Poll

I am just curious of everyone's opinions. I have been in a heated discussion over this very thing in another forum. Here is the link so you can see for yourself why I am asking these questions.
http://www.terrificpets.com/forum/7640.asp

 

I would have to say "other" although its not a choice. I wouldn't do anything.

I wouldn't try to correctly train this action out through OB, the dog is how its going to be. Especially if its a Pit Bull, they'll turn on and I'm not going to take it to some class where they may not even understand the dog or put it through being around other dogs.

I'm not going to get rid of my dog for being a dog, especially not for being dog aggressive as all my dogs are and thats in their breed. I'm not shipping them off everytime I have a problem, I'd have no dogs and have to realize a different breed for me.

I'd never PTS a dog that killed a cat/dog unless this dog was also people aggressive or was simply "crazy" and becoming aggressive with everyone and everything which usually means it has some type of mental disorder which can't be helped and the dog will only get worse and worse and become dangerous/unpredicatble.

But other then that no, I don't kill my dogs for doing such things. These things happen when you own dogs and when you own Pit Bulls there is a greater risk. you can't simply socialize this out or OB train them to not try to fight another dog. These things can help, but they are no guarantee and probably won't stop the dog completly. I can't even imagine the reasoning behind PTS a dog aggressive dog that killed another dog. I can't even understand treating them disposable and rehoming them. Don't get them if you dont have the time and dont want the responsibility.

 

None of those options. A dog that's a danger to other dogs or cats needs proper confinement and management. Training is certainly an option to look into, for the dog's sake, because a dog that can get along in the wide world can enjoy a lot more freedom.

An APBT that wants to fight or wants to kill small animals is just reacting on instinct, nothing more, and shouldn't be punished for it. If a person isn't prepared for that possibility, and willing to employ safe handling, training and confinement practices, then that person needs a different breed of dog...it's not the dog at fault here. I often have a houseful of pit bulls, and not one of them is dog aggressive or interested in harming the cat. They were all scrappy as pups, and that's normal, but now they're trained, spayed/neutered (to remove that one source of agitation), and know and respect the rules. They're pretty sure it would be worse to piss me off and not worth any fun they might have getting into a dogfight.

The one and only thing that will get me to kill an adult pit bull (or any dog for that matter) is being aggressive to children or family members. Some few dogs can be trained out of this, but generally it's not worth the risk of keeping a dog like that around a family home. Even these dogs, though, can find work and a worthwhile life as an area guard/security dog working nights in a car lot or similar situation, so killing the dog is really the last option, when all other avenues have been exhausted.

Cheryl

 

Here is my take on it, people aggression is a good reason to PTS a any dog, let alone Pit Bulls. Now it does depend on the breed and the dogs actions. Because just like APBTs are prone to dog aggression some dogs have natural instincts to guard or protect. However APBTs are not one of these breeds and should be PTS, as they pose a great risk to society and are extremely dangerous. They have a bad enough image because people use them for something they were not bred to do, guard work, and they don't know how to handle or control the dog or understand their never quit attitude. Guard/security or protection dogs should be properly trained animals suited for the work, they should have good, well balanced temperaments. They shouldn't be dogs with poor or incorrect thrown into some job because its mean and aggressive. I guess thats what people get the idea of "junkyard dog" or the mean vicious uncontrollable dog hicks keep on their junk car lots. But dogs shouldn't be like that and they real pro trainers will tell you how it is and how you select and properly train a dog. Its a lot of work to train them and you have to go back for lessons and keep them up to date on training, this is after selecting the right working dog for the job.

 

I would try to manage the problem through OB training, but I would never expect my dogs to not be animal aggressive. Training and socialization can help control, but not erase this natural instinct. Proper precautions, along with knowing your dog(s), and properly training them is the only way to go with this breed. In other words, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So, to answer the actual question, I would look at myself as an APBT owner to find out what I did wrong to allow the circumstances that led up to the attack, and fix whatever I did wrong (most likely not properly confining my dog). Of course, if it is someone else's pet, what to do is most likely going to be out of my hands.

 

the only thing id do is offer to pay for the other persons vet bills. otherwise, id do nothing. if my dog ever killed one of my cats then id just have to move on. i cant stop my dog from being a dog and doing doggy things. its funny how some humans expect animals to get along with one another when they cant even get along with their own species.

 

it would really, really depend for me. I AM an exprienced pit bull owner and of course I know MY dogs. It really depends on the situation. If it was an all out bite for no reason, i would put the dog to sleep - no doubt.

 

Chickee I'm wondering out to feel about your statement, we all have to do whats right for out own dogs. But what consitutes no reason? On the other board and from people I've known a dog "turning on" to them consitutes no reason, they totally dont expect it and then think the dog has snapped in the head. Which I'm sure you don't think like that and these would be unexperienced, but sometimes its hard to judge whats in the dogs mind or why they do things. They do have instincts and as I said I won't put mine down for it and I expect that usually sooner or later a bulldog is going to act dog aggressive, basically act like a bulldog even if you try to keep them from maturing. Not all do act this way but most I find will. The main reason it got me thinking is because of recent personal experience. I have two adult females, they have been generally fine with one another. They've even been in the house together, supervised of course. Sometimes they get jealous or want to play when the other dog is playing out in the yard and one has to wait in the kennel, but they've never done anything but bark saying "hey I want to play now" or whatever. Then about a month ago I was feeding/watering, ect. Well my red female is in a kennel on chain and my brindle female was outside on a chain next to the kennel. Normally they can't reach eachother even if they wanted. But I guess my red female had a bit of a growthy spurt, but anyway I didn't close the gate as I went in to water my red female. Normally they can't reach but with the gate open my brindle female would be down on at ground level instead of on her hind legs, this means she has more reach and my red female got a little bigger and has more reach now too. So anyway I realized I left the gate open, when I turned around, even though they don't usually act aggressive towards one another i still wanted to run over, pull my red female back in and close the gate. Well I'm going over but too late, they meet, they never growl, never act aggressive. Their faces just come right to eachother and they grab eachother, no "aggression" it seems and there seems to be no thought about it. They werent fighting/arguing before, acting aggressive. Well I wasn't going to run in for a breaking stick so I grabbed my red female and hung on for the ride, waited it out until they went for new hold and I could pull her back and close the kennel door. Well I never though anything about it, just excepted it as "normal" bulldog behavior and something that happens when you choose to own this breed. I just cleaned them up and cleaned myself up..lol I never thought about putting them to sleep and I won't, but there doesn't seem to be some reason behind there action. They lived happily for awhile, but the harmony just couldn't last forever. Now they can't ever be together without wanting to fight, but I just except that too. Now I'm not saying you're wrong, it just got me thinking because they didn't have a "reason" per sae, but the thought of putting them down never dawned on me.