Lol. I had to write a persuasive paper for an english class I took. I chose to argue the point that pits make great family pets. There are a couple points that I focused on. First was the nurture/nature argument. There is a lot of evidence that agression issues in most breeds is the result of their up bringing, rather than genetic predisposition. Second, there is a large amount of info regarding pits historical background. They originated in Europe. It was believed that the meet from bulls was more tender if the bull was baited and made to fight to the death. Pits are a sort of conglomerate of several breeds that posessed traits that made them superb for this purpose. They were bred to be strong, EXTREMELY loyal, hearty, and to work in pairs or threes. They were NOT bred for human, or dog on dog agression. After the baiting of bulls became less popular, they were bred to bait bears on hunts so that the hunters could get a good shot. The pit has a lot of historic value to our country as well. Stubby the war dog was a decorated veteran in WWII. There were also SEVERAL brands that used the immage of a pit to represent durability, strength and loyalty. There are also a few kids shows, Petey in the Little Rascals, for one, Chance in Homeward Bound, and a few more, who portreyed pits as the ultimate partner in crime for children. It’s only in recent years that pits have fallen out of the lime light and have been portreyed by the media as viscious. Thirdly, I used statistics and testimonials to back up my point. The American Temperament Test Society’s web site is a great place to look up temperament test statistics. This web site is a great place to get first hand testimonials. I will be the first to say that, as a pit owner, I have a little bit more responsibility than the owner of a Toy Poodle. However, I have never seen a dog that’s better with kids! They have a high pain tollerance and LOVE to play. My kids dress our dog up, ride him, pull his tail, feet and ears, they climb hills and go adventuring with him and he loves following them down slides. He’s not totally friendly to just any stranger (he’s not so fond of large men who approach the kids, or of women who stick their hand in the back window of our car when we aren’t in it,) but I know that he would protect me and my kids to the death and he would play with my kids till his lungs collapsed! He is the ultimate family dog and I trust him with my life and those of my family. Plus, he’s just so flippin cute that you can’t resist loving him! 😉
