Pitbull Saves Child

[Rosetta]

This story is just as silly as the "staffy saves children from snake" story.

[sandgrubber]

I'd recommend you look at how many dogs from fighting busts are actually euthanized because of temp reasons. Most are killed because of lack of space and resources and the Vick dogs are a brilliant example of how well many can be rehabilitated and homed

http://www.badrap.org/vick-dogs

Aside from this, dogs are bred for unsavoury purposes all over the world, not only to fight other dogs but other animals and some even to actively hurt humans. Even pet dogs are often bred for poor reasons and with poor temperaments. Not sure why you believe that pits are so much worse than other dogs who are bred carelessly or for reasons other than pet temperament.

I don't believe pits are 'so much worse'. But they do have a problem, and people getting defensive does not make the problem go away. Nor do hokey stories of supposed heroics.

Every breed is a mixed bag, and the mix carries both imprints of the last century and modern uses, be they uses for a tiny fraction of the dogs in the breed. Modern sight hounds are rarely used to run down prey in developed countries, but greyhound rescue has to be careful about screening for and training away from running down animals that are not supposed to be prey. It's been a century since the barbed hook made the St. John's dog unnecessary for catching fish that escaped from lines off the Grand Banks, but you can still see the imprint of working rough cold water in a lot of Labbies and Chessies. It's probably been 10+ generations since most GSD's were used for herding, but many of them can still be trained to herd. Both Staffies and pitties have history of fighting, and are inclined to be scrappy with other dogs.

Pits have a lot of strikes against them in the US. They are extremely hardy and throw large litters, thus are abundantly available as free, or nearly free, puppies and adult dogs. Unfortunately, the macho guy type who likes a muscle dog is unlikely to desex, and the more docile, friendly dogs are less likely to sire litters. Pits are associated with proud poverty and not popular with middle or upper middle class people, other than people with a certain ideology. If your kid wants a puppy and you make minimum wage ($7.79/hr in Florida), you are likely to end up with a pit or pit cross. For the most part they are friendly, wiggly, cute pups and very good with kids. But they have their problems. I walk daily in an area where most houses are trailers or mobile homes, more utes than passenger cars, lots of junked vehicles. A neighbor has a boat named White Trash in his front yard. I get rushed at the fence, or at chain's end, by three for four dogs every day. Every one of them is a pit or a pit cross. If you have four or five people living in a 60 or 70 sq m house, the dog will generally end out living outside; if you can't afford fencing, it will end out on a chain.

As for the Vick dogs, a celebrity fighting bust is an anomaly. If you had a million dollars to save fifty or sixty dogs, plus the world watching, I would expect a low euth rate. Unfortunately, the rag-tag lot of pits and pit crosses that end out in our local shelter, and shelters across the US, are lucky if $50/dog is budgeted to their rehab.

Edited October 14, 2013 by sandgrubber

[Rocketeer]

When we got our boy Dezzy we had only had him for one week and he was on the couch then all of a sudden he got up and went to our sons bedroom door and barked.....not knowing what was going on we told him to be quiet but he just kept on barking....I got up and went into my sons room and my son Jordan was having a seizure and Dezzy went into the room and licked his face and once he was satisfied he was okay went back down to the loungeroom and went back to the couch.....Dezzy did not really know us but alerted us to him having the seizure and he has alerted us every time he has a seizure....Dezzy also visits nursing homes and in one nursing home every time we saw this man he would lick his foot in a certain place and after doing this three times the man informed me that he went to the doctors and yes he had a problem there....some animals are amazing in doing these sorts of things and alerting us to problems but then again I have two girls and they couldn't care less....I suppose some of them have it and some don't :laugh:

I'll agree that this is amazing and to be valued. I think calling it 'heroic' debases the word hero. It is possible that this dog had a strong response to something going very wrong. It's also possible that, had it been 20 mo old instead of 10 mo, it would have killed the kid because he smelled funny. We just don't know.

Pit bulls, like most of the breeds with a history of blood sport, are a mixed bag. Some people go way out of their way to label the whole bag as angelic or demonic. Both extremes are equally destructive. And the newsmedia involved will do whatever draws readers.

As for the breed question. If you cry foul when someone labels the breed as 'pit bull' in an attack case, you also need to question the breeding when the dog does something good.

Sensationalism does not help understanding and proper care/management.

I agree. How do we know this dog is a Pit bull? is it a pedigree dog? do they know it's history?

And sensation works both ways. For "good" and "bad" stories. Either way... sensationalism.

[BlackJaq]

I'd recommend you look at how many dogs from fighting busts are actually euthanized because of temp reasons. Most are killed because of lack of space and resources and the Vick dogs are a brilliant example of how well many can be rehabilitated and homed

http://www.badrap.org/vick-dogs

Aside from this, dogs are bred for unsavoury purposes all over the world, not only to fight other dogs but other animals and some even to actively hurt humans. Even pet dogs are often bred for poor reasons and with poor temperaments. Not sure why you believe that pits are so much worse than other dogs who are bred carelessly or for reasons other than pet temperament.

I don't believe pits are 'so much worse'. But they do have a problem, and people getting defensive does not make the problem go away. Nor do hokey stories of supposed heroics.

Every breed is a mixed bag, and the mix carries both imprints of the last century and modern uses, be they uses for a tiny fraction of the dogs in the breed. Modern sight hounds are rarely used to run down prey in developed countries, but greyhound rescue has to be careful about screening for and training away from running down animals that are not supposed to be prey. It's been a century since the barbed hook made the St. John's dog unnecessary for catching fish that escaped from lines off the Grand Banks, but you can still see the imprint of working rough cold water in a lot of Labbies and Chessies. It's probably been 10+ generations since most GSD's were used for herding, but many of them can still be trained to herd. Both Staffies and pitties have history of fighting, and are inclined to be scrappy with other dogs.

Pits have a lot of strikes against them in the US. They are extremely hardy and throw large litters, thus are abundantly available as free, or nearly free, puppies and adult dogs. Unfortunately, the macho guy type who likes a muscle dog is unlikely to desex, and the more docile, friendly dogs are less likely to sire litters. Pits are associated with proud poverty and not popular with middle or upper middle class people, other than people with a certain ideology. If your kid wants a puppy and you make minimum wage ($7.79/hr in Florida), you are likely to end up with a pit or pit cross. For the most part they are friendly, wiggly, cute pups and very good with kids. But they have their problems. I walk daily in an area where most houses are trailers or mobile homes, more utes than passenger cars, lots of junked vehicles. A neighbor has a boat named White Trash in his front yard. I get rushed at the fence, or at chain's end, by three for four dogs every day. Every one of them is a pit or a pit cross. If you have four or five people living in a 60 or 70 sq m house, the dog will generally end out living outside; if you can't afford fencing, it will end out on a chain.

As for the Vick dogs, a celebrity fighting bust is an anomaly. If you had a million dollars to save fifty or sixty dogs, plus the world watching, I would expect a low euth rate. Unfortunately, the rag-tag lot of pits and pit crosses that end out in our local shelter, and shelters across the US, are lucky if $50/dog is budgeted to their rehab.

I don't need you to lecture me. The bolded bit is exactly what we were trying to explain to you. That was all.

[snake catcher]

The poor dog was not a hero but it was almost a victim.

The child was never in any danger as the snake was trapped in netting when the dog killed it.

I love all dogs but this story is another example of media exploiting peoples fear of snakes.

[trinabean]

Different news article to the one you're thinking of I think Snake Catcher? This was a US story. :)

[snake catcher]

Youre right trinabean, my mistake