I was just wondering if there are any people on here that share their homes and hearts with American Pit Bull Terriers. I have 2 Pits and I love them very much. It's hard to find people that actually share my opinion of this breed. My female is 3 years old and my male is soon to be 2. They are the BEST dogs that I have ever owned! Anyone else have this breed?
Click to view attachment My Male, Dipstick
Click to view attachment My Female, Brownie

Hi there:

I'm not sure that I share your same enthusiasm as you do but I know my sister is head-over-heals for pit bulls. She's not the kind of person who would log in and chat but she would stand right beside you in your love for them.

I do believe we have a few pit bull owners on the forum The first person that pops into my head is Snugglbutt. I'm not sure if she has one right now, but she is a total fan of pit bulls and has a lot of experience with them.

We owned two pits. They were my uncle's when I lived with him and my grandma. I loved ours dearly, but he switched to English Staffordshire Bull Terriers after they were gone, just because of all the stigma attached to them, and people not really understanding what makes a dog "vicious" besides their breed. So sad.

I wish more people would give this breed a chance. My 2 Pits are so spoiled! They love my daughter to death! I cannot even play with her without the dogs "watching" me!! My dad is convinced that my dogs are going to hurt Madison but I have a little story to tell that "hopefully" will shine the light on how these dogs really are...

Last month, Madison was out in the yard (fenced) with both of the dogs, my husband and I were in the house, getting ready to go out for dinner. Madison came in the back door and Brownie is with her. Madison tells me that a snake bit Brownie and I believed her, we live right next to woods and a creek. As I examined Brownie, I noticed that her tail was bleeding VERY bad. While my hubby was outside looking for the "snake" he found a pair of hedge clippers with Brownie's blood and fur on them. Madison had went up behind Brownie and literally cut her tail almost off. As bad as this MUST have hurt Brownie, the dog never even offered to bite Madison. It may just be my opinion, but that is a great dog!! After a trip to the emergency vet and $530, Brownie has healed nicely and she still follows Madison everywhere she goes!

I love dogs a lot but I don't have any anymore...I do think the pit bull terrier is a beautiful and wonderful dog....I wouldn't mind to own one, but at my age, I can't consider having one....
Your pit bulls are very healthy looking and I have to say they sure are a nice looking dog...I just love that face...

I don't own one (currently) but it would def be a breed I would consider in the future. I to have know many that would just melt you heart!! I worked in a vets office for years.... and I can honestly say I have had more breeds labeled as a "family" dog try an bite me then a Pitt. Their intelligence and loyalty are far superior then many breeds out there.

Ditto! I too worked in vet clinics many years, and mostly Chihuahuas and Jack Russels tried to bite me!!

We have a few friends that have pits, and another friend that has a hound/lab mix. Whenever we get together, everyone brings their dogs to play with each other. If you watch them all for a little while, it becomes very clear that the lab mix (Riley) is top dog, and all 3 pits submit to her. It is the funniest thing to watch, because the pits outweigh Riley by far, but still, she is top dog.

They are some of the sweetest dogs I've ever met, and don't deserve the reputation that they get. Though, I have to admit, if I ever owned a pit, even if it was a complete pushover, I would still feel much safer simply because of their reputation - it's a good deterrent!

I am huge dog enthusiast and own a bullmastiff, and had a boxer-my spirit half-he is missed deeply every day. I have met some great bullies as well as Rotties and Shepherds and Dobies. All of these dogs get the bad rap due to their parents mis handling-sometimes unintentionally. A book by the Monks of New Skeet explain it best. Dogs are pack animals and from day one they have to understand that they are "Beta" and you are "Alpha".. when these rolls blur or switch is when things can go very bag. HOWEVER, remember that all animals have basic instinct that they have no control over so you do not either. I NEVER trusted my boxer with children-under my supervision_because he was a rescue dog and had an "incident" with a 10 month old(no really his fault) And although Emma my bullmastiff is sweet as can be, I realize that there is at least 10% of her That reacts by instinct,so she can not be totally trusted either. If properly raised and understood most dogs behave well. Its when they are mistreated ot misunderstood that "accidents" happen. I know lots of incidents that explains....But I do love all bully breeds!!

Yes they are!! We left our house one day to do some shopping and when we came home, our front door was wide open. Someone had tried to break in but they obviously came toe-to-toe with Brownie and they re-thought their decision!!! Brownie was sitting on the porch, on "guard duty" when we returned!

i had a beautiful short and stocky female brindle named annie after i graduated high school
i was in a really crappy relationship and one night at his place he hit me - i had annie over with me because i was staying the night and she attacked him
she could have totally killed him but she just clamped down on his arm and ankle (when he tried to kick her)
i have never been more proud of a dog than i was that night lol

she was stolen a couple of years later
i have no proof who but there were very few people she would allow near her without me around...and one just dissapeared after she was stolen
grrrrr

anyhow - i dont have any dogs now (so sad) but i love pits...they are steadfastly loyal and love to please
and as was said before the whole deterrent factor is a big bonus

i think once i buy a house in a few years i would like to have a bull terrier (the spuds mackenzie dogs)
i love their silly looking heads/faces

I think they are fantastic dogs! I have never owned one, but I have known enough. They are an intelligent and extremely loyal,devoted breed. This is what allows them to be exploited by evil people - they will do anything to make their owner happy. I think the little breeds are some of the most bitey - its under-reported because they are minor bites and people were problem feel stupid calling in a bite from a 5# dog.

I absolutely LOVE this breed! I was scared of them for the longest time. All I ever heard was how bad they were but once I actually agreed to adopt one, my heart went out to them! I feel so bad about the way they are treated and people think the only solution is to kill and ban all Pit Bulls. I cannot stand how some people judge these dog and yet, these people have never even been around one of these dogs. My own step mom will not come in my house unless the dogs are outside. She has never had a bad experience with this breed, she just believes everything she hears.

I forgot!!! Here is my tatoo of my male, Dipstick!
Click to view attachment

Love that tattoo
I've never had a pitbull, but my boyfriend's family has 3 ridgebacks and I can't help but be tickled by the reactions from uninformed people when I tell them. My mum is terrified every time she comes around because she thinks their hackles are raised. Even when I've told her different, she would rather believe all the drama in the newspapers and on tv! Funny thing is, these dogs are all just gentle giants. They are loyal, incredibly intelligent, have their own distinctive characters, and even if you try to rough-house with them, they won't even play-bite back. Ignorance is a curse. Isn't it funny how the only bites I've ever received from dogs are from ill-tempered terriers who look like teddy bears? Who win the 'cutest pet' competitions in the local papers. People are so quick to judge.

I love pit bulls. We had them for years and years and the only one who was even slightly untrustworthy was a rescue who (we found out after it was too late) had been used in the fighting ring. After she attacked another one of our dogs, a neighbor who knew the people she'd been with before told us about the fighting. I wanted to KILL those people. But even she was never the slightest bit aggressive with people, ever. You're right about the deterrent factor; when you have a pit bull, no matter how sweet he or she really is, people give you a wide berth. The very best dog we ever had was a pit bull and she would (and did) lay her life on the line to protect me. She's the dog the rescue attacked and the rescue was so much bigger and stronger than my Daisy that I dived in between them and tried to pull the rescue off of Daisy. The rescue snarled at me (I don't think for a moment she would have actually bitten me; it was just the heat of the moment) and Daisy, who was so badly hurt she couldn't get up, lifted her head and grabbed that dog and pulled her away from me. We did finally pry them apart and Daisy survived, with some scars and stitches and lots of babying, and STILL she didn't get aggressive, toward people or other dogs. If Daisy thought someone was a danger to me, she'd sit down between us, with her back toward me, and just LOOK at them. She didn't growl or show her teeth or do anything but stare at them. That was always enough. And if I told her it was okay, she'd snuggle up and put her chin on my knee and that was that.

After our last pit bull died, we got George and then Gigi, both also rescues, but I wouldn't hesitate to have a pit bull again someday.

My daughter's roommate has a pitt named Mocha, and I have to say she is the sweetest dog I've ever met.

Her owner is very softspoken, and gentle with the dog, and I really believe how any dog is raised makes the difference.

Since moving into the house, my daughter and Mocha are inseparable lol. Mocha even sleeps with my daughter now

I know I sleep better at night knowing that Mocha is with my daughter <grin>. Heaven help anyone that tried breaking into that house

Years ago my brother-in-law had a friend with a beautiful brindle female pitt named Kelly.. She was also very gentle and absolutely stunning to look at. What a gorgeous dog she was.

While I personally have never owned one, I can honestly say that some of the best natured patients I've ever come across were Pit Bulls, both at the clinic I work now and from the animal control shelter. Seems like the best, sweetest dogs so often come from the saddest backgrounds and it was just heartbreaking the abuse this breed suffers from some unscrupulous individuals. Even the badly abused ones were just so grateful for just a warm blanket and a good meal. Oddly enough, the nastiest, most viscious dog I ever came across was when I was at the shelter and that was a Golden Retriever!! Go figure.

I've never owned a Pit, but have met quite a few that were very friendly. Right now, I have a Siberian Huskey mix, Sebastian. He'll be 10 years old on December 1st, and he is by far the best dog I've ever had. Even now, people stop me on the street, telling me how beautiful he is. As much as I love Sebastian, I probably won't get another husky because my arthritis has gotten much worse, and walking for any distance is becoming increasingly difficult. The attached picture was taken on a warm day when we visited a local park.

A neighbor in an apartment just brought home a pit bull, and she and my dog are very friendly with each other. That is the most I've seen Sebastian play in quite a while.

I can't understand such prejudice against any particular breed. There are individual differences within a breed, but like people, that is where they start, and life experiences change them. A German Shepherd bit me (and many others) when I was in high school, but when I was in my early 20s a different German Shepherd saved my life and my 18-month old sons life. His barking woke me up, and I realized our building was on fire. When I went outside, the firemen said they were told we weren't home. The flames didn't reach our apartment, but the smoke was intense, and they told me we were very very lucky; any later, and we wouldn't have woken up.

Click to view attachment

I have never owned them, but I used to work at a pet boarding place, and the pits were some of the friendliest dogs we had. Very dog aggressive, but they just loved people. The most aggressive breed that I worked with were the labs easily. There was one we couldn't even feed if he was in his kennel because he was so aggressive, and several more that were very unpredictable or just mean.

A German shepherd almost broke my nose trying to lick my face while I was there All the "aggressive" breeds were the sweetest, we had one rottie (my absolute favorite breed) and two dobermans that were really sweet too.

As with any dog its all in how they are raised.

Our pound is overrun with labs and the only reason i have figured to attribute to it is that people get them knowing their good rep.. and get "out - dogged" so to speak. The adorable lil pups turn into 90 odd lb terror if not taught they cant dominate, control and be otherwise a pain.

Another theory of mine personally is that many so called "pure bred labs" are in fact cross breeds and maybe this has something to do with ill behaved pups that end up in the pound.. who knows.. my dog is an absolute gentle giant..

granted... he must sit before everything.. is not allowed to walk in front of us to go into house or on walks, eats after us etc etc.. a bunch of lil daily rituals i believe have really allowed him to be a calm adult dog knowing we got everything covered and he doesnt need to be protective/ dominant (which can lead to agression) mind you i wouldnt cross him as a stranger if he sensed anger/fear from me or otherwise lack of control...

I love pit bulls as well but.. alas they are illegal in my province. The only ones allowed now are ones pre exisiting in their owners home before the legislation and they are mandated to be registered.. we had one put down last week (a registerered one) because it malled (sp?) a sheltie in the local dog park..they had it in quarentine for like 3 weeks before making a decision.. i cant' imagine how the owners must have felt.. very sad

I have mixed feelings about Pitbulls...yes, the ones I've met have been very nice dogs, however, like someone said earlier, there is that instinct that is in them and can't be controlled.

I'd be interested to know the circumstances in which the pitbull mauled the sheltie. And you hear so many stories about "nice" pitbulls attacking children.

On the other hand, I met one while working at a local animal shelter. I felt really bad for her because she looked so sad sitting in her kennel. I had just started working there when she came in and I put my hand in her kennel and she gave me a little lick then when it was time for her bordatella vaccine she was so good. I sat next to her petting and distracting her while another person shot it up her nose.

I went and asked my supervisor what would happen to her, whether she would be up for adoption, and he said no, as soon as the week was over she was going to be euthanized. I was horrified that she wasn't even going to be given a chance. But I also didn't know anything about her history, why she was at the shelter. A very sad situation.

My last dog, Sucia, was a lab/shepherd/husky mix. She was I think around 14 when we put her down. We brought her home from the same shelter I worked at, but about 11 years prior. A couple weeks after we brought her home one of my guy friends came to pick me up and he was wearing a baseball cap. Well, Sucia was NOT going to let him near the house. She kept herself between my dad and I, until my friend took off his hat. My dad yelled to me to tell my friend to take off his hat. Sucia was barking so much we had to yell to each other. She was a great dog, we put her down in February of this year, and I miss her terribly.