Okay, thank you.

I believe Pit Bulls were bred for fighting, but the guy in the "help" thread I posted in behavior section told me Pit Bulls were created for herding. It has me questioning my belief about the breed's purpose.

Pst, don't always listen to what everyone on a forum says http://www.pitbull-chat.com/images/smilies/wink.png

No, no. He's not a member of this forum, at least I don't think so. You'd have to read the thread to get more information, but I posted a thread in training and behavior section asking for help for a pb pit bull. The guy I was trying to help said that Pit Bulls were originally herding dogs.

Got it, I had seen that thread but didn't realize it was you who posted. That guy sounds like an idiot, so I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

yeah but we all saw a case of ABdogs called pit bulls recently when that girl got bit. and here we have someone starting a discussion that is based on
confusion.... our worst obstacle to overcome.

So really the dogs in the "Pit Bull" category are really working dogs. It seems like some lines can excel at jobs other than fighting. That makes sense. When I tried to join a Search and Rescue, one of the members was working with a pit bull.

I'm gonna stick around and read some more.

Yeah I remember that.. :sigh: My friend has an Am. Bulldog and she always is getting asked if her dog is a Pit Bull. Ugh.

I think I'm beginning to understand now.

About a year ago when I got a puppy after joining dog forums, my father strictly said, "No rotties, no pit bulls, maybe a German Shepherd." I asked him why and he said, "Pit Bulls are dangerous. There is just something about the dog that makes it dangerous and unpredictable."

I didn't believe him but abbided by his rules.

Now I think I understand and my view is changing. I've been thinking that Pit Bulls are just like other dogs, with the same percentage of a chance of attacking or becoming aggressive. I was thinking that the reason we see pit bulls in the news all the time was due to bad breeding, the same reason why the german shepherd's rep is getting worse.

I haven't read every single sticky on here, but my view is changing about pit bulls. My father was somewhat right, however, Pit bulls are just like cars. In the wrong hands, they can kill and cause colossal damage. But in the right hands with someone who knows what they are doing, they can be the best dogs in the world.

You just got to know what you are doing. Pit bulls are obviously not for for beginner dog owners.

We see pits in the news due to irresponsible ownership, not bad breeding. It doesn't matter what the linage of a dog is, if they're mishandled, not properly cared for or contained, then yes, an attack on a person or another animal is likely. Pits are "supposed" to be DA, in fact, it's a bred for quality; it relates to their "gameness".

Any dog can be dangerous. Any animal can be dangerous, from cats, to dogs to horses and everything in between. Sometimes the hands they're in don't matter: an animal will act on instinct no matter what. But an educated, responsible person is going to now how to handle the situation better than somebody who just doesn't give a damn.

We see pits in the news due to irresponsible ownership, not bad breeding. That and the media hardly ever reports anything but "Pit bull" attacks and most of the time it is not even a "Pit Bull" If they reported other breeds that attack a lot of dogs would far out rank the APBT. I can almost bet the Lab would be at the top of the list.

The tricky part is when people talk rather than write.

Person A can say Pit Bull (note the capitalization) as short hand for 'American Pit Bull Terrier' which is a light weight (40lbs or so) lean athletic dog THAT HAS A SPECIFIC DOCUMENTED BLOODLINE. Such a person will flip out if you call any other dog a pit bull because that person will always and ONLY assume that pitbull must mean 'Pit Bull' aka American Pit Bull Terrier.

Person B can say pit bull (note the lack of capitalization) and in doing so refer to ANY dog of 'bully' heritage (tracing back to the butcher's dog of England used for Bear and Bull baiting, or similar dogs in other countries) that then switched from that roll to being used as a gladiator for sport and betting. In this case there would be MANY dogs that qualify.

It is my opinion that people like Person A need to calm down, and if they want to be that restrictive and specific then THEY need to say the dog's full name OR ABPT and avoid using the term Pit Bull.

To me this is like a guy who calls Labrador Retrievers "Retrievers" and then gets mad when people who have other types of retrievers or mixed breeds call their dogs "retrievers" as well.

There's a reason that the name American Pit Bull Terrier was chosen rather than Pit Bull, because the people who chose APBT as the name knew that Pit Bull was already in too much common usage in describing any and all bully breeds of fighting heritage.

The American Pit Bull Terrier deserves to keep its nickname like any other breed.

To be analogous to calling an American Pit Bull Terrier a "Pit Bull", the Labrador Retriever guy would have to call his dog a "Lab" (and they do).
Same for people calling their Rottweiler a "Rottie". It is known exactly what breed is meant simply by the nickname.
I'm sorry, where I come from, people know exactly what breed is meant by "Pit Bull". It doesn't mean some big, furry fighting dog from another country or era or any OTHER fighting dog from anywhere.


Carla

I'm not saying it's how you raise them.

I'm saying it's how you HANDLE them.

A tiger pit is a brindle-colored one. Coat resembles that of a tiger cause of the stripes.

American Bulldogs are confused as pitbulls because any dog that looks "pitbullish" is labeled that, including in shelters.

Dogs 101's take on our breed was really bad. Not accurate at all.

Yes, the pit was created and bred for the purpose of fighting. Against bulls, bears, badgers, each other, etc.
Since the handlers were in the pit when the dogs where engaged in combat, human agression wasn't tolerated. Pits that have this problem nowadays is thanks to bad breeding and not culling dogs that have HA tendencies.

why is that so? why does a breed DESERVE a nickname? we are talking about a purebred animal...theres no disputing that when we call a dog the American pit bull terrier we are talking about a BREED. unlike the word "pit bull".... why is that word so damn important to us owners of purebred dogs? help to eliminate confusion with stupid shit like nicknames

Because the American Pit Bull Terrior is the only dog breed that has the words "pit bull" in its breed name. It is the only breed that deserves the name Pit Bull. Everything else is just a bully breed.

---------- Post added at 01:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------

Terrier, damn smart phone

i just feel like its went way too far to ever claim that name back. WAAAAAAAY to much misinformation for way to long. when people ask me if my dogs are pit bulls, my answer is actually no. i tell them they are American pit bull terriers. sure it takes longer to say, but i aint gonna say yes when they probably already think they know all about the "pit bull"....i know ive preached it before, but im all about specifics.

What about calling a dog a Collie vs a collie?

The "Collie" people glommed onto that name so tightly they got the AKC to prevent the Shetland Collie from entering until they changed the name to Shetland Sheepdog, they prevented one branch of the Old Farm Collie from being entered at all even after they changed the name to English Shepard, and fought tooth-and-nail against the Border Collie retaining it's name, all because they felt that only THEY deserved to be able to use the name Collie as a shortened version of the original Scotch Collie. At least they have the excuse of actually officially changing the name to Collie.

What about Pointer people getting mad when someone with a German Shorthaired Pointer refers to their dog as a 'pointer'?

Terms like pit bull, terrier, retriever, shepard, collie, pointer, flock guardian, setter, etc etc are all describing TYPES.

Eventually you are going to have to ask yourself why the people who decided on APBT chose to go with that long name rather than just 'Pitbull' or 'Pitbull Terrier' (the answer is because they wanted to avoid confusion with a 'type' and their specific breed)

i agree