8 Reasons Not to Ban the Pitbull ...

Grace, I'm sorry about what happened to your cat, I understand how devestating the loss of a pet can be, but don't judge all pits just because of what this one pit bull did. The pit bull did not attack your cat because it was deliberately trying to hurt your family. It's in the dog's nature, it's in a LOT of breeds' nature. Here's something everybody should know, first of all Pit bulls are a part of the terrier family, and ALL terriers (Yorkies, Jack Russell, etc.) are NOT friendly towards other animals, normally, so if you have a cat, or another animal, it is both YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AND THE OWNER'S to keep your pets away from eachother. Just because the pitbull is not necessarily ANIMAL friendly does NOT make it human aggressive. In fact, human agression is NOT, I repeat, NOT a trait the pit bull normally has. Pit Bulls are one of the most stable people-friendly dogs in existence. The National Canine Temperament Testing Association tested 122 breeds, and Pit Bulls placed the 4th highest with a 95% passing rate. They DO NOT turn on their owners, in fact no breed of dog actually does, Dog aggression is nearly ALWAYS preceded by some kind of warning, and there is ALWAYS a reason behind the attack. However, many inexperienced owners do not recognize the dog's behavior as aggression, or refuse to acknowledge it as a warning sign. The only exception to this is "Springer Rage", which is a neurological condition that manifests itself as a spontaneous attack, followed by confusion, and then a return to normal behavior. Pit Bulls are NOT prone to this condition. Obviously, there are individual dogs of ANY breed that are more aggressive than others. If you own a pitbull, or any other type of dog, you must be sure to train it, again it is the OWNER'S responsibility to make sure their dog knows right from wrong. The fact is, Pit Bulls are WONDERFUL dogs. They are intelligent, loving, and loyal. Many are used as service/ therapy dogs. Petey, the dog from The Little Rascals spent countless hours with children every day and never hurt anyone. They are good pets and should not be banned!

you may love your pitbull and all, but these posts on how loving they are really should stop. A pitbull killed my family's cat and tried to injure one of our neighbors. The pitbull was our neighbors and they always treated the dog well and i even dog sitted several times and the dog was calm and even-tempered, however they are inherently dangerous and can snap at any moment. I would NEVER have one of these dogs around my house, let alone my children.

Grace, listen, I’m not going to be super mad or emotional at you, but it’s a fact that some dogs are more aggressive than others, or do things that weren’t provoked. Not all pit bulls may be like the ones in your neighborhood. Even if the breed- as you see it - is evil; then you have to look a one huge thing, all animals have some sort of personality; so there are at least some pit bulls out there that are nice. Your neighborhood might just be unlucky. One huge thing about animals though is that no matter how they were raised, or what breed they are, they are animals. That is one thing my dad always told me. They are animals, they have natural instincts, if said instinct rears its ugly head, and an opportunity comes about the animal will follow it. One time I’d left my door open (I always keep it closed so my cat doesn’t get in) on accident, my cat came in, and she killed my fish. I was so angry and sad, but the fact is, they are animals and anything that’s smaller or weaker they’re bound to attack sooner or later. Looking at it from your view though I would see why your so mad. I love my cat to the moon and back, and if a dog killed it I would be really pissed too, but I would get mad at that one dog, not the breed itself. You don’t have to listen to anything I just said, that’s your choice.

I own a blue pit and she is very well-tempered... She is great around our birds, goats, and rots.. She has never bitten kids, I have a 3month old and many little nieces and nephews who pull and drag her 90pd self around and she is very behaved... so i believe its all on how the owner treats the dog, not the dogs temper or breed... she is playful never chewed on furniture of destoryed her toys, so its hard to believe all these stories of a dog turnning, they have to have had some type of thing happen to them to behave diffrent.

yes! I have a pit bull and he's the sweetest thing

Ok, so I don't have a pit bull type dog but I've been around many of them and they were very nice dogs. I do have terriers, tiny toy terriers and they will try to attack anything around non-human. Most of this is my fault for failure to properly socialize them but some of this is because terriers were bred to kill things. Rats, mice, snakes, etc. This does not mean they are bad dogs or that they should be banned. Some of them don't have a very high prey drive and some have such a high prey drive they cannot be around fish (my rat terrier cried for days and tried to jump up to get a betta). Dogs should not be banned unless they become a danger to humans. My dogs are not out and about, I have a fenced yard and they only rarely get to go on walks because they get too wound up. I do not allow them around other animals because they can be aggressive. If you get into the debate on why a certain breed should be banned then you are going to eventually move into the territory that another breed can be dangerous and should be banned and then another. ALL dogs can be dangerous, even Chihuahuas and Pomeranians. A child was killed by a Pomeranian and a cop was attacked by a pack of 5 Chihuahuas, Google it. We should not ban them just because they CAN be dangerous but put down the ones who ARE dangerous. Cars can be incredibly dangerous, but no one would ever think of banning automobiles. Why? Because they're too useful. Dogs are too useful to ban also, they sniff for bombs, find people trapped beneath rubble, sniff out cancer now . . . the list goes on and on. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents worth. If you hate pit bulls nothing is probably going to change your mind anyway, but I think they're great. I won't have one though because I think it's unfair to have a larger dog with tiny ones in case a fight does break out and with my little aggressors, I know eventually one would. :(