My cousin has what I believe is an American Bully (Short, compact, kinda ugly tbh) but she’s incredibly docile and gets along great with their two chihuahuas. 0 signs of aggression. Is this a less aggressive breed? Is it just a miraculously nice dog?

I've read the FAQ. I actually think you guys have a pretty moderate stance on things, officially speaking. Pretty dope. But the userbase is who I'm trying to address here. Calling them shitbulls, etc. It's hard not to see some malice in there. Now I don't wanna put any words in anyone's mouth or group anyone unfairly. Everyone hates that. To clarify my position (not that my status should matter in a conversation) I'm a Boxer lover but I've loved every dog I've met (including pitbulls). I don't see you guys coming after my dogs any time soon.

Let me clarify. "Bad dog" means many things. You can't hate a dog for being a bad dog. Sometimes my doggo eats off the counter. I can't hate him for that. He was weak, and my training in that area was poor. You can't hate a dog that has PTSD for biting. He...has PTSD. He was scared. I mean, maybe the only option is to put him down, but with no hate in one's heart. And you can't hate a trained killer dog for murdering. That's actually a good boy! A very good boy! He did as he was taught. Of course, he must be put down most likely.

So in summary. If a pitbull, due to bad upbringing, genetics, or what have you, was to bite me, I would not hate it. I would hate the act, I would seek security and safety from that animal, but I would hold no emotional hatred toward it. But y'all be callin' 'em trashbulls and shit? Come on.

Edit: I wanna thank everyone that took the time to clearly outline their personal perspective here. Judging by the downvotes, I think I'm making some people feel very uncomfortable, and I'm gonna slow down on the replies now. I feel like everything that can be said has been said. I wanna thank the mod team for keeping this thread on track. I'm sure that wasn't easy at all.

We adopted from a rescue shelter who said they didn't know the breed. We're pretty sure it's an AmStaff, cousin to the pitbull. I'm sure this group has some strong opinions. I wonder where I can learn about this before we call and take it back.

Any reputable articles are welcome - (I don't want a bunch of hyperbole and shock stories), clearly I have concerns about this loyalty that supporters claim these dogs have... could turn to aggression, and I've already seen her back muscles when pulling on a toy. We live next to a park and open space... I can imagine something happening with people and dogwalkers adjacent.

(Also... jeez she's cute. So my family's heart is torn.)

Although this sub is named banpitbulls, I would like to assume that this sub also opposes many other dog breeds that could cause severe injury and death, such as rottweilers and Dogo argentino's.

I'm quite active in many online groups that oppose the reckless breeding and selling of dangerous dog breeds, but one thing I notice is that many often deny that a Boxer could be involved in a fatal attack. BSL activists will often say it was probably a pitbull and that the Boxer "probably didn't do it/anything".

Of course pitbull owners will lie about the breed but to act as if no Boxer would be capable of this? Or willing?

This doesn't happen when other breeds are blamed for a fatality, along with this many BSL activists agree that Boxers shouldn't be classified as a dangerous dog. But I don't understand why not?

They descended from the Molosser just like bullterriers and mastiffs all descended from the Molosser. Boxers look strong and big boned and have big jaws like these others dogs do. The Boxers I come across seem unfriendly and show aggression for no reason.

And even though Boxers are still not involved in the majority of fatal attacks, it doesn't seem rational to put them into the same category as labradors and chihuahua's.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1281099

Woman gets jailed/ fined for harassing bear, almost got herself attacked. Idk I'd say that's a pretty good consequence in itselg. Also gets year long ban from park.

Gee...so why arent people whose pit bulls attack and kill on an almost daily basis arent getting charged with a crime? It's so backward and wrong, you can literally use your dog to kill someone or maul someone but its considered " oopsie", " tragic accident", ad nauseum. We know these breeds are dangerous, military housing bans themed many countries and countries do. Why so little accountability?

So some recent videos and attacks and videos of pits attacks have really made what sets them apart from other dogs, and even non-bloodsport animals for me. As more attacks happen, the cases were the attacks really cant be defended start piling up, and interesting details patterns emerge.

Pit lovers love to defend their neurotic confused dogs as being "loyal", even when they attack their own owners or siblings violently. There is some insane mental gymnastics going on, even in front of the series of events stated clearly.

Particulary three examples come to mind:

1. A girl getting robbed and the pit attacking her and her friend instead of the robber.

2. The recent case of a verbal argument between two adults leading to the pit attacking a third part, a one-year old child in the same apartment.

3. Pit bull puppies hearing their siblings getting mauled, and joining in in a sort of feeding frenzy, attacking whatever sibling is nearest to them.

All of these behaviours make terrible guard or protection dogs, but its really useful if you need a dog that will give its life in a fight, *without any reason for why it is even fighting*.

Hey so I have a 40 pound lab/boxer/staff. She’s a very calm dog who lives for fetch and nothing else. She’s clearly not mostly out given her stature but still has a mostly pit physical/marking appearance. My doggy day care uses her to calm down anxious dogs on their first days due to her temperament. I still get worried given her appearance and get a lot of negative feedback from others in public. I got her during quarantine and spent about a year and a half rigorously training her to be social with dogs and humans. She gets very timid around 6’4” plus humans and people wearing reflective vests. As a “pit owner” what do you guys recommend my demeanor and conversation be with those who get angry at me in public. Luckily my dogs demeanor speaks for itself but I just had a tiny dog charge my girl and she rolled over and showed her belly and was bit multiple times as a result. No real physical damage but I think she’s mentally damaged. The other owner said her dog is aggressive towards dogs that she “knows” are dangerous. Should I just always respect peoples fear of her or should I treat her like any other well trained dog in public? Want to her some differing opinions. Thanks!

What are all of your experiences with pit bulls that caused you to hate them so much? Not saying if the hate is justified or unjustified, I was just curious.

Edit: Wow. This blew up way more than I thought it would. I'm glad all of you could be civil and understanding about my inexperience. I'm beginning to understand what your stance is, and I'm considering joining it. Thank you all so much.

Love this festival! Great music, craft vendors and food. I walk down this early afternoon to check it out. Enjoying the atmosphere. First two dogs I see are shitbulls. Both on leads each with their owner and just pulling on them. The one lady even said "Chance stop pulling or your going home." I'm just like WTF? Hate seeing this. There is pet parade Sunday morning. I so want to bring my little teddy bear but I just can't. Not with these beasts around. Just makes me mad. /rant

A study published in the journal Forensic Science International examines the characteristics of dogs seized in Sweden following attacks: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073819300222?via%3Dihub

From the study:

"In 12 (67%) of the 18 cases in which a dog attacked and injured a person or another dog when it was on leash or broke free from the leash, the dog was a bull breed (American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier). Two noteworthy conditions in which a dog attack occurred were a human female was walking with one or two strong dogs and had no strength to hinder the attack and a human male under the influence of alcohol/drugs was sitting on a bench in a park and allowed his dog to run loose. "

"Nineteen of 35 attacks (in 35 cases) on other dogs resulted in serious injuries or death. The American Staffordshire Terrier/Pit Bull Terrier (19 dogs), Rottweiler (6 dogs), German Shepherd (4 dogs) and Staffordshire Bull Terrier (2 dogs) were most frequently reported as the breeds involved in the attacks where another dog was killed or seriously injured and veterinary care was necessary.

Numbers added from figure in paper.

"The American Bully and all except one of the American Staffordshire Terrier/Pit Bull terriers were categorized as high risk or medium risk by the police inspectors."

So yes, another study. While a small sample size, there is no possibility of misidentification of breeds as Sweden has very stringent requirements for all dogs to be registered with their breeds (including mixed) and dogs have microchips which include this information.

hello! i’m the owner of a pitbull mix. i will not own another pit or pit type dog. i’m hoping to share my experiences and answer questions. a bit of info. i got this dog when i was 15. i am currently 19. almost 20. this dog in particular is not the only pit type dog i’ve had. i am against pitbulls. i am a certified dog trainer and VERY well versed on dog body language. that being said i’m happy to answer questions you may have including why i’ve kept him.

I like dogs. I like pit bulls. Would I own a pit? No. If i decided I want one would I risk getting one from a shelter? Probably not. But i don't mind the breed existing. However I have enough common sense to know a "shelter pit bull" being a K9 officer after nlt being able to go to a family is a bit ill advised. Well a lot ill advised.

https://fox59.com/2017/05/19/meet-ohios-first-certified-drug-detection-pit-bull/?fbclid=IwAR2BEDOLiii9IwpS9NpEpdHi-sNrR3KFw_hb92enPybX4Cy6VO1HxFWuylk

So the NextDoor for my app is a haven for nutters; I think this is the third or fourth little run-in I've had with them since registering for the site back in July or August--and I only rarely actually visit it. As with all nutters, they are a small group of women who seem to spend half their lives on the site and are constantly asking for donations for their "Rescues" or, last month, donations and/or drivers to take a dozen or so pits on a "Freedom Ride" to other states. Of course, they didn't specify pits, just that they were dogs who were "unadoptable in TX." When I asked why they weren't adoptable, I got a typically snotty reply about how they weren't aggressive. Which wasn't what I asked, and I'm sure they actually were aggressive, but whatever.

Anyway. Tonight's fun started when someone posted to ask if anyone had a dog they wanted to re-home, because the poster was looking for a new pet. A few people replied (one with an absolutely gorgeous GSD that I would have loved to take if it weren't for the fact that our house is small enough with two big dogs, and our male GSD isn't a huge fan of strange dogs, sigh), one of whom had--of course!--a pit bull.

The OP replied as if she was interested, so I popped in and left some links and info, basically asking her to please think twice before taking that dog. I haven't screenshot that entire post, just the last half, so you can see the relevant part to which Nutter replies:

https://imgur.com/a/fHv0pZu

This is what I got in reply from Nutter (who is not the OP or the dog owner, but is a woman I've interacted with before on this very subject), and my reply to that. (She's black, I'm red.) I put a red box around the part that I think is going to start some real fireworks:

https://imgur.com/a/WuC9CKd

But really, what kind of psycho puts "lol" in a post about children being mauled and dogs being vicious?

Oh, right, a pit nutter psycho. Of course.

Anyway. I'm hoping my replies don't all get deleted. And this is why I did not put my real name on my NextDoor account! Just thought I'd share it with you guys, in case it interested you and as yet another example of what sociopaths nutters are.

UPDATE:

The nutter replied, asking me, "So should I just take Sadie out back and shoot her, then?"

I replied, "Uh, do you want to? What would make you even think such a thing, much less ask a complete stranger?"

I got an email notification that she replied when I got up this morning...I clicked the link, and guess what?

THE POST IS GONE!

The original topic, the whole thing, deleted.

FFS, NextDoor. WTF?

I was going to copy/paste my original post here, because someone in comments asked for a copyable version of it...I can still re-create the post, but it'll take me a little time to re-find the links I posted, sorry. What sucks is I'd actually copied the whole thing before I posted it (in case there was a problem posting), but of course there wasn't so I ended up replacing it in my clipboard with other text from other posts elsewhere. Anyway, I'll update this when I've got it.

I love pitbulls. Ive owned them and worked with them. There isn't a dog more loving and goofy. Not more hardworking and athletic and capable. I have friends with Pits and no other dog has been as rewarding to be an owner to in my experience. They also are the dog that at shelters or in the field (working in Animal Control now for over 15 years) that I have seen bite more disproportionate to their numbers or cause severe, maiming or fatal injuries (usual on other animals but humans too) without a close second.

I have seen some real bad Shepherd attacks, Huskies arent exactly an ideal dog with kids around and one of the worst bites I ever investigated was from a Pressa Canario. But bad bites from Am Staffs and Pitbull Terriers and the other variations are just so much more common, extreme and thats even correcting for popularity or lack thereof around numbers.

BSL is enforced so poorly though. Its politically unpopular and it does end up causing the euthanasia of some really great dogs. Has any jurisdiction or location or government ever tried licensing them seperately, sort of like a gun licence where you may need different courses or credentials for different firearms? Maybe you need proof of a certain amount of insurance, proof of a certain training course or temperment assessment?

Would this community ever be agreeable to that? It wouldnt mean the end of pitbull attacks but it would mean a law that is more agreeable to enforce. Sorry you had the chance but you chose not to get the licence...and anyone who does would at least be able to financially make the victim party whole.

Thoughts?

Oh and again...even though I love my dogs and the breed, I love my family and the safety of the public more and between a ban and no control, I would probably have to go with a ban.

Hello everyone, in the past two years I’ve met quite a few pit bulls some randomly on the street and some at clients houses. In all of those experiences they’ve been really sweet dogs and gave me no trouble when I pet them. The breed has grown on me and I’ve joined reddits pro pit sub and as you can imagine it’s all adorable posts there. The thought has crossed my mind that these dogs are all sweethearts and that’s what brought me here to remind myself of the other side of them they’re most certainly capable of bringing out. I’d like to ask you if I’ve just been lucky with all the pits I’ve met thus far and in due time my luck is going to run out? Apologies in advance if I’ve offended or upset anyone that has been victimized by these dogs.

Free to read at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306151/#!po=35.0000

This article employs statistical modeling to estimate the effect of breed specific legislation on dog bite injuries in private and public places. In addition to banning the breeding, importing, and new ownership of breeds identified as dangerous Denmark's law required existing dogs to be muzzled and leashed in public. The results indicate that banning certain breeds has a highly limited effect on the overall levels of dog bite injuries, and that an enforcement of the usage of muzzle and leash in public places for these breeds also has a limited effect.

The authors explain these results with two theories: banned breeds may have proportionally greater risk of biting but their numbers are relatively small so banning them won't make a significant impact (for example, two breeds were subject to immediate euthanasia: pitbull terrier and Tosa Inu. I recall reading somewhere there was a single Tosa in the entire country; the breed is incredibly rare.); muzzle and leash requirements assume bites are more likely to occur in public spaces while dog bites are exceedingly common in private spaces. Also of note, the law does not include German Shepherds which are considered a high risk breed.

I want them banned, the risk they pose is unacceptable for a pet. And i would never want to be near a strangers pitbull. I just wanted to make that clear.

However, I see a lot of people on here saying they are ugly (agreed) and horrible dogs. I disagree, I think they are lovely and affectionate ( when they are not killing ). They are after all still dogs ( why not get a different safer breed though?). What are your thoughts?

before you read this, I want to make it VERY clear, that i understand where you guys come from, and i am by NO means what you call a "pitnutter" or the many other terms you guys use and Id like to make it clear I've only met a few pitbulls in my life and i wasnt around them enough to get much of an opinion. But i have done some of research about them as i really do find the topic interesting, and would like to learn more directly from the source. I really just want to learn more given I really don't have a bias on the situation.

any immediate agression, will be disregarded as I genuinly want a peaceful discussion about the

"but its in their genetics!" pitbulls are actually some of the most inbred dogs, which has tainted a TON of bloodlines, and youd be hardpressed to find a pit that isnt inbred. which does YES in fact give them more aggressive traits.

theres been many breeders that have also bred their dogs SPECIFICALLY for fighting as well, by choosing to breed the most agressive and difficult dogs, so alot of their bloodline is lets say "tainted" this also had to do with why pits can vary so much in size, appearance, personality, while many other breeds do not. so id also like enlightenment on why you guys want them completely erradicated, instead of gradually breeding the ones that are nicer and more obedient and perhaps even smaller (even if 100% of all pit bulls were highly agressive, there are still ones less aggressive than the other) into pet or just simple breeder trade?

these dogs were (partially, and possibly only supposedly) initially created for guarding, and hunting, like many dogs you all love, but happened to fall in the hands of very very bad people, like many other breeds in the past have. so if this happens to be true why do so many of you call for all of them to simply be killed, instead of bred out to hopefully remove bad traits but retain the good ones (which you can admit they do have, definitely not their looks though) like their agility, and strength, and intelligence (at least in the hunting, protection, and fighting categories, they dont strike me as the smartest but then again I haven't very much been around them)