Pitbulls

[Traveller]

I think that's what concerns me most about pit bulls. The lack of regulation in breeding. If there could be some sort of standard to breeding them, then perhaps it would help to ensure that only those with good temperaments etc were bred. The fact that it is illegal to breed them doesn't seem to be stopping people from breeding them. Also, allowing indiscriminate cross breeding leads to unpredictability in what type of dog you end up with. (Just look at what is happening with so-called 'designer breeds'. Defects that have been bred out of certain breeds for generations are now reappearing, not to mention all the other issues arising due to the lack of regulation).

I completely agree with this. I would be a lot happier to have, or live next to, a pure bred pit bull from a reputable breeder than I would a pit bull cross bred by whoever and sold for the highest bid.

[Butterfly Dawn]

"lock jaw" is a Terrier thing, so jack russells have it too but people think those are cute- I've seen 1 rip a rabbit to shreads on a farm- not so cute now! Any big dog can seriously injure sombody. I have come across more little cute fluffy dogs bite (nip) then big dogs but so many people think that its okay cause there small- double standards

[Erin_25]

Anyway, I have organised to meet up with the ppl we bought Yogi off tomoro down at the local creek with a few other friends and their dogs.. the mans wife had a baby girl the same day as me so i have seen her at the community centre occasionally. I am going to have a chat to the man and find out what exactly they have done in regards to registering their dogs. Oh and by the way, Yogis mum is now desexed, so no more babies

Ive gotta go to bed now, but I know there were quite a few other posts that I loved and wanted to comment on, Ill have to do it tomorrow though, way too tired now!

xx

Just wondering what they said?

[Phteven]

FWIW the fighting background that APBT's and other fighting breeds have can actually be an asset in a family pet - their higher tolerance for pain means that they can cope with the rough and tumble of living with toddlers and children better than many other breeds.
Personally I wouldn't get a pitbull because the BSL makes it hard for them to enjoy the kind of life a dog needs in order to be a sociable, well behaved member of canine society and because since they are outlawed lots of their breeders are irresponsible bogans but I would happily get an American Staffordshire Bull Terrier which I could register as a Pit Bull in America and is totally legal to own in Australia.

[Smoke Jaguar]

My sister adopted a dog that turned out not to have a shred of the purported mastiff she was after. Looked like a staffy or pitty cross (they were convinced it was lab). She felt uneasy about the dog when pg for the second time. She took it training, but as she's not a very strong animal person, the advice from the trainer was to err on the side of caution. I told her the same thing. She rehomed him to a child-less couple who liked to go for runs on the beach. So far, so good. She feels better, I feel safer taking my kids there. The crosses have more unpredictability.
The pitbull in the news was unregistered.

[Jellybean29]

Some councils don't take 'new' Pitbull registrations, and although you have to declare you have a pitbull to council, if they refuse to register it, they'll take it. So I can understand why people don't have them registered.

Even though the restrictions have the best intentions, I think they've resulted in A LOT of backyard breeders which is SUPER bad and a lot of unregistered pitbulls!

[Reet]

Hi girls,

Sorry i didnt jump on here yesterday and fill you in, I was going to a few times but my little miss wldnt sleep for longer then 30 mins at a time!

Its so funny Krysalyss that you asked if I did actually know if Yogi is a pitbull! Guess what! His dad is actually half de bordeaux and his mum has ridgeback in her! I have pics of them, so any dog experts out there pm me and ill forward u them to see what u think! I will also add a pic of our Yogi boy now in there too, just so u can tell me what breed u think he looks like most So basically, he does have pitbull in him, but hes a mixed breed. Even though a few of u ladies have said that purebreds are alot better then mixed breeds atleast I dont have to worry about him possibly getting taken off me!
I wish I had known earlier, it wld have stopped me stressing so much! I think when we bought Yogi and saw that his parents werent staffies, I just asked if they were full pitbull pups, and the owner answered yes so I just assumed they were pitbull and werent crossed with anything.

So he just has the mum registered as ridgeback x and according to the vet the pups are ridgeback x too.

Whilst it is a huge weight off my shoulders since I dont have to worry about any of the restrictions and very expensive registration, I also know that the breeds mixed into Yogi are very strong ones still so he will still need a LOT of training and socialising.

Artechim- I actually didnt know american red nose staffys existed. Thats what the pups were advertised as being, but we found out that breeders of pitbulls just call them that so theres no problems. But i have just looked up google and yes Yogi really does look like an american red nose staffy! So they are an actual breed??

Caixin- Right now im not worried at all about Yogi biting anyone. When we take him for a walk each arvo I let him say hello to ppl walking past, he just has a sniff, tries to get a pat and is on his merry way! He also definitely knows that myself, DH and our DD are superior to him, thats why he is so gentle when we are around. I handfeed him occasionally just so he knows he has to be gentle and even though he goes absolutely crazy over food, he never once bites on my fingers, even if i shove them in his mouth. He is also never allowed to play with us using his mouth at all.. that way there hopefully wont ever be any little biting mishaps! You can also raise ur voice at him a little bit and he cowers. (this is definitely not due to any smacks either!) Like Helle and Yules said, we will continue to surround him with our DD and our little nieces and nephews because thats the only way he will learn how to be around them! If he didnt have any interaction at all with little kids and babies then he wldnt have any idea how to act when they are close by. He wld probably see them as great fun things and run around after them and possibly knock them over! Right now though, he knows if a child or a baby is around and touching him, he has to lay there completely relaxed. The other day we had our DD sitting right next to him and he was always trying to turn his head so he cld lick her juicy fingers but dh told him to just lay down and stay there, he stretched out and put his head down and fell asleep! But like Artechim said, If he looked like he wanted to walk away though we wld let him.
I think its a lot better to train him how to be around kids while he is only 20kgs rather then 40!!

Lashes- Im just off to read those links now, thanks!

Krysalyss- thanks for that link too with all the different dogs, i got it wrong, so did my dh! Its very interesting


Thanks again to everyone that has helped, and also a huge big thankyou to those that tried to keep an open mind and not straight out judge me for not wanting to get rid of him straight away! Thanks also for all the tips on how to keep him a happy and friendly doggie.

He is off to the vet on Wed at lunchtime for his de-nutting so I will be asking about training for him, even if he isnt going to be a vicious dog I wld rather have full control of him at all times anyway.

THANKS AGAIN!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps. I do realise that since he does have pitbull in him still, im not completely in the clear with regards to the law, but as long as he spends his life being a good boy then i guess everything shld be fine. We will be keeping a very very firm grip on him til the day he dies!

[Smoke Jaguar]

I used to have a pom x sheltie who was super intelligent and super loyal, gorgeous dog I'll never forget. I will also never forget that he had ZERO tolerance of small children. I worried about it when DP and I started thinking about children. He was run over just before I fell pregnant, and even though I was devastated about that awesome little dog, and still get so, so sad that he isn't alive today, I am only given comfort by the fact that he would have resented my kids and done something to them, guaranteed. Shelties are very loyal dogs and aren't given to being in families, apparently, so that explains that quite a bit.
Meanwhile, my parents adopted a Viszla from a local person once, but when they brought her home I realised she wasn't pure and she had pit in her. She wasn't super friendly and I convinced my parents to take her back because she wouldn't be suitable around a baby and growing child, or, more pertinently at the time, around their goat.
My sister's previous dog was so, so sweet, but was slow to learn in the obedience club. My BiL and her couldn't get a handle on him (but, realistically, they're not really dog people, even though they have another dog now who is very self-sustaining). My sis had that doubt, because she kept asking me what I would do, she kept asking the trainers until they realised she didn't want to hear what was convenient (only after I'd been there for about 5 days, though!) and played it straight. They said that a pure bred would be more predictable with training and a good environment, but the cross meant it could go either way at no notice.
The dog was sweet, but made me nervous. And I'm a dog-lover from way back! I am also an adherent of Monty Robert's words about dangerous horses and I generalise them to dogs - a dangerous animal is better off dead. It either leads a life of being treated roughly because of it's aggression, or will kill/hurt someone and be put down anyway.
With dogs, there is usually the option to rehome to a non-child situation.
I've had shepherd crosses all my life and there was only one I think wouldn't be allowed to live these days. Yet he was ace with us and protective of us (he bit a neighbour...twice!). My current dog is just awesome and a shepherd cross Dane. Our little dog is a Westy cross - she's become less tolerant of small people (put up with all sorts of things with DS but is very short tempered with DD who doesn't even dish out any dirt to her!), and it's here I keep my eye on because she won't automatically go away when annoyed (she has that "love me" desperation) where the big dog knows he can just walk away and find alone time. I place some measure of trust in him especially know that he has infinite space to run away from an antagonising little boy - we're on a farm now and the dogs aren't yarded unless we're not in!
Like I said to my sister, if it were ME I would move the dog on (I never suggested destruction unless as a last resort - she wanted a resolution before the baby was born in 3 months of that time), but that's ME and ME wouldn't have been fooled by the breed because I've got a much better eye for these things than she does.
I've come across dangerous dogs before in vet clinics and they are very scary beasts. Not pure bred, necessarily, either. The dogs would have been better off dead with the existence they had. I came across them when they were in for desexing. Would be cheaper and happier to give the magic green needle, frankly. The dogs were unstable and had to be restrained to be sedated before being put under general for surgery. They were wearing awful large collars in prescribed colours. These dogs can't actually enjoy life or be enjoyed by anyone. Who knows, maybe they were nice as pups before they turned and their owners too naive or egotistical to put them down.
My GF had her lab put down. She adopted him later in his life and she loved him. Until she saw him grab a chook and completely disregard her commands (they'd been going to training), totally caught up in the kill. She had a small child and a baby at the time. She couldn't live with the risk while he was alive, so she made the awful decision. Knowing what needs to be done doesn't mean it's an easy decision to make. She was a mess. But relieved when it was done.
Early desexing is recommended. Those growth issues can be mitigated with careful feeding - people with large dog pups often make the mistake of feeding their dogs a lot. Careful feeding is the key, regardless - our dog was desexed at 8 weeks and had a shallow hip whilst growing and given the all clear at about 2yo. His siblings were mostly destroyed by 6 months because their dysplasia was so bad - the clinic (where I was volunteering and where I got him) was sure it was because of feeding method. I sought some expert advice on feeding him when we got him and was aware of the potential issues, so he's still alive today Anyway, early desexing is a sound practice and not to be feared.
It's a weigh up of the risk of attack and how prepared you are to take the ultimate, hypothetical responsibility. The guy in St Albans is now going to be charged because the dog was unregistered. He'll be fined, as well.
Good luck.

[YoYo]

Yogi will be fine reet

Just remember all this advice!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - I wonder what the kids are up to....Better go!

[Floweryfields]

Interesting ruling in Victoria today - Victorian owners of pitbulls or pitbull crosses have 4 weeks to register as such or they will be destroyed.

Reet, did you ever answer the question about you having your dog registered with the local council? Regardless of breed, this is the law in Qld.

[Artechim]

But if people don't want to register their dog as a pit bull they can just pick a similar but allowed breed like a staffy x. That is what I would do

[Miss.September]

But if people don't want to register their dog as a pit bull they can just pick a similar but allowed breed like a staffy x. That is what I would do

They are encouraging neighbours to dob people in if they suspect a pit bull or pit bull cross is living nearby.

[Floweryfields]

But if people don't want to register their dog as a pit bull they can just pick a similar but allowed breed like a staffy x. That is what I would do

Which I guess brings me back to how you would feel if your dog injured someone? Hiding the breed doesn't change that and is one of the major worries - that people feel they need to lie to keep their dangerous dog.

[nickle730]

They said on the news that if a dog 'fits the description of a pit bull' the dog will be seized. I'm not sure how that will be accurately enforced when it is clear that several breeds might 'fit the description'??

[PumpkinZulu]

What I keep coming back to is why in the world would you decide to get a dog that is so dangerous and restricted...there are a stack of other breeds to choose from, why knowingly pick a dog that is a risk to you and other people? It worries me greatly that people could choose to get a pitbull and lie about what it really is.

I have absolutely no idea how they could enforce a rule like that either

[nothing2lose]

What I keep coming back to is why in the world would you decide to get a dog that is so dangerous and restricted...there are a stack of other breeds to choose from, why knowingly pick a dog that is a risk to you and other people? It worries me greatly that people could choose to get a pitbull and lie about what it really is.

Yep. That ^^^

[Erin_25]

Seriously.....why would you lie about that??? And this is where many of the problems start.............

[bellabee84]

its a tough call cant pigeon hole every pitbull just coz some attack doesnt mean they all will.