Am I the crazy one?

[Cumberland]

I went to an estate sale today, and when I walked up to the garage there was a pit bull wandering around. I said to the guy running the sale, um that is a pit bull right? He said, yeah its a stray just hanging around, I keep chasing her away and she comes back. And he shooed it away but 5 minutes later it walked into the house where I was.

Pit bulls FREAK me out. I know that some are super nice and tame and all that, but a stray that you know nothing about? About a month ago a stray pit bull ripped some woman's arms off here. You dont read stories in the paper about golden retreivers killing people.

I told him I thought it was extremely dangerous and that I was not comfortable being there. And I marched out WITH the pit bull following me the whole way to the car. I was so scared I was shaking. I climbed over the back seat into the front so I didnt have to get out after I buckled DD in.

Geesh, I think I would be calling animal control and not shooing away. I'm sure that some Pit Bulls are perfectly nice and wonderful pets but there is no way I would ever have one or want one nearby. Someone in our neighborhood walks one -- usually not when we are outside playing, luckily.

Denver had an ordinance against Pit Bulls within city limits; Portland does not. Last summer, a pit bull was attacking a child and nearly killed the child and the woman who saved the child. The owners said the dog hadn't been agressive....who knows....but I think that the dogs probably deserve their reputation.

[DCJenn]

No, you're not crazy. Being in the city, we have the whole Pit Bull/Rottie craze that occasionally erupts when someone gets killed or maimed by ill-trained (or never-trained) dogs.

They're actually trying to make it illegal to own a Pit in the city.

Last week I was walking Petey (the Tampon-eating Australian Cattle Dog) with Nikolai in the stroller. We were heading up to the National Mall. Ahead of us was a woman walking a male (not neutered) Pit Bull. (Petey is neutered). I crossed us over to the other side of the street since I didn't want any confrontation. Of course, while I'm standing at a cross walk, she crosses over and of course her dog starts lunging at my dog. Luckily, my dog is extremely well trained and he sat when I told him to- and didn't approach the other dog. (I couldn't tell if the other dog was being aggressive or friendly but I wasn't about to try to figure it out).

After I crossed the street, I stopped to say hi to the security guards (normally they're in a booth and I just wave and say hi) that I see every day and they asked if the Pit was male. I said yes, and told them I was a little nervous since Petey was male- thats when they said the reason why they were out of their booths was because they saw us coming and had their hands on their weapons in case the Pit started any trouble. It pays to be friendly to men with weapons in this town!!! I felt so relieved to know that they were keeping an eye on the situation.

So, no, you're not crazy.

Jenn

they freak me out too and I am a huge dog person! Two attacks happened in our area, one resulting in a horrible death of a young boy mauled by his 2 family pit bulls. Even family members couldn't get the dogs off the boy.
I used to think it was the owner's who trained these dogs to be aggressive but now I am not so sure. It seems too prevalent to be just training. I am starting to think they are simply aggressive in nature.
I am curious to hear what others think.

I don't blame you for leaving when you spotted the pit bull. I once saw a documentary that showed two pit bulls fighting. One dog literally tore the entire face off of the other dog and the other dog didn't seem phased a bit. Since seeing this I try to avoid pit bulls at all costs!

[Michele]

My little Tui girl is half pit bull. I actually really like the breed. Unfortunately, the mean ones spoil their rep. In general the breed is usually dog agressive and not people agressive. They were bred to fight in pits and the owners/trainers would have to be able to reach in and pull the dogs out when they were too badly hurt...and dogs that would bite people weren't tolerated. Of course less than stellar breeding operations have decreased the quality of many dog breeds and probably the pit bull breed was most affected...especially with the underground pit fighting that still goes on.

Personally, I don't approve of breed restrictions. It's discrimination and it's insulting to responsible pet owners. Any breed can have mean dogs, and any good dog can be made mean by a bad owner/living situation.

[DCJenn]

I completely agree that trying to outlaw one specific breed is kind of ridiculous. I have also heard that Pits can be great dogs. But, they still make me nervous when I'm with Petey.

Jenn

[migirl]

There have also been a few pit bull attacks in our area, one just recently where the family pit bulls mauled the little girl to death. I agree that it's probably not breed-specific, more an indication of poor upbringing and handling. Sue Anne, I don't blame you, though, for being nervous. I think I would be too!

That being said, I was walking my dog (Maggie, a very friendly, waggly springer spaniel) through the park one day when this guy comes walking toward us with a pit bull named Thor. He stops to talk because the dogs were sniffing each other, and all of a sudden Thor starts being very aggressive and 'playful' (as his owner called it ). At this I start to walk away and the owner says that Thor was just trying to wrestle a little bit. Um, no thanks, not into seeing my dog 'wrestle' with a pit bull named Thor.

[Flynn]

Pitts are what you make them. Most of the "issues" Pitts have are made worse by people who don't have a clue about them and probably shouldn't be pet owners to begin with. I would be very wary of any stray dog -- especially where children are present.

That being said I am VERY careful that my dog friendly daughter ALWAYS ask the owner before petting a dog. Where I might be completely comfortable petting a Pitt with a responsible owner I get nervous with my daughter -- she is just too precious!!!

Well, Denver also has ordinances against chickens and bees -- both of which I think are stupid rules. Portland is ok on chickens and bees as far as I know -- and doesn't have dangerous gangs of chickens or bees roaming around!

I can see how a breed specific ordinance is a bad idea. Perhaps instead of that, cities should do better to enforce stray dog and general doggy-manner laws and that would be a better route to responsible dog ownership. I think that dogs attacking people should be taken very, very seriously. It is very scary!

I am sure that the media loves to the opportunity to sensationalize pit bull attacks and lets others fall by the wayside, but it does seem that those "pit bull" attacks are especially viscious and sometimes directed at a family member.

[HeartRN]

I'm with Flynn...stray dogs of any kind make me nervous. They used to chase me around my neighborhood when I was little, and I was really frightened of dogs as a child. My daughter wants to look at dogs in the park, but she is (at least she is now) cautious around them--she wants me to hold her when they come near her, and I'm glad she's a little leery. I have friends who have pit bulls and they love them and swear they are great dogs, but I wouldn't want my kids around them, or any dog, unsupervised. The other day I pulled into my parking space, and when I got out, I noticed a HUGE German Shepard sticking his head out of a truck window next to my car. The owner was working on another car and he said, "I'll stand over here by him... he can be pretty protective and territorial" He was a beautiful dog but it made me a little nervous. At least the owner was aware and sensitive to this!

I love dogs. I've become a little more cautious about them, though, too. I take my cue from the way the owners are handling them.
Shepherd mixes have always seemed to me to be the sweetest ever! I miss the one I grew up with most. I really cannot fathom why they're considered dangerous.
I don't know much about pit bulls.

[fluffhead]

I think we should enter that picture in a "provide an amusing caption" contest.

"staring contest....ready..go!"

[Vishenka69]

SpiritDancer, Charlotte is the spitting image of our cat.

Last month when we were cruising in Alaska, one of the stops was Sitka. We decided to take this hiking path through the woods and as we were walking toward it (still through the town) a stray cat started following us. The cat was pretty big and I really didn't feel comfortable but thought that he/she (seemed like a she but the size confused me) would stop at some point. After the weird cat kept following us on a very narrow hiking path, I got really freaked out and bolted right out of there. DH was laughing at me for taking refuge in the souvenir store a few blocks down but thinking back I'm still all creeped out.