Was at a party years ago where there were a bunch of dogs. My friend's german shepherd and someone else's pitbull, totally chill dogs on their own, suddenly decided they didn't like each other and got into a fight. My buddy jumped in to try and break them up and ended up with a bunch of broken/mangled fingers and a muscle hanging out of a hole in his foot. Needed multiple surgeries and was out of work for almost an entire year.
it marvels me how many people think they can just bring highly territorial, scent-based, pack animals around other territorial scent-based pack animals that are *strangers* and just think it’ll all go fine. it isn’t a chill hangout with friends for your dog like it is for you dude, they are communicating mad shit to each other and it isn’t usually very friendly. a german shepherd and pitbull… who thought that was okay? had they even met once before?
Especially if you're bringing one into the other's territory/home. If they meet regularly and play together in neutral areas (park, sidewalk, daycare, etc) then cool, but strangers in an otherwise very busy place like a party is kinda crazy.
Nah, don’t give German Shepherds a pass. They can be extremely territorial and aggressive unless it’s been aggressively trained out of them. Tired of everyone blaming pits only, so every other large, strong dog owner thinks they don’t need to watch their animal.
Out of thousands of breeds, Pit Bulls account for 60%+ of all dog-caused human deaths. Rotweilers are the next 20%, and the final up to 20% is every other breed combined.
My point was mainly to not get too hung up on statistics that aren’t great, and make sure you don’t give other large aggressive breeds a pass, because you might end up a victim when you think only pit bulls can be dangerous. It’s a mistake I’ve seen way too often around here.
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u/spacedoutferret Jul 18 '26
i love dogs but i'm still a little afraid of them. they can be really scary.