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Pit Bull Apology
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<blockquote data-quote="InsaneCdn" data-source="post: 498710" data-attributes="member: 11791"><p>I still believe that every dog (and cat and horse and person) is a combination of nature and nurture. Every dog is born with certain instincts - stronger in some areas, weaker in others. Their experiences in life either highlight these natural tendencies, or mute them. </p><p></p><p>A terrier is born with independence and digging as part of its nature. You don't have to teach those to a terrier. You do have to teach NOT digging, or ONLY digging in a certain place - not in its nature. A lab doesn't have that - lab has fetch instinct. Really hard to teach a lab to dig, but you can (for search-and-rescue, for example)... real easy to teach a lab to fetch - but the terrier takes way more training to even get the concept.</p><p></p><p>So... when it comes to whether a dog is mean/vicious? Any dog can be turned into that based on how they are treated. But - per our trainer - there are some breeds where it takes more concerted effort to downplay those tendencies. Handled correctly from birth, even a pit bull will not be a problem. But I would never adopt a pit bull (or several other breeds) from a shelter... because there is no way to know the history.</p><p></p><p>I do agree that banning certain breeds does not make the vicious-dog problem go away.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="InsaneCdn, post: 498710, member: 11791"] I still believe that every dog (and cat and horse and person) is a combination of nature and nurture. Every dog is born with certain instincts - stronger in some areas, weaker in others. Their experiences in life either highlight these natural tendencies, or mute them. A terrier is born with independence and digging as part of its nature. You don't have to teach those to a terrier. You do have to teach NOT digging, or ONLY digging in a certain place - not in its nature. A lab doesn't have that - lab has fetch instinct. Really hard to teach a lab to dig, but you can (for search-and-rescue, for example)... real easy to teach a lab to fetch - but the terrier takes way more training to even get the concept. So... when it comes to whether a dog is mean/vicious? Any dog can be turned into that based on how they are treated. But - per our trainer - there are some breeds where it takes more concerted effort to downplay those tendencies. Handled correctly from birth, even a pit bull will not be a problem. But I would never adopt a pit bull (or several other breeds) from a shelter... because there is no way to know the history. I do agree that banning certain breeds does not make the vicious-dog problem go away. [/QUOTE]
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