this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Would you look at that, pitties pass at a higher rate than GSDs, Goldens, and most other highly popular dogs besides labs.

Yet somehow they're inherently evil or something asinine like that

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think a lot of the problem is two things:

  • A certain aggressive portion of people DO think that pitbulls are violent dogs, so they take them on and train them to be aggressive dogs

  • Pitbulls are strong as hell, so when they do act aggressively they cause a lot of damage

The real answer is to do something about the bad owners, because they give the whole breed a bad reputation. Continually saying that pitbulls are not a problem ignores this point.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The real answer is to do something about the bad owners, because they give the whole breed a bad reputation. Continually saying that pitbulls are not a problem ignores this point.

Those two sentences seem to contradict each other. If the bad owners are giving the breed a bad reputation, then the problem isn't the breed. It's the owners. What point does that miss?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm clearly saying that the owners are the problem. I'm not sure if you read it clearly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the results are a bit skewered because based on what I could find out these tests are done voluntarily by the owner. And obviously, if you own a "dangerous" breed and they are misbehaving you aren't going to take the test.

I highly doubt 95% of randomly selected Belgian Malinois would pass the test. They require a ton of training and without that they wouldn't pass.

With Golden Retrievers you will have more people undertake the test without undergoing proper training of their dog. Because they seem fine in daily life.

Pitbulls are the most abandoned dog breed. Without proper training they are a danger to others. German shepherds are similar and many people underestimate them but Golden Retrievers are most often fine even with suboptimal training.

The reason many of us want to ban pitbulls is because there are too many bad owners. It's the same reason many of us want to ban guns. There are too many people who shouldn't own guns or dogs. And ofcourse compromises are welcome, such as requiring certificates to own certain dog breeds. I think it would even be ideal to require it for every breed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I honestly had assumed most of the ban pit peeps were conservatives. Interesting to see so many on the left supporting this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Avoiding maulings is a bipartisan issue.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pointer: bred to point, naturally will point birds with 0 training

Heeler: bred to corral, naturally tries to corral things with 0 training

Retriever: bred to retrieve, naturally compelled to retrieve with 0 training

Terriers: bred to kill small animals, will go sicko mode on rats with 0 training

Pitbulls: bred to fight dogs, oh it's just how they are raised little hippo would never ever oh no why is there blood everywhere who could have foreseen this

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Pittbulls were bred to fight bulls and other large animals for sport or hunting. This required quite a lot of special training. The infamous locking jaw is an adaptation to allow them to hold onto a bucking bull. The dog fighting happened after baiting large animals was outlawed long after the breed was established.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

So after they weren't bred to fight bulls and bears, what were they bred to do?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Depends on what type of pitbull you are talking about (there are multiple pitbull breeds). Ratting is a big one, which is where their terrier parts come from. In frontier America they were used as all purpose dogs for hunting boar, ratting, guarding and herding. In the early 20th century they were primarily bred for companionship as they were seen as a breed that encompassed American values and were largely seen as a mascot for America up until around ww2. You'll see pitties as a very common occurrence in most 19th and early 20th century american media, from ww2 properganda to little rascals to the personal pets of Helen Keller, Roosevelt, Mark twain and Edison.

In the 70's and 80's was when their reputation for fighting dogs emerged following its illegalization in America and how common the dog was as a stray (because they were the popular "all american dog"). But since it was already illegal it wasn't exactly the best breeders doing the breeding, so they weren't really very good at selecting for specific traits, nor did it really last long enough to really take off. Breeding a dog to be a dog fighter is a little like breeding a horse for the glue factory, its not really something a serious dog breeder would waste their time on.