I have a Siberian Husky and she rocks. She’s always up for fun and adventure. Steep incline? She handles it. She sees me break out her harness for a hike or a jog and freaks out. Husky’s are both evil and innocence coated in fur. If I’ve had a rough day, be it at work or the gym, all I have to do is spend some time with the husky and the volume of the daily grind gets turned way down. Try a Siberian Husky T-guys and gals, they keep you on your toes, need consistent brushing, but that’s a small price to pay in order to experience their wit and loyalty.
How much are APBT?Ok,I’m not goin for dog competition and all that.I see many ppl here listed loyalty being its big trait,among others.I hope to own an APBT when I get out of college.I am so clueless about owning a dog.Any tips?Or should I buy books?
Your dog is not a Chow, it’s a Chow mix. That makes a big difference. ALL dogs have certain traits common to their respoective breeds that are likely to manifest as the dog ages. For example, American Pit Bull Terriers must never be trusted not to fight other dogs (high animal aggression), GSD’s and Rott’s are extremely protective of their master’s property, hunting breeds are more suited to, uh, hunting, etc. If you want to train an inbred trait out of a dog, remember you are fighting hundreds of generations of selective breeding, and the dog may end up an emotional mess. Behavior can be guided with training, instinct cannot.
Yes your right, dogs are individuals and should be judged as such, but as demo said, chows often seem to have a aggressive predisposition towards humans as a trait of the breed. That’s not to say that a chow will always turn out this way, it just going to take a little more socialization and behaviour modification training. Having said that I know of two chows that are absolutely wonderful with people (one is my sister in law’s). However the overwhelming majority of chows I’ve met are very unpredictable. But I do believe that if the owner puts the work in (and very few do) virtually any dog can become an excellent, predictable, trustworthy people dog. One quick thing about rottie’s; very high prey drive. If you’ve ever noticed, the majority of rottie attacks are not typical fear or dominance based aggressive behaviour attacks. Most are situations where a child goes screaming across someones yard and a loose rottie (often two) takes up chase. The dog is not aggressive, it simply sees the child as small prey and once it catches the child, instinct takes over. Like demo said, you need to know what your dog was bread for and do not put him in a position to fail. Big dogs need to be on lead in public, and behind a secure fence on your property, no matter how good he is.
Um, Demo and Magnus, I think you guys just said the same thing I did. Being of a certain breed predisposes them to acting a certain way, but does not guarantee that they’ll act that way. Maybe it didn’t come out right the first time.
To DocT: Your right, we are arguing the same point that a breed will be predisposed to certain behavioural traits but it is not guaranteed to exibit those traits. Example: I’ve got a female red nose pit from a fighting line who would’nt fight another dog to save her life.
To KK: Pitbulls are easy to find at most animal shelters and if you decide to get one I strongly urge you to adopt one (puppy or adult). But first you have a lot of work ahead of you. You must understand that a dog is an 8-15yr. (or longer) commitment, and you should definately wait until your finished school. Make sure you have a stable career, home and lifestyle before even thinking about getting a dog. Next do some research on dog behaviour and positive reward training methods. There are many good books, with my favourite being “The culture clash” by Jean Donaldson. Once you have a good grasp of dog behaviour it’s time to get pitbull educated. Start at the pitbull rescue central website as they give a no bullshit history of the breed and don’t candy coat the realities of owning one. Next buy a few books with my favourites being “The complete gamedog”, by Ed and Chris Faron, “This is the American pitbull terrier”, by Richard Stratton, and “The American pitbull terrrier”, by Ian Dunbar. Once you’ve completed these steps you will be well educated about the breed and ready to consider aquiring one. I know I’m preaching to you here, but I make no apologies. The shelter’s are full of dogs from well intentioned, nice people who did’nt do the research and found out having a dog was much more than they bargained for. Good luck.
I have to agree on the research provided by magnus but I disagree when it comes to adopting a pitbull, especially a grown one. Do the research, think about owning a pit and then pick up a newspaper. There are many good people raising good pit’s. Call around and make conversation with the breeders. Jot down the addresses of a couple of nice voices. Visit the places where the parents are on site. This is an investment in your future and you’re taking responsibility for another life. You should make the best of it. That’s just my 0.02
REAL mannheimers have German Sheperds. Think about it. The cops ahve em. So do other security forces. AND so do blind people. Loyal, and badasses. True Bavarians!
Picking a pit out from an add in the newspaper is ABSOLUTELY the wrong way to go. That supports backyard breeding which is the main reason hundreds of thousands of dogs are eauthenized each year and the biggest reason we see genetic fuck ups in many breeds. Buying from a reputable breeder who is recognized by a kennel club and is great, I whole heartedly support that option. But never buy from some clown advertizing in a local paper no matter how “nice” or well intentioned he may be.
I’m sorry Tyke, but there are NOT ‘a lot of nice people breeding nice pits’. There are a lot of backyard breeders breeding overly aggressive monsters. Shelter pits can be a handful, but if you know how to deal with pits adopting can be very rewarding. Many shelter pits are not the type of dog that can be handled by an inexperienced dog person, just like the dogs created by most backyard breeders.
Reputible breeders have most of their puppies placed before they are old enough to be weaned. They also have records of their dogs for generations and are able to talk about what they hope to accomplish from each cross. They can guarentee against genetic defects and usually have contracts. They also keep tabs on dogs they have sold so that they can use them as reference for show, work, or temperment.
Pits are awesome dogs with a very bad reputation because of the idiots who own them (and mistreat them) and the bigger idiots who breed them irresponsibly.
If you want to get a pit from a shelter, talk to a pit bull rescue group. They usually have foster homes where the dogs are worked with and evaluated, you can find excellent dogs this way. Walking into a shelter and picking one out can be a disaster for the inexperienced owner.
Tyke, why did you address that last post to me? I haven’t said a thing about pit bulls or adopting dogs or anything along those lines. I was just making a general comment about my own dog.