Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. I am a football fan of the Cleveland Browns, and a long time member of one of their fan sites. I am also a Rottweiler enthusiast. I basically love them.

Yesterday in our online message board, people have started calling Rottweilers (and Pitbulls) monsters. One of them went as far as saying they all should be euthenized. Many people are saying that they are naturally aggressive, tend to attack children, bite other dogs, etc.

I have never seen such ignorance in my life. Unfortunately, I am one of the very few people that are trying to defend Rottweilers and Pitbulls - and I am having a difficult time trying to educate them all.

Can you all please visit this thread, and shed some light for me? They are asking for scientific data, facts, and cold hard evidence to back up any explanations. I think if someone as knowledgable (and experienced) as you can really change the thoughts of these ignorant people. Please go ahead and take a quick look for yourself....

http://mb6.theinsiders.com/fbrownsinsiderfrm15.showMessageRange?topicID=31946.topic&start=1&stop=20

As you can see, it is amazing what some of these people are saying.

I would very much appreciate it if someone with knowledge can take this thread and "tackle" it the way it should be. As with this forum, there are guidlines to posting in ours. You have to avoid personally attacking someone, and must refrain from using swear words. You will have to log in with a username/password as well in order to post.

I will very much appreciate it if you can at least take a look and see what some of these people are saying about Rottweilers. By the way, my username in the forum is KronDawg. If the link I gave you is broken - just go to www.berniesinsiders.com. The thread is in the "WaterCooler" forum, and the post is the one with the title about dogs. Thanks for your help in advance...

Here is the link....
Rottweilers and Pitbulls are monsters

Theres not really any reasoning with people like that. When you look at bite statistics you have to remember how many of that dog there are and the type of people who own them. My dobe is a baby and people shy away from him. Let those people get a poodle but if any one threatened to shoot my dog-like someone in that thread mentioned-I'd hurt them.

THe petey dog was a pit bull and so where some other famous dogs my heads just blank now. Pits were bred to fight animals but bred to love people. terriers are bred to fight and while they may not be big enough to kill a grown adult they do bite a lot its just not as reported. When people get bit even if its a lab they are likely to say it was a pit. I could go on and on about this forever. I agree with licensing the owners simply because I have seen to many fought but you can not blame the breed. I am so mad about the pit bans because what happens when they come after rots and then dobes? Its so stupid!

Wanted to do some research,and life got out of my hands(called puppies! LOL)

But sadly, part of the 'fear' about Rotties & Pitts is that athe sensationalism over the deaths caused by these dogs. And the fact a lot of the statistics show them to be the dogs behind a large portion of deaths. What the facts don't show are these are dogs who've been bred without regard to temperament, and sold to people without regard to PROPER training. These people have no idea how to properly raise a dog(My cousin & his mother are one case of this), and the dog never learns to respect humans or they are abused and starved.

Webpages like this
http://www.dogbitelegalcenter.com/resources/dogbite_statistics.html

Don't help the view of the breed with comments like

What they DON'T say is 13 dogs out of how many Pitts & Rotties alive? Or 165 out of how many pitts & rotties?

This is an interesting site
http://www.fataldogattacks.com/statistics.html
>

Also found it interesting that a vast majority of dogs are uanltered males(another reason to send them off to be tutored!)

I can't find the statistics, but I believe the last list of statistics I saw, showed Dalmatians to be the #1 breed for actual BITES.

Problem is lack of education. .Our own Christie Keith wrote a wonderful article that's up on our web now, and I'm debating asking if I can print it and send it to the local paper, because it says everything I've wanted ot say and MORE
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PHBorzoi

Mielikki's Hunt Borzoi
http://www.mielikkishunt.com

Treasure the past, don't mourn it.
A balanced dog has a title on both ends.

Yes, I think people do remember some of these breeds by the injuries and deaths they cause, but so much depends on the owner and how the dog is trained. In the last two weeks, I have transported a completely docile rottweiler to a new home and witnessed a vicious and unprovoked attack by an apparent stray pit bull on a larger leashed dog out for a walk by its owner. I have met adorable and quite friendly pit bulls who are raised as pets and socialized and I have met vicious pit bulls who are acquired for "protection" by their owners. Most of the rottweilers I have met are quite friendly, but when they attack, it's ugly. Biting can occur in any breed, but the damage inflicted by a chihuahua just is not as severe. However, a chihuahua in Iowa has been deemed vicious because of biting, even though his owner says each attack was provoked. The owners cannot find an insurance company to provide the requisite coverage for them to keep the dog. It is extremely important that owners of the at-risk breeds work hard to educate the public and expose backyard breeders for what they are. People who adopt or purchase these breeds should have access to proper training methods and instruction on socializing their dogs. Just my 2 cents worth.