Pedigrees crucial for pit bulls

Though pit bulls come with the stereotype that they are vicious, violent dogs, pet owners and animal officials say otherwise.

That is, they say, if based on the assumption that owners are the right people, those that will not fight the dogs and check the dogs' breeding records.

"They can be very good dogs, if responsible people own them," said Georgia Lynn, president of the Humane Society in Vicksburg. "If not, it's bad."



Still, pit bull dogs were responsible for about a third of the approximately 300 dog bite-related fatalities in the U.S. from 1976 to 1996, according to a 2000 study by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Jane McAdory, 60, lives in Clinton with her husband and two dogs, one of which is a 5-year-old pit bull named Jack.

"Mine will knock your leg off wagging its tail," she said. "He's extremely friendly with people."

Then again, Jack is not always so friendly with other dogs, McAdory said.

"I won't take him to a dog-walking park," she said. "Like any terrier dog, they can be temperamental. But he gets along with our other dog wonderfully."

McAdory, who enters Jack in obedience dog shows, said that before she bought Jack, she was sure to check his pedigree, which the breeder provided to her, so she could see Jack's family tree.

"And there was no evidence of any dogfighting there," she said. "If the breeder could not provide a pedigree, I would not want to buy a dog from that person."

Debra Boswell, executive director of the Mississippi Animal Rescue League, said a pit bull that has dog fighters in its pedigree could be more aggressive toward their owners and should be avoided.

"The thinking that pit bulls are born to fight is an ignorant mentality," she said. "But, at the same time, aggression can be bred into a dog, so it is best to be cautious."

Lynn said dogfighters will look for natural aggression in a litter of pups, which could occur in possibly one out of eight, then the owner will kill the others and keep that one aggressive puppy. It will be raised and bred with another aggressive dog in what is known as a breeding box, where the dogs can be restrained from hurting each other.

Lynn said the stereotype needs to be stopped.

"It's not the dogs," Lynn said. "If the people want the dogs to be mean, the dogs don't stand a chance."

 

Just wanted to point out the ignorance in those statements...

 

Typical bullshit, its pretty common for people to report stories like this, they take a subject that will get them attention but yet the goal is to avoid learning about the topic and pass your opinion off as fact, its easy to do as joe public tends to not know much about the subject either, so they will read this garbage thinking that its fact...which is normal as reporters tend to investigate the subject before reporting it. But when it comes to bulldogs ignorance stands above all else

 

Media-hype... nice stories about pitbulls don't sell. The media don't care what their doing to the breed by exposing only the bad stories. You won't read about the labs and so-called 'family pet' bite/attack stories... never mind that Pitbulls make the best family pet. Last year Labrador Retrievers were listed as the #1 biter, but naturally, pitbulls have the fiercest because of their strength so the public tends to focus on that. They should focus on banning owners before banning any dog in any state/county. Ignorant people suck.

~ There are no bad dogs, just bad owners

 

Funny, most dogs dont show any aggressive behavior for at least 6-9mo. Being game doesn.t mean being aggressive, its more like a bravery and courage in a human

 

Thats because 9 times out of 10, bites by family pets never get reported!!! Any "poll" or survey done is not a very true reading. When I groomed dogs..I was snapped at /bitten quite a few times by supposedly "friendly" dogs. Never did I ever report any of these bites..(they were never that bad lol)

i thinkwhat scare alot of people is that they've though the years have had bad experiences with other breeds of dogs..like Labs, GSD;s... and that in general when you look at what the bulldog was bred for, they have such power and can do alot of damage.. Some People look at it as that the dog may be friendly, but they are too focused on the slim possibilty of what "might" happen if that dog all of a sudden snapped.

yes..it would be nice to just ban owners. Unfortuently, most of those owners dont care one way or the other. They're already breaking the law..why stop with a ban?? IT just makes teh dog that much more desriable