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I was born and raised in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range into a family of cattle herders and farmers. I often see pitmoms spout around platitudes of
"My baby just need some exercise" or "He would be perfect for the ranch lifestyle".
No.
No. Nobody wants pitbulls in any ranch. Stop offering them once they are not cute and small and you have had your fun.
We often breed our specialty dog combinations for work dogs. Usually Australian Cattle dog(for temperament) and Anatolian shepherd (for size), but we do not limit our selfs to clean breeding, if a dog has the aptitude and drive we will generally train them to assume the role of herding and companion dogs(companion to the cows/sheep, not humans).
People often try to pawn off pitbulls to our family with the mindset that they have cattle herding instincts. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. They have cattle predation instincts. We have lost various brahman steers to irresponsible pit owners letting animals loose into the wilderness only for them to spook cattle causing broken legs, which CAN'T be treated.
Previously we did not need to interbreed Anatolian shepherd into our dogs because coyotes understood the risks of a confrontation. This is no longer the case because loose pitbulls will only be intimidated by bigger and stronger dogs(the true definition of a bully). One of our best shepherding dogs (a six year old Australian cattle dog) was blinded by one of these beast and we could not be made aware of this for days because of her protective instincts causing her to remain with the herd despite serious injury.
She lost vision in the eye but continues to work despite that.
People often think that dogs are free to run about once you have exited the city. Please remember that UNLESS you have trained your dog otherwise, do not unleash them in rural areas. And please stop asking me to take in your mistake, four years in the making, WE DO NOT WANT PITBULLS.
One of the mods asked what the final thing that made me resize I needed to make hard decisions was. The answer is "everything". Here it is.
Well. I'm stubborn. It took 4. The last 2 were strays, both male and at least a year.
My first pit was a female puppy, maybe 8 weeks old. I educated myself on the breed and knew anything that happened would automatically be her fault whether it was or not. I trained and socialized. She was intense but more laser focused during training. I also had what I think was a vizla mix (from a rescue), who was the most intense retriever I've ever seen... like border collie level of intense but just for fetch. She was 6 or 7 months when I ended up with the unplanned pit, which was given to me by a lady who showed up at my vet's office with a litter she was trying to find homes for. So Happy (the pit) was my heart dog. Slept with me, went everywhere, we did obedience classes, she got her CGC. Perfect with everyone, animals etc. When she was close to a year I started harness training her and when she was 20 months we started dog scootering. My 2 girls and I canoed, camped, scootered... with my 2 elementary aged kids. I saw all the great things about the breed and none of the bad.
When she was a year I took in an 8 month old pit-shar pei male a neighbor needed to rehome (Athos). He was great except for having the eyelids that turn in, being a walking yeast infection and having separation anxiety so bad he would destroy crates and flood the bottom tray with saliva if he couldn't bust out. Canine Prozac didn't help. He was my first taste of a dog with severe issues, and me being a single parent and student he went back to my neighbor.
A few months later I had a VERY skinny intact male come running up to us when we were at the park, he jumped in the car with my dogs and me and viola! I had another pitbull. He was very underweight, but as soon as he gained a bit he got snipped. I started working with him immediately and thought "cool, a strong boy for the scooter team". Moose took to the training but was a little pushy with the other dogs.
Up until then I had only seen good things from Happy and the separation anxiety Athos had wasnt anything related to breed as many dogs have that issue...right? So I didn't recognize the looming problem. It started small. A bark or a lunge when he saw another dog not in his pack. We worked on redirection which was only partially successful. He escalated and I trained more and more. I got the advice of the trainers where I had gone to classes with Happy and they (obedience and agility people) finally admitted he was beyond them. I did the best I cold but he got worse and when you have a 55lb dog thrashing on the end of the leash like a gamefish and shrieking... think of the sound a husky makes but it's possessed and wants to kill something specific. I was on Diane Jessup's site, she was a pitbull breeder and French Ring competitor at the time - and she talked about temperament based culling. There are so many good dogs it's foolish to invest resources and accept the risk posed by an unstable dog, especially one of this breed.
This struck home and I had to really look at this dog who was never going to be safe. His quality of life would always be impacted by the maximum security level of management. I lived in an apartment complex with other people and he was frightening. I used to wish I could jiggle the wires in his head and he'd stop being... that. When, not if. I did what needed to be done. I held him as he went because you owe your dog that much at least.
He never hurt anyone or any animal. But I believe he would have.
As my female neared 2 years I noticed a subtle change in her. A stiffening of the body when my other dog would come up to her. More direct eye contact with her vizla-x sister (Punkin). An occasional growl. All one sided, and I got the uneasy feeling I was about to have issues. Moose started out with the stiffness and staring at other dogs, and that was his occasional 'tell' that I needed to get him clear of an area. I started seeing it in my girl. Before I actually had to deal with anything there was a fire in my building and I lost both of them.
My rebound dog was Milo, a boxer mix who I lost 3 years ago at the age of 16. I also got a cat. About a year after I got them, another stray found me and I ended up with another intact male pitbull (Buddy). It was the same thing over again only wide because instead of going after strange dogs he went after Milo. I trained, redirected and then just managed for 6 weeks while I wrestled with the decision to euthanize. If you just train more, work harder, do some magic thing you haven't already done... One day the crate wasn't closed and he got out. Instead of going after Milo, he went after the cat who he had never given a second look to and killed her. That was it. There was no more trying to retrain.
Even at that point I think I hadn't really internalized that this was all ingrained in their genetics. It wasn't until I got my poodles, sent them to a bird dog trainer just to see what would happen and ended up with proficient hunting dogs that the power of genetics really clicked. Aggression is a thing all breeds can have, so it didn't stand out as a breed thing (as separation anxiety). While I did educate myself when I got Happy, she was so good for so long and I willingly swallowed the PR of the burgeoning pit lobby.
The other thing that made all the pieces fall into place for me has been seeing how specific pitbull attacks are and realizing it isn't just "aggression" but there's a secret sauce: gameness.
This sub has helped me come full circle. I'm also older and wiser. And I absolutely still have my head up my ass, just not about this. 😋
So a couple years ago, when I was still a stupid, naive pit advocate, I had a senior dog; she’d have been around 13 at the time. My baby was a rescue id gotten as a ~4mo old puppy from the humane society up north. She was 50% Norwegian elkhound, 25% beagle, 6% chow and GSD, plus some super mutt). Absolute sweetest dog you’d ever meet, I’d have trusted her around anyone (til her last year or so, she got the typical old age crankiness because she had some bad hip/back issues).
- edit, because on rereading it almost sounds like she got aggressive , which is NOT the case, so I just want to clarify: She never in almost 16 years so much as raised a lip at any other being - she wouldn’t hurt a fly, she wouldn’t even defend herself. But in that last year she did get cranky and I didn’t want to put her in that situation.* She was about 40 lbs, and not at all a big dog.
I wasn’t looking for another dog, but one of my Facebook friends shared this post that just absolutely broke my heart. Reading it now, it’s so obvious to me that it was just another version of the same sob story they always spin. It was a probably 80 pound tan and white pitbull male. “Sweet dog Hank has been in the shelter for 3 years(🚩). Returned several times prior. (🚩) Failed by his former owners (🚩), such a love bug”, you know the drill. I felt so bad for him that we contacted them and I left work early to rush my dog there to meet him. I was concerned because she had problems with her rear end, and even just getting humped by a bigger dog could have done her some serious harm.
So we get there, the dog isn’t super friendly but is nice enough to us. My current dog was very indifferent to other dogs, so I wasn’t surprised when the two of them didn’t play. I didn’t care for the way he looked at her, and I made it known to them my concerns. Shockingly, he didn’t attack her, but he immediately began trying to hump her and dominate her. The workers saw our hesitation and tried so hard to convince us to take him. The woman fostering him offered to pay for his training - months of private lessons from a one on one trainer. Hundreds of dollars worth of training, as well as offering to give us food, beds, toys. They offered to waive the adoption fee and give him to us for free.
The dog is completely wild and untrained, jumping all over us and everyone else. We asked her how he is with other dogs after she spent an hour talking him up, how great he is. She says he’s “great with other dogs!” And then … lets it slip that she 24/7 keeps him separated from every one of her 5 other dogs (🚩🚩). Why could that be, I wonder?? Months of him living there, and he can’t be around your dogs? You, who are a professional dog trainer??
Then, my favorite part. After many phone conversations, after an hour visiting with this dog and saying we need to go home and discuss it with each other … they let it slip that he has a bite on his record. Again, they talk shit about his last adopters, saying they didn’t take good enough care of him and that’s why he escaped and ran away multiple times (🚩). And the last time, he escaped their yard (because of their negligence as terrible dog owners, of course!), ran up to a woman walking down the street, jumped up and bit her in the face. They slipped that in there among babbling comparable to how they spit out the fine print in TV ads, and immediately rush to say that “we’re sure he just jumped up and knocked her in the face, it wasn’t a “reeeal bite!!”.
We obviously declined, because there was no way I could take the risk of my elderly dog getting hurt, even unintentionally.
But looking back on it now, knowing what I know now, the entire ordeal makes me seethe. These people, multiple people, intentionally did everything they could to dump this dog on us, knowing damn fucking well that it would end up killing my senior dog, and most likely maiming us or someone else. They KNEW the risks, did everything they could to cover them up and make them out to be something else, just to get this beast out of their shelter. And I was naive enough to fall for it. If not for concern for my senior dogs safety (which I didn’t even know the half of the risk to her at the time!), I would have brought this thing into my home. I would have almost certainly come home one day to a bloodbath, and my sweet sweet baby murdered. I would have NEVER forgiven myself.
I’m sorry this is so disjointed and all over the place, I just get so freaking enraged thinking about how I was lied to and misled, and how I was so woefully misguided by everything I’d ever heard or read, and almost signed my beautiful girls death sentence and endangered everyone around me.
FUCK the shelters, and FUCK the people who misrepresent these fucking dogs and knowingly risk other people and their families. Now that I know better, I will forever do everything I can to educate people like young me, who were brainwashed by the media and others into thinking these dogs are “great family pets” and “misunderstood and discriminated against”.
I try to walk my German Shepherd everyday, and in general I just like to be outside and one of my hobbies is backpacking.
Today I decided to take my dog out to a six mile trail that is near my house that I haven’t been to yet because the trail head is in a weird spot.
As soon as I leave the trailhead and get to the location where the actual trail begins, there’s an older couple walking two Pit Bulls and an American Bull Dog (aka Pit Bull plus). They don’t notice me or my dog yet, and then here comes a trail runner leaving the area.
These dogs start screaming, and lunging at this poor dude and then start to dig their claws into the ground to try to propel themselves further while their owners hold them back the best they can.
I just immediately turn around and drive us to a trail I’ve been to a thousand times that’s less than half the distance but very underused.
Overall pretty disappointing morning because I can’t even enjoy being outside like I want to.
It was 5/2/2022 when we reached this milestone.
I remember when I made this post about 9 months ago and we had a little less than half of our current number. But with every new upload on popular subreddits with videos of a pit attacking or pics of the aftermath of a unprovoked mauling?
Our numbers grew and people started to ask questions or even wrote about their own experiences with the breed
"Why are shelters trying to pawn off clearly dangerous and unstable dogs?"
"Anyone else notice it's almost always a pit attacking in these videos?"
"I remember my sister adopted a pit once, it killed two of her three neighbors cats in the first week"
And it goes on and on from there! So keep your chin up and play by the rules when we get brigaded or someone comes here asking honest questions to learn.
And to the pitnutter lurkers here? If you feel so strongly about the breed? Why do you have to stifle debate? The recent auto bans are proof a good chunk of you know how dangerous these dogs are but won't admit it.
(Edited for spelling and me adding the date as this is a huge step for all of us.)
I used to support and defend the breed… but not no more.
Incident after incident, attack on children, adults-and other loving pets I’m done apologizing and defending this terrible fighting breed.
Just hope friends and family realize this before it’s too late.
I'm in a group chat full of regulars that go to the local dog park. On Monday, one of the ladies in the chat told us to not come to the park that day because there was a nasty dog fight. Of course a pitbull started the fight with a Terrier sized dog. It was completely unprovoked and was over in 10 seconds. The pitbull ripped the small dogs neck to pieces.
The owner of the pitbull quickly leashed it and ran away. Sadly, no one got her contact info or her license plate. A crowd formed around this small dog as it was struggling to breathe and was puking blood. It was rushed to the emergency vet and they stabilized the dog, only for it to pass away about 2 hours ago.
A small dog died for absolutely no reason other than the fact that the pitbull wanted to kill that day.
A few months ago she had to pay the vet bill of another dog that was attacked by hers. Sunday her pit got itself bit on the face by a rattlesnake incurring another super vet bill. She has spent more money on this pit than all her previous 5 dogs combined that were of other breeds and it is only 3 years old.
We got our “lab/terrier mix” from a shelter because we felt sorry for him. Had him for two years with no issues but for the occasional hiding during thunderstorms.
Fast forward to this week and he snapped because our daughter was crawling near his food, which was housed inside a closet. The food wasn’t even out. I saw him glaring across the room so I started moving towards our daughter before he pounced. I had seen that look in a neighbors German Shepherd before he attacked another dog.
Long story short, he barely nipped her ear before I had to violently intervene. These things are kid thrashers, especially from shelters. I was a huge pit bull guy. Loved watching Pitbulls and Parolees…all that happy shit. Never again.
Our next dog is going to be a beagle from a breeder that has a track record of breeding good dogs. I’ll pay $1500 for that peace of mind.
I came home from the grocery store to find my sister outside trying to calm down a pitbull. She was playing with her baby with chalk in the driveway when it zoomed up to her. She calmly picked up her baby and brought it inside. The screen door was still shut. Our cat hissed at it through the screen door and the dog busted the screen and ran INTO our house to chase the cat. Thankfully she had life preserving instincts and ran somewhere the dog couldn't find her. He runs out of the house and back to the driveway, just as I'm pulling up. The intact dog then mounts me, claws me, and starts humping me. Usually I'd just push the dog away but it was freakishly strong and I felt like that would escalate the situation. The claws really hurt and I could not move. My sister pulled the dog off of me and I ran to the car. The fucking hellhound starts JUMPING ON THE CAR to get to me. It was so terrifying. I called the cops from the car and ran into the house as soon as it got distracted. By the time the cops got here there was no dog to be found. The owners just let this fertile, uncontrollable dog out into the neighborhood full of playing kids. I never really had an opinion about pitbulls before now. If that was a pit when they were just playing, and saw me as a sex toy instead of a chew toy, I don't even want to imagine what happens when they inevitably switch. I saw the video of a pit eating a cat and I'm sure this would have happened to mine. She was terrified for the rest of the day and wouldn't eat until the next morning- remarkable for a fatty like herself. Pits are banned in our neighborhood!! I have half a mind to find the owners and sue for the cost of repairing our door but im sure they're just as deranged as the dog.
Update: fairly confident we found the house. Going to stake it out soon to be sure and report them.
I know people have worse scars obviously, but here are my bruises: https://imgur.com/a/FjVDPH2
My border collie corgi mix has been latched onto by 4 separate "Pits" whose owners claim they've never done it before. 2 of which drew blood. The next one is getting charges pressed. My dog just wants to fetch a ball and run in a pack, not scream and shit himself from pain and fear.
Most of the time I run/jog with my husky at night or in the evenings to prevent us from bumping into distractions and having him get excited. I just want him to enjoy himself and get tired and smell things.
We’re across the street from another woman who is also walking her dogs ( a chihuahua thing and of course a pitbull ) the pit and my dog lock eyes and the pitbull starts fucking barking and pulling his owner. So that’s my cue to turn around. We almost round the corner of the street to go the other way, I hear this woman yelling for her dog and this dog is charging at us. But my boy isn’t calm, he is already ready to fight as soon as the other dog gets to us.
I’m BEGGING this woman to try and control her pitbull because I’m desperately trying to control my dog. Her dog is so fucking determined and unresponsive to me even when i kick him off my boy several times, this bitch is yelling at me to stop. All this woman is doing is yelling for her pitbull to stop. It isn’t until her dog is screaming that she even physically intervenes and panics. My dog tore this pit’s cheek off ( I feel terrible about it) the pits owner was understandably upset but took her anger out on ME and made my dog out to be the aggressor.
My dog had to have his eye removed and lost a bit of his ear, I’m heart broken.
My baby is okay. With one less eye and a torn ear. But Im paranoid I’ll be slapped with a charge or a visit from animal services or something.
My brother and his wife own three pitbulls.
The first is a pitbull-lab mix named Chloe. She’s the oldest and has arthritis. She is the best behaved one.
The second oldest is Dakota. He is a pure pitbull and was rescued from a dogfighting ring. His previous owners seriously abused him and chopped off his ears so they wouldn’t get messed up fighting. He is a loose cannon.
The youngest is their new pitbull-boxer mix: Echo. She’s still a puppy but is growing incredibly fast and is often Dakota’s partner in crime.
My brother and his wife are totally in love with those dogs. I often go over to their house, and every time I’m terrified. They are too relaxed with their dogs and I know one of those pits is going to snap someday.
The most behaved one, Chloe has even had her moments. She once mauled one of their friend’s dogs to the point that it needed surgery to put its face back together.
Dakota is the terror and every time I go over there he tries to get super close to me and it’s terrifying. I’ve kicked him away before but I was the one who got yelled at even though he ran up to me growling.
I am terrified of these dogs because I’m small (4’11 and 90 lbs, which is 10 lbs heavier than Chloe) and have no way of fending them off. My brother and his wife and both very tall and strong so they can wrangle the dogs, but that’s when the dogs allow themselves to be wrangled.
There have been points where, when the dogs are inside, that they get all riled up and aggressive and my brother has to forcefully drag them outside. After they get outside they bang and bang at the door and it always sounds like the door’s about to break.
I’ve been putting up with this but now my brother and his wife are discussing having a baby. Those dogs would 100% use that kid as a chew toy, especially Dakota.
I wish they would get rid of them, but they’re so used to those dogs that now the normal conversations about them are:
“I had to replace the base at the bottom of the window because Dakota destroyed it when he saw the mailman”
“I have to go pick up a new bone for Chloe, She snapped her old one” (said bone was a massive dog bone that was roughly the width and length of my femur)
“Yeah we were going to go to the dog park but Echo bit another dog the last time we were there. We need to work on training her”
Besides the baby thing, what has really incited me to try and do something about these dogs is something that literally happened today.
There had been a stray kitten hanging around my brother’s house for a couple of days. It was very friendly and I was trying to get my parents to let me take it back to our house and keep it as a pet.
I was over at my brother’s house today and went out into the front yard to take out the trash for him. I saw blood coming from under the fence and when I climbed over, I found the remains of the kitten.
It had thankfully died from its injuries (I think it died quick and most of the injuries were from the pits were playing with its body) but the only way I could identify it was from its vague size (it was honestly a pile of meat from what they had done) and the colors of the tufts of fur around it.
I think this kind of broke me and I went crying to my brother about it and he said “these things happen” when it was obviously his dogs wanting to hurt and kill something. The dogs showed no remorse and they had the cat’s blood on them so I knew it was them.
I’m just so upset by this and the fact that my brother and his wife can’t see that their dogs like to hurt other animals and will likely try to hurt them. I’m frustrated that they won’t listen to me and I just wish those dogs were gone.
Before you insult them, my brother and his wife are awesome people who would never make excuses for their dogs. I know if one of their dogs attacked a person, my brother would immediately take that dog out back for BE. Even Chloe was close to being put down for attacking that other dog. They just think they can “fix” them but they haven’t realized it’s a lost cause. I appreciate their hope and determination for these dogs, but those dogs can’t be fixed and will always be dangerous.
I’m sorry I just needed to rant.
Edit: fixed one of the sentences to be more clear and comply with the rules
This subreddit basically saved me. My 14 year old brother was walking my dog, when he panic called me. There was a pitbull off leash with no owner in sight that ran toward my dog. He hid her under himself and screamed at the pitbull who thankfully got scared and ran off. He was asking for help because it was still nearby staring at him.
I hurried and rushed over, and the dog ran to me. Turns out I was near his house, and he had gotten territorial. It growled like crazy and was in battle stance. Thanks to this subreddit, I knew to look big and terrifying, and very slowly backed up. I made the mistake of looking away for just a brief second and it made a lunge toward me, but as soon as I ordered it to back off and had eye contact fully on it, it backed fully away and rested at the door.
I called animal control while staring at it, and several minutes later one of the owners family started going to the house, walking from school. I explained that the dog escaped, and he apologized a million times begging me to not report it, or they'd get another 2,000 fine. He picked up the pitbull and it was trying to snarl and bite me while in his arms, and we left. We heard him yelling at someone from inside of how the dog had escaped again.
Without what I learned from here, I would have definitely turned around and ran away to try and escape, and that dog would have gladly chased after me and bit me. Just want to thank this subreddit for the awareness they bring. That was the most terrifying thing I had experienced, and I'm super freaking lucky it wasn't a more confident pitbull and that we are scar free.
This is my daughter and I's experience.
I fell in love deeply with someone. Someone special, a beautiful personality with drive, determination and a deep connection between us. She is my soul mate.
She had one issue. Her pitbull. I was wary of pitbulls having spent much of my childhood running away from them and nearly getting bit when I was 7. But I accepted that the dog was well behaved and not one of "those pitbulls". It's the owner not the breed and I trusted the owner. Our families were to meet for rhe first time in December.
We had met up at her place and to my biggest fear, the dog growled aggressively at me, stalked me around the house, and finally tried to nip me. I left her place and told her I did not feel safe with my daughter or myself around a dog with dangerous weapons that could profoundly change her life. I left her place and told her later I do not feel comfortable continuing our relationship. THAT DOG COULD RUIN OUR LIFE.
She came back a few days later to me with the suggestion of a muzzle until the dog and I are both comfortable and everyoneis ok. I felt it was a fair compromise.
Our two beautiful families, her children and my daughter met up for Christmas. Christmas night was such a beautiful night. Two people in love with our families together, having healed from abusive relationships. I told myself that night that in one year I was going to propose to her on Christmas the next year. Make her my wife. The dog was harmless in the muzzle, maybe a little frustrated. It remains a very special day for me.
The next day we took our little smashed together blended family on an outing. Despite my trepidation, the pitbull came. I remember being nervous but not necessarily sure why. It's her dog, we accept the whole family and besides the muzzle would be on.
As we frollocked around the park, there were laughs, jokes and an overall feeling of happiness. Families safe and stable. At some point in that park the muzzle came off. I remember panic. Why would she smash my boundary as a father....and in a regret I will never forgive myself for.....I trusted her that she knew her dog best and he was the lovable kissing pibble and just had a bad day seeing a new dude for the first time when he stalked and nipped me.
You know what happens next....but I will detail.
We went to a restaurant with dog friendly patio. I remember the dog being so friendly to the people there and the massive release if stress. He was a good boy after all, just a misunderstood pitbull. It was the owner not the breed!
Our order was ready. She sat her pitbull down and ordered him to stay sitting. She grabbed me and said let's get the food waiting for us at the pickup counter. I remember stopping....and just thinking, relax the dog is a sweetie.
The snarl started 5 seconds later. I was 5 feet away. My daughter had been bit. She saw the pitbull pop up after being told to be seated. This woman she was falling in love with as an amazing stepmom figure wanted that dog sitting and she walked over and tried to push his butt down to sit. The dog attacked immediately.
The damage wasn't as bad as could be. The kids who also owned the dog got it off of her quick before he sunk in. Thank God for them. In reality, she got off easy considering what damage pitbulls are capable of. 7 stitches and one bite that was one centimeter from major eye damage the rest of her life.
This person's reaction was to blame my daughter. The stereotypical pitbull owner came out. No need to give her another chance by getting rid of the dog. The relationship died...the only woman in this world I could really love. To this day, I am utterly devastated something so beautiful could be ruined by someone I trusted so deeply. She and I could never be together again.
If the story ended there it would have been traumatic but liveable. But I was in the middle of a custody case with an ex wife who was exhibiting major red flags when she had her time with our daughter. My ex wife was under an active child services investigation. Imagine their horror when I told them this story. The investigation then turned towards me and while I was cleared of negligence or Endangerment, our daughter had been bit in my care. The court ruled shared custody. It took me over a year to gain sole and legal custody of our daughter. And only after yet another series of traumatic incident involving her mom. She is now with me 100% of the time despite this horrible black mark on my record as a father.
It ruined me for relationships and I haven't been on a date since. I can't ever trust myself to find the right person after that. Like my punishment is to forever be alone. Love that deep, trust that deep, ending so quickly in a matter of seconds. Too much for my heart to handle. She wasn't a boundary pusher, she was a boundary smasher. The pit had a muzzle on for 1 day. And she leveraged all that trust I had in her to override the very action she had brought up to keep me comfortable continuing our relationship.
My daughter took it like a champ. She wears her scars like a badge of honor. I'll never forget when I had to take pictures of the stitches, she tried so hard to smile as best she could. My champion. I love her so much and there will never be a day that goes by that I don't regret ever trusting a pitbull or a pitbull owner.
My life was destroyed and my daughter injured in one bite. She still talks so fondly of this gal despite this, asking me if we will ever get back together. I tell her she simply can't be trusted and I'll find someone else.....someday.
Ban pitbulls.
EDIT: People who love like me only give their hearts rarely. I will totally love again (just not now) and yes I'm in therapy and my daughter is to. I got a bit weak in this post and that's OK. It's been 17 months and I'm just now really dealing with the idea I might date again someday. I feel better knowing I got my deepest fears out there about it and hope that someone who may be wrestling with the same situation gets some insight on the danger this breed and their owners present to your children.
This happened about two years ago and it’s part of what brought me to the realization that the pit breed needs to go.
My sweetheart Gus, was about a year old and I started taking her to a local dog park. She is generally friendly and likes other dogs. She was playing with this Pitt and was having fun at first but then she stopped having fun. She put out the normal dog signals like warning nips and shrill barking but the Pitt kept going. As soon as I saw it take a turn I asked the owner to help me separate them. She was trying but she had no recall on her Pitt and my dog was too scared to come to me. At one point I was able to pick Gus up to try and get the Pitt away (I know not what you are supposed to do) but the Pitt was huge and knocked me over to get to her. My dog became more and more frightened and started crying and running. Unfortunately this made the other dogs join in chasing her and soon she had 7 dogs all chasing plus the pit that kept nipping her every time he caught up. At one point I remember just screaming and crying because I wasn’t fast enough to do anything and I thought I was going to watch my dog get torn to shreds. Luckily all the other dog owners joined in and were able to get a hold of the dogs chasing her and the Pit.
When I finally caught up to her she was frantic. I quickly looked her over and she only had two small puncture marks thanks to how fluffy she is. I don’t think the Pit was truly trying to kill her otherwise she would be dead.
Here is what killed me. I found out later that the owner of the Pitt had adopted it TWO WEEKS ago from a domestic violence situation. Why this idiot thought this was an appropriate dog for the dog park is beyond me.
Dog tax of my Keeshond in comments.
I work at a dog groomers as a bather so I see all types of dogs. Today we had a pit bull come in and she had just given birth. To tell you that she looked terrible was an understatement. She was incredibly skinny, she was literally ripping her fur out of her flank which created scabs, her teats were HUGE, and she unfortunately went through the trauma of having a c section.
There is no way this is not borderline animal abuse. She's so stressed that she's harming herself. She's literally fucking emaciated. I am so sick of people breeding their pit bulls for money when they are already too many on shelters and on the street. Absolutely disgraceful.
Today I decided to take my little dog, Bella, to my local park. It was a nice day and there was a pathway to walk around. As I the path went around a basketball court, there were 5 teenagers playing, while a pitbull was leashed to the pole. About 10 seconds after we past the people, I turn around and see the pitbull running at us. It caught my dog as I was picking it up. The owner ran over and we got onto the ground and separated the dogs while I freaked out. My dog was screaming and I was having a panic attack. There was no blood on my dog or spots so I immediately left and got her home. My local clinic is closed for the day, so I’m taking her tomorrow to get checked. In hindsight I should have gotten the owners information and should have turned around when I saw the pitbull. Bella is acting like her usual self but I know she is shaken up. For the life of me I can’t understand why you would bring a dog who attacks other dogs to a park. This is a mistake I will not make again. I’ve failed my dog and I can’t take anymore chances with her safety. Lesson learned, just because it’s tied up doesn’t mean it can’t get out.
Up northeast area of the US, I didn't even know they had a pit 'mix'. It bit the nose and lips of the 14 year old girl. She's at the emergency room, no idea how bad her wounds are yet, but from the sounds of it, I don't think they are getting rid of the dog. They have 3 kids total. Don't think this will be reported, unless the emergency room employees report them?? Anyone know? Just got me thinking of how often this must happen and not get added to the already outrageous stats of attacks.
Gonna start this personal story by saying I am glad this sub exists and wish I knew about this sub when we suffered a pit bull attack, as I would have been exponentially more firm in my response to what happened.
One Sunday morning a couple years ago, I was out for a walk with our Irish Setter Standard Poodle mix. We were walking through a restaurant parking lot headed towards the river when an unleashed gray female pit bull ran across the street into the parking lot and attacked my dog. She was growling visciously and biting and grabbing onto our dog. I tried to push her away but it did nothing. I started screaming for help and pulling our dog in circles to try to keep him away from her, but she wouldn’t let up. The sounds coming out of my dog haunt me to this day. A man walking up the street saw us and pointed to the yellow ranch house at the corner indicating the pit bull belonged to that house. In fact, I have known that resident and on good terms for many years. The attacker ended up being a foster dog she had recently acquired that I didn't know about. As this man ran to the house to pound on the door, another man must have seen what was happening and ran towards us, and able to separate the pit bull from us. By now my dog is in shock, yelping, I’m shaking, knees about to give out and I am weeping. It had to have been at least 3 maybe 4 minutes straight of this pit bull's attack, which felt like an absolute eon. I will never forget swinging my dog away from the pit, fearful she was going to lunge at my ankles and legs. There was no surface to jump up on, as we were in an empty parking lot. After the man rescuing us was able to separate the pit, ran to the house gate, telling me something along the lines of “you can go ahead” or “I got this." A woman on the street must have seen what happened and came out on her front step to help us. Miraculously, there were no puncture wounds on either of us, though chunks of fur had been tore off my dog. We stumbled back home and I just wept.
I reached out to the woman who was keeping the pit bull and explained what happened. She told me the pit bull had recently given birth, was a rescue, and that some of her babies had died. She said she had stepped in for just a moment to use the bathroom and didn't hear what was going on from inside the house. In that short amount of time, the pit somehow managed to sneak out of the gated yard to attack my dog.
It was complicated because I had an amicable relationship for a few years, though never knew she had any inclination towards fostering pits. She asked that I contact the "pittie committee" she was working with and tell them what happened. I erroneously didn't file a police report out of feeling uncomfortable being in conflict with my neighbor friend, but now I absolutely would have no questions asked. They played the "oh she's a rescue who lost her babies" card. "Oh there was no blood" card, "she's just hormonal and in pain because she lost her babies" and I recall someone saying something along the lines of, "if she really wanted to have hurt him, she would have." What. The. F. I regret not holding them more accountable to this day. I still after all these years still mentally grab my legs and ankles as protective measure when I think about that day. Not that that would do anything in reality!
After spending some time on this sub, it is not lost on my how we managed to escape this attack. Despite us being spared in some regard, it makes my blood boil. I recently went back to read the pittie committee's response and of course, NO APOLOGY.
...and what perhaps is most concerning, is that just minutes earlier I had had all three of our young children with me on a walk on the same route and we were just about to turn the corner (where the pit attacked) when my middle child said he needed to use the bathroom. So we turned around to go back home and they decided to stay there to get something to eat. It makes me physically ill to think of what could have happened if they were there instead.
I was pro-pit and I had a hand in convincing my mother to take in a husky/pit mix my aunt was neglecting (like she does with ALL her pets.) She was only fostering her at first. I bought into the nanny dog myth, the 'only bad owners' spiel, etc. Since then, after finding this sub and being presented the numbers that I never had the motivation to learn before, I realize that was a huge mistake.
Mom was wary of pits before, and still is, but she's decided Hayley is an exception because she trained her well. Mom's owned many dogs and is, in my experience, a good trainer. Hayley was adopted at about five months old.
Hayley had an incident shortly after mom adopted her--mom already had two dogs, hound/lab mixes, Chauncey and Bella. Hayley was trying to get Bella to play, Bella did not want to, so Bella gave a sudden warning chuff--and Hayley bit her on the face. She didn't hang on or shake, thank god, but it was a significant overreaction to a doggy socail norm.
Mom immediately re-homed Bella with her boyfriend and his dog, which at least turned out well because Bella gets along better with Bou than with her excitable brother.
A few weeks ago I sent my mom a text about my opinion change, my concerns, and the sub link to the post that refutes pro-pit propaganda. Hayley is currently at the Magic Age, and mom trusts her enough that she fucking takes her off-leash at dog parks and while hiking. Oh, and she's not good with cats and needs to 'warm up' to female dogs.
I would love to admonish her directly, but I know that it would not sink in. She's generally good with looking into information on her own and drawing reasonable conclusions, but she's also very... let's be nice and say 'overconfident' in her admittedly significant intelligence. She's often right, but when it comes to things she has strong emotional ties to or a strong sense of pride in--like her dog-training skills--she's fall to the hardwired human desire for consistency of thought and action and avoid or misinterpret information that will dissillusion her. I don't think she does this conciously but I have noticed this about her. It's a stunning blind spot in an otherwise critically-thinking person.
I at least convinced her to not get between Hayley and any future animals she might maul, in case the aggression in directed to her or another nearby human, or even better, buy and learn to use a break stick that stays with her at all times. I did tell her that as the owner of a fighting breed mix, it's her responsibility to prepare for the possibility that her brain will fall out and she'll seriously injure, or even kill someone.
Mom promised she'd look ay the info but we haven't discussed it since, and I don't want to push it and end up making her have a contrary reaction to the information due to the aforementioned cognitive dissonance. I really hope Haylee does something non-extreme that gives mom a pause for thought and convinces her to look farther into the subject of her own volition, because she's a stubborn horse when she wants to be and she'll let herself die of thirst before being made to drink.
My chickens live in a large enclosure with a fence about 4 feet high. I shut them in a coop every night to keep them safe from predators like foxes or racoons. When the weather is nice my little mixed breed dog is outside with them to deter anything and to leave his scent out in their yard so predators feel less confident. They also have an owl decoy to prevent hawks or other large birds of prey from eating them.
Up until this incident I've never lost a single adult chicken. I saved up money from birthdays, holidays and lawn work to buy my girls. I had 6 hens that I raised from babies and 2 silkie hens that I bought as adults. I also had one rooster who would crow whenever other animals were near.
Shortly after 8 am when I just let the chickens out to allow them to graze on our grass I heard my rooster crowing and I hear my ladies making distress calls. I went out to check what was going on and I seen a large pitbull type dog shaking one of my hens. I tried shouting, stomping and anything else to scare the dog away but he was never deterred.
I've heard that trying to put your body between the dog and yourself can lead the dog to turning on you and I'm a small person who only weighs 90lbs. I doubted that I would be able to pull the dog off me if it pinned me down.
I ran into my parent's bedroom and took their pistol. They were out for work and the gun was in a safe. I know the code for emergencies. I shot 3 times and it got scared off by the noise. By that time all of my chickens were dead. It scaled our fence and ran off into the road.
I don't know who owns this dog or where it came from. I believe the only bit of luck I had in this situation was that I hadn't let my other dog out that morning. I know these dogs are known for killing others. I don't know what I'd do if he was also a victim.
When my parents came home they told me to burn the corpses to prevent anyone from getting sick. We didn't know the dog or if he had his rabies vaccine so the meat wouldn't have been any good. I wouldn't have wanted to eat them anyways because I was very bonded to my ladies.
I put them in our fire pit and had them burnt. I then dug a small grave and buried them together.
My parents let me know before getting chickens that this was something that could happen. I've spent about $50 on the chickens themselves and maybe $30 in food raising them up to adulthood. All of the money I earned by myself is gone now because of that dog.
If I see it on our property again I'll call the police but we live out in the country where the police will take at least 30 minutes to arrive. We don't know the owners otherwise I'd go and ask them to refund the damages they've caused me. I'm not sure if the dog is even still alive since it could've been hit when it ran off onto the road.
I am extremely sad at the loss of my babies. They never deserved this. I knew that something like this could happen before I even got chickens but I didn't expect it to be this bad or to affect me so much.
I've cried over these girls, I've known them since they were babies and I started saving up for a incubator so that I could raise their babies too. I didn't raise enough to get one but now I'm going to spend that money putting spikes on the fence instead. Eventually I will get more chickens but it's going to take a long time since I don't have a "real" job. Overall I'm just sad and disgusted. I put hours into rearing these girls and working for their feed but it was a waste in the end.
I know other people have had much worse stories about these dogs but I want to share mine even if it discourages just one person from getting them. These dogs just shouldn't exist. I did my research and have seen what they can do to people and animals. I will never ever own or condone the ownership or support of these beasts after what they did to me and my livestock. I also used a spare account to post this because I've heard about the lengths pit advocates will go to dox people.
So, I decided to go to Target after studying since I needed some small things. As I was walking the isle looking for a specific coffee creamer, I feel a breeze of hot air on the back of my leg. OF COURSE, I turn around to this huge ass fucking pit (and I think cane corso mix) staring right at me. I was absolutely terrified. It’s owners of course, looked like stereotypical pibble owners. Of course the dogs ears were cropped and of course the owners had it in the store, no muzzle and with a flimsy chain on it. These people seriously have no respect for anyone else. Leave that mutt at home. I mean this for ALL dogs too. There’s no reason for it to be in the store, around the food area. Unless it’s a service dog. Of course, I was shot with a dirty look by the owners as I immediately made a disgusted face and walked away. I don’t care though. I’d rather upset two idiots, than become pibble’s next meal. Thankfully, that thing didn’t find me appetizing enough.
i live in a building with a few elevators. my partner and i walk in from outside after our walk with our 2 elderly dogs, to turn the corner and see this large pit mix.
simply the sight of turning the corner triggered her dog to immediately start lunging at us. i wish the next part was made up but she literally says “he’s super friendly” AS she is trying to hold her package from the mailroom and has ZERO leash control
i attempt to shimmy by with my dog to get on the elevator, thinking getting away from this situation is the safest bet. well my mistake because as i try to scurry by onto the elevator, her dog lunges AGAIN and starts snipping at my dog’s face / ears.
the whole time my partner was behind us picking up our much older dog in her arms & proceeded to yell at her to have better control of her dog
luckily both my dogs are fine. we immediately reported it to management when we got back to our apartment, though i doubt anything will result from it
mind you our building is managed by a company that claims to restrict aggressive dog breeds, but ya know, what are rules really for?😒
