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I'm always so surprised by how people think they don't have to care for their animals. They say they love their dog but leave them out all the time, or beat them when they are not trained well. I trained a bit with a dog and it made me see I was not going to be a good owner. I decided to not have a dog since I would not be able to spend the time with the dog that it would require.

Dogs love companionship and leadership. You need to be the lead dog and spend a lot of time with it. If you have to leave the dog alone all the time or don't have the time to be patient with the dog as it has to be re-taught new skills, it might not be right for you or the dog.

On the other hand I have several friends with dogs who are well behaved and well trained and it seems to be delightful for them. Dogs who always come when called. Go "potty" on command. Can play and have fun, but can calm down when ordered to do so. These animals are happy being under their owners command, but it took a lot of time. Someone had to be able to be around the dogs most of the time and had to be consistant with their methods.

Exactly Scan - any dog is going to be a handfull if it isn't trained properly. My contention is that bulldogs wouldn't be so notorious without their natural strength and it is because of their jaw strength that they are singled out to be trained for fighting.

I have never met a mean retriever or lab raised by sane people. They have inherent good nature, and the only thing is when untrained can be noticibly boistrous because of their size. We have friends with both, and all they want to do is lick us to death and get petted. I think they're great.
Dean, if your semi-friend will take a golf club to his dog, he would do so also to his wife and kids, and possibly you, if given the chance. Somethin's wrong with that guy.

i cant stand anyone that abuses animals, no way id ever beat a dog.

i have a cat now that has no hip, he was my sisters cat and he broke it running from her kids or something. she wanted to get rid of him because 'hes too old now' well hes only 4 i think still very playfull. she also has wood floors and the cat would leave paw prints when he walked on it so that was another reason my sister was ready to dump the family pet in a shelter.

some people shouldnt have pets. all that being said i still want a tuff dog that will be trained as best as i can train it(ill do alot of research How to train) not just beat the dog when it does wrong. ive seen to many abused dogs that run when they see you pick up a shoe or raise your hand, they are so used to being hit they know to hide at the first sign of it coming.

We have 4 cats , ages 17, 13 , 3 , & 2 , We also have 3 dogs , a pure bred American Staffordshire Terrier , a small mix Pom and Terrier and then there is Max who will be 21 weeks old this coming Monday and weighs around 50lbs . at the moment . All our animals are inside animals with access to the outside and they think they are all related .Max plays with my friends granddaughter just as gently as you please . Rather impressive to us .
Here is Max .

Good for you wizzard. There is nothing like happy animals to help make a happy house. Our golden and our two cats are very important members of our family and I can't imagine being without them.

cb360 wrote:http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanpitbull.htm

Height: 18-22 inches (46-56 cm)
Weight: 22 -110 pounds (10-50 kg)

Please Note: The APBT ranges in size from 22 pounds to 110 pounds (rare), with the most common being between 35 - 55 pounds (16-25 kg.), in fact the original APBT's were between 20 - 40 pounds (9-18 kg.) and were bred small for their main purpose, fighting, These dogs are varying from small to extra large. A very common misconception is that APBT's are muscle bound (viscous) hulks that weigh in around 85 pounds (39 kg.) and this is generally not the majority, Most of the APBT's that Are that large have been crossed with another breeds.

This here is the problem. There is no way that a well bred animal will have such large fluctuations regarding their size. When people talk about their devotion and love and eagerness to please, these are all traits taken from the English Bull Terriers. They have all of these good traits and more but they do not have the negative ones continually associated with the Pitt.
People have simply taken the strength and tenacity of the Bull Terrier and mixed it with other breeds to produce the aggression. Luckily for them, a lot of the dogs good nature and eagreness to please has remained in the breed.

O.K., I'll spout off some more......

Purebreds..... never saw the attraction of having a papered dog. Never had one myself, so maybe I am missing something...... but I doubt it. I have worked for a shelter for about 10 years now, sort of a rescue/holding organization, they have no building, just a group of people who take in and care for the animals until they can be found permanat homes. So I have alot of animals(cats-n-dogs) go through here. The fun part is that many of them need special medication for various problems, ect..... most of the animals who need this medication are purebreds who have been over-bred. They have many and various physical and medical problems. The mutts that come thru are generally much more healthy, and if they have medical problems, are ussually from abuse, accident or minor desieses that are cured in a short time.

Purebreds are fine I spose, but too many of them are overbred(there's a reason your not sposed to diddle your sister) and the result is German Shepards with weak hips, Pitbulls who snap and attack people, Cockerspanials who do the same, ect...... mostly due to bad breeders who crank out puppies as fast as they can, breeding programs be dammed. Gotta get the cute little puppies out to the masses.

I actually have a border collie who is not papered, but is a purebred. She has one brown eye, and one bright blue one(pretty freaky looking ) and a deformed hind foot. It doesn't bother her, it's just bigger than the rest of her feet. She is a direct result of a greedy breeder cranking out too many puppies. Out of all the dogs in her litter(5), only one showed no physical problems, and was sold for $500... with no papers. The rest of the litter was dumped in the woods and turned in to NASAP(the shelter organization I mentioned) and PeeDee(Petey, say it fast a few times) ended up with me. She is a real sweetheart, so I kept her myself. The breeder was tracked down and eventually shut down, but not before turning out hundreds of messed up dogs and selling them to well intentioned people, who got many problem dogs for thier trouble.

So if your buying a purebred, check out the breeding history as closely as you can. Or better yet, go to your local shelter and adopt a dog that really needs you. Saves you money, saves the dog from death, and really... it's the right thing to do.



Dixie and PeeDee

But on the flip side when you get a pure bred animal you are getting what you pay for. We spoke to a prospective breeder before buying our dog for several hours regarding the breed. The guy described to a tee our dogs personality before we had even seen her. Also breeders that are registered with a kennel association or similar are bound by certain guidelines, one being the frequency of litters, that are designed to protect the animals involved. Another is the traceable blood lines and screening of the parents for possible hereditary problems. So when you see that your potential dogs parents are from completely different family trees and they are free from health problems, it is all good.

I have been to animal shelters several times and the one thing that struck me was the outrageous cost to purchase a scraggly unwanted mutt. I know most of these organisations are charity run and have to pay for their expenses, but there is no way I am going to pay that sort of money for a middle aged dog.