90233 replies to this topic

[arise_shine]

Maybe I'm late to the whole pit bull discussion, but here's my personal experience.

I've been volunteering for the local county Human Society for about two years (with a ~6 month break). My position works with dogs, for socializing and interacting. Walks, playing in the yards, quiet time, and (if they're up to it), practicing tricks. I've worke with many pit bulls, so I have some experience with them.

I've interacted with a wide variety of temperments in pit bulls, just like all other breeds. There have been well-mannered dogs, not-so-well-mannered dogs (mouthy, humpy, claw-y, etc.), docile dogs, hyper dogs, snuggly dogs, aloof dogs. Just like all other breeds. I've never had one be aggressive towards me. Actually, I think I've only been bitten 2-3 times the whole time I've volunteered there. One time was because I was walking a dog past a bunch of kennels and my walkee was reacting aggressively towards the other dogs, and my ankle got in the way. The other time (or two) was getting nipped when trying to pet a very nervous/scared dog sitting in a dog bed--it wasn't serious, no broken skin.

The only difference I've seen with pit bulls, is that they seem to be slightly more likely to be aggressive toward other *dogs*. This usually manifests when walking them past other dogs' kennels. They jump at the kennel bars and are all *RAWRAWRAWRAWRAWR* with the other dog in the kennel. You know, aggressive. I see this with other breeds, too, but it seems to happen more often with pits. Of course, this might be because pit bulls make up a proportionally larger percentage of the dog population at the Humane Society than other breeds, so that might skew my own personal experience.

I also seem to remember having more difficulties with "not-well-mannered" pit bulls. Jumping on me and trying to hump my leg and mouthing my arm/coat/pant-leg/whatever, that kinda thing. Not mean or violent, just ... trying to dominate me in a dog-pack kinda way. When it's 100 pounds of solid muscle doing this to you, it's very memorable (and very annoying). But other breeds of dogs get like this, too. The pits are memorable to me because of how powerful they are, so it's possible that this is skewing my personal experience.

But for the handful of problems I've had with pit bulls, the majority of them have been fine. They're just dogs. Like Labs or Hounds or Chihuahuas. Like all breeds, they may exhibit some statistical tendencies toward certain health/behavioral traits, but there's as much variation within the breed as any other.

That said, the owner/trainer is everything with pit bulls, just like any other dog. An owner can train one to be a shithead, and an owner can train him/her to be a nice lap dog. Individuals with higher energy levels might be more likely to not like other dogs, and individuals with lower energy levels might be more likely to be lap dogs, but any dog can be trained to be anything.

Similarly, train your kids to be respectful of dogs, and all animals. Don't hit them, threaten them, pull their ears/tails/appendages, etc.

[Lucavi00]

About this permabanning thing... why? I was a Mod on IGN for a couple years back in the early 2000's and there were some prime fucks on that board. We'd perma ban people for weeks or months at a time (increasing with each serious infraction) and only after many many many infractions would we ultra super for-real permaban anyone. And even then we'd usually undo it after six months to a year unless they were hacking the boards.

This 2 or 3 strikes and you're out stuff really isn't needed or healthy. If there are certain rules that need to be applied, then use exponentially increasing ban times which you might decrease by your own judgment. It's not that hard and it works pretty well to keep things reasonable without permanently kicking out your most interesting users.

It's all about how the pitbulls are raised which contributes to the quality of their character. For example (jk I edited this in, there's no segue)

Some people around here are pretty unapologetic about how terrible they treat others. The only reason I am not reporting every other post of Snappleman's is because he (wisely) stopped posting stuff directed at me. But I'm still offended by a lot of the stuff he posts, and his disrespect for donald and raub who are all-around great guys. I stopped reporting posts because I didn't think it made any difference whatsoever. I don't know if it DOES make a difference when only a couple go through, or if a huge wave of them had come in for Snappleman, but I'm glad to finally see him facing the results of his behavior both from a threat of ban on theshizz standpoint but also his personal realization that he has been a huge ass to people. Whether he is actually sincere with those observations is debatable and people wouldn't be wrong to remain skeptical. I trip over my own words often but I do not intend to insult or offend people and I will own up to that, and I've seen a handful of people here who will not do that, and probably think there's nothing wrong whatsoever with their conduct. To each their own, you can make fun of me for this post if you want but it's how I felt. I think TheShizz would be so much better without this kind of behavior. I'm just going to leave it at that.

What the fuck is your problem?

[Bonkers]

I agree with his post.

Pit bulls aren't inherently bad. People raise them to be bad. Or at least in my experience that is what it has been.

Oh and about snappleman, yeah he's a sweaty pirate hooker.

[Norrin_Radd]

Some people around here are pretty unapologetic about how terrible they treat others. The only reason I am not reporting every other post of Snappleman's is because he (wisely) stopped posting stuff directed at me. But I'm still offended by a lot of the stuff he posts, and his disrespect for donald and raub who are all-around great guys. I stopped reporting posts because I didn't think it made any difference whatsoever. I don't know if it DOES make a difference when only a couple go through, or if a huge wave of them had come in for Snappleman, but I'm glad to finally see him facing the results of his behavior both from a threat of ban on theshizz standpoint but also his personal realization that he has been a huge ass to people. Whether he is actually sincere with those observations is debatable and people wouldn't be wrong to remain skeptical. I trip over my own words often but I do not intend to insult or offend people and I will own up to that, and I've seen a handful of people here who will not do that, and probably think there's nothing wrong whatsoever with their conduct. To each their own, you can make fun of me for this post if you want but it's how I felt. I think TheShizz would be so much better without this kind of behavior. I'm just going to leave it at that.

I think the most gratuitous and offensive thing I've ever been exposed to on this forum came out of your hypocritical mouth. I know for a fact reporting doesn't do anything, because I reported you for this, and you're still here. I'd take Snapple's satirical pestering over your tired ass trolling ANY DAY.

Voice acting needs work.

Your mom needs work, on her face. Because she doesn't match the media's image of what a beautiful woman should look like, and as a result, I'm going to be ridiculously harsh on her even though it's not fair.

[Lucavi00]

Some people around here are pretty unapologetic about how terrible they treat others. The only reason I am not reporting every other post of Snappleman's is because he (wisely) stopped posting stuff directed at me. But I'm still offended by a lot of the stuff he posts, and his disrespect for donald and raub who are all-around great guys. I stopped reporting posts because I didn't think it made any difference whatsoever. I don't know if it DOES make a difference when only a couple go through, or if a huge wave of them had come in for Snappleman, but I'm glad to finally see him facing the results of his behavior both from a threat of ban on theshizz standpoint but also his personal realization that he has been a huge ass to people. Whether he is actually sincere with those observations is debatable and people wouldn't be wrong to remain skeptical. I trip over my own words often but I do not intend to insult or offend people and I will own up to that, and I've seen a handful of people here who will not do that, and probably think there's nothing wrong whatsoever with their conduct. To each their own, you can make fun of me for this post if you want but it's how I felt. I think TheShizz would be so much better without this kind of behavior. I'm just going to leave it at that.

I think the most gratuitous and offensive thing I've ever been exposed to on this forum came out of your hypocritical mouth. I know for a fact reporting doesn't do anything, because I reported you for this, and you're still here. I'd take Snapple's satirical pestering over your tired ass trolling ANY DAY.

Voice acting needs work.

Your mom needs work, on her face. Because she doesn't match the media's image of what a beautiful woman should look like, and as a result, I'm going to be ridiculously harsh on her even though it's not fair.

I don't know whether to laugh or get mad.

[Brandon Strader]

Some people around here are pretty unapologetic about how terrible they treat others. The only reason I am not reporting every other post of Snappleman's is because he (wisely) stopped posting stuff directed at me. But I'm still offended by a lot of the stuff he posts, and his disrespect for donald and raub who are all-around great guys. I stopped reporting posts because I didn't think it made any difference whatsoever. I don't know if it DOES make a difference when only a couple go through, or if a huge wave of them had come in for Snappleman, but I'm glad to finally see him facing the results of his behavior both from a threat of ban on theshizz standpoint but also his personal realization that he has been a huge ass to people. Whether he is actually sincere with those observations is debatable and people wouldn't be wrong to remain skeptical. I trip over my own words often but I do not intend to insult or offend people and I will own up to that, and I've seen a handful of people here who will not do that, and probably think there's nothing wrong whatsoever with their conduct. To each their own, you can make fun of me for this post if you want but it's how I felt. I think TheShizz would be so much better without this kind of behavior. I'm just going to leave it at that.

I think the most gratuitous and offensive thing I've ever been exposed to on this forum came out of your hypocritical mouth. I know for a fact reporting doesn't do anything, because I reported you for this, and you're still here. I'd take Snapple's satirical pestering over your tired ass trolling ANY DAY.

Voice acting needs work.

Your mom needs work, on her face. Because she doesn't match the media's image of what a beautiful woman should look like, and as a result, I'm going to be ridiculously harsh on her even though it's not fair.

I don't know whether to laugh or get mad.

Yeah... I mean, I know I apologized for that one and that was even a joke. He's brought it up about 3 times now and I have no idea WHY it was so offensive, but Norrin: I AM SORRY FOR MAKING THAT JOKE, OK? I'm sure your mother is very beautiful and I was not saying she was ugly. It was just a joke. Besides you were dissing on some particularly awesome voice work.

EDIT: Besides, the bigger issue is who is still acting that way now and harassing people and won't live up to it. You and I may not see eye to eye on the severity of my joke, but if you were offended, then I do owe you an apology.

Edited by Brandon Strader, 21 March 2012 - 04:39 PM.

[Classic-wolf]

Then can we have Save the Drama For Your Mama April?

That'd be a nice birfdae present.

[Norrin_Radd]

Yeah... I mean, I know I apologized for that one and that was even a joke. He's brought it up about 3 times now and I have no idea WHY it was so offensive, but Norrin: I AM SORRY FOR MAKING THAT JOKE, OK? I'm sure your mother is very beautiful and I was not saying she was ugly. It was just a joke. Besides you were dissing on some particularly awesome voice work.

Stop being so hypocritical and maybe I wont have to slap it back in your face. Your are one of the last people that has any right to start waiving fingers on this forum.

[Lucavi00]

Yeah... I mean, I know I apologized for that one and that was even a joke. He's brought it up about 3 times now and I have no idea WHY it was so offensive, but Norrin: I AM SORRY FOR MAKING THAT JOKE, OK? I'm sure your mother is very beautiful and I was not saying she was ugly. It was just a joke. Besides you were dissing on some particularly awesome voice work.

Stop being so hypocritical and maybe I wont have to slap it back in your face. Your are one of the last people that has any right to start waiving fingers on this forum.

I don't mean to get in the middle of anything here but it seems that if you feel like you have to 'slap' something back in someones face after the fact and even after they apologized, that to me means that you're just being childish. This is even sadder due to the fact that it was over the internet on a forum.

[Nario]

[auriplane]

Excuse me, but where is the dance pad?

[Nario]

Don't worry... I haven't forgotten it.

Let's just say I'm Mass Effect 3 ending'ing everyone... for now.

[Spookmeister C]

And you're not spoiling ME 3 outside of the ME thread or I will get very upset.
Oh sorry, off topic. Dogs are cool.

[Brandon Strader]

That ending must be pretty good, Joe Cam was raving about how good it is on Facebook. But then I checked the star ratings for ME3 on Amazon. Ouch

[auriplane]

And you're not spoiling ME 3 outside of the ME thread or I will get very upset.

I haven't played ME 3, but based on the information in this thread, I'm guessing it ends on a dance pad.

Oh sorry, off topic. Dogs are cool.

Dog story!

Spoiler

Like a lot of people, I was attacked by a dog when I was little, and in my case it turned into a phobia. But as an adult, I've made a lot of progress in being around dogs, who are mostly very nice. I've patted them on the head, and told them that they are dogs ("YES YOU ARE!! YOU ARE A DOG!! I AM NOT A DOG!! YOU ARE A DOG!!"), and I sat around and hung out with my dad's dog when I visited him. I still freeze up and my heart rate goes up when I see or hear a dog, sort of involuntarily holding still and holding my breath, but after a moment I force myself to breathe and act normally, and it turns out to be okay.

Actually, the dog wasn't attacking me. What happened is: my mom brought me to a neighbor's house for a birthday party. They didn't want the dog to get out of the downstairs area, so they pushed some appliancey thing over to the stairwell to block it. And the dog was being playful, and it was bigger than me, and sort of got on top of me. And since they'd trimmed its claws, but not filed the sharp edges down, I ended up with big long scratches along the length of my legs, and I felt like I couldn't get away, because I was trapped in there just like the dog was. But I'm told the dog wasn't actually trying to hurt me.

Dogs!