Pit bull/Pit bull mixes kill toddler.

[Demo_Chris]

29. No, and yes. I will elaborate

The word "aggressive"" (though I used it) is an over simplification.

Allow me to take a step back. Dogs are pack animals, some breeds are more dominant and aggressive in terms of how they test their position within that pack. This is, in my opinion, a major problem that people have with their Pit Bulls, and it is the reason why an animal that the owner sees as being a gentle loving bundle of cuddles can go from that to violent in seconds. The reality is this: it wasn't in seconds, it happened over weeks or months or years and the owner never noticed.

You HAVE to notice.

A dog like this needs a job to do and it needs a firm hand. Not a VIOLENT hand -- you don't need to hit the dog -- but a firm consistent hand. By this I mean you must ALWAYS be in control of that dog. If you tell the dog to do something and it balks you have to react. If, for example, you call it and it doesn't come you have to stop what you are doing and go get the dog immediately. Not call it again, get it. And this applies to everything you do. A dog like this will test you, and you have to remain in charge of you have problems. It CANNOT safely be stuck in the back yard or anywhere else and ignored. You have to work with it.

The smartest and toughest dog I have ever worked with was the GSD I bought in Germany. Both of its parents were champions in the german version of police trials. This dog was brilliant. I spent 3 hours a day, every day without fail, working with that dog, training her to compete. She was breathtakingly brilliant and an amazing performer in front of other people, she LOVED performing in front of people... but not a day went by when that dog didn't test me.

Every day. Seriously without fail. She loved me, but she tested me. In her case, spotting it was easy because it was sooo bloody obvious. For example, this was a dog that was trained to respod to hand signals at a distance, but if she decided to see what I would do, she might watch for the command to do whatever -- perhaps sit -- and she would instead stick her nose in the air and turn her back to you. She'd make a show of telling you to fuck off. She knew what she was supposed to do, and she loved doing it, but testing was her nature as a dog. (Note that she never screwed around when people were watching -- she was too proud for that. That was her nature too.)

(For the record, I eventually found the perfect way to deal with it. Every time she pulled a stunt like this I would treat her like a puppy and too stupid to understand what she was doing wrong. I'd baby talk her and we would go back to her first most basic training. This is how you sit puppy, aren't you such a smart little puppy... It was humiliating and She HATED it.)

But every breed like this will do the same, they are all watching your every move and thinking. And if they begin to feel like you aren't really in control, if they begin to question your position, you have a problem brewing. If you let it go on long enough and things are just wrong someone is going to get hurt.

Back to GSDs. They are a powerful dog bred to protect. Consider what this means: they were bred to be willing to attack anything or anyone to protect their family, and they can have a tendency to OVER protect -- this is a recognized tendency in the breed that you should be on guard for. Of course they are wonderful with children, that's their job. That's what they were bred to do. They would rather die than see your kid (or you) hurt. Seriously, and think about how amazing that is. That's how much it loves you. But that level of -- call it fanaticism -- comes at a cost. You have to be in charge all the time, you have to give it a job if possible, you have to give it excercise and something to excercise it's brain. You don't have to be perfect, and I don't advise people not to own these dogs, just understand what it is you own and do your best. Your best is good enough.

I guess, to make a long story short, it comes down to this. Even today, with dogs that I can read like a book and that I love like they are my own children, I am CONSTANTLY watching them and reading them and I never forget what they are. And this is why I am appalled any time I read a post from some Pit Bull (or similar) owner refusing to acknowlege the reality of the breed. When I read a comment from someone saying that a Pit Bull is no different than a Border Collie, I cringe a bit. It's just a complete denial of reality-- like denying evolution or teaching your kids the earth is only 6000 years old -- except if you do this with a dangerous animal it is entirely possible that someone will eventually get hurt or killed. And then the dog will get the blame.

This is really a silly over simplification, but there is it. My opinion based on a lot of years with puppies and a lot of books I read as a young man.