Pit bulls' visits heal patients, reputation

[kimmi]

I dog sit MANY dogs throughout the year and my favorites are the pits!  They are the best snugglers.  They listen to commands immediately, so I never have to stand at the door and call and call and call like I do with the smaller spoiled dogs - AKA my old Yorkie that lives with my ex. PITA!  I also love Rotties.  They just want to be 90 - 120lb lap dogs! I would never buy any dog off the street, but I would be especially careful with buying a pit or rottie.  I think their strength is the only real concern. 

[Locutus]

I dog sit MANY dogs throughout the year and my favorites are the pits!  They are the best snugglers.  They listen to commands immediately, so I never have to stand at the door and call and call and call like I do with the smaller spoiled dogs - AKA my old Yorkie that lives with my ex. PITA!  I also love Rotties.  They just want to be 90 - 120lb lap dogs! I would never buy any dog off the street, but I would be especially careful with buying a pit or rottie.  I think their strength is the only real concern. 

I kept my friend's Rottweiler one time while she was out of town.  That dog was one of the best ones I've ever been around.  So sweet and obedient.   

[LOsborne]

I kept my friend's Rottweiler one time while she was out of town.  That dog was one of the best ones I've ever been around.  So sweet and obedient.   

My friend Sharon (see Sandy's "Volunteering" thread,) rescued a young Rottie about six years ago. She already had a bull mastiff, which had been her husband's service dog, before he died. So Chance, the rottweiler, was her little dog! I would have a hard time choosing the best dog between Sam (the mastiff) and Chance, and both were welcome in my house. After a four-and-a-half hour drive, they would calmly enter my home -- which at the time included two cats and a black-and-tan mutt, plus two kids in their late teens -- and make themselves warmly welcome to all the inhabitants. Even the cats.

Chance never, ever barked. Sam only barked to warn visitors at the door they needed to wait for an invitation to enter. Neither of them ever showed teeth in a growl. And yet, all kinds of people were afraid of them on sight!

In response to Kimmi's remark about size and strength: the scariest dog I ever knew was an Irish setter. She wasn't a bad dog. But she was convinced she was a lap dog -- and a dog that size hurling herself at you is disconcerting.

[Locutus]

My friend Sharon (see Sandy's "Volunteering" thread,) rescued a young Rottie about six years ago. She already had a bull mastiff, which had been her husband's service dog, before he died. So Chance, the rottweiler, was her little dog! I would have a hard time choosing the best dog between Sam (the mastiff) and Chance, and both were welcome in my house. After a four-and-a-half hour drive, they would calmly enter my home -- which at the time included two cats and a black-and-tan mutt, plus two kids in their late teens -- and make themselves warmly welcome to all the inhabitants. Even the cats.

Chance never, ever barked. Sam only barked to warn visitors at the door they needed to wait for an invitation to enter. Neither of them ever showed teeth in a growl. And yet, all kinds of people were afraid of them on sight!

In response to Kimmi's remark about size and strength: the scariest dog I ever knew was an Irish setter. She wasn't a bad dog. But she was convinced she was a lap dog -- and a dog that size hurling herself at you is disconcerting.

You mean people will vilify an entire group for the actions of a few??



   

[LOsborne]

You mean people will vilify an entire group for the actions of a few??

You're right. It could never happen in the Land of the Free.

[kimmi]

In response to Kimmi's remark about size and strength: the scariest dog I ever knew was an Irish setter. She wasn't a bad dog. But she was convinced she was a lap dog -- and a dog that size hurling herself at you is disconcerting.

No kidding.  I feel like when the bigger dogs want to be held, it is like being too old to sit on grandma's lap and not understanding why that won't work! 

[Locutus]

And more bad press.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Williamsburg, MO (KSDK) -- Even if there are a few scrapes between them, John Reynolds insists his dogs are friendly. All 17 of them. All pit bulls.

"They were like best buddies," Reynolds says of his father the 84-year-old Rev. John Reynolds and one of the pit bulls. "My dad would sit there and feed him off his spoon. They slept together."

Reynolds says no one knew his dogs' nature more than his father who owned the home and property where John raises the dogs.

The Pit Bulls - See photos here

Which makes what he found on Wednesday night, October 13th, even harder to understand.

"I could see that he'd been attacked by something," Reynolds recalls.

He came home that night and found his father on the ground in the pen with severe bite marks. He did not survive the attack.

The sheriff's department says the dogs were on the loose but, with the exception of one dog who was wounded, showed few signs of an attack given the severity of Rev. Reynolds' injuries.

"They think that my dad might have been out here and they might have been playing or rough-housing and it got out of control," Reynolds says of his conversations with investigators. "But I just can't, I don't believe it."

He admits it's only speculation, but Reynolds believes stray dogs or possibly even a mountain lion may have attacked his father and his pit bulls.

While extremely rare, the Sheriff says deputies have taken reports on, and had sightings of, mountain lions in Callaway County. The official report on Rev. Reynolds' death only says his injuries were consistent with an animal attack.

"I know that there [are] a lot of people out there that are dead set against pit bulls and I'm sure they're going to try to use this to get their point across," says Reynolds, defending his dogs. "I know he wouldn't like it," he says of his late father.

The investigation is ongoing, but the Sheriff says there won't be any charges since the property owner has passed away. The dogs won't be seized because the county doesn't have the resources to handle that many dogs.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=222459

[Palehorse]

Crap!!!

[Sandy Eggo]

A 2-year-old female boxer/pit bull mix named Angel, which had been turned over to the Nevada Humane Society's shelter in Reno, is credited with rescuing six abandoned kittens Monday, according to Diane Blankenburg, a shelter spokeswoman.

While Angel was on a walk with a pair of volunteers, Frank Gomez and 9-year-old stepson Joel Fontes (pictured below with Angel), the dog became obsessed with something in the bushes.

With temperatures in the 90s on Monday, the two volunteers tried to initially coax the dog away from the bush.

But when Angel refused to move on, Gomez investigated and discovered a box full of 3-week-old orange tabby kittens that were frightened and hungry.

One of the abandoned kittens escaped before shelter staff was summoned to the scene, but Angel tracked it down and Gomez handed it over to safety.

Okay, the story is dated, but a sweet story nonetheless. I guess someone forgot to tell Angel that she's supposed to be mortal enemies with cats. Especially the small bite sized ones. 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/08/pit-bull-saves.html

[Palehorse]

Okay, the story is dated, but a sweet story nonetheless. I guess someone forgot to tell Angel that she's supposed to be mortal enemies with cats. Especially the small bite sized ones. 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/08/pit-bull-saves.html

You ought to see our dog and our cat together! I think the dog thinks the cat is his puppy or something! 

[Lester Sasquatch]

Palehorse, do you think dogs are embarrassed with respect to Halloween costumes? It seems there is a big controversy about this issue.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/7256270.html

[followsthewolf]

Jeebus.

Looks like Burt Lahr with 4 legs.

[Lester Sasquatch]

You know, I think this is a pit bull dressed up as a lion but it might just be the other way around. I guess the only way to tell for sure is to let him bite someone and see if his jaws lock. I recall one of the experts here on the forum said that a pit bull is the only animal whose jaws lack, so that would be a sure way to tell.

[followsthewolf]

  We're off to see the wizard......

[LOsborne]

I recall on of the experts here on the forum said that a pit bull is the only animal whose jaws lack, so that would be a sure way to tell.

Are you sure? Back when I was a wee, curly-haired revolutionary, an older activist introduced me to the concept of the "Volkswagen jar." What ya do is, ya get a mayonnaise jar, wash it out, peel off the label and replace it with one that says "Charitable Donations." You set it on your desk, and intimidate straight people who come by into dropping in some cash. When the jar is full, you will have enough to hire somebody called Snake or Big Eugene to hit the most annoying know-it-all you know, with a rusty Volkswagen. The impact might not kill him, but it will certainly give him lock-jaw -- which is almost as good.

My designated victim was never a pit bull, so I am reasonably certain there are others walking this earth, now, with lockjaw. I filled the jar four times.