Jesus.
Where are you people located??????
I have NEVER, EVER in over a year of walking my dog, have I EVER seen an off leash pit bull.
EVER!
And just across the river from us, they fight pit bulls. They are very popular in my city (just not seen very often).
Wow, I find that hard to fathom.
I see them off leash quite often. Maybe only 2 or 3 pit bulls I'v eknown in my life were allowed to roam, however. The first was the afformentioned one in my post that chased the boy up the car, the second belonged to a known drug dealer who's been arrested umpteen times. Occasionally, his owner let him roam, and if you walked in the line of sight of that dog, you were in for trouble. I was walking my own Shepherd/Pit mix and one of my Beagles at the time, probably about 4 yrs ago. This SOB saw me passing by as he was talkign to someone by his front door. So what does he do? Why, he opens his door so his pit bull can charge us [sm=idea.gif] Bright idea, huh? The only reason I can figure is that he'd had his eye on my dog when I passed and I believe wanted to see the two dogs fight. With two dogs present, the pit wasn't actually too interested in them - it came after ME.
This same dog also chased my grandmother when she was walking across the street. Thank God she saw it coming and got behind a neighbor's fence.
Then there were the two darlings that belonged to a very shady character about 2 blocks away. If you don't believe mental illness can exist in dogs, you;ve never met those two. Quite crazy. By the grace of God they never got out of their yard, but ALMOST did several times. There would have been a massacre if those dogs were loose.
Then another pit close to where a family friend lives was a known biter/escape artist. I'd come close to this dog (behind the fence) while going into the friend's apartment. Again, another dog with madness in its eyes. This was not a dog anyone could train. It was unstable, poorly adjusted. I don't care if its the dog's FAULT or not, of course the dog can't help the way it is. The fact is that he was like that and was inherently a danger to society.
Lets see. When I lived in an apartment years back we had a "good" pit bull who was very friendly with me, a few others, and especially one of the two owners. One of the owners was a large, strong man, yet this dog had broken out of his grasp while eh was holding the leash and charged out building's Super. Same dog bit a tenant while he passed the dog in the hall. One night, while the male owner was out, I get a knock on my door from the female owner - the dog had attacked her.
Then there was the "gentle giant" pit bull that was in my neighborhood when I lived in the apartment. His owner was responsible, doting, caring. NEVER encouraged aggression. She was one of the "not MY pit bull" people. You know, she had her dog for 8 years, he was a pussy cat, etc. Yeah well, he put a few holes in a lady's arm one day just because she passed him on the street ...
In Westchester County, NY, a few yers ago, we had the family of a woman who adopted a pit bull from I believe a Mount Vernon shelter bring up a lawsuit. Within two weeks of owning this monster it attacked and killed her
I can go on and on and on. Pit bull attacks are not your average attacks because the dogs are so tenacious and powerful.
Then, my mother's Shep/Pit mix. Like I said, GSDs can be aggressive, but I have been around plenty and they are not unpredictable. They let you know in no uncertain terms if they like or loathe you, lol. My mother's mix lunged at me, springing up towards my throat because I came upstairs while he was barking and told him to be quiet. He then turned around, looked at me - but he was not there. His eyes were wild. He jumped at my throat, pinning me against the door, ripped the sleeve of my shirt and gave me minor bites on my arm. My mother and my Beagles were there to help, and both my mother, who has been nothing but kind to that dog, was bit in the process. One of my 15" males got the bulk of the attack when he charged Thunder. This dog's sire also came to our aid and poor thing is only about 15 lbs - if I hadn't come behind Thunder and whacked him with the garbage pail, this little guy would have been mauled. We thought the attack was over, he'd calmed down, but I was so emotional I began screaming again at one point and was attacked again. Like I said, I still have nightmares. I will start thinking on it out of the blue and find myself screaming either out loud or in my mind. My mother thinks the sun, moon & stars revolve around this dog and has not gotten rid of him. There are times he's his normal self, other times he will react to stimuli that occured to him dozens of times, stimuli that roleld right off his back, with an all out attack.
I don't trust the breed, I don't trust the owners who say "not MY pit bull!" There are good ones, but thousands of horrible ones for one good one. The damage a
it bull can do is unimaginable. The fact that there are so many stipulations on pit bull ownership makes them a breed nto suitable to live in today's society as a pet.