I've always had a dog. My Brittany was almost 17 when he passed and I'll never fully get over it.

I now have a 3 year old mini Schnauzer. I read about the great tragedy in Tennessee. The two toddlers killed and the mother seriously mauled.

I can't understand it. These dogs didn't show any sign of aggression in the eight years the owners had them. If they had, since those kid's were the loves of their lives, the parents would have been more careful to say the least.

My question; why do pit bulls, or possibly any dog, all of a sudden go berserk and become killers. I'm a dog lover and would really like to know opinions why.

Any dog can start biting, many do.

The difference is when pit bulls bite, it's destructive. They were bred to maul. Not just to bite.

Why does a cat kill mice?

Why do pit bulls attack. Because they havn't been killed yet.

Flame away. IDC.
And anyone that doesn't own one, automatically has their guard up if they are around one. Or they are crazy.

I’ll just say that dogs are not a lot different than humans in some respects and leave it at that.

A cat kills mice as soon as it has the ability to do so. These dogs were 8 years old and had never previously shown signs of aggression.

I think dogs just react to something sometimes that triggers them from a cognitive thought process to a reactionary one. Once the switch is flipped it’s Katie bar the door until it’s over. The more dogs involved the higher the chance of something going sideways.

Just my opinion but I think they could be comparable to a severely Autistic person, they have uncontrollable outbursts.

The ones I've been around seem to find simple situations difficult to understand.

To attack in what they may feel as a self defense situation comes by nature, they are all muscle and have extreme capabilities.

In short, being strong and dumb isn't a good combination.

Is this a serious question?

We’ve got a “mutt” that is obviously half Heeler. Got the dog when it was 2 years old from a local adoption deal, but no reason to believe that it was EVER a farm dog. It was a city/suburb dwelling “pet”.

This dog is sweet as can be, but, especially when we first got him, had the habit of trying to “heel” my wife and kids. VERY soft mouth, but he would occasionally grab them on the heel, with his mouth, to “herd” them.

Instinctual behavior is REAL, and quite prevalent in nature. It has also been BRED for, and is why some dogs are good at herding, some at hunting, and some at guarding or fighting.

I don’t have any use for a family dog with the INSTINCT/BREEDING for fighting.

Software.

Same reason you (should) spend good money on a well-bred hunting dog.

Dogs can be good people, but then again, they are... dogs.

Probably got sick of the little kids usurping their “fur baby” status

Killing is innate with each. The nature to eliminate that which it is unwilling to share space with. It may take longer with a pit, but it’s there. As a hunting or livestock dog they are bred to immobilize prey, be it wild or domesticated. If that prey is sufficiently weak to be overwhelmed it dies. A pit’s observed respect for humans is deception. We too can be and are at times seen as prey. Own what you wish but know a significant portion of the breed is a killer in waiting.

Why do groids insist on killing and robbing each other?Its bred in .

They’re schizophrenic. Their brains are cross wired. They don’t know themselves until they do it

Your Brittney was probably like my English Pointer. She would point birds as a pup. I never trained her to do it; it had been bred into her. The thought is there is something inside their brains triggering this response when they get excited and up close to birds. It causes then to essentially have a mini-seizure and they lock up. There must be something similar in the pit bulls. They were bred from the terrier and bulldog to have stamina and strength to fight to the death. There’s something inside their brains that triggers the ‘fight’ response; which is exactly what they were bred to do. It can’t be trained out either since it’s a primal instinct. Not sure they all have it, but many seem to and I’m NOT interested in taking the risk with one.

My opinion was… I was at my cousins house a few weeks ago and she has two dogs. One looks like a Black and Tan hound mix and the other is Shepard mix of some kind. These two dogs smelled my dogs scent in my truck and went satanic. They were biting my tires and trying to get into the cab on the truck. Then they would just turn on each other with the same furor.
Crazy cousin was trying to break them up while they were turned on each other. It was the craziest phugin thing I’d ever seen. I got my pistol unholstered and was going to put a bullet into them if they turned on her. I’ll say it again, I have never seen dogs go that crazy in an instant.
My cousins response, they do that all the time…. BS, I’d put an end to it

Why are dogs that were bred specifically to fight and kill other animals dangerous? Lol

More fire clown show

A lot of dogs get mean when they are older. They develop health issues, the issues cause pain and/or a loss of sleep, the animal naturally gets a shorter fuse.

Because your cousin is an inbred dumb schit like his dogs

And right on schedule, here's the latest headline.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/dogs-fat...rs-injured-mom-never-violent-friend-says

I think this breed has been genetically manipulated through breeding to the point I wouldn't trust them.

My cousin is a her, I think I stated that pretty clear. But that’s alright, as long as you get to add something that’s all that matters. We’re not looking for quality content here

Let me get this straight. You are interested in, "taking the risk with one"??? Good luck Ben. These threads are all the same. People do not understand the breed. Yes, they have very poor genetics and bred for a reason. I've seen them go crazy, even though they had very nice owners. Out in the country, not in the ghetto.

Instinct and breeding can not be trained out and always resurface given the correct stimulus .

Pits are unstable and rarely used in ring sport or protection .

Used to have an account in town. Whenever I’d treat the backyard the neighbors dogs would go psycho-bonkers

They had this menagerie of big ones, fluffy ones, couple of boxers and a little shaggy one

So they’d go apeshît and run up and down the fence at me. They’d get so worked up they seemed to fighting each other over who was gonna get me the worst.

This one boxer looked like it’d been smacked with a shovel in the face. More so than usual; it would grab up the Poopsie shîtzu lookin one and shake it like a rag doll off to the side while the other 7-8 were still raising hell,barking and running the fence.

They loved it when I made Bonzo The Ch impanzee noises back at them.

Stupid mfers

I have heard, but can not confirm that the brain in pit bulls out grows the skull, problems.....

I have never had problems with pit bulls that the neighbor owned, but always had flipper knife and sub compact on me when I was around them.

I love dogs but would not own one. Not worth the chance all it takes is a trigger. Fighting is bred into them.

Ol'man said to never ph uck with dogs behind a fence.

There could be an unseen freshly dug hole...under the fence.

Because they have not been shot.

My take is that they have all been interbread to often.

I don't either.

Eazy there big boi, there was supposed to be a ‘not’ in there. Ninja edited.

this. A animal bred to fight and kill than has mental problems from crossbreading.

The dogs are bred to do that. My spaniels were bred to hunt birds and did so when they were small pups. The border collies and heelers we had were bred to work livestock. Our little dachshund was bred to dig out underground critters. All of these pups did their jobs with little or no training. The pitbull was bred to be a vicious animal that would attack and maul another animal. Sometimes they substitute humans for that animal. What triggers them to attack people at any given moment - who knows - but, that is what they are bred to do. Why does this confuse people?

Kill em all.

I'll expound, with my own opinion.


You can set stats on violence with humans as a whole.
Then break it down to nationalities.
Race, age, gender.



Pits are a race, more violent than most.
Some are much better than others, but they lack impulse control
and can suddenly and unexpectedly snap.

Just like folks, it happens in every group.
But most aren't as prone to it, or as violent when they do.

I always thought spaniels were bred just to take liquid caramel Rolo craps habitually on shag carpet

Absolutely true. But then mix in the other genetic and physical factors….

Watch the FUGG out!

Seen my dearest little teddy bear of a Shih Tzu/poodle bare her teeth at, and mock-bite, at my now 8 year old daughter.
They’ve come a long way since she was a toddler and the dog would point blank hide from her under a bed.

Different breeds, different results.

I have no want for many breeds, pits being at the top of the list.

Like someone else already stated, it’s a bad combination of strength and stupidity.

I’ll give a Doberman and a German Shepard a nod over many other breeds, in that sense, because they at least have the intelligence to largely ‘control’ their behavior - with proper ownership. Ever wonder why Rotties seem to be a second (albeit fairly distant) in the mauling and death-by-dog stats? It’s the same thing - All brawn and not enough brain. Plus breeding.

Fighting pit bulls were originally bred to only attack other dogs. They were very easy to handle during a fight (who wants to get into the middle of two dogs like that) and would settle as soon as their handler put a hand on them. Breeders would want to breed for easy handling dogs to protect themselves.

Once they became popular, indiscriminate breeding didn’t take the care to make sure they bred out the human aggression. Now, it’s a mess.

Popularity has destroyed many good dog breeds. I’ve never like pit bulls but I understand the breeding part. Now, I would rather put a bullet in one that trust it.

Looking at the picture from the posted article of the Tennessee family, they appear to be "the All American" family. Attractive, neat, etc. Makes me wonder what in the hell they were thinking when they acquired two Pit bull dogs? What did they think the Pit bulls added to their lives? Had they never heard what Pit bulls do to people, especially children, when they "flip" and attack?

I don't know but it is certainly a question.

L.W.

Raised identically, A Pitbull is no more likely to wrongly attack a human being than a Lab. The difference is in the effects of such attacks when they do occur. Being long bred for the capacity for massive damage while in attack mode, when they do attack, the results are typically grim, and they are extremely reluctant to quit. Their owners cannot allow them, therefore, to roam about unsupervised. The rare mean one is a very dangerous animal, since they have little to no fear of humans. Fortunately, the vast majority of them are more prone to friendliness towards people than the vast majority of popular breeds.

My guess?
Rescues.

30 years ago the snobby owner was certain to mention (Full Blooded, Prue Bred, Has Pappers...) when their dog came up.

Today? "He is a rescue".

Most rescues if seen have been maladjustec, f''cked in the head POS.
Even in our bassackward hillbilly area most of the rescue dog pictures
I see are at least part Pit. (Imported?)

Pit tendencies +
very poor treatment as a young dog +
whatever you would call the pound/6 different "owners" thing =
a F'ing disaster waiting to happen.

It's the fault of the victims.

Pits attack souly for the fun of it. Not out of fear. If you've ever seen a video of an attack, the tails are up and wagging.
It also seems that most of the problems occur when there are two or more of them working together.

Attacking and biting are a sport born out of boredom. Why does a wolf pack kill more animals than they can eat, it is called killing for the sport. Man is not the only animal to kill for sport.

The breed is a disaster

Two types of owners

Insecure males with daddy isssues
Or females with daddy issues who want to fix them

Pit bulls are bred to fight other dogs or animals.

Lab are bred to find and retrieve fowl and be obedient to the hunter at all times.

They are not the same as each has deep genetic traits to drive their behavior.

If you need a dog to fight pigs don't get a lab.

If you need a dog to retrieve ducks in icy water don't get a Pit.

I would bet the dog in the OP did show agression but all the clues were missed.

The beta male pit owner referred to his pits as lions so there’s a clue. Leaving small children with aggressive lions.

I hope this moron is charged with the deaths of his children

Any dog that goes into a rage will not stop until killed or it kills the thing it's mad at.

My wife brought home a 4 yr old female pit bull that had been in a New Mexico puppy mill. Took me two years to teach her not to chase deer and elk…. Not to catch and kill every small animal on the rancho… and teach her that not every dog wandering into our place needed instant rough treatment….. once she almost killed a neighbor’s dog that made the mistake of nipping her during a “sniff up.”

But, this dog began to learn what I wanted and didn’t want…..when the dog figured that out, it became perfectly obedient. I’ve had dogs all my life and never had one that was so obedient and seemingly wanted to so “please the master” all the time.

The dog could also quickly figure out who was a friend and who was a stranger that needed watching. I was twice approached by other people with halfway aggressive dogs and she would circle behind me and stand between my legs. She would quiver with excitement and was just waiting for the okey dokey to “get em.”

Best companion dog I ever had….. but I would never own another one. What folks have been saying about “the switch” seems right on the mark to me. This dog…. “Harriet” …. did show that characteristic. When she was switched “on” …in “ready mode”….she would wait for my “trigger”….. If given, there was instant hell to pay and she was there to collect. It was like she would lose her mind for a bit. If triggered, I could not verbally call her off…. I had to grab her and get her to “remember me” so-to-speak.


They can be enjoyable dogs and I understand why folks like them….. but that “trigger” characteristic is real and potentially very dangerous.

I never allow them around the grandchildren….. never.

I’ll go with Jeff’s opinion as well - only adding that ‘possibly’ small children walk funny and make noises these dogs associate with a threat.

Or, a kid or person who walks weird, in this breed of dogs mind, must be culled immediately.

🦫

I don't like Pits. Too many maul children and their owners. I know other breeds do it occasionally. For some reason pits make the news for doing it more than all other breeds combined.

The heeler mutt in my avatar was the best dog I’ve ever owned, trustworthy and sweet-natured and obedient to a fault.

One day I heard her growling and barking out back, I went out and the neighbors 8yo grandson was laughing, running up and down rattling a stick along the chain link fence, my dog was going beserk. I do believe she would have bitten that kid.

The point being dogs are dogs, they ain’t people and they operate on dog rules, which doesn’t include a human sense of right and wrong.

Naah, the guy weren’t the beta in that house. His dogs were 8 years old, his oldest child was just two, those dogs could have been there before he met his wife.

Clearly his wife weren’t the alpha to the dogs either, they turned on her and chewed the schzit out of her too.

The guy trusted those pits so much he bragged about them on Facebook.

What a tragedy 😕

Pits were bred for centuries to be fighting dogs. When they go into fight mode, it's like they lose all control. They go into a "red zone" and basically go berserk. It was a virtue when two vicious dogs are locked into mortal combat, but not so much for a family pet. The problem is, unless you are a dog behavior expert and/or know how to handle and train dangerous dogs, you really shouldn't have any type of dangerous animal. I know of one pit that ran around with other "tame" dogs near a Ky State park. They graduated from chasing deer, to ripping apart an elderly neighbor that they saw every day and had been friendly with. It was a miracle a good samaritan was driving by and saved her. I really believe it is an instinct that they deep down enjoy.

Had a rescue dog that looked black lab/Rottweiler mix. Got it as a pup and it got along with my other dog and cat, never a problem. We had a baby about the same time and it grew up with our little boy. About 4 years into it, I noticed that if my little boy went near the dog while it was eating it would growl at him. I corrected him a couple times and thought that was the end of it. Once day my son wandered by and he nipped at him. I took the dog for a walk in the woods and that is where he is til this day.

This.

OP, these pitbulls attacked for one reason and one reason only. They attacked because they were not dead.

Pitts are short fussed, they are the chuck Norris of dogs.

I always understood Chuck Norris to be short statured, but with a long fuse.

beter wach it, da spillin poelese are gonna getcha

The shelters are full of Pitts and Pitt mixes. My wife used to volunteer dog walking a couple Saturdays a month, and always said how gentle and sweet they were, and truthfully the few I've had contact with were pretty gentle. That said there there is no way I would have one, the breeding can't be changed by training, and anyone owning one is taking a chance they can't take back. I look at people that own them kind of like those backwoods church goers that handle rattlesnakes.

Same here.

There's a reason for that.

Pit bulls attack because every pit bull on the planet has not been euthanized.

I've come to the conclusion;

My Brittany hunted birds (and fur cause I didn't discourage him) He was an excellent hunter only with a little basic training and a little patience. He was a pointer and even though I didn't even train him to do so, he quartered on his own. It was bred into him to hunt. His Dad won 12 hunting trial championships )Hunting trials not field trials)

Pit Bulls were originally bred to fight to the death. So no matter what, if the dog has the strain, there is always a latent urge to do what he is bred to do.

"Best rear no lion in your state, 'tis true;
But treat him like a lion if you do."

This quote about Alcibiades makes me reflect on people who keep feral animals as pets. And, potentially dangerous animals like pits.

I feel very sorry for those lost during these kind of tragic circumstances...the results of poor decision making that affects innocents lost.

I very good friend had a massive pit he raised from a pup. Hundred pound dog maybe. A real monster. Named him "Fluffy".

Very well trained and kept. Would not leave the porch without command. Guarded the house and his family (they are in bear, coyote and meth country).

My friend knew the Alpha role he must be... very well.

2 week family vacation and they boarded "Fluffy".

Upon return something was different.

Few weeks later his young daughter was getting a glass of water at midnight (or something like that).

Marco heard a noise and got up.

"Fluffy" was staging to attach the young girl.

He popped the dog twice with his Coonan smack dab in the middle of the living room.

Any man that owns a dog... should remember this story.

Thanks for sharing your experience TF49. You obviously spent the time, had the right insights, and made a workable situation out of Harriet’s ownership. I’ve got a neighbor ~1/2mi away with one that was very aggressive the one time it came down to our place chasing a deer. I saw no bargaining with that dog and with us having smaller kids, another encounter with us is going to be it’s last. Wish it wasn’t that way, but it is.

^^^This is my assessment of the problem as well. I never met a "rescue" that didn't seem a little or a lot off center.

A guy I know, used to be a good friend, had a Brittany, very gentle dog. The wife and next door neighbor lady and 3yr old daughter were sitting on a blanket in the front yard one summer evening, dog just went "berserk" as you say and tore into that baby girl, tearing her face up really bad, they could have lost everything if the neighbor sued them, but they got lucky, paid all the doctor bills and put down the dog. Little girl might have caused it, but no one knows for sure, since it happened so fast.

People lose all rational thought when it comes to their own dogs. See the dog thread from last week, enough to make a guy puke.

Pitbulls need extinction, that will solve the problem.

Jealousy is another factor.

Years ago my parents had to give away the gentlest, friendliest little Boston Terrier. The reason was that every time my brother brought his baby son to my parents house the little dog would visibly become angry at the attention given to the baby and actually feigned a nip or two at him.

Although he never made contact this was enough to say goodbye to an otherwise fine little dog.

I hope the owners were spayed and neutered.

From 1990 till 2000, I was an animal control officer in a city of a million people. What you described is not uncommon pitbull behavior, regardless of the owners. Why, I have no clue. It’s like a switch flips. Untrustworthy critters iMO.

I've had ten dogs in my life, and the pure Pitbull was, hands down, the most reliably friendly dog of them all. He simply loved people. He was overjoyed when strangers were on the property (making him a pretty pitiful guard dog).

One time a tiny Chihuahua wandered into my yard (just slipped through a small gap in the gate), and they had a great time running around together.

Another time I looked through the front window of my home, and a small black boy (maybe 8) was walking past my front fence. My Pitbull jumped up on the fence, and the boy reached over and gave him a big hug. He was overjoyed.

At the dog park, I was playing fetch with him (He could do that for hours on end, till he got old), and a little toddler approached him on his return. He stopped and wagged his tail. She then grabbed the toy that was in his mouth, and he gently released it to her, waiting patiently for her to throw it.

He was ever so gentle with small children and small dogs. My parents had two tiny Maltese dogs. If, while visiting them, I'd put his food down for him to eat, these two little dogs thought nothing of sticking their heads in the bowl with his to share his meal. They were in zero danger. The thought of aggression just wasn't in him.

If dogs could be saints, he'd have been one. He lived to be 12, never harming a soul, other than dogs that attacked him (a couple of Boxers, and a Mastiff).

I have several friends who own pits and declare them the safest and most reliable of family dogs.

They get incensed when presented facts such as "over 1/2 of the people maimed or killed by dogs are victims of pits."

I never really understood the phenomenon until we got a terrier.

He was a JRT. He absolutely loved the grandkids and played wonderfully with them. He and I had one altercation when he was a pup. He snapped at me when I pushed him out of my seat on the couch.

I tossed him on his back and pinched his throat for a couple minutes. After that, I was the alpha.

But at sight of a furry critter, he became a killing machine. Raccoons, squirrels, cats, gophers! If it it ran, it was dead. Porch cats survived because they did not run, they just rolled on their back, and he was not interested then.

Some switch flipped in his brain, and he was no longer the same dog. If he had not been of a size I could drop kick over the fence, he would not have seen his first birthday.

One day he got into the yard full of turkey poults, they were about five pounds. The dog was focused and intent on killing every turkey in the pen. He was totally oblivious to my wife beating him in the head with her fists and screaming at him. He did not try to bite her. He was just oblivious.

She grabbed him by the nap of his neck and pulled him off the turkeys. He just wagged his tail and wanted to lick her face.

"Mom, Did you see what a good job I did?"

Just a switch. Kill Mode-on/off!

Yes he loved to play with all the grandkids. They loved to play with him. But we did not leave them alone together.

This is exactly the same type scenario that Pit Bulls have locked into their instincts through centuries of selective breeding. They can be nice as any puppy, up until they aren't. I will never have an aggressive dog I can't whip in a one on one fight. A friend of mine had 5 JRTs he called his "Lawn Piranhas". Several times large dogs would jump the fence into his yard to whip up on them, and they would have 5 Lawn Piranhas trying to rip pieces off of every part of their body. They never came back for seconds.

I refuse to have an aggressive dog. Not towards humans anyway. I don't care if it's mine, the neighbor's, or someone I'll never see again. Bullets are cheaper than a tore up or dead kid. There is a reason they generally go after kids and women. Easy prey. That has nothing to do with protecting their territory. I've done my fair share of euthanizing bad dogs and I have no sympathy for them.

Literally just a few minutes ago the wife and I stopped at the grocery store to get some buns for BBQ sandwiches.
We were on our way back from the range and had several firearms in the car. I said I'll go in and pick up our things. I slid my Sig 938 that I carry almost everywhere inside my waistband.
As I was coming out of the store and walking across the parking lot, loud barking and growling came from a small beater car. It's surprised me and startled me a little to be perfectly honest. It was a Pit in the front seat, with a rode hard and put up wet looking scruffy guy in the back seat.
It seemed to amuse him that his dog had startled me. All the while my right hand was discreetly holding my Sig. under my shirt.
Perfect example of Pit behavior. He would have tried to tear me to pieces if he could have got out of that car. Would have ended badly for him though.
I hate Pits. Nothing anyone will ever say or do will change my mind. The breed is flawed, and in a bad way.

Has anything in the history of the world, animate or inanimate, had as many people making excuses for its actions/function as pit bulls? (Well, maybe Remington Walker triggers/safeties.)_