Spotsylvania woman, dog attacked by pit bull owned by her son

It doesn’t take a big dog to kill or disfigure a child. Many, many instances of people being killed or injured by smaller dogs. Some examples:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2008/08/ok-police-blame.html

(black lab puppy eats 2 month old baby)

http://www.cirp.org/news/vanguard01-03-04/

(unspecified “small dog” disfigures a child)

There are also fatal cases which involved dachshunds and a yorkshire terrier. (wiener dogs and yorkies? who knew?)

Since 1975, over 30 different breeds have been responsible for fatal bites. According to this:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/dog3.pdf

German Shepherds, Chows, Collies, and Akidas are actually the most likely breeds to bite, per emergency room statistics.

Point is, any dog can be dangerous and, as a responsible owner, one should always be aware of what their dog may be capable of. Little does not equal not potentially dangerous.

Yes they are yappy dogs, but I have never had mine go after anyone, I raised my dogs to be around others, weather it be animals or people. To be perfectly honest with you when strangers appear they run for the hills, I think it all in how you train them, children, dogs its all the same when trying to raise them, if you want a mean dog then you will treat it mean, I’m no dog expert, I can only tell you about my dogs, and they are good dogs,

“people (owners in particular) have to be cognizant of the natural inclination of all dogs—not just pits—and to keep tight control of their animals.  Dog owners have to also understand that MANY people either don’t like dogs (any dog—or cats for that matter) or are very afraid of dogs (or cats), so they must therefore keep tight control of their animals at all times - no matter the breed or size”

This is what it comes down to. I saw just a couple of weeks ago a girl across the street letting her mini-doberman run around in the front yard while she went inside. When a kid on a bike with training wheels went by with his dad, that nasty little thing chased down the kid and was nipping at him. I thought, “Does she think that it’s acceptable just because she’s got a small dog?“

Truth is, any dog of any breed has the capacity to be menacing and responsible owners take measures to ensure that these types of incidences don’t occur. Between my pit and my jack russell, though, it’s the little one I worry about being aggressive. My pit is submissive to cats.

Jack - not necessarily to “defend” the pitbull, but to make a comment about their nature. I owned a pitbull for 15 years and although she was very gentle and friendly, the one thing that I noticed about her nature was that she became agitated by other animals (notice that many times when pits attack people there is usually another dog involved). My dog was always fine with people, but would become agitated when animals were around. Even with that said, I was ALWAYS very cognizant of either keeping her away from people or keeping tight control when she was around people, as well as animals because I realized that the natural inclination of many dogs (not just pits) is to be aggressive. So, I am not “defending pits”, but rather I just think that people (owners in particular) have to be cognizant of the natural inclination of all dogs—not just pits—and to keep tight control of their animals.  Dog owners have to also understand that MANY people either don’t like dogs (any dog—or cats for that matter) or are very afraid of dogs (or cats), so they must therefore keep tight control of their animals at all times - no matter the breed or size.

I can’t wait to see the posts start defending the Pit Bull. After all we all know they are a gentle breed.