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We just moved into a new housing development and have yet to get our fence up. Just 2 houses up, there are 2 pit bulls. One day my husband let our blind Beagle stay out in the backyard. We have a leash for him so he doesn't stray and get hurt. Anyway, one of the pit bulls came and started acting aggressively with our dog. The owner didn't seem too perturbed - and the dog did obey her calls to go back to her, but it left us feeling very vulnerable.
A friend of my son's who lives in Colorado owns a pit bull and even my son says that it's the sweetest dog in the world. When he would visit, the dog would wake him up in the morning by licking his face.
Why are they sometimes gentle and sometimes insanely aggressive?
I can really identify with your post. I, too, moved into a new neighborhood about 18 months ago and have four dogs. My elderly collie is blind and rather frail. My property is mostly fenced, with a four-foot picket fence around the front yard and a 6-foot privacy fence around the backyard.
My neighbor's 21-year-old son recently moved back in with his mother. His mom has a rat terrier and a pit bull. The son brought in more pit bulls and now there are pit bull puppies, too. I have a feeling the kid is breeding them to make a buck, sigh.
With all of those dogs, some of them invariably get loose. I'm often out gardening and if I'm on the side without the fence, they come to visit me. Very friendly. My dogs are ALWAYS inside of the fence and, lately, the pitbulls have been making a beeline for my property when my dogs are out. I'm not liking the pacing and posturing the pit bulls doing back and forth in front of my fence.
I'm very worried that at some point they're going to jump my 4-foot-high fence and attack my dogs, especially my blind collie and my little Yorkie/Silky. I'm disabled and there's no way I would be able to protect my dogs. We live out in the country and I'm not sure the city ordinances apply.
The little girl next door told me that the neighbor's son beats the puppies and she pointed out a cut on the top of a puppy's head. I don't know if that's true as I've never seen or heard anything. Should I call animal control the next time the dogs get out? Frankly, I am afraid of retaliation against my own dogs but if the son is purposely trying to make the dogs mean, I'm VERY worried about the dogs attacking neighbors' pets and maybe kids.
Yes you should call animal control immediately next time they are loose. Do not wait to see if he is coming to get them. If animal control knocks on his door, he may be more apt to do better at confining them to his own yard )especially if it about money for him). The dogs pacing your fence mean that they are sizing up the competition and looking for opportunity, if they were being friendly their body language would show it.
You may even want to contact animal control now to find out about the laws in your area regarding leash/fence laws, how many dogs you can have on one property and what they think regarding him possibly abusing the pups.
These people have no right to cause you to live in fear for yourself, your dogs, or the neighborhood kids and dogs. And as any responsible pit bull owner knows, his actions are irresponsible and he is putting his own dogs in a situation that may prove to be to tempting for them.
If his dogs do unfortunately decide to attack your dogs, do not attempt to rescue your dogs! I know how much you love them, but if you get in the middle they will attack you too. (Just like if you try to break up a human fight, you inevitably get hit at least once).
When I saw this thread yesterday, it really saddened me. The title of this thread is "Are pit bulls inherently dangerous?" I woke up this morning with the thought "Are human beings inherently dangerous?"...
All humans are born with different temperaments and in different social surroundings. Some human beings do really bad things... some grow up where their social needs are met, they are protected and defended from bad people and are taught how to behave in the world. Those human beings mostly turn out well. Some, even though everything seems to have been done for them don't fare well - or end up in trouble.
It's the nature-nurture argument that has been discussed by scientists for hundreds of years. There is no predicting what animals or people will turn out badly - based on breeding. There are just too many variables....
When you put a bad person in control of an animal - or of a child - that animal will be taught bad behavior. The animal (or the child) may be abused... neglected... it will learn wrong behavior or it will be left to it's own devices...
Based on these things, it seems that some people should not own pets of any kind. (or, for that matter, should have children)... but, that doesn't mean that all dogs or all children are inherently bad ...
In my life, I remember when people tried to demonize several different dog breeds. Pit bulls have been demonized. Because of the low life dog fighters and other high profile cases, pit bulls have gotten much more bad press... In reality, the facts about the breed don't back up the allegations. But, it's like anything else, people believe what they're fed. They don't choose to read. They don't choose to teach their children how to behave around animals.... they seem to enjoy watching as this breed is driven into extinction.. not realizing that what starts with one breed will effect all dog owners in the future.
Dogs have been with us for hundreds of years. It seems that some in our society seems to feel that they are no longer useful... and they want to eliminate whole breeds of animals. I don't think it's evolution.
Man's best friend needs our help....
Last edited by World Citizen; 06-03-2008 at 09:51 AM..
the gentle part is great, the insane aggression is not.
imho a mix is a much better bet.
people that own mean dogs often are often not overly concerned about others.
Yes you should call animal control immediately next time they are loose. Do not wait to see if he is coming to get them. If animal control knocks on his door, he may be more apt to do better at confining them to his own yard )especially if it about money for him). The dogs pacing your fence mean that they are sizing up the competition and looking for opportunity, if they were being friendly their body language would show it.
You may even want to contact animal control now to find out about the laws in your area regarding leash/fence laws, how many dogs you can have on one property and what they think regarding him possibly abusing the pups.
These people have no right to cause you to live in fear for yourself, your dogs, or the neighborhood kids and dogs. And as any responsible pit bull owner knows, his actions are irresponsible and he is putting his own dogs in a situation that may prove to be to tempting for them.
If his dogs do unfortunately decide to attack your dogs, do not attempt to rescue your dogs! I know how much you love them, but if you get in the middle they will attack you too. (Just like if you try to break up a human fight, you inevitably get hit at least once).
Thank you for good advice!!! Yes, I think I will call animal control the next time the dogs are running loose. They WILL respond because we just had a tragedy in a nearby community -- four pitbulls got out of their yard and killed a little boy. So, everyone is now taking the loose dog problem much more seriously!
First, I'd like to talk to my neighbor quietly and privately to let her know of my concerns but it's difficult to find her alone. She's a very nice woman but her son has taken over her home. (That's another story!) Her house is now like Grand Central Station with young men coming and going all hours. Honestly, I'm concerned for her and I really don't want to deal with her son and his comrades about this. As I said, I'm disabled and live alone, except for my dogs.
The pitbulls pacing in front of my fence does concern me and I think your assessment is right. When I go outside and the dogs see me, they wag their tails but I noticed that their demeanor changes when they don't see me.
If she's letting her son run things now, she's not going to do anything if you speak with her... except to probably get mad at you.
Maybe you should talk to Animal Control and ask them to keep you anonymous - rather than speak to your neighbor and let her know that you're concerned.
I also think it would be pointless to speak to the woman or her son. She probably already knows that the dogs are a problem but for whatever reason won't (or is afraid )to confront her son.
I live in a crime ridden town and see this all the time. If he has many different people in and out of the house at all hours of the day he is probably selling drugs. Drug dealers also tend to lean towards pit bulls and pit bull fighting because they want the toughest dogs, and they want people to know they have them. This type of person doesn't take nice suggestions nicely. Of course, he may just be really popular, but you shouldn't take your chance. I feel bad for his mother - he has probably put her in between a rock and a hard place.
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Are human beings inherently dangerous?...
