Pit Bulls

[Mikie2times]

Uhh,  excuse me?  If there is one problem with Shepherds,  they are loyal to a fault.  I have owned one for 10 years,  he is a better babysitter to my children then anyone I could pay. 

 

I don't post often,  but some peoples ignorance is irritating.  Buy a Shepherd,  and I guarentee you,  there is a better chance of your wife being unfaithful,  then your Shepherd growling at you.

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I couldn't agree more, I couldn't be happier with my decision to get a Shepard last year. We have a long haired Shepard; he really is an incredible animal. Every night he sleeps in the doorway of the bedroom getting up to peak in the bed every hour or so to check on us. If trained properly, given their intelligence, it's not that hard to teach them when it is ok to be protective.

 

Like you said, they are extremely loyal animals and make great family pets. Ever since COPS blew up their has been plenty of misinformation surrounding the breed. If you want them to be attack dogs they certainly are capable of that, but that’s basically because they have the smarts to do almost anything that is trainable to a dog.

[Risin]

Again, it gets back to breeding and the caring of the animal. I have a Shepherd that was abused by the breeder. We have rescued him from the breeder and he is wonderful around us. He has no trouble with my brother or mother. Sometimes, he loves my father and is great around him and sometimes he barks at him. Nobody else would be able to enter our house, even with us there.

 

He is very comfortable with my wife and I, but he has become very protective. We have made great strides in trying to reverse this behavior, but we accept that we will never be able to leave him off his leash when others come into our house regardless of his progress.

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First of all, I admire you and your wife for taking him in.

 

As far as him being protective, that's natural to the breed. No strangers can walk into my house without being formally introduced first. (That's how I want it) After that, unless one makes a move towards my wife or kids (in an aggressive manner, mind you) he'll leave the visitor alone. I'm constantly on guard when I have company, just in case. He has never given me any reason to think he would violently attack, but as an owner of a protective breed, it is my responsibilty to monitor him anyways.

 

I don't think you will ever be able to reverse your dogs behavior, as I said earlier, being protective is in their blood. Shepherds are very wary of trusting strangers in normal circumstances, and they're incredibly loyal to their owners. (more protective of women and children for some reason, at least in my case)

The fact that your guy came from an abusive relationship, surely won't help your cause, he's been violated by someone he trusted, in turn he'll have even more trouble trusting strangers. (That is purely my humble opinion)

 

I wish you luck in getting him to behave the way you want him to, but keep in mind, he thinks he is doing his job by protecting you and your family.

[Alaska Darin]

But we are still friends, right?

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Yep.

[John from Riverside]

First of all,  I admire you and your wife for taking him in. 

 

As far as him being protective,  that's natural to the breed.  No strangers can walk into my house without being formally introduced first.  (That's how I want it)  After that,  unless one makes a move towards my wife or kids (in an aggressive manner,  mind you)  he'll leave the visitor alone.  I'm constantly on guard when I have company,  just in case.  He has never given me any reason to think he would violently attack,  but as an owner of a protective breed,  it is my responsibilty to monitor him anyways. 

 

I don't think you will ever be able to reverse your dogs behavior,  as I said earlier,  being protective is in their blood.  Shepherds are very wary of trusting strangers in normal circumstances,  and they're incredibly loyal to their owners.  (more protective of women and children for some reason,  at least in my case) 

The fact that your guy came from an abusive relationship,  surely won't help your cause,  he's been violated by someone he trusted,  in turn he'll have even more trouble trusting strangers.  (That is purely my humble opinion) 

 

I wish you luck in getting him to behave the way you want him to,  but keep in mind,  he thinks he is doing his job by protecting you and your family.

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I can attest to Shepards being more protective of children and women.....I learned that early from where I got my Samson as a puppy from the breeders next door.

 

He comes from championship blood lines....both his mom and dad are championship showdogs....sharp looking, big, and smart. One day I was messing around with my son in his kiddee pool where I had him by the ankles and I was dunking him in the water. The dogs didn't know we were playing and they just went nuts wanting to get at me.....the female dog did not trust me after that for several months.....it took a while to gain their confidence back.

[Chilly]

I'm starting to believe it's right in the dogs bloodlines. I can see this breed being banned all over the USA in a few years or maybe even sooner. I know a few states now that this dog breed has been banned.

12 year old boy killed by family pet

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It depends HEAVILY on the dog.

 

My roommate when he was living with me got a Pitaull from the pound that someone had abandoned. As far as they could tell it was a pure bread pit bull.

 

The dog was aboslutely cute and loving. The vet warned him to not leave him alone on a porch or in a truck, as pit bulls are one of the most oft stolen dogs. The reason? Most pitbulls are loving, gentle animals who trust almost every human.

 

As I was coming home from work today I passed a porch with 2 pitbulls on it. I stopped for a minute and petted them and had them lick my hands.

 

Pitbulls are awesome dogs except for the minority that were raised incorrectly. The problem, according to the vet, was that pitbulls get a lot of bad press, so they are notorious for it. Most pitbulls aren't like that however.

[Pete]

Yeah, I hate freedom too.  Let's follow the English and Germans.  Shoot, let's just give up all our rights and become subserviant to the crown or Hitler. 

 

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When I was in Berlin I saw quite a few Nazis. They all had huge dogs with them that looked mean as hell

[Alaska Darin]

When I was in Berlin I saw quite a few Nazis.  They all had huge dogs with them that looked mean as hell

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Friggin' Krauts.

[TigerJ]

I'm not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. No not really. I do know that among all breeds there are individual differences in temperament within the breed. There are pit bulls that if you'll excuse the expression are kitty cats when it comes to temperament. Here's the problem. One characteristic of the breed is that they have much stronger jaws than typical dogs of the same size. Their bite can do more damage. Since you can't predict what their temperament will be when you adopt a puppy, you would have to be a fruitcake to adopt one when you have small children. You might as well try to adopt a wolf puppy. Same problems: stronger jaws, unpredictable temperament.

 

Then of course there are yahoos that train their pit bulls to be vicious.