convince everyone that pitbulls are great pets.

This is a rather interesting article that I found a few weeks ago:

“Consider how the media reported four incidents that happened between August 18th and August 21st 2007:

August 18 -
A Labrador mix attacked a 70-year-old man sending him to the hospital in critical condition. Police officers arrived at the scene and the dog was shot after charging the officers.
This incident was reported in ONE (1) article and only in the local paper.

August 19 –
A 16-month old child received fatal head and neck injuries after being attacked by a mixed breed dog.
This attack was reported TWO (2) times by the local paper only.

August 20 –
A 6-year-old boy is hospitalized after having his ear torn off and receiving severe bites to the head by a medium-sized mixed breed dog.
This attack was reported in ONE (1) article and only in the local paper.

August 21, 2007 –
A 59-year-old woman was attacked in her home by two Pit bulls and was hospitalized with severe injuries.
This attack was reported in over two hundred and thirty (230) articles in national and international newspapers, as well as major television news networks, including CNN, MSNBC and FOX.”

It seems like a serious dog attack is only worth reporting if it involves a pitbull. No wonder many members of the public have the misguided impression that every bull breed dog is a walking time bomb – I mean, the only dog attacks they get to hear about are the ones that involve pitbulls!

Pitbulls are still the best dogs ever!

We’ve owned our pitbull Roxy for a few years now and she is such an amazing dog. So many people looked down their noses at us when they found out that we would be keeping her after the birth of our son. I am hoping to spend more time educating people about this breed, as there are so many misconceptions out there and so much inaccurate information.

I can’t believe I neglected to post that here!

My staffordshire bull terrier (“pitbull” for you Americans!) has completed his Canine Good Citizen certificate this year. He’s currently doing a dog obedience course and a tracking course. We’re also hoping to get involved in therapy work later this year (hospital and nursing home visitations).

The more polite, well trained bullies people see on the streets, the less they’ll blindly believe the media hype about “killer pitbulls!” Hopefully my dog can be a good ambassador for staffords and pitbulls everywhere.

my pitbull is the sweetest dog i have ever had. she loves my kids and is able to run for hours on end with me, she is the best.

I want to change the attitude of ignorant people who are influenced by the media portraying these wonderful companions as evil dogs.

http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Findthebull/findpitbull_v3.html

This is just one reason why pitbulls are over-represented in bite statistics – for some people, any short haired muscular dog is a “pitbull”.

In the link above only one of the dogs is really a pitbull. Could you identify it correctly in a dog attack situation? Or would you report most of these breeds as “pitbulls”?

Plus some excellent reading for people who are bored at work today. Yes, these articles are “pro-pitbull”, but I promise you that they’re factually correct too (unlike a lot of the “anti-pitbull” propaganda)...

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/pospress.html
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.cfm

Listen. It’s all about the training.
The only thing my pit ever did was eat ONE PUZZLE piece.
It was an expensive puzzle, and …you know…was never available again, but it was paper.
My pit loved me and vice versa.
Get them off a puppy pile. You’ll be glad you did.

NJ

Well trained and well socialised bullies can be the best family companions in the world.

The catch is that this is not a low maintenace breed. Pitbull terriers are powerful, confident dogs who should only be kept by responsible owners. By that, I mean owners who are responsible enough to socialise and train their dogs, who are commited enough to de-sex and contain their dogs, and who know enough about canine behaviour and pack theory to keep their dog obedient and submissive to humans.

The tragedy is that pitbulls have become fashionable with the opposite type of owner – the irresponsible type that give dog breeds a bad reputation. Any dog can be a menance if neglected or untrained, and pitbulls are abused more often than any other breed of dog. Is it any surprise that we see this type of dog over-represented in bite statistics?

But banning these breeds won’t solve anything. If pitbull terriers are banned, all that will happen is that different breeds of dog will gain popularily with the undesirable owners who acquire dogs as weapons or as symbols of machismo. These people won’t switch to keeping chihuahuas or poodles if we ban them from getting pitbulls – what they will do is adopt and neglect other large, dominant, powerful breeds (and lets face it, an aggressive rotweiller, dobermann or shepherd is just as dangerous as an aggressive pitbull terrier).

If pitbull terriers are banned, all that will happen is that many responsible individuals will lose their beloved pets, simply because their pets are the “wrong” breed.

If want to reduce the number of dog attacks then we need to actively encourage responsible dog ownership (by rewarding training, desexing and containing of dogs), and we need to ban chronically irresponsible or neglectful owners from keeping any breed of dog.

Next time you see someone walking their bully down the street, please remember to judge their dog by its deeds not its breed.

Thanks for listening!
http://www.workingpitbull.com/dogfighting.htm