Living next to a Pit Bull

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did u say Doberman...

I never had a pit but we have do have a dobi. Another breed that gets a bad wrap. I admit, I was resistant when Hubby wanted her. I was an unknowing breedest, which is funny bc my old man is 130lb black dog that people cross the street from when we're walking.

Turns out she's the sweetest baby girl I've ever known and I learned a lot about myself from getting her.



Talk to the neighbors, all of them to get a feel for the situation and consider putting up a better fence if you really want the house.

Pit Bulls are illegal in the UK and so this would not be an issue, they are covered by the dangerous dogs act.

me too.

Any dog can become unpredictable. A dog whose physical characteristics are massive jaw and rippling muscles just has more potential for damage if/when it does become aggressive. However, the breed that takes the award for the most bites to humans is....... drum roll please.........Dachshund. Followed by Chihuahua and Jack Russel. See, these breeds are far more likely to be nervous little twitchers, and they bite a lot more often. It's just that when a pit bites, the results are a lot worse.

And the number reason people go to the hospital for an animal bite is because of cat bites not dog bites. Yes, APBTs can do damage when they bite, so can a lab, chow chow, German shepard, bull mastiff or any other large dog.

Tests that have been done comparing the bite pressure of several
breeds showed pressure PSI (per square inch) to be considerably lower
than some wild estimates that have been made. Testing has shown that
the domestic dog averages about 320 lbs of pressure per square inch.
Recently Dr. Brady Barr of National Geographic conducted a comparative
test between a Pit Bull, a Rottweiler, and a German Shepherd. The Pit
Bull had the LOWEST PSI OF THE THREE.

The highest pressure recorded from the Pit Bull was 235 lbs PSI. The
highest from the GSD was 238, and the highest from the Rott was 328.
Dr. Barr states that as far as he knows, the PSI tested in the Rott is the
highest on record for any domestic canine.

http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html

to the OP - i would definitely talk to all the neighbors about all kinds of stuff. other kids in the neighborhood, vehicle traffic, everythinnng! but for sure the neighbor with the dog. im also curious what agressive behavior was shown - was it just barking through the fence? it may be that the house has been empty for a while and the dog isnt used to people being there.

Im going to edit this next comment a bit to show just how silly it is (not meant to be racist, just in case someone tries to throw that out there) - changed words/phrases are in *'s

I believe I'd find another house. I am a *people* lover (tho I like the *llittle people*) and all my friends have multiple *people* in their homes. I *baby* sit ALL sizes of *people* but *mexicans* are a breed apart.
ANYONE who says these *people* are not dangerous is delusional or a liar. Even the best *mexican person* can be unpredictable. My friend had a *mexican person* in her home with other *people and kids* for years. One day that *mexican person* went nuts & nearly killed her *kid* - turned out, he had a brain tumor.
They are just too large & strong for anyone to think they have any type of control over this *person*. You do not. ANY illness, disease or stomach disorder - a bad mood could cause this *race of people* to go viral.
I give them a wide berth - of all the *people* in the world, I wouldn't mind at all if *mexicans* went extinct

now really - you cant judge a whole race of people based on the actions of few. just like you cant judge an entire breed of dog based on the actions of some - especially when the majority of the time its improper training. Blame the owners, not the dog.
we're looking to adopt a rescue dog..shes a American Staffordshire Terrier/American Bulldog Mix. most gentle, calm dog ive ever met. was great with my young kids when we went to see her. shes also good with cats and other dogs (her foster home has both, and children). im really looking forward to adding her to our family.

I believe I'd find another house. I am a dog lover (tho I like the lap dogs) and all my friends have multiple dogs. I dog sit ALL sizes of dogs but Pit Bulls are a breed apart.
ANYONE who says these dogs are not dangerous is delusional or a liar. Even the best pit bull can be unpredictable. My friend had a pit in her home with other cats & dogs for years. One day that pit went nuts & nearly killed her cat - turned out, he had a brain tumor.
They are just too large & strong for anyone to think they have any type of control over this dog. You do not. ANY illness, disease or stomach disorder - a bad mood could cause this dog to go viral.
I give them a wide berth - of all the animals in the world, I wouldn't mind at all if Pit Bulls went extinct

let's keep the polar bears & extinct pit bulls =D

Disagree
I grww up with dogs and in all fairness, the little oens are more vicious! They just don't do as much harm and don't get reported as much. Take the dachshound for example, very own mind and I know one that would make grown up people curl up on a table and pray...

Every dog is unpredictable, and whoever came up witht eh idea of saying my dog won't do that... rubbish. If stressed out enough or untrained or or or... there is so much that can set a dog off.

Go and talk to neighbours in general, see what the crime statistics are in the area, do a bit of research. Chances are that you find out it might not be the best of neighbourhoods

I believe I'd find another house. I am a dog lover (tho I like the lap dogs) and all my friends have multiple dogs. I dog sit ALL sizes of dogs but Pit Bulls are a breed apart.
ANYONE who says these dogs are not dangerous is delusional or a liar. Even the best pit bull can be unpredictable. My friend had a pit in her home with other cats & dogs for years. One day that pit went nuts & nearly killed her cat - turned out, he had a brain tumor.
They are just too large & strong for anyone to think they have any type of control over this dog. You do not. ANY illness, disease or stomach disorder - a bad mood could cause this dog to go viral.
I give them a wide berth - of all the animals in the world, I wouldn't mind at all if Pit Bulls went extinct

let's keep the polar bears & extinct pit bulls =D

Oh ... and polar bears are so incredibly sweet and loving.

Did you not read the story about the polar bear(s) that attacked the group of campers? Killed 2 or 3 of them and severely injured the others?

I've yet to hear a story about a pit bull who ripped open a tent, grabbed people out of it, and savagely attacked them.


I say. Keep the pits - at least you can teach them train them, and have them in your home. And honestly? I don't worry that a pit is considering me as his next meal.

1. How do these conversations get so stupid? Yes a frickin Dachsund is the number one biter in the USA. But find me how man people the weinger dog has mauled, killed, or torn the face of off. None. A weiner dog might...MIGHT give you a couple of stiches.

2. Yes, other big dogs have the bite force that can equal a Pit. Bit force is directly proportionate to the size of the dogs head. An English Masitff almost doubles the bite force of a pitbull. The difference is tenacity. Normal dogs, even breeds that can be aggressive like German Shepards or Dolbermans, do not have the work ethic of a Pit Bull. Not even close. The tenacity of a Pit is legendary, that is why the absolutley demolish every other dog in their weight class in weight pull competitions. No quit in them. That is the problem when they fight, and that is why they are not used by the police and make horrible security dogs. When they attack they bite. Then they bite. Again. Again. They lock down that jaw, and they aren't going to quit.

So little Daisy, the cute 50 lb Pit you've had for 5 years, the one who plays with your kids, lives side by side with a cat, curls up in your lap like a big baby.....well, a weiner dog that was misbehaving snipped at her out side, and precious daisy just clamped down on her skull, crushing bone and brain matter, and now little daisy is shaking the dead body back and forth, blood and spittle pooring out of her mouth. Now, you can make the case that it wasn't Daisy's fault, the weiner dog attacked her, but does it matter now? Replace the weiner dog with a 3 year old who doesn't no any better and hits Daisy with a stick.

1. How do these conversations get so stupid? Yes a frickin Dachsund is the number one biter in the USA. But find me how man people the weinger dog has mauled, killed, or torn the face of off. None. A weiner dog might...MIGHT give you a couple of stiches.

2. Yes, other big dogs have the bite force that can equal a Pit. Bit force is directly proportionate to the size of the dogs head. An English Masitff almost doubles the bite force of a pitbull. The difference is tenacity. Normal dogs, even breeds that can be aggressive like German Shepards or Dolbermans, do not have the work ethic of a Pit Bull. Not even close. The tenacity of a Pit is legendary, that is why the absolutley demolish every other dog in their weight class in weight pull competitions. No quit in them. That is the problem when they fight, and that is why they are not used by the police and make horrible security dogs. When they attack they bite. Then they bite. Again. Again. They lock down that jaw, and they aren't going to quit.

So little Daisy, the cute 50 lb Pit you've had for 5 years, the one who plays with your kids, lives side by side with a cat, curls up in your lap like a big baby.....well, a weiner dog that was misbehaving snipped at her out side, and precious daisy just clamped down on her skull, crushing bone and brain matter, and now little daisy is shaking the dead body back and forth, blood and spittle pooring out of her mouth. Now, you can make the case that it wasn't Daisy's fault, the weiner dog attacked her, but does it matter now? Replace the weiner dog with a 3 year old who doesn't no any better and hits Daisy with a stick.

Any dog CAN attack another. Any. I have a lab/beagle that has dog aggression issues. Yep. A LAB/BEAGLE mix. Those are friendly breeds, no? Yet, he sees another dog and wants to rip their head off. We got him from the Humane Society as a 7 month old puppy. It was NEVER mentioned to us that he had this trait in him (perhaps they didn't know - I'm not sure). But, he turns into a snarly, ugly, aggressive dog when around other dogs.

And let me tell you - he won't back off if he tries to get at another dog. We've learned what we need to know to control him (and his environment - you'll never see us at PetsMart with him!), but I can assure you if another dog gets within his reach (he's chained up and monitored while outside going potty) - that dog is history.

He's a lab/beagle. Labs are known to be some of the friendliest dogs. Beagles are friendly and loyal. Isn't a bit of pit bull in him.

The point is ANY dog can be aggressive. Any dog can go after another dog with the goal of killing it. Not just a pit.

Once again, people want to label pits as "terrible" when in reality MANY dogs out there have the SAME characteristics (or can have them) and we simply overlook them because I talked to someone who knew someone who knew someone who had a horrible issue with a pit bull.

Ugh.

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and that is why they are not used by the police
<snip>

not true.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6625698
"The K9 unit consists of a variety of dogs, including bloodhounds and German shepherds, but the most recent member of the force is a very loving, very friendly pit bull.
A pit bull named Elliot Ness is anything but untouchable. Loving and friendly, these traits keep most pit bulls from being good police dogs.
"The main problem we're finding with pit bulls is that they're too darn nice. All they want to do is just sit at your feet or crawl in your lap. They're very nice dogs," said Deborah Thedos, Cook County K9 Unit."

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8151222
"Little by little she says the idea of Pit Bulls are police dogs is catching on. "We have several working in Washington on ferries and in several counties right now. At first there was a lot of prejudice but now that the officers have the dogs they don't want any other dog," says Jessup."

<snip>
and that is why they are not used by the police
<snip>

not true.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6625698
"The K9 unit consists of a variety of dogs, including bloodhounds and German shepherds, but the most recent member of the force is a very loving, very friendly pit bull.
A pit bull named Elliot Ness is anything but untouchable. Loving and friendly, these traits keep most pit bulls from being good police dogs.
"The main problem we're finding with pit bulls is that they're too darn nice. All they want to do is just sit at your feet or crawl in your lap. They're very nice dogs," said Deborah Thedos, Cook County K9 Unit."

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8151222
"Little by little she says the idea of Pit Bulls are police dogs is catching on. "We have several working in Washington on ferries and in several counties right now. At first there was a lot of prejudice but now that the officers have the dogs they don't want any other dog," says Jessup."

A small percentage, and not catching on. Limited eye sight compared to canines with longer noses and field of vision and sub standard smell. Yes, miles ahead of humans, miles behind dogs capable of bomb sniffing. No dog will replace the shepards as the go to canine for police work.

oh. ok. so the person in the 2nd article is lying. gotcha.
point wasnt to start an debate about the best breed for police dogs and why. just pointing out your statement wasnt correct.

Love my dogs, 2 pitbulls but they are still animals. Just depends on how they were raised I guess.

Honestly the more I have thought about this the more I think I will keep looking. The neighbor wasnt very nice when he came out and yelled at the dog 'what the hell are you barking at?'. The yard was in disarray as well.

sounds like it would be best to keep looking. i wish you luck! we looked for 7 months before we found the right house for us. very stressful, but so wonderful when you finally find what youre looking for ;D

The breed is unimportant here, the behavior is what matters, more importantly, in my experience, neighborhoods where pits are used as status symbols one shouldn't allow their kid to play outside unsupervised anyway. My pit can seem aggressive when people approach me outside or my apartment, she's supposed to, we trained her that way. She won't actually attack anyone, she's never bitten anyone, even the obnoxious kid my old roommate used to baby sit, this kid would put her fingers in my dogs mouth and she'd just spit them out and look annoyed. Talk to the owners if you want.

My neighbors bought a pit bull (that was trained to be a watch dog) because of burglaries in our neighborhood. I was only concerned because of it's training. I warned my older boys not to let their little brother and sister play outside on their own. My daughter was probably as tall as the dog, and I was so afraid of her getting bit in the face. The night after my neighbors got the dog, it was back to school night, and my older boys were babysitting, I warned them again before I left.
I had turned off the ringer while I was in the school, when I looked at my phone as I was leaving, I had 10 missed calls from my son. I was about to call him when he called me. He was hysterical crying. I knew immediately it was that damn dog. All I could think of was that it bit one of my younger kids. My son told me they were all sitting on the porch outside when the dog came running up the stairs and grabbed our cat, Kiki, that was right there with him. The dog basically bit the Kiki's head off in front of all the kids. The neighbors had let their 8 year old son take this huge watch dog for a walk! Within seconds he lost control of the dog. We are very lucky that none of the kids got hurt, but they were all traumatized by what they saw. Kiki was the best cat ever.
The neighbors were extremely apologetic and got rid of the dog the next day.

Although that was a horrible experience with a pit, it was the way he raised and his training. My friend raises blues and his dogs are the gentlest, most friendly, well-behaved dogs. My kids have ridden on his dogs backs when they were younger.

Wow! I'm so sorry that happened to you! That's bad for all the kids involved as well as the cat and dog. Those parents should be charged for having put their dog, never mind their child, in that position. It's hard to understand what people will do to animals and children.

1. How do these conversations get so stupid? Yes a frickin Dachsund is the number one biter in the USA. But find me how man people the weinger dog has mauled, killed, or torn the face of off. None. A weiner dog might...MIGHT give you a couple of stiches.

2. Yes, other big dogs have the bite force that can equal a Pit. Bit force is directly proportionate to the size of the dogs head. An English Masitff almost doubles the bite force of a pitbull. The difference is tenacity. Normal dogs, even breeds that can be aggressive like German Shepards or Dolbermans, do not have the work ethic of a Pit Bull. Not even close. The tenacity of a Pit is legendary, that is why the absolutley demolish every other dog in their weight class in weight pull competitions. No quit in them. That is the problem when they fight, and that is why they are not used by the police and make horrible security dogs. When they attack they bite. Then they bite. Again. Again. They lock down that jaw, and they aren't going to quit.

So little Daisy, the cute 50 lb Pit you've had for 5 years, the one who plays with your kids, lives side by side with a cat, curls up in your lap like a big baby.....well, a weiner dog that was misbehaving snipped at her out side, and precious daisy just clamped down on her skull, crushing bone and brain matter, and now little daisy is shaking the dead body back and forth, blood and spittle pooring out of her mouth. Now, you can make the case that it wasn't Daisy's fault, the weiner dog attacked her, but does it matter now? Replace the weiner dog with a 3 year old who doesn't no any better and hits Daisy with a stick.

Any dog CAN attack another. Any. I have a lab/beagle that has dog aggression issues. Yep. A LAB/BEAGLE mix. Those are friendly breeds, no? Yet, he sees another dog and wants to rip their head off. We got him from the Humane Society as a 7 month old puppy. It was NEVER mentioned to us that he had this trait in him (perhaps they didn't know - I'm not sure). But, he turns into a snarly, ugly, aggressive dog when around other dogs.

And let me tell you - he won't back off if he tries to get at another dog. We've learned what we need to know to control him (and his environment - you'll never see us at PetsMart with him!), but I can assure you if another dog gets within his reach (he's chained up and monitored while outside going potty) - that dog is history.

He's a lab/beagle. Labs are known to be some of the friendliest dogs. Beagles are friendly and loyal. Isn't a stick of Pit in.

The point is ANY dog can be aggressive. Any dog can go after another dog with the goal of killing it. Not just a pit.

Once again, people want to label pits as "terrible" when in reality MANY dogs out there have the SAME characteristics (or can have them) and we simply overlook them because I talked to someone who knew someone who knew someone who had a horrible issue with a pit bull.

Ugh.

Nope, once again.....this was stupid. I have already given the breed praise. I have already stated that there are many great pits out there. But comparing your lab/beagle mix to a pit in the aggression department show that you are being purposely biased. Your lab/beagle, attacks me, I can kill it without breaking a sweat. As a matter of fact, the stubborness you think is the equivalent of a pits will evaporate once I snap a bone. A pit, however will keep coming and coming. I can snap it's leg. Still fights. I can stab it. Still fights. I can shatter it's ribs. Still fights.

All these people living in la la land keep insisting that this is the same, it's not. Yes, every breed, some more than pits, can have aggressive issues. But I am talking about what happens after the fight starts. The pit was bred to endure. To never quit. To fights through pain, through wounds. It is one of the only animals on the planet that has no thought of survival in a fight. It fights to win. It is determined it will pay the ultimate price just to win the fight. Your beagle/lab will not do that.

The whole point to my post is that ANY dog can be aggressive. ANY dog can have aggression issues. NOT just a pit. And while a pit may have a strong jaw - other dogs have strong jaws too (as another poster showed). So, saying that a pit is the only dog that can kill or the only dog that won't let go in a fight is incorrect. I've seen other breeds of dogs who got ahold of something, lock their jaw and refuse to let go. You may think their grip isn't as tight as pit bulls (and that may be true), but if that is your arm or a child's neck - it won't really matter if it's "not as tight" of a grip. Most dogs - if aggressive - aren't going to let go of their "prey". I don't care if they are a lab, a Shepard or a pit.

Good for you for giving the breed praise. But, I truly think you are turning a blind head to the fact that ANY dog can bite to kill. Any dog.

Like I said, I had a Chow as a child and that dog was so mean. He was a horrible biter. You say something about a pit continuing when hurt - this Chow would hold its bite no matter what. My dad was trying to get the dog off my mom, hitting it, etc and that dog held its grip. Quite honestly? I saw the damage our Chow could do to someone (he bit my mom and it was awful). It showed me that ANY dog and ANY breed can bite to kill and not to judge simply on a breed, but on the dog's personality.
And personally, I think it's stupid of you to assume that all other dogs would let go if you hurt them and a pit wouldn't. I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt that our Chow wouldn't let go - regardless of what you did to it. Once he got ahold of you, he wasn't letting go.

So, please. Give me a break when stating something is true about ALL dogs except the Pit. You can't say that this or that will or won't happen.