I took a licking today.
 

I work public works/maintenance now for a small town of 500. Sometimes I’ve found I have to wear a lot of hats. Like today I get a call that there is a pit bull on someone’s front porch. The town cop isn’t in yet, and if we call the county humane society the town has to reimburse them to come out, I believe like $200!
So anyway I pull up and the home owner and his wife are standing in the front yard as the dog is kinda sniffing around. They told me on the phone it seems friendly enough, so I have no worries. As soon as I opened the door to the F-450 ( that sits pretty high off the ground) the dog runs around the truck and nearly knocks me over as he’s jumping in, as I’m getting out. OK! He likes to go for rides I see.
The homeowner and I think we have an idea whose dog it is, so I head over there. The pit bull instantly puts his paws up on the top of the door with his head out the window. He’s loving it.
I get to the house where I think he belongs, and as it turns out their dog wasn’t missing. Hmmm. I rolled the window up on his side a little as I didn’t want him to bolt out the window when I stopped. Well, since he couldn’t ride like king of the mountain now, he turned his attention to me. I swear this was the friendliest dog! He proceeded to lick my face and head excitedly and snort in my ear! I was giggling and trying to steer and almost took out a mailbox!
Finally I get him back to the shop and my hair on the dog/passenger side of my head is standing almost straight up. :)
I pulled into the shop and closed the overhead door behind me with the automatic opener so he couldn’t run off. After posting his picture on our towns website the owner was there literally 5 minutes later. She said his name is Carlos, and he tends to be quite friendly. I told her if she ever gets rid of him I would take him off of her hands as we walked towards my shop. When I let him out he wagged his stubby tail for a minute then immediately ran up to my truck wanting to go for another ride. Sorry not today buddy, got too much to do, but I enjoyed the hour I had with him.
When I told my kids the story, they said Carlos is going to try to run away every day now, so that he can drive around town in the big red dump truck

Nice.

Love that breed. They want to be around you so much you trip over them, they hate to get their feet wet, and love car rides.

My paternal grandfather had pit bulls; he loved the breed.

Most of them are great dogs, however, they are NOT to be trusted.

I've seen first hand what happens when they aren't good dogs anymore, and I had to work a homicide case here couple years back inflicted by a pair of them. Up until eating an infant the dogs were reported to be docile and friendly to everyone.

My niece was nearly killed by one at a backyard barbeque when she was a teenager. Her and other kids played with the dog all afternoon and all was fine, right up until it wasn't.

I also witnessed one attack another dog in the parking lot of Rural King and both owners got bit bad enough they had to seek medical attention, and one repsonding Officer met the same fate as well. I have about 20 more Pitbull stories that are very similar........FWIW.....

I agree with Cliff. I have a grand nephew who got his face nearly torn off by a pit bull. Reconstruction surgery for over a year. The story is always the same. Owner says the dog wouldn't hurt a flea and has never shown any aggressive behavior. It only takes once. Why any parent with small children would have a pit bull is beyond me. Yet I have read many stories of the 'family dog' killing one of the children. Proceed with caution.

Think about it.

What was he licking earlier that day before licking your face….. ;)

Certainly no fear picking these two up. Just walking down a busy 4 lane rd. What caught my eye was they seemed to be a odd pair. They to just jumped into my truck. Found the owner in about a half hour.

We have a pit-mastiff mix that was dumped out here in the middle of nowhere maybe three years ago.. He is absolutely the best dog I have ever had. That includes the german shepherds, labs, pointers, etc that Ive had previously. He's strong and smart and extremely affectionate. He lives for rides in the truck, pretty much his favorite thing to do besides eating.

My wife and I have a 10 month old female Pitty. This breed is highly misunderstood and almost nothing about what people say about them is true. At least not for ours. She loves life and just wants to be as close to her people as she can. Quite literally the most cuddly dog we've ever had.

I don't have a problem with Pitbulls. I've never owned one but I've liked the ones I've met. I've had Rottweilers since I was 18. They are great dogs. Absolutely love them. But as I get older I may need a smaller breed one day. A Pitbull is probably what I will choose.

Two things you should never do is trust small children around dogs and dogs around small children. Especially when you're talking about large breeds.

We had a gold fish that would jump out its bowl now and then and slap you right across your face with its tail and then jump back in its bowl. Don’t get complacent with any pet,,, they all can get dangerous at any time.

My first thought was "and kept on ticking" Remember?

I've only owned 1 dog, a Border / Lab mix. God he was a great dog, smart as whip, kind, athletic. Of course his name was Max..

Should have named him Timex

:D maybe...

Good for you. Yours must be "special" or "different". Hopefully it does like lots of others and dies of old age, never having a bad day and maiming an adult or eating a child. An old friend had a perfect Pit, until it tried to tear his 3 year old grand daughter's face off at a family picnic. The adult female lives with permanent disfigurement. Lucky for her that an axe was nearby.
See post #5.

OK, so there are a lot of factors that come into play here. But blaming any certain breed and condemning it uniformly is not right. Too many other things to consider. People buy cars that are too fast for them, and they crash. Dogs require a lot of input. The breed that is right for one person, is not the same as the breed that is right for another.

I see alot of these dogs now with people out walking. I'm kinda in Cliff's camp. I keep my distance and don't trust them. I've never owned one and never will. I'm not saying there a bad bread. I've watched alot of videos on people that have them and they are extremely loyal and affectionate. To me it's like a loaded shotgun along side of you. My opinion, it seems they can become very possessive of their owners. Like any dog or animal for that matter. They need leadership of a pack mentally and lots of training. My childhood was filled with the German Sheppard breeds. As we all know about these dog that they are pretty much protection dogs. I witnessed first hand when I was a teenager what these dogs were capable off, as our dog lunged at a girlfriend throat. Scared the Sh*t out of me. Anyway, like jhein say's It's not the weapons fault. It's the human behind it. Like any animal, people that own protection dogs or really and animal need strong pack leadership. Talk to anybody who's raised defiant children and get their story. Can be alot different than yours. lol Just saying.

For every dysfunctional dog story there are ten dysfunctional human stories. The big difference is the human's knew what they were doing is wrong. Most dog stories are related to the treatment of the dog by a human. Sadly that's not the case with most human stories.


I feel bad for anyone that was mauled by a dog or any type of animal, or human. It's a very sad deal.

It's a dangerous World we live in with lots of hazards.

We've had 3 Akitas...first from a puppy mill, last 2 from the shelter (3 y/o and 18 months)...all neutered males and highly trained. We knew all about the breed from 3 decades of ownership/research. First two lived 13 years each and were the most loving dogs imaginable and adored kids (would let them do anything and loved it). Last one was loving too, until he wasn't. When putting him in his crate before going to a dentist appointment, he without warning/provocation latched onto my right hand and wouldn't let go for a few seconds. Stitches and nerve damage...couldn't be trusted again.

Never say never for any breed (or any individual dog). There is a Golden Retriever in the neighborhood that is absolutely psycho, even with a loving household and after obedience training. Also have quite a few status-symbol Pitties in the neighborhood that lunge and cannot be trusted.

Caveat emptor.

To be fair, dogs of any breed are capable of this. They are wild animals that are unable to communicate with us in ways that we are used to.

Believing anything other to be the case is a recipe for disaster.

Five pounds of fury.

Can’t turn my back on this guy…… ;)

Thanks for the warning! Vicious!!!

Pit bulls can be trained very well and live good lives if they never get exposed to their inner attack mode that is bottled inside.
That is a rarity though.
Most want to expose them to their mean side at various times, or even often.

A good friend had one he could point his finger like a gun , and say Bang !
Dog would fall over dead.
He'd say Bang ! (again) ,,, and dog would jerk like another bullet hit it.

That being said , they do have the highest ratio of "always a wonderful loving dog" to dog gone very very bad jekyl-hyde.
In my mind - I think their owners are a threat to society by having them.

Poodles and shi tzus and Frenchies don't have that dilemma.
But have been nipped by Chihuahuas more than once.

I hate to say it but to some Pit owners, it's a power thing; I've known a few. Like owning an assault rifle with 10,000 loaded clips...

personally:

Bites from pit bulls: 0
Bites from Labrador retrievers: 2
Bites from little ankle biting stupid rat dogs that just bark and raise hell all the time: 3

I agree that problem dogs are most often traceable to problem owners, regardless of breed. There is a stereotype of people that are not capable/responsible dog owners that tend to get breeds like pitties.

But I don't see how it's similar to owning a semi automatic rifle with any number of loaded magazines.

Not the best analogy perhaps. maybe is just an attitude thing.

Stigma ownership , I get what you're saying.

My brother used to have a statuesque quality red doberman.
Very well trained and behaved at all times. Fantastic dog.
But in public people feared that dog and the safety of their children.
Most children panicked at the sight of the dog.
I told him he was being a burden to society and those parents and children by taking him around on a leash like that.

He was mostly in denial about it.