Pitbull jumps gate, kills 7month infant

[CindyE]

Well trained doesn't mean fully under control.

It's an animal, not a friggin' file cabinet.

I love my dogs, but gotta agree there. I've been around dogs, training, and shows quite a bit. One example was while watching a dog off-leash drill team. Amazing to watch. One dog suddenly got too excited and jumped out of the ring and into the crowd, then ran back, jumped into the ring, and continued on. That dog was well-trained, and he recovered quickly from his error, but still, for a few seconds, he was out of control.

 

[Expat]

Dogs can be weird. I had a female Brittany several years ago. She was nice to everyone all the time. EXCEPT, when I was sitting in my recliner and she was on my lap, she would growl at and try to bite anyone that got too close to me. I thought it was cute, everyone else not so much.

 

[Grelber]

Pitbulls / am staffs used to be my hobby thing. Going to shows , studying the breed any way I could , competing in obedience & conformation, getting to know the breeders, studying the bloodlines, all that stuff. Have owned 5 1/2 (current mutt is half lab & half pit bull).

After being arounds hundreds of the dogs and spending time with several long term breeders this is where I came to.

It is common for the dogs to be aggressive towards other animals, maybe something like 50% of them are. Training & stuff can mitigate this sometimes but it is something a buyer should factor into the decision.

A nuts dog is not a hard thing to spot (any breed). Temperament tests are available if an owner has doubts about whether they can spot a nuts dog. In the two cases I was close to & new all the pertinent details of human injury, it was about people having an obviously nuts dog and making excuses for the obviously nuts dogs behavior until a heightened stressful circumstance came about & the dog went off.

Nuts owners is a different thing entirely and they will (and have) migrate to whichever breed currently has the most fearful reputation.

 

[renauldo]

My next door neighbor walked out on his girlfriend and their 6 yr. old son monday. He's a cook, in a pretty nice restaurant, about 35 yrs. old and left his family for a waitress he met on the job. He got a pit bull about a year ago and it seems an even tempered dog, and the 10 year old son loved it. Pretty dog with coloring like a German Shorthair. Monday the guy left around 11 a.m. while the wife was at work. He tied the dog to the gas meter on a 3ft. leash, in the sun, and left. I heard the dog a little later crying like Pits do when left alone. I gave it some water and stayed with it for about a 1/2 an hour. A neighbor came over and said he saw the dog's owner headed down the street with a suitcase about an hour ago. I called animal control and they came over. I got the girlfriends work number from anotherr neighbor and called her. She talked to animal control and she doesn't want the dog. Now the bad part. I find out from animal control the dog is as good as dead. Animal control won't adopt Pit bulls to anyone. The Pit bull rescues are full up with dogs. I feel like **** about the way it went.

 

[churchmouse]

My next door neighbor walked out on his girlfriend and their 6 yr. old son monday. He's a cook, in a pretty nice restaurant, about 35 yrs. old and left his family for a waitress he met on the job. He got a pit bull about a year ago and it seems an even tempered dog, and the 10 year old son loved it. Pretty dog with coloring like a German Shorthair. Monday the guy left around 11 a.m. while the wife was at work. He tied the dog to the gas meter on a 3ft. leash, in the sun, and left. I heard the dog a little later crying like Pits do when left alone. I gave it some water and stayed with it for about a 1/2 an hour. A neighbor came over and said he saw the dog's owner headed down the street with a suitcase about an hour ago. I called animal control and they came over. I got the girlfriends work number from anotherr neighbor and called her. She talked to animal control and she doesn't want the dog. Now the bad part. I find out from animal control the dog is as good as dead. Animal control won't adopt Pit bulls to anyone. The Pit bull rescues are full up with dogs. I feel like **** about the way it went.

Another idiot owner.
A dog is a huge responsibility especially after they are not puppy's anymore. That is when they get dumped/mis-treated.

 

[churchmouse]

Responsible pit owners dislike the bad owners as much as the rest of you do. They are bad for us, just like the irresponsible gun owners that create problems for us.

And to this I agree.

 

[Llamaguy]

Take a look at animal shelters, pit bulls seem to make up half of the dogs there. They are not inherently bad dogs by any means, but when there are a lot of them in less than responsible hands there are going to be more incidents. The fact that they have stronger than your average dog will make those incidents more serious and thus more reported on by the media. I've been bitten by many more toy-breed dogs than anything else, but I just smack the thing and go on.

 

[Mark 1911]

Dogs can be unpredictable. Some breeds seem more unpredictable than others. I had an Irish Setter back in the 70s. He wasn't the smartest pup ever born, but was about the most loving creature on the face of planet earth. The only thing an intruder might have to worry about would be getting licked to death - that's what we all thought until one day. One day a young mom came walking by the house pushing a baby in a stroller. My dog suddenly broke away and charged with teeth bared. Freaked me out, and scared the you know what out of that poor woman. Luckily it stopped short of actually biting the lady or the baby, but I was so stunned. Couldn't believe it. That was the only time that dog ever did anything like that. Never did it again afterwards. Simply can not explain what triggered him that day. I'm glad he wasn't a pit bull.

 

[CindyE]

My next door neighbor walked out on his girlfriend and their 6 yr. old son monday. He's a cook, in a pretty nice restaurant, about 35 yrs. old and left his family for a waitress he met on the job. He got a pit bull about a year ago and it seems an even tempered dog, and the 10 year old son loved it. Pretty dog with coloring like a German Shorthair. Monday the guy left around 11 a.m. while the wife was at work. He tied the dog to the gas meter on a 3ft. leash, in the sun, and left. I heard the dog a little later crying like Pits do when left alone. I gave it some water and stayed with it for about a 1/2 an hour. A neighbor came over and said he saw the dog's owner headed down the street with a suitcase about an hour ago. I called animal control and they came over. I got the girlfriends work number from anotherr neighbor and called her. She talked to animal control and she doesn't want the dog. Now the bad part. I find out from animal control the dog is as good as dead. Animal control won't adopt Pit bulls to anyone. The Pit bull rescues are full up with dogs. I feel like **** about the way it went.

Wow. Those neighbors suck. Poor dog.
my daughter once rescued a pit that someone had left in a trailer in a crate with no food or water when they moved out. she was a sweet dog.

 

[ghuns]

I had an Irish Setter back in the 70s.

Hey, me too! Mine never went after a person. But when the mean old neighbor lady decided to raise chickens, it was on. My mom refers to it as the Great Chicken Massacre of '76. Lucky for Rusty(was their any other name for him?) he ran home faster than she ran for her gun and after tracking him back to our house,she didn't have the heart to blast him in front of his 4 year old owner.

 

[indiucky]

They are a big strong breed, and unfortunately there are a lot of people that like to use them as some kind of penis substitute if you catch my meaning.

I KNOW!!!! Don't folks realize that Smith and Wesson Model 29's are the BEST penis substitutes!!! Gosh...

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Another idiot owner.
A dog is a huge responsibility especially after they are not puppy's anymore. That is when they get dumped/mis-treated.

Think how the 6 year old kid and the kid's mom feels.

 

[Mark 1911]

Hey, me too! Mine never went after a person. But when the mean old neighbor lady decided to raise chickens, it was on. My mom refers to it as the Great Chicken Massacre of '76. Lucky for Rusty(was their any other name for him?) he ran home faster than she ran for her gun and after tracking him back to our house,she didn't have the heart to blast him in front of his 4 year old owner.

That's amazing! Because my dog's name was Rex and he was a chicken killer too! He killed 7 chickens one say at the next door neighbor's house (I was living in outside of Conroe, TX at the time). Luckily for Rex, the chickens' owner didn't have a gun. I had to pay him $7 for each chicken he killed when I got home from work that day.

 

[RedneckReject]

Hey, me too! Mine never went after a person. But when the mean old neighbor lady decided to raise chickens, it was on. My mom refers to it as the Great Chicken Massacre of '76. Lucky for Rusty(was their any other name for him?) he ran home faster than she ran for her gun and after tracking him back to our house,she didn't have the heart to blast him in front of his 4 year old owner.

That's amazing! Because my dog's name was Rex and he was a chicken killer too! He killed 7 chickens one say at the next door neighbor's house (I was living in outside of Conroe, TX at the time). Luckily for Rex, the chickens' owner didn't have a gun. I had to pay him $7 for each chicken he killed when I got home from work that day.

So my neighbors have this God awful rooster......

 

[sepe]

Guy next door breeds Rots. These are huge animals and for the most part docile around kids and loving of their owners and family. They are vocal when something goes bump in the night. I am very pleased they are there.

I've met far more "vicious" rottweilers than I have bully breeds. A lot more "vicious" dobermans than rottweilers. The majority of them were semi trained dogs, trained at home for protection. Some had proper protection training and knew when they could turn it off. The bully breeds were ALL docile and loving around kids and other people (as long as the owner saw "strangers" as friendly, the dogs stayed calm). I have been nipped by a rottweiler. I blamed **** poor handling/training of the owner and not the breed. Then again, we're a little behind the times out in the country. Some people are still thinking that the rottweilers and dobermans make them look tough and the bully breeds are still just good family pets.

 

[finnegan]

Its definitely not just pits. I own a Cane Corso italian mastiff. A news article from today reported that two free roaming but owned Cane Corsos mauled a jogger to death (while the neighbor who saw it fired a warning shot in the air instead of into the dogs mauling the guy. My guess is he couldn't get a clear shot). My Cane Corso is a total goofball, super friendly, great around other kids and animals, etc. He is also 115lbs of pure muscle with jaws that can bend metal and destroy virtually anything he gets his mouth around, and is very good at using his entire body to rugby tackle you, wrapping one leg around the front of your ankle and shouldering you behind the knee.

As such, if he is outside, he's behind a fence or on a leash. He is ridiculously friendly until he perceives that someone is being attacked, such as kids roughhousing or one dog nipping at another. When that happens, he growls a warning and gets in the middle as he tolerates absolutely none of that (also, as a side note, telling roughhousing kids to knock it off is a lot easier when a giant mastiff is growling from behind the fence). I can completely see a Cane Corso, even a friendly one like mine, tackling a jogger in play and a panicked person assuming he is being attacked and reacting, and subsequently being torn to pieces by what amounts to two wingless gargoyles.

People who do not acknowledge the nature of the breeds they own (the Cane Corso was originally a war and hunting dog, later used as a gaurd dog as they are fiercely loyal to their owners and good with kids) are not helping anyone. As such, mine has been thoroughly socialized with both people and animals; and most importantly not trained using the "Dog Whisperer" method of dominance/ submission; but rather the clicker method of positive reinforcement. What I want to solidify is the idea that my dog will never see people as anything but a source of delicious treats to be pleased; and not subject to the dominance/ submission heirarchy. He has tasks to do to get a treat. Sit, lay down, etc, that subtly reinforce the idea of dominance rather than choke chains and the like.

 

[churchmouse]

Its definitely not just pits. I own a Cane Corso italian mastiff. A news article from today reported that two free roaming but owned Cane Corsos mauled a jogger to death (while the neighbor who saw it fired a warning shot in the air instead of into the dogs mauling the guy. My guess is he couldn't get a clear shot). My Cane Corso is a total goofball, super friendly, great around other kids and animals, etc. He is also 115lbs of pure muscle with jaws that can bend metal and destroy virtually anything he gets his mouth around, and is very good at using his entire body to rugby tackle you, wrapping one leg around the front of your ankle and shouldering you behind the knee.

As such, if he is outside, he's behind a fence or on a leash. He is ridiculously friendly until he perceives that someone is being attacked, such as kids roughhousing or one dog nipping at another. When that happens, he growls a warning and gets in the middle as he tolerates absolutely none of that (also, as a side note, telling roughhousing kids to knock it off is a lot easier when a giant mastiff is growling from behind the fence). I can completely see a Cane Corso, even a friendly one like mine, tackling a jogger in play and a panicked person assuming he is being attacked and reacting, and subsequently being torn to pieces by what amounts to two wingless gargoyles.

People who do not acknowledge the nature of the breeds they own (the Cane Corso was originally a war and hunting dog, later used as a gaurd dog as they are fiercely loyal to their owners and good with kids) are not helping anyone. As such, mine has been thoroughly socialized with both people and animals; and most importantly not trained using the "Dog Whisperer" method of dominance/ submission; but rather the clicker method of positive reinforcement. What I want to solidify is the idea that my dog will never see people as anything but a source of delicious treats to be pleased; and not subject to the dominance/ submission heirarchy. He has tasks to do to get a treat. Sit, lay down, etc, that subtly reinforce the idea of dominance rather than choke chains and the like.

You have as a dog owner taken the time and made the effort to have your dog. This is not the standard operational procedure around here.
+1 to you.

 

[Hardscrable]

Its definitely not just pits. I own a Cane Corso italian mastiff. A news article from today reported that two free roaming but owned Cane Corsos mauled a jogger to death (while the neighbor who saw it fired a warning shot in the air instead of into the dogs mauling the guy. My guess is he couldn't get a clear shot). My Cane Corso is a total goofball, super friendly, great around other kids and animals, etc. He is also 115lbs of pure muscle with jaws that can bend metal and destroy virtually anything he gets his mouth around, and is very good at using his entire body to rugby tackle you, wrapping one leg around the front of your ankle and shouldering you behind the knee.

As such, if he is outside, he's behind a fence or on a leash. He is ridiculously friendly until he perceives that someone is being attacked, such as kids roughhousing or one dog nipping at another. When that happens, he growls a warning and gets in the middle as he tolerates absolutely none of that (also, as a side note, telling roughhousing kids to knock it off is a lot easier when a giant mastiff is growling from behind the fence). I can completely see a Cane Corso, even a friendly one like mine, tackling a jogger in play and a panicked person assuming he is being attacked and reacting, and subsequently being torn to pieces by what amounts to two wingless gargoyles.

People who do not acknowledge the nature of the breeds they own (the Cane Corso was originally a war and hunting dog, later used as a gaurd dog as they are fiercely loyal to their owners and good with kids) are not helping anyone. As such, mine has been thoroughly socialized with both people and animals; and most importantly not trained using the "Dog Whisperer" method of dominance/ submission; but rather the clicker method of positive reinforcement. What I want to solidify is the idea that my dog will never see people as anything but a source of delicious treats to be pleased; and not subject to the dominance/ submission heirarchy. He has tasks to do to get a treat. Sit, lay down, etc, that subtly reinforce the idea of dominance rather than choke chains and the like.

Good for you for acknowledging and taking seriously the responsibilities associated with ownership. All of the dogs I have owned are rescues, shelter dogs, and other unwanteds of numerous breeds. Thus a lot of unknowns need to be evaluated in regard to each individual dog. Then if a "keeper" adequate training, socialization, etc. are necessary. The owner needs to be the alpha, pack leader, and thus in control. The pits that I have owned all have been thru an evaluation/screening process. The two that I currently own have been thru a 3 week, live-in training program with a professional. For 14 years (beginning with a black lab that was a "runner") I have used a commercial grade Invisible Fence (and the dogs are well trained to respect the boundary), it's function is tested regularly, and if the dogs are loose they are wearing their collars. They are on leash if anywhere in any other location than our home/property. Irresponsible dog owners are a large problem.