[everest]

Pit bulls are always getting a bad rap, i think some of it deserved and some isn't. I think the media is a big part of the problem, calling any dog resembling a pit bull a pit bull. Also, obviously a big part of the problem is that some of the type of people that buy pit bulls, amstaffs, etc are trying to look tough, or using the dog as a weapon. Also, there is a higher probability of pit bull attacks because there are so many of them out there, a larger portion of dogs in shelters are pit bulls or pit bull mixes. HOWEVER, i do wish pit bull owners would atleast take into consideration even if their dog is a perfect canine citizen, you have to understand people don't want to take chances. I'm always hearing, "why are people scared of my pit, its harmless", but does a stranger across the street know that? Also, i understand it is a lot about the owner, but, would you rather come across a pit bull with a bad owner, or a maltese with a bad owner?
Basically i understand why pit bulls are misunderstood, but i also wish pit bull owners, would understand a outside point of view, and maybe someday, the more positive embassadors we have, the perception can change.

[ilovemychihuahua]

Tis True my friend. Many people get Pit Bulls the "wrong" way sice they're usually the "fighting dogs" and thats not true. Not all Pit Bulls are mean and agressive, some can be nice and sweet. But those OTHER some are trained to fight and I just HATE those people. I just saw on the news that some dude and his Pits, he trained obviously, got into a fight. So I reall hate the people that train Pitts, to fight.

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

People in this world never cease to amaze me.

Sure theres a diffrence in a pit with a bad owner and a maltese with a bad owner. Honestly you sit here and talk all this hype but IN REALITY how many people have you personally come across with that had a pit and was a bad owner? I have never in my life come across an APBT with a bad owner. Sure we hear about it on a daily basis (get to that in a min) but when you honestly think about it, you see plenty of god awful owners with every kind of dog under the sun BUT pit bulls. Now as far as the media. I hate them and thats why in my household we choose to have no tv period and don't even want to hear about the news. Every time you turn the tv on its some crap about how a pitbull attacked a kid or whatever other nonsense they are putting out there and then in the end if they even do show a picture of the dog, is it a pit bull? NO. There is no doubt about it that there are people out there who misunderstand the breed and who mistreat them and don't train them at all, but like I said, honestly how many of you come in contact with those people? I am sick and tired of hearing people run their mouth. Talking about remember this about the breed etc. etc. then they go on to say they have no experiance with the breed. Thats ya problem buddy. You haven't even been around the breed. Thats why I said this world ceases to amaze me. People talk like they know all this stuff and really they are nothing but ignorant.

[pitbull_lover09]

Originally Posted by Amaya-Mazie-Marley

People in this world never cease to amaze me.

Sure theres a diffrence in a pit with a bad owner and a maltese with a bad owner. Honestly you sit here and talk all this hype but IN REALITY how many people have you personally come across with that had a pit and was a bad owner? I have never in my life come across an APBT with a bad owner. Sure we hear about it on a daily basis (get to that in a min) but when you honestly think about it, you see plenty of god awful owners with every kind of dog under the sun BUT pit bulls. Now as far as the media. I hate them and thats why in my household we choose to have no tv period and don't even want to hear about the news. Every time you turn the tv on its some crap about how a pitbull attacked a kid or whatever other nonsense they are putting out there and then in the end if they even do show a picture of the dog, is it a pit bull? NO. There is no doubt about it that there are people out there who misunderstand the breed and who mistreat them and don't train them at all, but like I said, honestly how many of you come in contact with those people? I am sick and tired of hearing people run their mouth. Talking about remember this about the breed etc. etc. then they go on to say they have no experiance with the breed. Thats ya problem buddy. You haven't even been around the breed. Thats why I said this world ceases to amaze me. People talk like they know all this stuff and really they are nothing but ignorant.

Wow! Calm down now...
breath...
breath...
breath...
breath...

Good now we can go on......

You talked alot about how many people you came across that had a pitbull & (to your opinion) was NOT a bad owner?! I would like you to define what YOU think the deffination of "Bad Owner" is because there is SO many ways that it can be identified! You can be a bad owner if you fight, abuse or neglege the dog; BUT you can also be a "Bad Owner" if you buy a pitbull without knowing about the breed behind the news, media & papers! Dont go by what you THINK or HEAR! Pitbull can be VERY hard to take care of I should know, i have 2 right now & grew up with them ALL MY LIFE, fostered over 30 from the shelters, expierenced "bad owners"... everything! If you do not properly socolize the pitbull to random people, all breeds of dogs, children, different types of animals (birds, farrots, horses, cats, chickens exc...), sights, sounds & give the exsersize then you ARE a bad "pitbull" owner (not owner in general) because with a pitbull puppy your time is crusual to get them though each one of them expieriences with positive feed back, or else things WILL go wrong! Most new pitbull owners start out doing everything RIGHT then turn around & give up, leaving the poor pit to learn very little. DONT by any means get a pitbull unless you learn about how to correctly take care of them, & dedacate your lives with them not around them! If you work all the time, not home enough, dont have TIME (in general) to walk or socolize the dog EVERYDAY then DONT get a pitbull because that is called "disrespectful ownership!" Get a dog that fits your life style or consider a fish or hamster!

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

To me a bad owner is someone who is not willing to make a commitment to their dog. They should have known from the beginning that getting a dog was a commitment. Bad owners IMO are people who don't walk their dogs, don't train them ( and don't train them the right way as in they use forms of hitting etc.), they neglect them as far as food, attention, medical care, grooming, etc goes. Alot of people get dogs for the wrong reason. Oh that dog is so cute, that dog would be a good guard dog, I need a dog to scare people away from my yard etc. You should get a dog for the love of the breed. I myself have never come across any bad PIT owners, I have come across many bad owners of other breeds. I must say though that alot of people who do get APBT do not realize what they are getting themselves into. Marley is almost 5 years old, meaning that I got him when I was 13 years old and I have trained him from the very beginning on my own. Marley has been trained to heel, sit, stay, roll over, shake, beg, the "bang" trick where they play dead, he fetches and I could go on and on about how amazing he is. The thing that upsets me the most is people accuse APBT of being human agressive. Thats not true at all, and thats where they are ignorant. APBT are in the bully category and are used for dog fighting world wide and I am sure that an APBT could attack a human, thats if they would. Most APBT that do attack humans, are provoked and I feel the same way for any other breed of dog. Dog agression is something that all dogs have. Say Marley feels threatned by another dog, of course he's going to get agressive. If Marley is around a human that respects dogs, he's going to be perfect but if Marley were around a human that was picking on him. Say kicking him, hitting him, of course he's going to get agressive. I think that the hate for APBT will die down eventually. It used to be the same with Rotties, Germans and Dobies. I remember as a kid my neighbors had Germans and I was taught that they were mean dogs and to stay away from them. So naturally I grew up fearing germans and to this day they still make me uncomfortable. I think the media has a huge part to play on the judging of dogs and the diffrent breeds. Automatically when a small child is attacked everybody says "Oh well it was a pit bull and it was gotten rid of". I've seen several new stories where they claimed that this "pit bull" had to be put down because it was agressive. They showed the picture of the alleged "pit bull" and what did it turn out to be? Some mixed breed or some breed that didn't even remotely look like a pit bull. Its the same with the way teenagers are today. They starve themselves, wear slutty clothes etc because their fave celebrities are all over the news and tv acting like that.

Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people. APBT don't kill people PEOPLE kill people. Meaning that people that don't know how to raise APBT and train them to be that way are the ones really killing. If an APBT is raised that way, then honestly what other ways does it know?

[taurus]

i've met many bad pit bull owners. MANY!!!

[Jen D]

I have to admit that I love the look of my dogs and some of the places I go I don't want to have some people come near me. Little they don't know my dogs would lick them all over because they love people. Another problem with these Bullys is they have extreme power so they can do more damage and in my opinion they have tunnel vision so they need experienced owners. I know because of the breed I do not push my dogs on anyone, but often I get asked if people can pat them so if in a safe area they just jump out of the car off lead. People just look like are you nuts but I know I worked hard to train them so they stay right with me and sit for the people that want to pat them so this is a good thing for people to see out in public because of all the bad rep people give them.

[Amaya-Mazie-Marley]

I'm sure that many people on here have met many bad pit owners, I guess it depends on where you live. I live in NC in the middle of nowhere and have to drive at least 15 miles to get to a town lol. I do have many friends with pits though. I have a friend that is in the process of showing and has been a breeder for a few years.

[Kaylee]

I know several people with Pit Bulls. My dad has one and she is just as sweet as can be. She's spoiled, and she is very clingy. On the other hand, I know someone who has 2 and they are chained up. When I go over to their house, They bark, growl, show their teeth, and just act vicious. I think it all depends on how they are raised, any dog can be aggressive, It just depends on what they are taught, and how they are brought up. I really love Pit Bulls, I used to have a couple, and they were as sweet as could be. My chiwauhua was more aggresive then they were.