My dog Neeko...what are people thinking?

It's sort of funny in a way. There are so many people that say do you know what would happen if she attacked?

She is the sweetest dog in the world. One time at a bar-b-que I got tired of the question and on impulse I broke off a piece of hamburger, called her over, put the hamburger in between my teeth and kneeled down. (I had never tried this before, it was just spontaneous) Neeko took the meat very slowly and gently like I knew she would.

Not only is she a sweet dog, other people and dogs can come into the yard and she doesnt freak out and bark up a storm. They can even eat and drink from her dishes. (the dogs, not the people, she does have limits). Even so, for some reason burglars have never been a problem.

Just wanted to say something positive about the great and noble (and silly) American Staffordshire Terrier!


- HandsOff

 

So what do you think would really happen if she attacked?

 

If you treat a dog bad it goes bad
terrier's have always gotten a bum deal especially good
ones like your's and good owners also
'pitbulls' that are trained to fight and get beat down are the ones that 'kill'
so in essence the owners should be put to sleep!!

 

Really!! It's the owners who goad, play mind games, and other sick treatment that causes the dogs to loose their love of man!

The owners are usually using the dog to make themselves feel strong or are bullies themselves, the dog is bewildered for awhile, but any living thing can only take so much abuse before they don't even care who they lash out at or attack!

 

Hi, I have been indisposed, but was not ignoring you. I think maybe even a bigger problem is that people are so egocentric they can't see what is bad behavior for a human, may be perfectly fine for a dog.

I don't know about other communities but here in the bay area we have numerous dog parks. In the dog park dogs can, and should be off-leash. In this way they get to run around and socialize. Inevitable there are altercations...just about every trip you see two dogs "appear" to be going at it. After a while you begin to realize that there is almost never any blood, or any real injury.

My point is I have never seen a dog actually try to kill another. Because of her intimidation factor, and peoples fears, I don't let Neeko indulge in that sport, but the times she has, it is the same as the others. An outward appearance of a vicious fight, but no dog actually hurt or bleeding. Considering her stregth, its pretty obvious to me what would happen if she were to attack. She would probably emerge the alpha of the pair, with neither one actually being hurt. When dogs fight, they seem to understand that the looser does not have to be completely ripped apart. Somehow its us humans that want more than just to win. I bet Neeko asks her self what would happen if I were to attack, knowing that humans seem to regard people which greater hostility then she has with other dogs.


-HandsOff

 

Pitbulls are banned in the province i live in, here in Canada,

http://rulingcatsanddogs.com/editors-pets-news-commentaries-Pitbulls-banned-in-Ontario.htm

I agree that punishing the owners would be the way to go IMHO....



snowbound

 

They are banned all over, i think some city's in my own county have banned them.

And the thing is that no actual thinking goes into these decisions.

If you ever try to look at statistics the things that you discover are these:

The score the highest of all breeds, with an average score of 98 out of 100 on a standard temperment test that dog pounds and the humane society use to determine if a dog is elegable to be adopted. They do things like walk the dog in an unfamiliar area and have a stranger jump out and open an umbrella towards you. The Amstaff will almost invariablly watch and wait to see what happens next. Lots of other types of dogs answer with either fear or agression.

It's difficult to get statistics on breeds and which ones bite the most because of the fact that many dogs who bit are simply called pit bulls, or pit bull mixed breed when in fact they are not.

I got familiar with the breed by accident because someone's mom had to be in the hospital for many months and I was asked to take care of the dog. I said no. They gave me the dog anyway. The rest is history. This dogs are so uplifting. They are always willing to play, to sleep, to watch tv. They never question the wisdom of their owners decisions. They are just plain goofy. Neeko will fall asleep standing up. And you can watch as she topples over. They both attack...sprinklers.

I used to be afraid of them, and did not know why. Finally I figured it out. They do something that is unsettling. They watch. put them in a new situation and instead of going berzerk, the watch and assess for long periods of time, expressions unreadable. Instead of being reassurred by their calm, I was scared of the unreadable part. Given what I read in the papers you can imagine what I assumed they were thinking. Here's a picture of my other "Fierce Pit Bull" Sonia.


- HandsOff