What Do You Think?

[Lynn-Alexandria]

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Ive been glancing through some sites about pit bulls. During my training ive come across trainers who have said that you cannot train a previous fighting pit bull to get on with other dogs and animals saying the dog cannot be rehomed. I found this information and was wondering what you all thought. Personally I believe that the following information is untrue...but lets see what other k9ers think.

Myth: Pit Bulls only fight because they have been trained to do so.

Fact: Pit Bulls are genetically predisposed to aggression towards other animals. The Pit Bull has been breed over the course of many generations of selective breeding for heightened fight and prey drives. This means they are born with the aggression necessary for fighting in the pit, and they fight because of a genetic impusle to do so, not because they have been "trained" to be aggressive. Tradtionally, the only "training" a Pit Bull goes through in preperation for the pit has to do with physical conditionting, namely running. Environmental factors can contribute to a dog's aggression towards other animals: for instance lack of socialization and training, placing the dog in situations in which he is allowed to fight or engage in aggressive behavior towards other dogs, and so on. However, the actual willingness and ability to fight is genetic, and is not "trained" into the animal.

 

[wild whippies]

Hmmmm Me thinks the fur will be-a-flying with this one :- "

 

[*Lesley*]

I don't know really but we all say it is an inbred instinct for a whippet to hunt don't we so maybe it would follow with other breeds however this can obviously be heightened by the owner giving the dog encouragement to do these things.

Whether it is an inbred instinct or not for an owner to actually let the dog fight is disgusting, they are using the dog as a tool and must have no morals or compassion for the animal and IMO if it were proven that the aggression they have is inbred then they should not be bred because they are dangerous.

Like with all other breeds there is always the idiots out there who with bring a dog in to the spotlight to give it a bad name and all the rest of the dogs in that breed get tarred with the same brush :angry:

 

[masta]

Ive been glancing through some sites about pit bulls.  During my training ive come across trainers who have said that you cannot train a previous fighting pit bull to get on with other dogs and animals saying the dog cannot be rehomed.  I found this information and was wondering what you all thought.  Personally I believe that the following information is untrue...but lets see what other k9ers think.

Myth: Pit Bulls only fight because they have been trained to do so.

Fact: Pit Bulls are genetically predisposed to aggression towards other animals. The Pit Bull has been breed over the course of many generations of selective breeding for heightened fight and prey drives. This means they are born with the aggression necessary for fighting in the pit, and they fight because of a genetic impusle to do so, not because they have been "trained" to be aggressive. Tradtionally, the only "training" a Pit Bull goes through in preperation for the pit has to do with physical conditionting, namely running. Environmental factors can contribute to a dog's aggression towards other animals: for instance lack of socialization and training, placing the dog in situations in which he is allowed to fight or engage in aggressive behavior towards other dogs, and so on. However, the actual willingness and ability to fight is genetic, and is not "trained" into the animal.

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Fact: Pit Bulls aggression is genectically typed as is a sighthound to hunt and chase

For many years i showed hard feather game ie Old English Game, Oxfords, asil,shamo etc for centuries these strains of poultry were bred for fighting which of course has been illegal since the 1800's yet if the cocks are penned together they will fight to the last bird standing. 100% inbred aggression it is impossible to "train" a bird to do this it comes from centuries of selective breeding.

I am sure there are trainers etc who have spent huge amounts of time training Pit Bulls and will have limited success but you only have to watch programmes such a Houston Animal Rescue to realise the massive problems involved with rehoming this breed maybe that is why in the UK for the last 15 years it has been illegal to own and breed them

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../18/wkat418.xml

 

[lalena]

i believe in nurture over nature. the reason being that during the course of searching for a stud, a friend told me she thought she'd found one. i went along, but to my disappointment, found a mastiff/stafford cross. this dog was also an ex fighting dog, who the current owner, gary, had forcibly rescued. gary also has kids as well as other dogs, and never had any problems with him.

i do agree that these breeds are more inclined towards aggression to other dogs, but with correct training and upbringing this can be overcome, indeed may never be an issue.

amber was a bit like it, but with help from a friend, she got over it, and in her defence, only had problems with larger breeds, never old dogs, puppies, or sick dogs. unfortunately, she detests westies, but again, we can get her to ignore them.

her son dante, is the opposite. he loves all other animals, has no aggressive tendencies whatsoever.

put a dog with fighting heritage with a stupid, ignorant bad owner = disaster.

put that same dog with an owner with sense, knowledge of that breed = lifelong friend without problems.

sadly, the idiot brigade actively seek out such breeds because they feel such an animal enhances their status, street cred, with little thought of the consequences.

they think it funny when their dog 'beats up' other dogs. they dont even realise that their dog has emotional needs, craves love and attention.

though i'm not an expert on pitbulls, i have years of experience with staffords, which is one of the main foundation breeds for pitbulls.

 

[ja jumper]

i believe in nurture over nature. the reason being that during the course of searching for a stud, a friend told me she thought she'd found one. i went along, but to my disappointment, found a mastiff/stafford cross. this dog was also an ex fighting dog, who the current owner, gary, had forcibly rescued. gary also has kids as well as other dogs, and never had any problems with him.i do agree that these breeds are more inclined towards aggression to other dogs, but with correct training and upbringing this can be overcome, indeed may never be an issue.

amber was a bit like it, but with help from a friend, she got over it, and in her defence, only had problems with larger breeds, never old dogs, puppies, or sick dogs. unfortunately, she detests westies, but again, we can get her to ignore them.

her son dante, is the opposite. he loves all other animals, has no aggressive tendencies whatsoever.

put a dog with fighting heritage with a stupid, ignorant bad owner = disaster.

put that same dog with an owner with sense, knowledge of that breed = lifelong friend without problems.

sadly, the idiot brigade actively seek out such breeds because they feel such an animal enhances their status, street cred, with little thought of the consequences.

they think it funny when their dog 'beats up' other dogs. they dont even realise that their dog has emotional needs, crav,es love and attention.

though i'm not an expert on pitbulls, i have years of experience with staffords, which is one of the main foundation breeds for pitbulls.

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totally agree ,any dog can come aggressive with a bad owner its how they are taught and their surroundings they live in

 

[Lynn-Alexandria]

Reading that again a question has crossed my mind. If the only preparation a dog has to go through for a pit fight is conditioning. Then why is it stated that small dogs are stolen every year to be used as bait for these dogs? Sounds to me as though these dogs are being trained to attack other dogs and be as aggresive as possible towards them.

 

[lalena]

for old fighting staffords, they used to be 'stripped'. on top of vigorous exercise, this entailed near starvation. at this point you would be left with a dog with each bone clear to see. in behaviour, the dog would be very nervy, jumpy, in fact half crazy. put a yappy, scared, 'irritating' dog in front of a stripped stafford, the stafford would naturally attack. then, feed said stafford after the attack, BINGO.

stafford equates killing with feeding :angry:

what many modern day fighters cant get through their heads, is that like any athlete a fighting dog would have a period of rest afterwards. these morons boast how the stripped dog is what all staffords should look like, ALL THE TIME. so the dogs are kept at that cusp for their entire careers. add to that mix an owner who doesnt see past the money value of that dog. treats that dog appallingly, beating it.

NOW what you have is a starved, crazy, animal and MAN hating dog.

but there is hope for these man made monsters. love, patience, regular feeding over many months, and there, you now have a normal dog. why many are just pts is money. it costs too much to 'fix' a broken dog. then, if you did put in the effort, how long would it take to find the right owner? many more months. probably years. far, far easier and much cheaper to pts.