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The disposition of ANY dog is directly linked to how it was raised and trained. If you get a puppy or young dog and treat it with love and respect(no offence dude, but more respect than you show on these boards ), give it proper training and care, it will grow up as a loyal and well trained animal.

If you bring it up to 'be mean'(beating it, training it to attack people, genearally being agressive) that's what you'll get... another messed up dog that is dangerous to others and yourself, through no fault of it's own. No breed of dog is a 'natural killer', somebody had to beat that into the poor mutt.

I have never not had a dog. I got 2 right now and they are great animals. But they don't live here to protect me. I have no desire to have my dogs attack anyone at any time. They're only 'job' is to bark if someone is in my yard or messing with my stuff. I don't need a dog to do my fighting for me. If the dodo hits the fan, I want my dogs safely back and out of harms way, not in the middle of it risking getting hurt or killed.

I protect my dogs, they don't protect me.

bennettoid wrote:Pitts weren't - and aren't bred for protection, or to be pets.They are bred to be vicious fighters. I don't care about people who have "a sweet heart" pitt. Either they are lucky or they don't know the true nature of dogs. If your not a dog breeder or trainer then you had better be careful. A little boy was mauled here a few months ago, the owner swore it couldn't have been his dog and went so far as to leave the state with the dog. The Dog mauled another boy in that state and was shot by Police.

An outside Pitt just may turn on you.

Take a good look at what Job you want the dog to do and look for a breed that has been bred for that job. You don't take a Pitt hunting and you don't expect a Lab to defend a Military Base.

Sounds to me like you would be better off with Rottweiler, Shepherd, or Dobie.

Rottwieler would be my pick.

id certainly be carefull with the dog, im sure most of these dog attacks no matter the breed happen because the owner is careless. if the dog is on a leash at all times its hard for it to do that sort of thing. but theres certainly risks.

i like the rotts my uncle had one, but its too big of a dog for me i want something on the smaller size. my uncles rott weighd like 100lbs easy, a nice size pitt would be 30lbs

I've heard Buzz's argument hundreds of times, but its not necessarily true. Dog's do what they are bred to do. Yes the right person can have a perfectly good Pitt bull, until it kills the neighbor's poodle.

There are hundreds of breeds out there- just do a little research and you'll find one thats right for you.

Check out the AKC website. If I understand correctly there's no such breed as a 'pit bull' - it's an appelation that is given to several different breeds of bulldog. In my opinion they can be as sweet as any dog, it's the owners who are the problem. Also, a lot of their problems stem from the fact that they have extremely strong jaws and if they do sense a problem and bite something, you pretty much have to kill them to get them to let go. But I sincerely doubt they are born vicious. I'd do some thinking before getting one. Just because of all the bad press surrounding the breed there are a number of home insurance companies that will exclude you simply for owning the breed. Also, Denver Co just outlawed them altogether. Get a Golden Retriever - friendliest dog known to man - but they are decent watchdogs - they have excellent hearing and will definitely let you know if someone is on the front step at night. They probably won't bite them, but they'll wake you up so that you can bite them

bennettoid wrote:I've heard Buzz's argument hundreds of times, but its not necessarily true. Dog's do what they are bred to do. Yes the right person can have a perfectly good Pitt bull, until it kills the neighbor's poodle.

There are hundreds of breeds out there- just do a little research and you'll find one thats right for you.

I fully agree that a dog is a dog and has all the natural instincts of a preditor. One of them is that if it is smaller than you and running, it is likely food. If a dog goes after the neighbors poodle, he is assuming authority over the owner, which means that dog and his owner have 'Alpha Issues' and the dog is confused about who's running the show. The owner has dropped the ball in thier training.

cb360 wrote:Get a Golden Retriever - friendliest dog known to man -

I like the way breed specific personality traits only work in the positive. Yes retrievers and labradors etc are friendly dogs, because that is the nature of the breed as is unstable violent actions in the case of pitbull terriers.

Just last month I had my heart broken by a golden retriever.

I have a friend who had one, and I always dog-sat Samantha when he went away and couldn't take the dog. He went to Austraila for a month, so Sam stayed here. I've known her all her life(5 years) and she is a nice friendly dog.

Anyways, buddy comes home and gets his dog back and life goes on..... till the next day when he call me and says, " This dog is dangerous now, what did you do to her?"

I asked him what he was talking about and he says that he got Sam home, and after she got through bouncing around greeting him, his wife and kids, ect, he put her outside in the yard. A while later he went out to do something in the yard and Sam was bugging him for attention, she wanted to play or whatever. He didn't and so he beat her down with a golf club. As he was trying to get out from under his truck where she was hiding to continue beating her, she snapped at him(perfectly understandable). He lost it. He wanted to shoot her. "I can't trust her anymore" was his statement. He figured I had screwed her up by being too nice to her.... So he asks if I want to come out with him when he shoots her!!!!....Uuum, NO!!! I don't and I'll be over in 2 minutes to get her, DO NOT shoot her!!!

So I went and got Sam and brought her home. She was pretty timid and sore after that. She also went a little mean, I was the only one who could disipline her at all without her getting snarly. She used to get along with my dogs just fine, after the incident, she would attack then if they got too close. It totally changed her personality. I found a nice farm with no other dogs for her to live on and she's there and doing well right now.

But my friend had completely ruined this poor dog, through mistreatment. Any dog can be screwed up by a screwed up owner. Any dog can be a functioning, caring part of the family if it is treated properly.

I don't talk to my 'buddy' much anymore either.....
Now he has a young Shepard that he is raising to be another problem dog..... this poor thing is already messed in the head and things will only get worse..... it WILL snap one day and I just hope it's not one of his kids that takes the brunt of that.

That's sad buzz - good on you for doing the right thing. Your friend is an idiot.

Thats a sick thing to do to a dog. You should have beat HIM with a golf club.

Mintbread wrote:

cb360 wrote:Get a Golden Retriever - friendliest dog known to man -

I like the way breed specific personality traits only work in the positive. Yes retrievers and labradors etc are friendly dogs, because that is the nature of the breed as is unstable violent actions in the case of pitbull terriers.

Strength has been bred into bulldogs, not meanness. I don't think there's a genetic marker for being mean fer chrissakes. They can be dangerous because of their immense strength coupled with the sadistic machinations of their psychologically troubled owners. There's millions of friendly pit bull terriers... I just think Golden Retrievers are on average more friendly. If no one trained these dogs to fight there wouldn't be the uproar we always hear about. people have been bit by every breed there is... but morons who plan on abusing their dog and training it to bite don't usually buy pomeranians. If you teach a dog who's boss when they are a pup and bond with it and feed it you won't have any problems.