Owning a Pit Bull (sugg. by GTH)

This listing is absurd. The breeds that fall under the umbrella of pit are enjoying a surge in popularity over the past couple of decades. People of all classes are owning and enjoying these breeds. What breed you have says absolutely nothing about what kind of person you are, how you treat it says everything.

i agree that the breed was bred to be aggressive but responsible owners who raise them right and not mean can enjoy one of the best breed of dogs there is. i have raised pitbulls. my apocalypse was 10 years old when i lost him. he was rescued from somebody who was abusing him when he was a puppy. he never left the yard even if you left the gate open. he was scared of loud noises and loud voices which was from the abuse and he never bit anyone. my best friend owns 2 peppermint the prancing pitbull who acts almost human and baby who is only aggressive in the kisses department. another friend of mine and his wife who together make $500,000 a year own 2 and one who is a hurricane katrina survivor brought to utah for adoption. he may drowned you in slober is about as aggresive as he gets. i personally will never own another one but not because of the dog. it is because of the publics view of the breed and the problems that arise from that.

Kinda hit and miss, but I can't really put it on the dog. Those potheads down the street from my Mom? Shitheads, the lot of them, thus their Pits are aggressive and animal control seems to keep taking them away only to have them keep getting more. They don't watch their kids well, either. Now, due to the nature of my work I'm in people's homes all the time and I've seen friendly, well cared for dogs of many breeds, including Pits. Only dog I've really had get aggressive with me on a job was a Chihuahua named Chiquita, in fact.

From what I've seen, pretty much. I don't believe in banning breeds, but this breed got its reputation because it earned it. They have been genetically selected for aggression, and while training and treatment can modify that behaviour it cannot eradicate it. But all too often, you get dickless wonders buying these things because they're tough, and raising them in utterly irresponsible manners. So, yeah, in many cases owning one of these is a real sign of trailer park mentality.

I wouldn't own a pit bull, but I'm not going to insinuate that a person is low class because they own one. I know that pit bulls have a bad name, but it's not the dog's fault because they might have an irresponsible owner. It's all in the way they're raised.

There are a lot of pit bull owners who are middle-class or even upper-class folks (Jon Stewert and Michael J. Fox own pits, guys, and they're not lower class or "ghetto").  As a rule it seems like pit bull owners fall into all of the income categories, much like owners of labradors and other very common breeds. There are some "low class" people who own very nice, well-trained pit bulls, though.  Probably a big reason why a lot of poor people own pit bulls is because they are VERY common, to the point where someone might just find a friendly stray dog and take it in.  They might not be able to afford a labradoodle or teacup chihuahua or whatever the canine flavor of the week is in the suburbs. As long as someone is going to be a responsible owner, what do I care if they own a pit bull?  And if they're not going to be responsible (they neglect it, abuse it, train it to be vicious or don't train it at all) they shouldn't own any dog, period.

Really I've seen the pit bull owning people, gang banging scum etc. The State Dog of Texas, next to the stray!!!

If you've actually worked at an animal clinic, you'll find that this is a crude generalization. Some people who own pit bulls do so for the wrong reason, there's no doubt about that. But I've had a great deal of pit bull patients come in to the speciality clinic, whose owners would do anything to keep their pet healthy (where I'm at, you have to be a serious and devoted pet owner to bring your pet in, and, I hate to say it, but you can't be poor, either). Many of these animals were rescued from abusive homes or found abandoned, then adopted to some very caring families. These pit bulls, given the right home and the right care, are surprisingly loving and gentle. Their owners adopt them because they have the heart to take care of a creature that everyone else despises. A person with a pit bull may very well be one of those inbred a!@holes that throw them in pits and have them maul each other. Or it could very well be an owner who has rescued an animal from that fate.

It really depends on how they're raised and such and IF they've been spayed/neutered.

I have to agree. It has to do with who they are reared by and how they are treated. I've known a few people who taught them to fight and tried to get them to understand how wrong it is. One of them learned a valuable lesson when he was sued. The others still hold to their original beliefs that the pitbulls were bred for the sole purpose of ripping the heads off people they don't like. My son's friend had a pit who drowned when she was about 5 years old. She was loved by everyone and she loved us all in return. She went everywhere with us and we never had a problem with other people because she was taught how to behave. Pitbulls are family oriented dogs and need alot of attention. If they are treated with consideration and respect, they will be loyal without being aggressive.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess those who have posted here are not, and never have been, pit bull owners. Up until 10 years ago, I had no prior experience with them, and all my opinions were formed by what the media portrays. When I met my wife, she lived on 7 acres outside of Austin TX and had owned nothing else except pits for 20 years. She brought one with her when we took up together, a female named Tootsie. She was a remarkable dog, and a friend to all she met. She has since passed away, but we aquired others. What most people fail to recognize is that a puppy, any puppy, is only going to be as good as the effort one puts into it. Pits are not born overly agressive, they have to be conditioned that way. Responsible owners do not abuse their dogs, but too many pits are in the hands of irresponsible (or in some cases just plain stupid) owners who have no buisness with one in the first place. I would hazard a guess that most reports of a pit biting someone is a result of... Read more

These dogs should be outlawed. As a parent, it disturbs me when I see someone walking them with a heavy chain. Too many instances of these dogs hurting children and the elderly. Another sign of blue collar/status are those individuals who have a sticker of a pit bull image on their rear window.

I don't know. Do the people buy the dogs because they're inherently dangerous, or are the dogs dangerous because of the type of people who raise them?

Ill agree here for the most part. There are those out there who in my opinion are in denial but the statistics dont lie. These dogs are innocent yes, but undeniably dangerous. To try and make excuses for them and their owners is just flat irresponsible. I saw a guy walking one across a major intersection of a freeway with his pit bull on a rope along with two small children about 6 and 7. (go figure, I was already kringing looking at these two kids stressing while trying to cross while cars buzzed by at 45mph and dad without so much as a hand on them) He did have a hold of the rope though..his precious fighting dog no doubt. Just reminded me what kind of typical idiots buy these dogs. And yes, he was definitely a lower income level jerk. I would describe him more but I dont feel like putting up with the "race Patrol".

There is nothing more sickening than watching your nightly news where some child was mauled by a pit bull. And then you have the "Gomer" owner trying to defend the dogs actions. You should have no reason to train a dog to be vicious. They say " oh it's just for protection" What have they done in the past to worry about needing protection?

Yeah, this is a surefire indicator. I hate these dogs, and you have to be pretty dumb to own one. This sure is a better indicator than saying "axed" instead of "asked".

Pit Bulls are ghetto-bullsh#t. . ."I can really control the instincts of this animal. . .You just don't know how to raise them" People with little control or influence over thier lives trying to express purpose by taming an animal that shouldn't be in public. I don't hate pit-bulls, I just despise their apologist-owners. . .

This, I believe, falls inside the definition of a term I recently read in a news article: Ghetto fabulous.

Without fail this is usually in the lower stratum of society.