Dogmen Conversations about Man-Biters and Man-Eaters

Based off old articles and small talk, if it’s not safe to put in the pit….put it down and chalk it up as a loss.

 

Man biters... that's a tough topic... We really don't know much about those dogs from the past to judge their character.
Were most truly HA as in unstable and vicious from birth ?
Or was it more often than not lack of training, socialization, bad handling, no impulse control teaching, or a combination of those ?
I think it was more often the latter, and that the truly vicious ones were a small minority.

I think that most of these dogs were just less easy going than others, and that most of them would have had a better temperament if they been provided with better training and socialization.
The way of keeping these dogs in the past was a lot different than today.
They, for the most part, were not kept as pets and often breeders had big yards, meaning they couldn't easily focus on one or two individuals that needed some extra training, socialisation & impulse control.
At that time it seems they also were more aware of what they had, and thus were more responsible.
They also didn't face the same stigma as today.
Because of that, it really didn't matter all that much to most of them if their dogs didn't have an excellent easy going temperament. So long as they worked good it was all that mattered to most as it was all those dogs were usually, working stock, not pets.
They also had the means and smarts to keep the public safe, except for a rare accident here or there, usually on the owners yard and involving other apbt owners, keeping it a "non-issue".
Their dogs, HA or not, were not roaming the streets or escaping confinement on a regular basis as seems to be the case today.
Granted the issue of escaping/roaming the streets is less so with the gamebred dogs today, but you know as well as me that for the GP, if it walks & talks like a duck...