ckcowl

My son & daughter in law have a wonderful pit bull (baby) she is I think almost 6 years old now and one of the sweetest dogs I have been around. Of course since they decided to have her instead of any children they do love and spoil her. She is well behaved and quite the * cuddle puppy* -- a total joy to be around. When my granddaughters visit they love playing with her, she is gentle and loving

Sewnoma

The only dog that's ever bitten anybody in my family was a Golden Retriever that suddenly snapped and attacked my sister and my mom. I witnessed the whole thing - my sister was 9 years old, laying on the floor next to the dog in the morning, petting the dog and talking to him very sweetly and suddenly he turned his head, bit her twice on the face, then jumped up and bit my mom several times on the legs and arm as she tried to pull him away from my sister. We had no warning, no indications this would happen. My sister wasn't threatening him or hurting him; she was laying on the floor. He didn't growl or snarl or anything, he just...started attacking. He was a stray we had recently adopted and apparently was not quite right in the head. He was tested and didn't have any diseases (no rabies); the only conclusion we've been able to come to was that he must have been abused previously. They had to put him down. Thankfully the bites my sister suffered were minor, she has no scarring left. Mom didn't get off as lucky and lost part of the muscle in her leg and has a pretty significant scar.

ANY dog, of ANY breed can be dangerous if they are raised improperly or treated poorly. I've even read stories of household CATS freaking out and attacking people.

I've owned a pit bull mix and he was the biggest sweetheart. We got him as a puppy and raised him properly. We were told over and over how dangerous he was, how he would "eat" our cats and kill us in our sleep. His best friend was a feral kitten we adopted around the same time we got him, the two of them were best buddies and would sleep all curled up together. He never, EVER did anything aggressive. Most aggressive he got was barking when someone knocked. Most dangerous thing about him was his habit of whipping you with his tail, he had a bony tail that moved like lightning! He eventually passed away from cancer and DH & I still miss him terribly. All our other dogs get compared to our pitty mix; he was the BEST dog.

I would not hesitate to have another pitty in the family as long as I got them as a pup. Ditto for Rotties, Dobe's, ...etc. I WOULD hesitate to adopt any dog as an adult (especially a larger breed), unless I knew the dog's history. You just never know what's in that dog's head, sadly. Dogs can be crazy too, just like people.

willferg

My husband was an insurance broker, and the company he repped wouldn't cover homes if the owner had a dog of certain breeds, pit bull included. It was a big shock for some people who already had such a dog. It might be something to quietly look into, so there are no surprises down the road...

Emma S

I adopted my Pit from an animal shelter when he was somewhere between 1 and 2 yrs. If anyone had told me I would adopt a Pit I would have said they were crazy. The shelter he came from spends a lot of time evaluating their animals for behavior problems. Long story short, he is the most loving and affectionate dog I've ever owned. He literally loves everyone. After he came to live with me I started doing research because my personal experience was so out of sinc with their press. Well according to statistics the Pit breed is no where near the top in dog bite instances. I always watch and supervise all my dogs when new or small humans come to visit, I never want to be responsible for damage done to any person. To repeat an often said statement, 99% of the time its not the breed its the human.

GrammaNan

I have a pit bull and he is the sweetest, most loving dog I have ever had. He is is sweet and loving around everyone. I have had two other breeds in my life that I have had to turn over to animal rescue because of their aggressiveness. (I will not mention the breeds because I don't want to take away from this thread) My pit bull was a rescue dog. He was starved and beaten by his previous owner. We took him in and have given him lots of love and attention and he is an amazing member of our family. I am sorry that others can't see these are wonderful dogs when taken care of properly.

oh munner

I'm sure it's true that all pit bulls are not bad. Problem is, how do you know for sure which one you have?

Prism99

I watched this video by Cesar Milan a few days ago. Maybe it will soothe your fears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANpMApPnWCM

Doggramma

I think pits have a bad rap. The ones I've known had wonderful temperments. Any dog can bite. And it's not just how they're raised or what background they have. I've known people who were bit by all kinds of non-pit bull dogs. One example, someone I worked with was visiting a relative with their toddler. The relatives had an older beagle who was a friendly dog and, I guess, considered itself dominant. When the visitors came with their toddler, the dog bit her really bad in the face when she reached for something inside the suitcase. They think it was a territorial thing.

I wouldn't trust the small granddog with little children. He's fearfully aggressive and for some reason he doesn't like children.

ragquilter

I was going to comment about the same thing.

Emma S

Loved the Milan video, thanks for the link.