Human aggressive pitbull advice

[Officially Retired]

I've owned dogs my entire life, Jack, and I work with them daily. I've been fostering "special needs" dogs since I was a teenager, and dealing professionally with rehabilitating them since I started working full time at 19. My career with dogs didn't start with my involvement in game dogs, I have loads of experience and perspective.

With all due respect, owning "doggies" your whole life, and dealing with combat-bred pit dogs that are true man eaters, is not the same thing. Given your age, if you have been professionally-rehabilitating dogs since you were 19, this means you've been rehabilitating dogs for a pretty short amount of time

And, truthfully, of the rehab dogs you work with at your local rehab center, I doubt many (if any) are actually man-eating combat dogs. I am not speaking of growly dogs that will nip or bite, I am talking about a true man-attacker: a true combat dog that will hit a human being with the same zeal and ferocity it will attack and try to dispatch another dog or cat. It is simply insane to talk about keeping a dog like that in a family setting. In fact, because you previously said "you don't believe in them," this pretty much implies you have never seen a true maneater before. Well, I have seen them before. They do exist, just as murderous human beings exist, even though "you" probably haven't seen one of these either. You need to come to terms with the fact that there are personality disorders in these dogs that "you" might not have experienced yet. Hell, I have never experienced one of these either in my own line, ever. But I sure have seen them in certain other lines.

Other than the maneating dogs I personally owned, I also personally knew (and was directly attacked by) the Kitana bitch, who was a straight man-killer. I am talking about she grabbed me by the skull and put about 50 stitches-worth in my head--and tried to go for my guts when I got her off and stood up. It is only because I know what I am doing that I am alive today, as Kitana was a 52-lb bitch. (Ask Mister on this forum about Kitana, because he bought her later in her life, and Mister and his whole crew all had to run and jump up on top of a car to get away from her when they got her out of the crate ). There was no "abuse" in Kitana's life; she was just a bonafide man-killer. I also know dogmen who have been in dogs longer than you've been alive, myself included, who have certain dogs that are so hardcore they need to be fed with a shovel. Even they as owners can't get near them. No amount of "rehabilitation" is going to make any true mankiller like that safe to be in a family situation. At best, a true man-killer can become a one-person dog. At worst, even their own owners can't get near them.

I agree wholeheartedly with this, however, I don't believe that a PUPPY falls under the category of something not worth working with.

We disagree on our beliefs then.

I strongly believe in genetics. Any dog that (without being mistreated) is so truly genetically-flawed that it would launch a full-blown attack on its owner, or his family, is not worth any kind of time invested trying to make it a house dog. You don't molly-coddle dogs like this, you kill (or get rid of) dogs like this. Trying to make a house dog out of a dog like that is like trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear. Wrong material for the job.

I wholeheartedly support your work with abused, or mistreated, dogs ... and I think you are to be commended for doing so ... but I wholeheartedly think your beliefs (though well-intentioned) are utterly misguided and that it would be ultimately catastrophic to try to make a man-eating combat dog into a "pet."

Yes, some dogs are simply man-eaters, and not worth a person's time.

We agree, and this would be an instance of it.

However, this is a what? Nine, ten month old puppy? That he didn't get until he was five months old. It's one thing to raise a puppy, and know that you covered your bases in providing proper socialization, and they still turn out a rotten apple. Then yes, you can blame it on genetics and cut your losses. However, this is a puppy that he seems to not know a lot about it's upbringing, and hasn't given him an awful lot of time in his home, either, before jumping to the conclusion of "man eater."

Cut your losses? Think for a moment about the ramifications of what you just said! What if one of the "losses" you're proposing this man "cuts" turns out to be the loss of a baby or child's life? Or a neighbor's child?

Your error in judgment here is to put "the chance this pup might be okay" AHEAD OF the chance that it might not be okay and hurt this man's family. Surely you're not suggesting that some defective "puppy" is more important than the man's family! Therefore, "the risk" of getting rid of some pup that "might" be okay is flyshit compared to the risk of what might happen to a family member (or neighbor) if the pups grows up not to be okay.

There are tons of people out there who misconstrue a dog's intention any number of ways, especially people who are apparently new to them. Maybe he's a rough playing puppy, maybe he's a puppy that's gotten away with too much and is acting out of being "spoiled" and would back down very quickly if the people he were "attacking" got onto him, maybe he's one of those dogs that "smiles", or one that nips out of excitement. There's an awful lot left up in the air without us seeing him to know what's truly going on, and the dog exhibiting "wonderful" qualities to this guy (assuming those qualities are temperament related and not something he's connecting to "gameness") means that he most likely has the potential to be a nice dog.

I agree with you 100% here. IF the puppy's behavior has simply been misconstrued by this man, and IF the puppy is just a feisty pup rough-housing and not a real threat, then I agree with your sentiments completely.

However, IF the puppy is exhibiting the signs of a true maneater, then I absolutely disagree with you and believe the dog should be put down, or given back to the breeder, but should definitely not be in a family situation.

And I also agree that a video would be very helpful to determine, for sure, what we're talking about so we can all be on the same page.

I agree with this 100%.

Well good

Cheers,

Jack


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