This is from a post of mine in the "Canada band Pit Bulls" thread. I hope it helps somewhat.
Ive lived in "that life" for many many years and have had many, many dogs, so please hear me out, all of you. And please bear in mind that Im not trying to make any case for or against Pit fighting. Im not trying to make anyone like or not like it or even agree with me. Im just trying to shed some light on some facts about this breed.
True fighting PitBulls DO NOT get "trained". Real fighting PitBulls are bred for a certain instinct called Gameness. Gameness is the spirit, or heart, in the dog that makes him alomst impervious to fear and probably even pain, judging from the wagging tails of the dogs Ive witnessed in the ring. Anyone who is part of that closed knit group of people that "trains" a dog is considred a joke.
Now on the other hand, the true part of that statement is that yes.....some morons DO try and train their Pits to be tough. These are the wannabes who get their dogs from the paper or from a breeder. True Pit people know that a real Pit owner never sells his dogs to the public. You cant get a real Pit out of the paper n matter what anyone says. Im NOT saying that you cant get a good dog out of the paper, Im saying that you're not going to get "the real thing". Nothing more, nothing less.
But anyways....yes. There are some who try and train them and its these dogs that are the ticking time bombs because they have not been bred properly, IE fighting. Yes....fighting. Like it or not, agree with it or not, these dogs have been bred for this purpose since before the Roman Empire. Not for looks, not for aggression, but for fighting spirit. To think that someone can breed out an instinct that has taken centuries to sit in is ridiculous. What ends up happening if you breed a non proven game Pit to another non proven dog is that you get a dog that still has fighting instincts, but maybe not gameness. That dog can and will attack a human.
But not a real proven bred fighting dog. See, the thing is is that TRUE fighting Pits are bred TO NOT HAVE AN AGRESSIVE INSTINCT.
Why? Aggression does NOTHING - NOTHING - in the ring. Agression means absolutely nothing in a fighting dog when its the heart, or spirit, of the dog - GAMENESS - that is what's so highly saught after. Gameness means that the dog WILL NOT QUIT under any circumstances. Aggression has no part in spirit. Aggression will not see that dog across the scratch line when he's losing. Gameness will. Any dog breeder that breeds for aggression is not allowed in this highly exclusive ring of people. Those breeders are jokes, like I said. Agression does not win fights. Gameness wins fights.
And on further note......there are 3 humans in the ring when the dogs fight. The purpose is to separate the dogs when they let each other go so that they can be taken to their respective corners and allowed to see if they want to continue. THERE ARE NO CATTLE PRODS to make the dogs continue. If one dog refuses, then its over. Plain and simple. Its called "curring out". If either dog is aggressive or has a tendancy to bite humans, that dogs is a danger to the humans in the ring when they are separated. I dont see how ANYONE can not see the relevancy there.
Second note. Before each fight, the dogs are washed and bathed by the opposing party. We wont go into why thats done cause I dont want this to be a "How to fight dogs Guide", but it goes to show that an aggressive dog would not allow anyone but his master to touch him. All Pits that show man biting tendancies are put down. Period.
To this extent, I will once again repeat what Ive said before. True fighting Pits are non aggressive. Sometimes they literaly have to be shielded for fear of being stolen. Ive seen many pictures of Grand Champions sleeping with the owners children.
Yep, the macho guy's who think it's cool to have an attack dog with the huge chains around it's neck, that hang old tires from trees and have the dogs attack them to build stonger jaws, throwing stray animals in their kennels after starving them, etc.
Exactly. While Ive never SEEN this in real life, I have no doubt that some wannabes do this. This is not done with a real Pit. I never did it, nor did any of the hundreds of people I met in that life do it. Like I said before, its gameness that is saught after. Making a dog vicious with these tactics isnt going to get you anywhere near a true ring of people. But yeah....it might make you look tough to the uneducated and ignorant. Or the people that believe everything in the news.
Pitbulls were known as a 'nurse maid' breed; by nature they should love children. Just like the pit you had, my pitbulls become totally different dogs when kids are around. It is amazing to see how pitbulls respond to kids.
Again I agree. Ive met several Grand Champions that were so gentle, their owners had to keep them inside the house. In case anyone is interested - not that anyone WOULD be but its FYI - a Grand Champion is a rare thing. A dog must win 5 fights to aquire that title. And no.....not 5 fights from neigborhood dogs, but from the very best in the world. Its not unusual to have fights between two separate states or even countries booked.
Let me just close with this. I willl touch again on something I said at the beginning. These dogs have been bred like this for centuries. But even amongst true fighters, there is a chance that a dog will come out aggressive. As I said, those are quickly put down. So for the common "animal loving" people to think that they can breed this fighting instinct out of these dogs and sell them in the newspapers is ridiculous. What happens is you have a dog that has buried fighting instincts, but not the heart of a true warrior. THIS IS THE DOG THAT ATTACKS HUMANS AND CHILDREN
When someone attempts to "breed the aggression" out of a Pit BEFORE seeing if the dog has true gameness, you have a much larger chance of getting a "cur", or coward dog, that still has fighting instincts. If you breed a dog that has no gameness.......you're asking for big trouble. And thats what happens with these dogs that are bought in the paper. These are the ticking time bombs. Its plain and simple: if you DONT want to fight your Pit, dont breed him or her because you absolutely, positively have NO idea what you have.
But the tough guy morons do this every day. Or they fight their dogs with dogs from the neighborhood for 15-30 minutes and say they are breedable. OR.....they breed them just because they have big heads or muscles. True fighting pits have no muscles. They dont even look like what most people think Pits look like. Mine never weighed more than 40 pounds and most looked like beagles with small heads. Go figure.
But after having said all that, there ARE some different types of Pits being bred nowadays for somethign other than fighiting. These dogs are HUGE. Over 100 pounds. They specialize in weight pulls, shutzhund, or security work. However, these dogs are sold only to select individuals because of the tendancy to abuse such power in a dog of this caliber. Here is a great example of this type of new Pit than Im talking about. Im myself am waiting on the right set of circumstances for getting one from them.
http://mammothpitbulls.com/ As you can see, this is not a dog for the amatuer.
So dont anyone take offense, Im not trying to put anyone down. Just thought Id shed some light on what you all are talking about from someone who does know. You dont have to like Pit fighting - or me for that matter - to learn something from this friendly little rant of mine. All knowledge is usefull.
), it moved me alot cuz I am a owner of 3 Staffies (pit bulls), it takes the lowest level of human being to abuse animals in such a way. People know so little about the breed. IMO (biased) pitties are the greatest breed of dog ever; they instinctively love children, they love everyone they meet. Sometimes they can be a handful around other dogs but their good qualities far exceed that their bad rep.
). I wish people who force such a cruel existance on these dogs could be ripped apart by the hounds of hell day after day after day after......
