Pitbulls and kids?

[WayOutWest]

I have owned APBT's for over 30 yrs. and I don't believe I would put one in a teenagers hands. No matter how responsible a teen is I don't know that they have the depth of experience to make the judgement's needed to keep the dog out of trouble. You can't paint all APBT's with the same brush, there are as many variables as with people. I know that I take the extra responsibilites that come with owning this breed but I'm not sure a teen can grasp all that. The learning curve can be very steep. As you can see by some of the posts, peoples impressions of this breed are seasoned by sometimes 1 or 2 bad experiences. I bred very few times over the years but temperment was always the top requirement. Many breeders have excused bad traits if other things impressed them and that is why you get some of those crackhead dogs. JMO

[Reuben]

ultimately, it is always the dog owners fault in my opinion when a dog attacks an inocent human.

Example; I am walking down the street and someone has a pitbull chained up in the front yard and when I walk by he lunges at me and just wants to eat me up.

Well, I will try not to walk down that street any more but if I do I will carry me a weapon of some sort that can stop a dog.

The owners of that dog just love that guard dog or watch dog. But one day a kid is riding a bike down that street and the pit bull hits the end of that chain and it breaks. the dog runs down the kid and the pit won't let up because it is a pit bull.

We have quite a few irresponsible people out there that will eventually be the cause of why a good breed will be banned.


It will take a special teenager to be able to be responsible enough to care for one...If the kid has responsible parents that know dogs then it should work with the right APBT.

[Jpepper]

I think no child should be held responsible for a dog.

I say this because a month or two ago when it was 100+ degrees outside there was somebody who let their kid take all the responsibility and the dog had run out of water and was left outside in the heat and the dog died from heat exhaustion. This should have NEVER happened. Ultimately it was the adults responsibility to make sure that dog was taken care of and not the child.

[Jpepper]

http://www.dfwmustangs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15497


This was the other forum where I read this. Sad story and ashamed the dog died the way it did.

[BIG CHRIS]

tmatt, like you i was raised with APBT as a family companion my whole life! i bought and raised my first APBT when i was 16 and have been breeding raiseing pups of that first male for 10 years goen 11 now. sit down with the youngster talk long and hard find out his full intentions, make him sign a contract that if at any point he violates the aggreement he looses the dog.

i would`nt knock him for his youth, be his mentor and guide for a great breed of dog. If you feel like the kid is worthy of the dog stand in front of him and guide him right.

[tmatt]

Big Chris, if he was closer that would be the plan but he lives outside of Austin. I love to get more responsible people involved with the dogs, it is just hard with someone that far away. I am having a hard time with this decision because I was young when I got my first APBT of my own. I am just afraid of the what ifs.

[TinyTexasCowgirl]

I am having a hard time with this decision because I was young when I got my first APBT of my own. I am just afraid of the what ifs.

I think you answered your own question. In my opinion, when it comes to an animal, there should be no doubts. If you are having second thoughts, there must be a reason, even if you aren't sure what that reason is, it just don't feel right, then don't do it.

But that is just my opinion.

[clinton]

Ok tmatt this is from my experience, when I was 14 I went behinde my parents back and bought a old school game dog that was a yr old from a man, I keep him at a buddies house that had pitts and his parents wernt ever home, I was 14 and thought I was grown and turned a dang good pit into a dog fighting machine, I wish I hadn't now but I did, what I'm trying to say is if the kid wants the dog bad enough and his parents will let him have it then I Would give it to him but under the understanding that if the dogs not properly taken care of u will take him back, such as him fighting it r not feeding r watering him correctly r any other things u don't see fit for the dog, I wish I hadn't messed up such a good dog when I was young and dumb

[tmatt]

Thanks Tiny, I think your right.
Clinton, I wouldn't worry about that old school gamedog too much. Remember you CAN'T make a dog do something he don't want to do. Old school game dogs were bred for one thing and that is dogfighting. Now days they are bred for other things such as catch dogs bit before the animal welfare act of 1976 they were bred for one thing.

[jon]

My 2yr old has his own full blooded pit. Got her around my sons 1st Thanksgiving for him when she was 5wks old and they've been together ever since. I can tell my boy to go get his dog and he calls for her and she goes right to em and licks em in the face. She's hard on hogs but a best friend for my son.

[redtick23]

i had a pit that was full blood and he stayed in the house with my wife and oldest son witch was six and my pit was still in the house when my youngest son was born .  I was a over the road trucker at the time that dog would sleep with my kids cat and would not let any one near my kids or wife Best dog i ever owned and was one of  catch dog  we lost him  three years ago to cancer  .

[ca. hogman]

it depends on the 15 year old kid a bulldogs owner needs to b an alfa if he isnt things can go bad i have an ab and a 12 year old son i did all the training but i have no problem with my boy haveing the dog out around his friends dogs or other people he knows to b firm with her but i allways tell him if him and his sister r home and some one comes to the door to let her in cuz in the house she is adifferent dog but if u know the 15 year old kid and he knows wat he is geting in to and he is responable there shouldnt b a problem

[YELLOWBLACKMASK]

With the one thing in all of our lives that we care about the most. (Our Children)  I have never had a question on whether it would be a good idea to place them in the vacinity of a questionable bred dog. If things go wrong its not the dogs fault and its not the childs fault it will be Your fault. I have read most of the above posts even from the main breeders that all seem to have a hint of reluctance in it. Therefore would make my decision accordingly!

Again this isn't to offend jmo. Hate to see kido's hurt and have it backlash on our sport.

We got enough ignorance representing us on national Tv these days

[chainrated]

tmatt, to answer your question, No...
But not because I would be worried about the dog hurting my kid or another person. Anybody that knows much about a true APBT knows that they are one of the most trustworthy dogs on the planet around people. Most of the ones that are bred right you can walk into a man's yard and steal every one of them and they would be wagging their tail the whole time wanting you to pet on them..
I would however be worried that the dog would be too much for a kid to handle if a situation came up where the dog got into it with another dog or other animal.. Then I would be worried about the other dog biting my kid when he or she was trying to break them up..
Also, I'm sure you've had a few yard incidents where you had to handle 2 dogs by yourself, I would not want my kid to have to do that..
I would be perfectly fine with letting them have a dog of their own but not have sole responsibility for the dog and let them take it with them everywhere...

[chainrated]

ultimately, it is always the dog owners fault in my opinion when a dog attacks an inocent human.

Example; I am walking down the street and someone has a pitbull chained up in the front yard and when I walk by he lunges at me and just wants to eat me up.

I agree, I see that as a total lack of resposibility on the part of the dog owner.. But most of the time someone who does something like that Hasn't ever even seen a real apbt and the dog chained up in the front yard is about 100 lbs of mixed bred Sh!t... The dog should be CULLED , period..
It goes right along with someone who posts pics of their dogs cut all to hell all over the internet and brags about it.
We can fix the part where the dog needs to be culled, the problem is fixing the people that own them...

[tmatt]

tmatt, to answer your question, No...
But not because I would be worried about the dog hurting my kid or another person. Anybody that knows much about a true APBT knows that they are one of the most trustworthy dogs on the planet around people. Most of the ones that are bred right you can walk into a man's yard and steal every one of them and they would be wagging their tail the whole time wanting you to pet on them..
I would however be worried that the dog would be too much for a kid to handle if a situation came up where the dog got into it with another dog or other animal.. Then I would be worried about the other dog biting my kid when he or she was trying to break them up..
Also, I'm sure you've had a few yard incidents where you had to handle 2 dogs by yourself, I would not want my kid to have to do that..
I would be perfectly fine with letting them have a dog of their own but not have sole responsibility for the dog and let them take it with them everywhere...

That is exactly my concern. I am not worried about it hurting someone.
Ybm, it is not a questionable bred dog, I have owned and raised 4 generations behind these dogs on the top and 6 generations behind this dog on the bottom side and have yet to have one with man aggression issues.

[bulldogger]

I think Bryant makes a good point from my experience.  I played college football back in th day and one of my buddies on the team had a great pit.  He was good around people and other dogs.  I loved that dog, I would go over to just to play with the dog.  You could wrestle hard and have hand in his mouth and everything.  The problem I see it is what happennedwith two incidents with the dog that I could easily see happening with a teenager owning one.  We were hanging out and one of our buddies tackles the owner and starts wrestling and the pit immidiately locked on the guys arm, the owner just said something and he instantly let go but guy had to go to hospital with some nice puntucures and bruised up arm for a few weeks.  He then let eveyone know not to horseplay around dog because of incident and would put up if he didn't know people well.  A few months down the road another friend was messing around and pushed owner jokingly and gave a little flinch like he was going to hit him and the dog locked on this guy's arm in same place on bicep, again owner said no and dog let go.  Another ER visit.  After that he just kept him up unless it was his closest frinds.  I could see something like this happenning but if the boy can be trusted and explained to him and his parents to keep dog up around people, maybe.  Just wanted to pass along a story that could happen when you have youngster that might start horseplaying.  That is still one of my all time favorite pits.  Just better not mess around with his owner

[shawn]

ANY bulldog around a kid unsupervised is a bad idea.

[dan]

You'll have to decide for yourself. 
My 12 year old has total control of my dogs, without a leash.  My 18 year old, can control them on a leash, but they don't handle as well. 
Same dogs, kids from the same family, same exposure to dogs.  The youngest smallest kid has the most control? 
The youngest has always had control over my dogs.  At 3 years old, that child could put my curs, bulldog and healer in the pens or on a chain, when my wife and older son could not.

[WayOutWest]

This is to address the comments Bulldogger made. I have learned thru the years that you teach an APBT that it is never OK to put your mouth on any human, period. If you want to play with these dogs get a toy they can grab. Don't let them think it is OK to grab a human, even in play. Now I'm not gonna get in a pissin match with those who do French Ring or Schutzhund as that is normally pros that know more than the average guy. I start very young not to mouth me. My first APBT I did all the wrong things and although he never bit anyone I believe he would have under the right cercumstances.  I don't want to be in that position again, not trusting a dog. That being said I completely agree that you should never leave little children unattended with  dogs.