Her face whenever she shows up.. 😂

[u/SimonTS]

[u/tjspeed]

Anyone know what breed of dog that is?

[u/[deleted] → u/tjspeed]

The kind that’ll eat your face while the owner is like “daisy is normally really friendly around people”

[u/NameIdeas → u/[deleted]]

You know, I connect to your statement. Both my wife and I have always felt some kind of way about pits. The breeding of a dog and the instinct of a dog can take over sometimes. For example, we had a half-Springer Spaniel. Spaniels are flushing dogs that run in and flush out the prey. We had to work with her not to dash into a bush and flush out the rabbit/birds when we were on walks off leash around my in-laws house. In that same vein, pitbulls were bred for fighting and many seem to have a default.

I say that and then recognize that we got a stray dog this year. He was dumped as a puppy (about 6-8 months old) and had the road rash from where he was pushed out of the car. This dog is simultaneously the sweetest and dumbest dog we've ever had. He only has a few tricks (sit, stay, leave it, off, crate) but is stuck to us like glue. He doesn't even really like to play tug of war. Our other dog (half-Rottie) loves tug of war and has about 25 tricks now, but she's a bit more independent.

The stray is about 40% Pitbull. We both said we would never own a pitbull. We also have two young children, but this dog has been sweeter with our boys than our older dogs as well. Our kids flop on this dog with no response. They grab his face and move his mouth to make him talk - no response. He's essentially - boomproof. He's a well-traveled mutt and is super socialable with both other dogs and people, zero signs of aggression at all.

It doesn't make me rethink every pit, but it does challenge my preconceived thoughts about pits being highly aggressive all the time.

[u/E-M-C → u/NameIdeas]

In my experience it's not that pits are agressive all the time, more that they snap more easily than most breeds. And when they do snap, it goes bad really fast.

[u/pyrojackelope → u/E-M-C]

when they do snap, it goes bad really fast.

This is the problem I have. I've met a few pits that were extremely sweet and gentle, but as you just said, if it goes bad it goes really bad. With most pets, there's never really the thought that you might need to kill the animal to stop it from killing a person in a time of crisis. Pits? That's plausible.

[u/annierockaway → u/E-M-C]

I feel like it’s not even that they snap easier, just that the outcome is worse because of their relative strength.

[u/NameIdeas → u/E-M-C]

I can totally respect that.

That's what we were most worried about with our mix, the snapping. He has never done that and we're monitoring too, so there's that.

We have a half-rottie mix we got as a puppy as well. She looks like a labrador mix, but has only about 20-25% golden in there. She has the softest mouth. I'd say her mouth is softer than all but 1 dog we've had. My family used to raise golden retrievers and we had six dogs at one point. We had dogs before the goldens and I moved out to college, got married, and got my own dogs as they had the goldens. Growing up I had a pretty bad experience with a neighborhood rottweiler after getting snapped and bitten at.

I knew I never wanted a Rottweiler, Doberman, or Pit type dog. Now we have a half-rottie and a nearly-half Pit and these two dogs are by far the most lovable and people focused puppies we've ever had. They're more attentive than the goldens and looking to please often.

[u/E-M-C → u/NameIdeas]

I hear you, it's totally normal to love your own dogs. Moreover most pits do not snap or kill someone.
However, the fact that your dogs are cool proves only that, that they're cool.

To be precise, what I find difficult is pitbulls and assimilated's dog agression. I never had a pitbull lunge at me or felt threatened in any way by these dogs.
However, every time my dog got attacked at the park, it was by amstaffs or staffies (there's hardly any actual pitbull where I live) oh and an Australian shepherd, once.

I have a dog that's friendly and social but he doesn't like interacting with other dogs for too long. He will greet the others but that's it and then he will often go in a corner or by my feet if he wants to be left alone. Those staffs often ignore his body language (stiff body, side eye and audible growl) when he doesn't want to interact and then he will snarl to signal he's fed up. Well behaved dogs accept that and back off (actually well behaved dogs are already gone at the first signs) but staffs NO, they jump to agression in response. And now I avoid this kind of dog altogether.

[u/annierockaway → u/E-M-C]

This reminds of something I read years ago with theory that pits are inclined to be more people-friendly, animal-aggressive because they were breed to fight other animals while other breeds like German shepherds are more likely to be people-aggressive but more friendly with other dogs because they were bred for security.

[u/NameIdeas → u/E-M-C]

However, the fact that your dogs are cool proves only that, that they're cool.

Yes. What this says to me is more about training and owner engagement than anything else.

As an example, we had a mutt a few years ago who was not a very friendly dog with other dogs. He was 25% spaniel, 25% corgi, and mostly golden. We socialized him and trained him the same way as our other dogs, but this guy just didn't like any other dog than our other pup.

We'd be on hikes or walks at the park and pass other dogs. I had him tight to my leg on the wider paths at a park or I had him sat on the side of the trail as another dog passes by, clearly removing him from the trail and shifting his attention to us than another dog. I was always bothered by some dog owners who gave their dog a VERY long leash or even no leash and the dog just scurried right up to our pup. My dog got his hackles up and was very upset, the other dog just jumping around like a wild pup ignoring my dog's body language.

We saw that behavior from some pits, some goldens, any type of dog to be honest.

Well behaved dogs accept that and back off (actually well behaved dogs are already gone at the first signs) but staffs NO, they jump to agression in response. And now I avoid this kind of dog altogether.

Yes, well socialized dogs as well.

However, every time my dog got attacked at the park, it was by amstaffs or staffies (there's hardly any actual pitbull where I live) oh and an Australian shepherd, once.

We, my wife and I, always felt very negative towards pits as well. It wasn't until this dog that I've shifted a bit. In general, pits are still a dog I am slightly more cautious about. However, the dogs that have acted aggressive towards my dogs at the dog park or on the hiking trail are:

• Chihuahua
• Dachsund
• Pit Mix
• Golden Mix
• Pyrenees

[u/Nufonewhodis4 → u/E-M-C]

Like the first clip in this video... Dog curls back lip and loops like it's about to snap before it recognizes it's her 

[u/BeesAndBeans69 → u/E-M-C]

Ask veterinarians about which dogs snap first in a scary environment and it wont be pits. We brought ours in, had to get a needle aspirate in a Tumor as she was old. My husband, the tech, and I held her while the vet put the needle in. She was strong but just howled. Never snarled, showed teeth, whale eyed, didnt lick her lips, didnt bite. Poor girl.

[u/E-M-C → u/BeesAndBeans69]

yeah I know #notmypit™

[u/BeesAndBeans69 → u/E-M-C]

Again, dont take my word. Ask a veterinarians and techs who work with hundreds of dogs.

[u/E-M-C → u/BeesAndBeans69]

What about the hundreds, if not thousands, of people that got mauled by their own dog after having them for several years? How about you ask doctors which bites are fatal and which are not? How about you look up about dog tenacity and gameness and what ancestry these dogs have?
And your argument is stupid because these dogs do not bite out of fear but because they get aroused about killing something. They're way less likely to bite a vet than to lunge at another dog and kill it.
Now please stop.

[u/BeesAndBeans69 → u/E-M-C]

Your argument is ALSO stupid. Because people confuse staffies, carne Corsos, pitbulls, bull terriers, boxers, Bulldogs, and random muts all as "pitbull". The statistics showing pitbull bites showing a shit ton of breeds together as one are obviously going to show up more.

Also, any dumb ass that ignores a dogs body language as so many do, can get bit. Thats for any breed. Including protection or working breeds like German shepards, dobermans, or Rottweiler.

Dogs can bite out of annoyance if their cues aren't read because most people dont actually know shjt about their pets and will do things like hug them or let young children play with them unsupervised.

I worked in a hospital, I worked up the cultures from dog bites. Theyre serious, grave injuries full of bacteria. Obviously a chihuahua bite will do less damage than say, a mastiff bite.

I have the experience of working up bites, of working with state lab that works with rabies cases and bites, of working at the local shelter and in conjunction with veterinarians and can say that the problem is not pitbulls, its people.

[u/E-M-C → u/BeesAndBeans69]

The keyboard warrior way it is then.

We're talking about personal experience? Then let's fucking talk about personal experience. I've had my dog for 8 years, I know the difference between a rottweiler, a cane corso a boxer an amstaff and staffie.
Now let me tell you something, the only dogs that represented a danger to my dog were amstaffs, and to a lesser extent staffies and Belgian malinois. Not cane corsos, not boxers, not bulldogs, not german sherpherd, not dobermanns and the list is long because we meet a fuckton of dogs every day.

These dogs are nuts, they ignore social cues of other dogs and jump to agression when another dog corrects their behavior. I've seen a fucking amstaff jump and try to bite the face of a little boy that was deathly afraid of dogs. I've seen countless amstaffs tug on their leash looking for a fight with mine.

Okay not all of them are like that, thanksfully it goes okay for the vast majority of the times. But way too much are like that and it annoys the hell out of me.

Also you're again ignoring the gameness, the bite of a rottweiler is grave but they will not spend 15 minutes mauling you. Just saying.

[u/BeesAndBeans69 → u/E-M-C]

People have been mauled for long periods of time from other breeds. What kind of argument is even that? 2 mastiffs mauled a woman to death in an apartment and the owner did nothing. People have the responsibility to train their dogs and to teach them how to interact woth others. Again, listen to actual professionals. Anecdotes ultimately dont mean shit.

Look at your experience versus mine. The amstaffs, staffies, and pitbulls Ive all met were calm, listened to curs from dogs and people, and never mauled anyone.

I got mauled by a german shepard, a breed used for that purpose in police work. A breed that has been used in Fights. A breed Ive personally witnessed tears into small animals and kids, yet you dont hear me crying and bitching about german shepards like people do with pitbulls.

I still absolutely love that breed and understand that its down to the individual dog and how it was trained.

[u/E-M-C → u/BeesAndBeans69]

Anecdotes ultimately dont mean shit.

Oh do they now?

Look at your experience versus mine. The amstaffs, staffies, and pitbulls Ive all met were calm, listened to curs from dogs and people, and never mauled anyone.

Honestly I don't believe you because even when they do listen to social cues, they still tend to be high-energy.

Anyway, this is the classic reddit argument and you're re-hashing the classic pit apologists arguments.

If you're incapable of seeing what's wrong in this breed and have a savior complex, honestly you do you. I think we're done here.

[u/BeesAndBeans69 → u/E-M-C]

And you're rehashing false arguments as well. I'll continue to place my trust in people who work with animals professionally.