"I dont want people to think bad of pit bulls. It was a freak accident."

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > "I dont want people to think bad of pit bulls. It was a freak accident."

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Hobo Siege posted:

I've never met a pit bull who wasn't an absolute sweetheart. Maybe that's just me being fluent in doglish, but I just can't see them being a threat to anyone unless they're very poorly socialized.

So you just can't see them being a threat to anyone unless they are?

# ¿ Dec 27, 2014 16:06

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:20

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Xaris posted:

pugs and pit bulls are loving hideous, and i usually like most dogs. its a shame most animal shelters are swamped with "pit bull mutts" and chihuahua's because they also suck

Are you saying Mexicans shouldn't be allowed to own dogs?

# ¿ Dec 27, 2014 16:14

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

It like when people get all weepy because the cops raided someone's house and shot their dog. Of course they shot the dog, the dog probably attacked the cops.

And since it's a criminal's house, it was probably a pit bull.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2014 16:59

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Most of the people who own dogs shouldn't own dogs

# ¿ Dec 27, 2014 17:04

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Lolie posted:

You can absolutely breed for temperament. One of my previous dogs was a Newfoundland. There's a relatively small number of Newfie breeders here, none of whom breed working dogs. Newfies are expensive dogs to buy and breeders will buy them back off people who no longer want them. For the most part, this keeps the breed out of shelters and means that Newfies with flawed temperaments are put down rather than rehomed to people who then use them to breed flawed puppies. Producing dog with a flawed temperament is a kiss of death for a Newfie breeder, so they have a huge incentive to make sure unstable dogs never have an opportunity to breed.

Most of the "problem" breeds were originally working breeds. Some are still bred for working, while others are bred primarily for conformation. If you're going to breed companion dogs, you need to breed for temperament first and foremost. It doesn't matter if the pups have a technical flaw (my bullmastiff is a liver, which isn't a legal show colour and for a very long time liver pups were euthanised solely for that reason - the technical flaw isn't associated with any health or temperament problems) if you're breeding primarily for health and stable temperament rather than conformation or performance.

"Pit bulls" are absolutely a problem breed at the moment. You could substantially rehabilitate the breed with tightly controlled breeding programmes which prioritise temperament above all else, but you're going to have to cull a lot of dogs along the way. BSL is aimed at letting the breed die out naturally, but it's a flawed approach because there are so many dogs with faulty temperament or flawed disposition already out there. You're not going to see a significant reduction in attacks until "pit bull" type breeds become less popular (and that's not going to happen any time soon here in Australia - staffies are the second most commonly owned dog here and an appalling number are bred and raised extremely badly).

At the end of the day, you have to ask whether trying to preserve and rehabilitate the breed serves any real purpose. Does it really matter if the breed does die out? Is it really worth the effort involved in rehabilitating the breed when there are countless other breeds which already make good companion dogs? "Why do we need to keep this breed" is a valid question.

On a slightly different note, I'm appalled at how often I read about dog attacks coming "out of nowhere" only to read in the body of the article that the dog/s in question had previously shown significant signs of unstable temperament and inappropriate aggression. People need to stop excusing and justifying those early warning signs and they need to be willing to put dogs which exhibit them down rather than rationalising them away or making such dogs someone else's problem by giving them away (whether to shelters or through online ads). It doesn't matter whether it's the dog's "fault" that it's unstable - all the explanations in the world aren't going to change the fact that it is.

For a long time they weren't, though. German Shepherds, Dobermans and Rottweilers have all been the popular "mean" breed among wankers at some point and during those periods you had a lot of people backyard breeding their mean dogs. Now that they're no longer popular "tough guy" dogs, you have less people interested in acquiring or breeding the flawed ones, but it's not that long ago that there were plenty of GSDs, Dobermans and Rotties around which would "just snap".

I agree with your larger point, that we need to kill way more dogs.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2014 21:16

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Superconsndar posted:

no i dont need one either, i just have them anyway and do it without needing to jump through a billion logical hoops to make it okay in my head

I mean tbh they CAN be relatively safely owned if you Do It Right, but management fails and people do dumb things (like i did) and ~nothing is guaranteed~ and since people can't even begin to be realistic about what they're capable of and what measures need to be taken to be safe with them, much less actually execute said management plans (and most people think various aspects of correct management are cruel, such as the use of heavy chains in certain situations) ya no, people p much don't need them. If you can be realistic about them, fine have one but if you need to convince yourself that they're no different than any other dog than you should prob get something easier and safer, also don't be surprised when you gently caress up management and they do what they do!!

Why do you own dogs you can't take outside?

# ¿ Dec 28, 2014 22:43

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Herr Zwiebel posted:

This! Also, why do you own a car that can't fly? And why doesn't your coffee maker do double duty as a blender? What's the deal with some stuff not being exactly like other stuff?

If you get a dog that wasn't made to attack other dogs, you can take it outside. Because you're relatively sure that it won't attack someone else's dog for no reason.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2014 22:49

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

What does the d stand for? Dog? Are you saying German Shepherd Dog?

# ¿ Dec 28, 2014 23:11

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

dog buttz posted:

You can't take chihuahuas outside because they'll die of hypothermia.

Doesn't that depend on how cold it is?

# ¿ Dec 29, 2014 01:30

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

I saw a chihuahua outside on Christmas day, and again the day after, but not today. Maybe it was just especially hearty, and managed to make it outside twice before succumbing.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2014 01:37

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Superconsndar posted:

^^^^Don't be surprised if it randomly goes for the labs, hth

P much, like there's just no reason to bother unless you're just really fucken into wine making (or a terrible dog breed)

I actually "rotate" my dogs by throwing one out on a chain setup (long as poo poo so he has like half the yard) while the other one chills inside, then when it's time for the first one to come in the second one just goes either in his crate or in another room (usually my partner's office w/her) with the door closed (because he is a gay baby about being chained; the first one likes it outside so w/e.) Most people just use permanent chain setups but I like to actually chill with my dogs so rotation works for us. The weird show and rescue moms who have like half a dozen dogs in a tiny suburban house who have to do hardcore crate and rotate are p dumb because each dog gets like an hour out per day and that's p hosed up but they're poo poo at dogs anyway.

e; It goes like this "hey i'm bringing [Dog 1] inside can I put [Dog 2] in ur office for a lil while" and then I do that and thats p much the extent of effort

That's not normal dude. you got lovely dogs

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 03:05

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

"Look at all the poo poo I have to do just to keep a couple mountains lions in the house."
"Maybe you shouldn't own mountain lions?"
"yeah, I know, right? LOL"

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 03:10

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

ButWhatIf posted:

Hi i'm a professional dog trainer. like I make my living doing behavior modification on dogs. I work with aggressive and fearful dogs mostly. rotating dogs who don't get along is uh, a really actually very responsible thing to do while you're conditioning them to behave around each other. some dogs don't like other dogs. that's okay! it's fine for a dog to not like other dogs! just set it up to succeed by not having it be around the dogs it does not like. this seems really really self-explanatory, but then again here we are.

How is this not connecting into all y'all's brains? It's weird to own a dog that you can't trust around other dogs. Most people own dogs that won't attack and kill other dogs for no reason. If you have to put your dog in a crate because you can't trust it not to kill the other dogs in the household, that is a terrible loving dog.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 14:57

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

How is it not connecting in your loving retarded brain that dogs can be trusted around some other dogs (or may not be able to

That's the whole point! those dogs that can't be trusted are really lovely dogs, people shouldn't own garbage dogs like that

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 16:01

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

Crewmine posted:

i prize my drawer full of poisonous snakes. yeah, sometimes i slip up and 5 or 6 get out into the neighbors', but sometimes that poo poo just happens alright

A responsible owner of thirty poisonous snakes would have a rotation system set up, allowing him to keep 25 of the poisonous snakes in their drawers at any given time, so he could keep a close watch on the five loose poisonous snakes and not get overwhelmed and loose track.

That's what a normal owner of thirty poisonous snakes does.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 16:48

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:20

boom boom boom: Jun 28, 2012; by Shine

dirtycajun posted:

I can assure you Super doesn't take her kill beasts out in public to maim and murder as they please. They are stuck on a ranch surrounded by pigs and goats and a very doofy LGD.

a very doofy Large Gay Daughter?

That's a pretty mean thing to call Superconsndar

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 16:59

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > "I dont want people to think bad of pit bulls. It was a freak accident."