The Heller Poll: Do pit bulls belong in polite society?

12 Comments

  • Amy Watts - 14 years ago

    Pit Bulls belong in society as much as every person on this planet does. I would actually prefer to spend my time with loving kissable bully's then most people. All dogs are capable of biting, but dogs are not born this way, they are created by the hands of what they believe are trusting loyal owners.
    You will never meet a dog more loving that a pit bull. And for those who bash and dont take the time to understand this breed but instead decide that the media and bad press is the way to educate themselves well I see it as there loss. And those are the people that DO NOT belong in our society, as they spread hate and bad information about something they clearly no nothing about.

  • dan - 14 years ago

    We currently own four staffordshire terriers which are the nicest dogs you could ever ask for! We frequently have social events at our house and all they do is mingle with the guests and beg for attention. I prefer to call the by thier actual names, "Staffordshire terriers" because i consider the term "pit bull" to be a classification! Our dogs have recieved a life of love! they've never had thier ears clipped, they've NEVER EATEN RED MEAT, GUNPOWDER, OR ANYTHING ELSE THESE PEOPLE FEED PIT BULLS! in fact, if you force your hand in thier mouths, they force it right back out and give you a lick! i challenge all skeptics to go to a liscenced breeder and make a staffordshire a family member in your home and see the friend you'll make for life!!

  • Linda - 14 years ago

    WOW! Do pitbulls belong in polite society? What kind of question is that? Dogs are not people they don't have an agenda. The best thing about dogs is "YOU GET WHAT YOU TRAIN". Any dog can be dangerous. It goes back to "YOU GET WHAT YOU TRAIN". So, YES pitbulls belong in society.

  • Linda - 14 years ago

    WOW! Do pitbulls belong in polite society? What kind of question is that? Dogs are not people they don't have an agenda. The best thing about dogs is "YOU GET WHAT YOU TRAIN". Any dog can be dangerous. It goes back to "YOU GET WHAT YOU TRAIN". So, YES pitbulls belong in society.

  • Ellen - 14 years ago

    Good question! Is Flint really "polite society". I would say no. I work with an Animal Rescue and they do not accept dogs that are from Flint because of the high number of dogs who come from that area that are involved in dog fighting or who are just plain left out on a short chain because people don't really care. Big dogs of many breeds need extra training and socialization. I was bitten by a collie as a child. The dog attacked several children in the neighborhood but no one wanted to ban Lassie. GOOD dog owners train their pets, keep them under control, and monitor them around new people and small children regardless of breed.

  • Renee - 14 years ago

    i have scars from three puncture wounds on my face from a greyhound bite that belonged to a friend of mine. should we ban greyhounds because i at the time didn't understand what caused the bite? i have worked at my city's animal shelter for a year, where 60% of the dogs are listed as pit bull mixes, and have never been bitten by a pit bull, but i did get bitten by a schnauzer when all i did was slowly extend my hand to greet him in a non threatening way. should we ban schnauzers because i had a bad encounter with one?

  • Mel - 14 years ago

    What do you consider polite society?
    Children are being victimized for perverts fantasy, governments are warring over oil, schools are being shot up, typhoons and hurricanes are devastating entire countries, and idiots inflict violence on one another because of the colour of their skin, sexual orientation and religious beliefs...

    Dogs, regardless of their breed, do not just TURN on humans. There are reasons dogs become aggressive towards humans, and it could be as simple as your hat, sunglasses, or the way you suddenly move towards or at them, and even your tone of voice can all be perceived as hostile to a dog. There are ways to train a dog to not react to perceived threats. Most people are too lazy to bother. Unless you reside with a dog, you have no idea how good a family it is raised with, what training it has undergone, how healthy it is, or how well it is treated.

    Dog ownership is a huge responsibility, they require a substantial time commitment, proper nutrition, adequate exercise, and yearly vet visits, immunizations, flea, heartworm and tick treatments, an indoor safe, warm and dry place to sleep.

    To correct the misconceived notion that pit bulls were bred as gladiators or fighting dogs , you are sorely mistaken. Pit bulls were bred as `nanny`dogs, to take care of and protect children. The also do not have locking jaws, however they do have an abnormally high pain threshold and prey drive.

    Dogs are products of their environments, if they come from a shady one, they`re going to be shady dogs, same goes for people. Stating that a particular breed of dog is more dangerous that another is the same as judging a person by the colour of their skin. It`s bigotry.

    Anyone who thinks pit bulls do not belong in polite society, don`t belong in polite society themselves.

  • Renee - 14 years ago

    do therapy, search and rescue, drug sniffing, and service dogs belong in polite society? pit bulls all over the US perform these valuable jobs and more.

    it's a vicious cycle: a pit bull bites someone, unsavory people buy them because of this "reputation", more bites due to abuse and neglect of said unsavory people, and it snowballs. the media doesn't tell you when a dog bites that it had been chained to a pile of junk its whole life, was kept as a guard dog, and had never been socialized. they report it as "the family pet" because it's more controversial.

    all dogs bite for a reason. they don't bite just because they are "crazy", unless they have rabies or a brain tumor or some other legitimate medical issue that is interfering with their reasoning. dogs are reasonable creatures. if they have never been trained and are in the habit of guarding their toys, when you reach for their toy, they just might bite you. human's ignorance is often blamed on the dog, when in reality the dog was behaving naturally, such as why in many places the dog is not legally at fault for biting if the person is trespassing: people recognize that dogs are by nature territorial. all dogs bite for a reason, and usually that reason is abuse, neglect, or lack of training. but dogs also bite in cases such as they have been hit by a car and they bite their rescuer when they are being moved because they are trying to tell them the only way they know how "hey, that hurts!" i knew a dog that was incredibly gentle and could be trusted with toddlers as long as they stayed in front of her hips because she had severe hip dysplasia and would snap (but not bite) if you pressed her too hard there. it's not the dog's fault if we don't understand them or aren't listening to the warning signs they are giving us.

    most people think pit bulls were bred to be aggressive and unpredictable. in reality, any dog in the fighting pit that bit a human(keep in mind they were handled by strangers and their owners pulled them apart multiple times in the middle of fighting) was either culled or more often killed, the word was "man eaters die". the truth is you CANNOT breed aggression into an animal because you cannot breed a behavior into an animal. John Paul Scott is a renowned scientific researcher who was interested in the interplay between genetics and behavior. He did experiments with mice to determine whether highly aggressive mice could be created through breeding. “The experiments with mice show us that aggression has to be learned. Defensive fighting can be stimulated by the pain of an attack, but aggression, in the strict sense of an unprovoked attack, can only be produced by training… Heredity can enter into the picture only in such ways as lowering or raising the threshold of stimulation, or modifying the physical equipment for fighting… In considering hereditary effects, we must always remember that the environmental situation is also important…” – John Paul Scott, Aggression.

    dogsbite.org gets their information almost entirely from the media, who have proven time and time again to be totally incompetent at identifying dog breeds and have a vested interest in reporting stories about pit bulls vs other breeds that bite as well as mislabeling mixes as pit bulls because it creates more attention. dogsbite.org has no credibility, the sources they cite are full of contradictions or from totally unqualified people etc. ex: the CDC study they love to quote has IN THE SUMMARY OF THE STUDY that “[The study] does not identify specific breeds that are most likely to bite or kill, and thus is not appropriate for policy-making decisions related to the topic… There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill.”

    educate yourself and CHECK THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR CREDIBILITY before you repeat them

  • kaylor - 14 years ago

    Of course pit bulls belong in polite society. There are many breeds of dogs that were bred for fighting and not necessarily each other. They have strength and courage, or so we believe. "Polite society" trains their dogs. Any dog can be left untrained and develop vicious tendencies or trained to develop those vicious tendencies. It doesn't have to be a pit bull. Best, of course to train to have acceptable manners in polite society, the same as we train our children to behave. Other breeds are just as strong and just as courageous. The people who own pit bulls now, will only go to another breed should pitbulls be outlawed. Then you will have another breed to outlaw, and another, and another. Just wait 'til you get down to chiquaquas! Some of them are really nasty tempered.

    The question is: Is Flint really a 'polite society'? With all the murders we hear on the news I have my doubts. The HSUS, PETA and assorted SPCA's would have you believe banning pitbulls will solve your problem. They KNOW better. That is just a way to get their foot in the door to start banning all pet ownership, all animal ownership. Search it out, there is info all over the web about it. You don't have to believe just me.

  • Laced L - 14 years ago

    Its not the "breed" itself that is the problem, it is the people who "want to have puppies" and don't know anything about the ancestery lines, they are the problem......Back yard Breeders are a no-no. Leave it to the people who know what they are doing when breeding, and DON'T forget all dog breeds can benefit from Obedience Classes.

  • Beryl Warburton - 14 years ago

    Like Marsha Robinson I too was bitten badly by a pit bull I had known and trusted for two years. With no warning this dog suddenly took a chunk out of the back of my leg. It was a spayed female (allegedly the safest), raised in a loving home, and for no reason, turned vicious and not only attacked me, but went after the lady who owned her when she tried to pull the dog off of me.
    Genetically pit bulls were selectively bred to be canine gladiators, and that is always going to be in their DNA. what makes them "turn" is anybody's guess.

  • Marsha Robinson - 14 years ago

    If a person owns a pitbull, they should pay an outrageous insurance premium.
    I love dogs but even friendly dogs can bite. I'm a retired letter carrier and walked by one every day for years, then he decided to take a piece of my leg.

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