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interesting article about APBT and attacks....


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

[url]http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=284&fArticleId=283470[/url]

a very good article but the main thing that caught my eye was in the last few paragraphs. the guy realizes something that the public refuses to recognize.... Most people should NOT own APBTs.

a very good read.
:black:

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Guest Anonymous

I don't think the article did anything to help the breed at all.

"Not all pit bulls will react in a violent way. Some are lovely, gentle dogs. But pit bulls are bred to fight. They have been genetically engineered to be fighting, killing machines. They are wired to fight - to go in and attack, to lock and to hold on to the death. They are lethal weapons."

Lethal weapons? Yup that sure helps. Interesting read, I think not!

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[quote name='Anonymous'] Interesting read, I think not![/quote]
I beg to differ! I think the article really did explore some areas that other articles don't especially the fact that if you cant handle an ABPT then dont OWN one, usually people are just raging on and on that ABPT's are violent and all that crap, but somehow they cease to state why the owners had one in the first place!

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Guest Anonymous

Pit bulls are bred to be lethal. Read a book sometime about them. they were bred to fight and kill other dogs. now people aggression is a learned trait... something that the dogs have to be taught and must be praised up or in the event that is is already present something that is not caught early on and corrected.
I found this was one of the few articles that hit a variety of different areas about dogs in the attacks mostly stating that the owner is to blame, but also throwing in that most times these dogs are not only taught to be mean, sometimes they just are not taught no to be.

remember a few months ago the little boy that got killed by the families rotts? the witness that testified that the dogs were not vicious and were very "playful" even as they tore the boys clothes and bit him. The dogs were in that pack mentality the excitement and the boys cries further excited them into tragedy. that is a mix of bad parenting, bad dog ownership, and blatant irresponsibilty. the family put all three dogs to sleep as well as one that was in the house that had nothing to do with the attack. thats 5 lives gone becasue of someone owning dogs that they couldnt control or understand.



i stand by my statement this is a good read.

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Guest Anonymous

Unfortunately way too many people are breeding APBTs without caring if they are aggressive towards people or not. This is what makes them lethal weapons. Back when it wasnt illegal to test your dogs this problem didnt exsist. They were considered to be the all-american dog, the best breed a family could own. We have our hands on something long enough we are sure to turn it to sh!t.

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I thought this was a very interesting read...finally an article that actually explains a little bit about dog behavior. Dogs are wonderful, but, they still do have alot of their natural instincts...we as humans are expecting our lovable canine companions to be little four legged humans...when a tradegy like this attack by the APBT's and the attack of the 3 Rotties on that poor little 4 year old Waddell boy...people act as if the dogs have suddenly turned on people...when in actual fact dogs have different motor patterns and instincts which will enable them to react differently to out side stimulas...such as a screaming child, a person walking funny or handicapped etc.
Any dog can attack a human it doesnt matter the breed, any human can attack another human...it doesnt matter their breeding either...

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Guest Anonymous

yeah that is a good one.
a lot of people dont know about the dogs and the reverting back to a "wolf-like" state in cases of extreme excitement or confusion. its like when a dog is hurt it can bite its owner, or when your traininga dog for protection some breeds will get over ly excited and nip at the handler if they cant get to the tug or sleeve. or when you take your dog and start to wrestle and play with them and they havent seen you in a while they can get excited and start mouthing even if its something they know tey shouldnt do... I know mine does.

dogs are animals... animals can be read to a degree and under most cases you can tell what the reactions will be but noone can say for sure what a dog will do in a situation. the best defense to an attack is supervision. dont leave your dog outside unleashed without close supervision. train your dog arouns distractions, of varying degrees. you have to put your dig in a situation to do something bad when you can correct and shape behaviors.

training and socialization cannot be stressed enough and should be re-enforced daily

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Guest Anonymous

I agree that the article was interesting. However, I don't think saying Pit Bulls are lethal weapons is helping the breed what so ever though. Even though yes they can be lethal with other dogs. The label "lethal weapon" will make many people think that the writer means against HUMANS. So many people do not understand the difference between animal and human aggression. Many people who want BSL think that they are the same type of aggression, when they are not. That is the only thing I don't agree with.

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[quote]Anderson said it was quite common for domestic dogs to attack and kill an injured or screaming animal. "For instance, a terrified dog gets caught in a gate, and the others attack and kill it. Many dog owners have had that kind of awful experience."

She said it was difficult to explain scientifically the psychology behind this kind of instinctive behaviour. "But it is possible that in nature the injured dog was a liability and made the rest of the pack feel vulnerable."
[/quote]


Actually, it's not difficult to explain scientifically, and her "guess" is dead-on. Think for a minute, of the life of a pack...EVERY animal has to contribute, either to move the prey along, attack it, kill it, or to care for the
alpha female, nurse her pups if she cant, guard the alpha. other high ranking females in a pack will develop milk if for some reason the alpha cannot nurse. It's a complete "society", with rules that all have to obey,
to keep the pack functioning and ALIVE day to day....this is survival, in a harsh and dangerous environment, and everyone has to pull their weight.
This is not a nice snooze in front of the fire, they have to dig holes to
crawl into to stay warm. they even dig up tubers and vegetables to eat when the game gets low in the winter.

So, if every member is necessary to the pack, and they live in this
family society, it seems to me perfectly logical that they would destroy
a member who cannot, for whatever reason, contribute. They dont have access to hospitals, a pack member hurting and in pain will slow the
rest of the pack down, and they cant do anything about it. They also seem
to know, when the situation can be remedied or it's hopeless, and in the
case of "hopeless" they will kill the afflicted pack member, This both
puts it out of its misery and pain, and allows the pack to move on.
In the case of saveable, it usually becomes the responsiblility of the
non-nursing, lower member females to tend to an injured pack member
that can survive.

They dont kill every injured pack member, only the ones that they somehow sense cannot be saved by them. It really is euthanasia,
on their terms. They have been known to swiftly and silently kill members of their pack that have been shot caught in bear traps, or are too sickly for whatever reason to go on.

This instinct has stayed with them, and in some dogs it's more pronounced
than in others. But alot of the bite and attack incidents you hear of are because of this. People yelling and waving their arms reactivates the
instinct, even in the most domesticated of dogs....

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Guest Mutts4Me

No, calling them "lethal weapons" is not positive, and maybe some other term could have been used, but people have to accept things for what they are.

It'd be wrong to portray pits as angels, you know, as a whole. Because not all. And even if they are, it's not a given. Some breeds have certain "negative" traits that need to be stated and accepted for what they are. Pits need to be thoroughly trained and socialized, or they can become lethal. That's a fact. It's not an insult. Some breeds, it's not enough just to love them. You have to take precuations, no matter how good your dog is.

So not everyone should own a pit. Only the ones that recognize them for what they are and accept and love them for it. Again, not a bad thing. I may be working with Big Cats soon, and it's very important for me to recognize that those animals could kill me at any given moment. They are lethal. Does that mean they're bad? No. But they have that potential, so I'll have to take precautions, and never allow myself to think of them as overgrown housekitties to cuddle with (though I guess my kitties could cause some seriouis damage if they were big, too ;)).

I think honest press is a lot better than crazed, biased press either way. Let people see the good and the bad. You don't want people to think they're cold-blooded killing machines, but you don't want them to get illusions of how perfect they are, either. 101 Dalmatians, you know?

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Guest Anonymous

Mutts4me- excellent point!

so often pit bull lovers try to portait them as angels that can do no wrong and that simply is not true. pit bulls have the potential to be very deadly... even more so than many dogs. Thank dog someone had the fore-sight to breed them to be human friendly. although BYBs are doing what they can to "fix" that. there is a long list of pros and cons to any dog and a good owner is going to want to know both, but then again a good breeder is going to stress both... maybe even emphasize the cons so that the owner is aware and prepared.

pit bulls are one of those good natured breeds of dog that just feel into ill hands because of thier abilities. as bad as that sentence sounds they are lethal, by design they are superb at the act of combat. thier task in life has been outlawed but the dogs were so versatile and loved by the world that they not only continued they have thrived, until these last few decades. they are strong and dog willing they will see this bad time through and come out on top.

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This is a great discussion...I have enjoyed every ones post's.

I think another behavior often misunderstood is the prey drive...a "pack" will go after the easiest prey to kill...if a wolf pack where going after a herd of...lets use Cariboo, they will go for the young off spring by getting the young away from the mother...or they will go for the slower older, possibly sicker animals...this is also mother natures way of taking care of the sick, old and unfortunately young in large herd of prey animals. With the prey drive it can be triggered by a screaming, yelling, running child...this brings out the eye stalk (staring at a running moving object) chase (run after object) grab-bite ( close enough bite it) then kill-bite then dissect the latter being maul. This is the basic ancestral motor pattern of alot of dog breeds...so when you think about it...a person hobbling down the street, a person who stops in fright looking at a Rottweiler or APBT, a child which is very young and is starting to walk, a child which is playing with other children and are screaming, a child who runs away from a dog, some one running away and falling etc....if a dog is not socialized properly around all these stimulas then when first seeing some of above..it can be thought of as prey items. Not a horrible thing....its just a part of survival.
I have also seen with my dogs I currently have 5...but, before this young heathy group I had 2 older Newfoundlands...one of my girls was 14 years old and at the end was having a hard time getting around....at that time I had only 4 dogs including my Rottweiler...when she fell my Rottie would attack her vicously and my 2 other Newf's would join in....I was horrified! as long as the old girl was walking along she would receive kisses and licks of encouragement from me Rottie....at night my Rottie would sloop with her and lick her ears and face and curl up with her....but, the moment she fell, the Rottie was attacking her! not an abnormal behavior for a dog.

I think it is wonderful that humans are starting to realize that there is more to our dogs than just wonderful watchdogs and best friends. If societys start to realize this...then banning breeds will be no longer done.

I mentioned before that New Brunswick, Canada realizes the different motor patterns of dogs after the inquest into the death of that little boy killed by the 3 Rottweilers...the attack was not blamed on the breed...or even that those particular dogs were bad, they were not bad...they were very nice dogs....but, this province is using education in the schools to help children understand dogs and behavior..a police officer with the K-9 unit will be taking his dog to schools to teach children. They are not banning breeds as they realize this is not going to help and would be too difficult to enforce...and as one Vet mentioned during the inquest....any dog can be dangerous, it doesnt really matter the breed.

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Guest Anonymous

I think the point about calling pit bulls lethal weapons, is that it will draw more of the WRONG type of people to the breed. I think that was the point trying to be made.

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Guest Anonymous

its a little too late to sugar coat it, now. the breed is already in bad hands. right now they are more hated then any other breed of dog in history. its crazy that people are wanting to outlaw them, kill, them and render them extinct. there are people like PETA that have masses of people and political pull that are pushing for this. there are more and more attacks all the time to fuel the fire. the dogs are already banned in different countries around the world an some cities herein the US.

the good news is a lot of places here are not imposing the laws because they realize how difficult it is to enforce them. having to prove the liniage of a dog as a "pitbull" is too costly. as well the fact that the law abidding public isnt usually the people with the "vicious" or aggressive animals.

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