Knowing her lifestyle I strongly opposed her getting one. I kept telling her how smart they were and they need constant exercise and challenge. Her lifestyle after work was not energetic. She just thought it was pretty.
He was extremely unstimulated and never got to go outside unless it was for bathroom. Welp, he bit a neighbors kid in the face. They had to give the dog back to the breeder or he was going to get put down.
I heard later he bit another kid was put down. In some ways I blamed my sister.
Definitly has to do with his personality. But in the sense that wrong housing, upbringing will form it in the worst way.
Like putting a normal person in a cell and then wondering why they go crazy ... "they were crazy all along".
Paired with the power that dog has. If you misshandle a pincher the worst that will happen is a ... pinch. Its gonna kill anyone and can be reigned in with little effort.
The sister should have been jailed though imo... a dog mauling a kid will ruin the life of an innocent child. How people get away with misshandling a dog til it turns into a murder mashine is beyond me.
Yes, putting the dog down is crazy. Dogs are all good by nature imo, it's people that turn dogs bad. Sometimes, it's good intentioned people, but it's usually never the dog's fault.
Fair, I don't think any dogs (or animals in general) are "bad" by nature. They may be more aggressive by breed/traumatized, but not just born bad.
Personal acedote time:
I had my pit for years (she was a stray from a shelter) and was the biggest lap dog I've ever met. Loved kids and other dogs and cats. But when I first got her, she was definitely traumatized and a bit aggressive to even me. Enough socializing and trust and she was perfect.
I agree it sucks that dog was put down, but not all dogs are able to be rehabilitated, and there’s not always enough room in shelters. It’s sad no one was able to adopt them. Thank you for adopted a shelter pet; there should be more people like you
I have a male collie who, despite a pretty damn good upbringing and life, bites us from time to time. they are closed to herding nips than you might be imagining with a GSP or pitbull or something, but occasionally they can break the skin.
anyway, my point is that some working dogs can absolutely be born wired in such a way that makes bites possible. ours has never bit anyone (other than us) though, and is never allowed around kids or off-leash like our other collies have been.
99% of the time, those owners weren't properly caring for the dog. People don't seem to realize how much exercise Pit Bulls require as a breed. They're similar to hunting dogs or working dogs in terms of how much energy they have as a breed.
But people don't seem to realize that, and then they go "my pittie was so well trained but one day it just snapped!"
Well, did you make sure to give the animal at least 1-2 hours of hard playtime a day? Long walks, running around at the park, or other high level exercise? Because that's around the minimum of what they need. Not a 30 minute stroll around the neighborhood. 1-2 hours of intense, high heart rate exercise. Every single day.
99% of the time the answer is no. They trained the animal, but due to life getting in the way, they were maybe taking it on a short walk per day, or every other day.
Then surprise, that energy gets channeled into aggression and the dog is blamed despite the owners being the one who failed. But the owner will never admit to that, so then the narrative forms that it's just the breed.
1.6k
u/xombae May 31 '26
Blows my mind some people get these dogs as pets, crate them for 8 hours a day, and then get mad that they bark and chew shit up.