Pit bull/Pit bull mixes kill toddler.

[OwnedByCats]

57. You're right

Breeds like German Shepherds, Dobermans and Rottweilers were not bred for fighting each other or to hunt/kill animals, however some will kill small animals and some have maimed/killed people. I once knew someone who had a German Shepherd who liked killing squirrels and possums. They are animals and sometimes these things occur, regardless of what they were bred for in the beginning. But then I have met some who were big babies and you wonder if they could be good guard dogs when they are scared of their own shadow lol. I just personally believe, after coming across so many dogs in my life, that having a responsible owner who knows what they are doing makes all the difference in most dogs. You can have exceptions, but for the most part you get what you give. I have never come across a vicious pit bull and I have worked with a lot. Of course their owners weren't irresponsible idiots either. Millions of people out there with pits who lived out their entire lives and died never having attacked anyone.

The problem I feel most of the time is the owner, minus the odd exceptions. When I see people say that pit bulls were bred to specifically kill people, that is ridiculous. Are some trained to be people aggressive and because of their power they can kill? Yes, some are. TRAINED, not BRED for people aggression. This is not the dog's fault, it's the sick bastards that train them. When it comes to their dog/animal agression, even the people who fight their dogs will tell you that a lot of work goes into training them to fight so they are not as naturally eager to do so as you might expect.

It's difficult for me to take my experiences, the experiences of pit rescuers, the vast majority of owners, dog trainers like Cesar Millan and others and believe that pits are born wanting to kill people right out of the womb. If you read these threads on here about pit bulls, you see more people with positive experiences than negative ones - a lot more. Most (not all) of the negative ones are those who have never owned a pit bull. Either the dog belonged to someone else or they didn't know who owned the dog and they rarely know the dog's history and presume the dog is just vicious because they were "bred" to kill people. And of course they've never put themselves in an environment where they will come across high numbers of them, especially with the ones who have good owners so they have this perception that is not shared amongst people who do have the experience.

Not just anyone should own a pit bull, only those who know what they're doing. If a pit bull IS vicious, if rehabilitation is not possible, then I can understand the need to have that dog put down and I'm in agreement with that course of action. But to blindly believe that ALL of them are like that, which in turn causes things like BSL and people get their dogs taken from them and put to sleep even though those dogs never so much as hurt a fly, I have a big problem with that.

Judge by the deed, not the breed.