need to pass laws that would make it illegal to own or breed pit bulls.

That's absolutely the silliest thing I've ever seen you post here, Charlie. You have NO idea what you are talking about whatsoever, but I understand that it's easy to fall prey to the ignorance and stereotyping associated with this breed. Small dogs are actually far more likely to bite and show aggressive behavior. Pit Bulls get a bad rap, which is undeserved and is basically why I started this thread.

In reality, they aren't more dangerous than other breeds, are not more prone to biting or aggression. Actually, the opposite is true. Do a little research and come back to this thread. I'll accept your apology on behalf of my wonderful dog.



plus.google.com/photos/110532016563813536791/albums/5852005806303722817

Here's a couple of cell phone shots of my two year old terrier mutt Sandy who's been stuck like glue to her new partner the "viscous Pit Bull" Nahla since the day we brought her home.

Nahla is a very calm and gentle dog, even around other aggressive dogs, which we've encountered many times now on our bike rides and walks. She's patient, confident, sweet, loyal. I'm hooked.

[naill]

Mar 5, 2013 18:23:09 GMT -5 donalgdon said:

naill said:

That's absolutely the silliest thing I've ever seen you post here, Charlie. You have NO idea what you are talking about whatsoever, but I understand that it's easy to fall prey to the ignorance and stereotyping associated with this breed.

I raised pit bulls for 40 years for the military.

[naill]

Seriously , I was just kidding you and thinking about what people say about types of guns/.

[donalgdon]

Sorry. I didn't read the sarcasm properly. I was pretty surprised. I'm glad it actually WAS a joke!

You made it 40 years around all those "killer" dogs?

[lindaw]

My friend rescues and rehabilitates (if necessary) pits and pit blends. I went over to her house, having met none of them, only being a friend of hers. They knew right away I was friend, not foe. The only danger I was in was being slurped alive and sat on by three large, heavy dogs. The purebred watched me like a hawk going up the stairs, stopping to turn around to make sure I was following her every few steps, then got up on the bed and snuggled with me when I sat there with her. They are loving creatures with people and seem to get along well.

Her mother hated dogs growing up. HATED. Now she specifically comes to my friend's house to walk Charlie. I don't know what that dog did, but she actually allows him IN HER HOUSE. If you knew my friend's mother, this would astound you.

[donalgdon]

Bumped into this today.

funnyandcutedogs.blogspot.in/2013/03/ten-facts-about-pit-bulls-every-one.html

Ten Facts About Pit Bulls Every One Should Know


1. Pit Bulls are commonly used as therapy dogs. Whether they are visiting a senior care facility or helping someone recover from an emotional accident, Pit Bulls are making a mark as outstanding therapy dogs.
2. Pit Bulls are used in Search and Rescue work. One example of well known SAR Pit Bulls is Kris Crawford and her dogs. Kris and her dogs have helped save the lives of many people during their efforts.
3. Pit Bulls serve as narcotic and bomb sniffing dogs. One Pit Bull, Popsicle (named that because he was found in an old freezer) has the largest recorded single drug find in Texas history. Read more about Popsicle here. Including how he found over 3,000 lbs of cocaine in Hildago, Texas.
4. Pit Bulls are great with kids. They weren't referred to as the "nanny's dog" for nothing that's for sure.
5. Pit Bulls are not human aggressive. The American Pit Bull Terrier as a breed is not human aggressive. In fact, quite the opposite is true of the breed. They are gentle and loving dogs. Like any dog individuals can be unsound and have behavior problems.
6. The Pit Bull was so popular in the early 1900's they were our mascot not only in World War One, but World War Two as well. They were featured on recruiting and propoganda posters during this time period.
7. Sgt. Stubby. A Pit Bull war hero. Stubby was wounded in action twice, he saved his entire platoon by warning them of a poison gas attack and he single handedly captured a German spy.
8. Pete the Pup on the orginal Little Rascals was a Pit Bull.
9. Pit Bulls score an 83.4% passing rate with the American Temperament Test Society. That's better than the popular Border Collie (a breed who scores 79.6%). View the ATTS stats here.
10. They are dogs not killing machines.

[Deleted]

[donalgdon]

So, today, today Nahla, the Pitt Bull comes to our bedroom and pushes the door open, stands there with a funny kind of worried look on her face just barks in a funny way like "Come on," I wanna' show you something," and starts heading for the kitchen and comes back really quickly, like, "Hey, why aren't you following me?" We go with her the second time.

Turns out somebody left a pot of rice on the stove and sorta' forgot about it, and it was just starting to burn. Somehow she just knew it wasn't right. She warned us in time to save the rice, too!

Earned a little extra food and loving today for sure.

[donalgdon]

Another hero story: She used her paw to kill a tarantula that crawled into the house during the construction of an additional bathroom.

[Holy Schist]

Thanks for sharing the pet stories. We've had pets our whole lives, and at times consider our 3 kids animals too.

I don't know how to describe the dog next to me.

We had mostly mutts and Labrador Retrievers between wife's and my family, and my mother's early 1970s round of breeding Welsh Terriers. Our last Lab was one of those rare and amazing animals. The Vet and others used to say we'll probably never get that again. We sure got "special" now.

After old Hunter died my wife wanted no shedding, no stench, and that lead us to a Portuguese Water Dog. This is like a turbo charged smaller Labrador with sheep's fur. We love the dog but she can open doors, open gates, moves furniture for her convenience, talks, schemes and is sneaky like no dog I've known. We are sure this animal would be dead or up for adoption if she landed with somebody who was not experienced with training animals.

This dog figured out how to open the child gates that our kids didn't! The latches in the yard gates are wrapped and tied tight.

If nobody else is in the house and phone rings she'll start talking. It's funny when guests see her phone talking, other antics, but my office is at home and I can't do conf calls with people I don't know when Lucy is present.

The upside is this dog is a better mountain biker than the larger work dogs. She loves berms, gap jumps and tells my twins to ride faster.

My wife was interested in these dogs before one ever landed in the White House. At times we wonder if the White House dog is a rocket charged rocket scientist like we ended up getting. If ours is typical this breed should get a not for beginners warning.

I think we'll go back to mutts or no dogs after this.

P.S. We also had a German Shepherd and rescue Chihuahua at same time for interesting.

[donalgdon]

I've heard stories about the Portuguese Water Dog, but I've never seen one. It amazes me how smart these creatures can be. I read somewhere recently that a recent study examined dogs and found that they are able to read human emotions better than any other animal on the planet, including primates. Having that bit of information confirmed by clinical research doesn't surprise me a bit.

I love dog stories, too.

If anybody else wants to share more, I'd be interested to read your experiences as well.