Well, this is the important snippet for me:

In spite of the introduction of some bad breeding practices in the last 15 years or so, the vast majority of APBTs remain very human-friendly. The American Canine Temperament Testing Association, which sponsors tests for temperament titles for dogs, reported that 95% of all APBTs that take the test pass, compared with a 77% passing rate for all breeds on average. The APBT's passing rate was the fourth highest of all the breeds tested.

for the most part i don't like dogs. attack dogs i like even less than regular dogs.

about 10 years ago my dad and stepmom got a pitbull. i was totally affraid of the thing and it made me uncomfortable to be in their house with it. they kept saying she was harmless and i kept saying pit bulls attack people.

10 years later i have really grown to like this dog. she is very friendly and has not attacked anyone. when i go over to their house i play ball with her in the yard and feel totally comfortable.

i'm still going to say crap as i know i would get uncomfortable if one i did not know was walking towards me unleashed.

My sis runs a shelter for abused pit bulls in missouri. I have to say, I thought they were all vicious horrible creatures until I spent some time around them. I have come to learn they are by far the nicest, wimpiest dogs you are likely to come across.
All they wanna do is lick you and wag their tail.
I have to confess there's that little voice in the back of my head every time I'm down there playing with them, telling me it's only a matter of time till one rips my face off but it hasn't happened yet. Nothing even remotely scary has ever happened with them, and she has probably 20 at a time there, and these have all been fucked with and abused before she got em...all just sweet, nice dogs.
My sis seems to think these dogs are way more in tune with the emotions of the people around them than any other type of dog so maybe that has something to do with them freaking out from time to time. Being raised by assholes, or in a fucked up situation where people are always yelling and pissed might affect them a little more than the average dog.

I'm suprised to see all the hatred for pit bulls here. Some of it is a bit reactionary, but I'm not irritated the way I am when people crack on Rotweillers.

There is a big movement here in various parts of Colorado to have them banned because it seems like every couple of weeks, one of them bits a child or eats somebody's poodle. It sounds trite, but a lot of it really does depend on the owner. Unfortunately, pits are easy to screw up. How do you guys feel about heavy regulation? Things like mandatory classes and checkups.

Angus Jung wrote:But the story told above has played itself out too many times for me to ever trust pit bulls as a breed. These dogs will be perfect for years and years and years and then they will snap for no apparent reason.

When it's a well-raised pit bull, they almost always snap in an attempt to protect. I very rarely, if ever, hear of one snapping at a family member.

No pit bull owner, no matter how responsible they are, can convince me that their dog won't snap, or that they will be able to control their dog when it does.

Nothing I can say in their defense can trump this. This is why I don't feel comfortable even having a mix. Our local Humane Society has what seems like 2/3 mixes in their inventory as a whole and the pit resemblence is almost always in the face, which contains the jaw, which is what can do the insane amounts of damage.

I think they are sweet, kid-friendly animals, but I will cop to having too many reservations to own one.

Linus Van Pelt wrote:

John W. wrote:Do you think they should all be put to sleep?

I didn't read the whole thing - looked interesting, though. I wouldn't advocate putting them all to sleep, no. But if they could all be neutered, then within 10 or 15 years, there wouldn't be any left. Obviously, that's an impossible goal, but I would regard that as a good solution to strive for.

Yeah, come on Linus, lets gas the fuckers!

Chapter Two wrote:

Linus Van Pelt wrote:

John W. wrote:Do you think they should all be put to sleep?

I didn't read the whole thing - looked interesting, though. I wouldn't advocate putting them all to sleep, no. But if they could all be neutered, then within 10 or 15 years, there wouldn't be any left. Obviously, that's an impossible goal, but I would regard that as a good solution to strive for.

Yeah, come on Linus, lets gas the fuckers!

But

I wrote:I wouldn't advocate putting them all to sleep, no. But if they could all be neutered, then within 10 or 15 years, there wouldn't be any left.

I really dislike just about every dog out there- I think there has been one that I genuinely didn't mind having around me.

But, I have to give a qualified not crap to pit bulls. Not because i like them or think that every jerkoff who has one should. I assume that they would be an excellent guard dog, right? If I got some shit that I don't want people messing with, Pit Bull is the way to go.

Family with 3 kids- pit bull as a family pet? I hope he takes you out first pal.

Tom wrote:If I got some shit that I don't want people messing with, Pit Bull is the way to go.

If you want a dog for a specific purpose, it seems like you should get a dog that was bred for that purpose. There are dogs bred to guard. Chow chows, maybe dobermans, you could look it up. The pit bull was not bred to guard. I'm not saying the pit bull is a lousy guard dog, I'm just saying it's suboptimal, like buying an SUV solely because you want to haul shit. No, get a pickup truck.

Linus Van Pelt wrote:

Tom wrote:If I got some shit that I don't want people messing with, Pit Bull is the way to go.

If you want a dog for a specific purpose, it seems like you should get a dog that was bred for that purpose. There are dogs bred to guard. Chow chows, maybe dobermans, you could look it up. The pit bull was not bred to guard. I'm not saying the pit bull is a lousy guard dog, I'm just saying it's suboptimal, like buying an SUV solely because you want to haul shit. No, get a pickup truck.

Sure, but there have been plenty of instances where something has had a better use than what it was intended for. Again, I'm speaking for ignorance here, as I don't know if pit bulls also possess the other qualities needed for a guard dog.
In addition, if someone knows you have a pit bull in your yard, that in itself is a deterrant, possible more so than a german shepard or another guarding dog.

If the holocaust had never happened, but the jews had all been sterilised, would the nazis have been better in your eyes?

Destroying an entire species of animal for the sake of making human life safer is, to my mind, really fucked up. This goes for mosquitos, so it sure as hell goes for dogs too.