You know, when I first read the OP, a little something in the back of my mind told me that no matter what we said, stats we showed, websites we referred, the OPer was going to come back at us with something like he did.  So here is my ‘real’ thoughts on the I.Q./career of choice of Pit Bull owners:

Who really cares?!?  As long as they can afford to take care of the pet, they could be scrounging for change for all I care.  I will totally own the responsibility of owning a ‘dengerous’ dog and I will whole heartedly admit I have made bad choices in my lifetime, but the one constant I’ve had are my pitties.  The comfort me when I’m sad, play with me when I’m happy, and they don’t hold anything against me (like my I.Q.<Which is actually somewhat above average> and my career choice) and their love is one that I’ve never saw with another dog I’ve owned.  Notice I keep saying ‘dog’ and not ‘breed’?  I do that because I am not responsible for anyone else’s pits.  I still teach my kids not to walk up to strange dogs, especially ones that are bigger than them, until we can determine if the dog is aggressive. 

I’ve done the research, saw the bad and the good and made a decision based on the information I’ve found as well as personal experiences.  I’ve had a dog for as long as I can remember and almost all of them have been big dogs.  I was raised with a German Sheppard named Bear, my father and mother ran a kennel and raised champion Rotts from the time I was about 6 until the last one passed away at the age of 13.  I was driving by that time.  I also owned a Saint Bernard. 

Anyway, I’m truly sorry for your closed-minded approach to this issue and I hope that someday you meet a wonderful pittie to change your mind.  It only takes one. =)

I just wanted to comment that my 3 year old just held a treat, commanded my 5 month old pit bull to sit (which she did) and then fed the small treat to her and patted her head.  If that’s vicious, I’d hate to see what friendly was.

I’m in Ashland!  Not a lot of people admit to having the dogs in Ohio because of the BSL. I know the county next to me they are banned. 

I must admit, when I read your post the emotional part of me took hold.  I then read all the replies and the emotion became logic.  You’re right in some aspects, there are people who own pit bulls for the ‘danger’ aspect and some because it’s ‘cool’ and others because (like most of the people I know from other sites I frequent) they love and RESPECT the individual dog they own. 

I personally do not know any lawyers, but I do know doctors that own pits.  My own doctor actually has 3 of them.  3 girls, all spayed and well taken care of/loved.  My mother in law is a Registered Nurse (Going to school to be a Nurse Practitioner) and she has owned Pit bulls for at least the last 30 years.  Each one of her children (My husband and his sister) were raised with a pit bull in the house.  Sometimes more than one.  I also don’t personally know any scientists. As far as my profession?  I am a Customer Service Agent for AT&T.

As far as how much someone makes a year, that I don’t know either because it’s none of my business to ask someone how much they make and I really don’t care.  So I may or may not know someone who makes over 100k who owns a pit bull. 

Now, I want to tell you that I am sorry for the loss of your cat.  It angers me that someone let their animal kill yours because it makes pit bull owners in general look bad and it was a preventable death.  I hope you get the justice you deserve for what happened with that.

About the ‘lock-jaw’ thing.  Like someone above me said, I can take anything out of my dogs mouth that I don’t want her to have because I am her Alpha.  She answers to me and she knows it.  I actually own 2 pit bulls.  One of them a pure APBT, the other a pit/lab mix.  Both females, only one spayed because the youngest is only 4 months old.  Once she hits 6 months, she too will be spayed.  Both of them were/are around other dogs/cats and my children.  Neither of them have ever shown any kind of aggression. 

I don’t do dog parks because there isn’t one in my town or within driving distance.  Instead, my neighbor and I (my puppy’s brother’s owner) take the pups and their mother to my mother in law’s farm and let them run and play there with her Jack  Russel.  As far as exercise in the town I live in, I follow all leash laws and other restrictions (pooper scoopers etc.) and I’ve never had a problem.  Other dogs will bark at mine, but mine pay them no mind.  They have one thing on their mind on our walks.  Walking with me and enjoying the outdoors.  They go everywhere with me. 

I reccomend that you take a look at the link posted above (if you haven’t already) and see the breed statistics. 

Watch her body language around the people she growls/barks at.  Has anything changed in the household?  Does she seem nervous or scared or uneasy at all?  An aggressive dog  is usually a scared dog.  Is she in heat or spayed? There are a lot of compnents that can go into a dog suddenly becoming aggressive.  It’s defintely something that can be fixed.  A wonderful group that I go to often is “The Dumb Friends League”.  They are great with answering questions and helping with behavior problems. 

Good luck with her, I hope you get everything figured out.

Hello everyone!  I’m new to the community but I wanted to share my 2-cents on some things I read here. 

First, Rebeccajoshuaoshea, what we did when we had out pit before our baby was bring a blanket home from the hospital before the baby so Chiba(the dog) could smell it and learn the new smell in the house.  We also made the baby’s room off limits.  When we did bring Emma home, Chiba welcomed her with a sniff then went back to her spot on the couch.  She would actually wake me up if Emma was running a fever or something during the night and we were all sleeping (Emma included). 

tere047, I would have called the police and reported a threat.  Nobody is going to shoot my dog in my own back yard. 

Also, my friends had little dogs when we were little and I was scared of them.  They would growl and bite.  My family had Rotts and they never showed teeth to anyone unless you threatened a member of our family.  One of my friends actually had her nose bitten off by her Shi’tzu.  That was never in the news.

My pit is still a puppy so when we are walking, she still has the ‘puppy appeal’ but some people still look at me like I’m crazy.  People ask me if she’s a Boxer a LOT.  I always tell them she’s a Pit, and their demeanor with her changes.  All she wants is love.