My personal experience after having spoken with several trainers and dog show types and Breeders when looking for a Pet. General consensus was. Pits were good as Guard Dogs. Not necessarily ideal as family pets. Though they kind of danced around a definitive answer. I guess due to the sensitive nature of the subject.
One guy however noted that some of the difficulty and confusion is the prevalence of Mutts that resemble Pits and often are labeled as such by shelters. Even though they may only have a little in them. Giving a false impression of the breed’s suitability as a family pet. Ala a family believing they’re adopting a Pit. When in reality it’s a Mutt that’s mostly Lab/Collie or some other mix of family/child friendly breeds.
Though the same guy also said “Never rule out training either. Just because the owner or family insists the dog was well trained, and well behaved doesn’t mean it’s true.”
There’s been about a century or more of poor breeding in there between now and then. Enough bad breeding+switching to Breeding for different traits can completely screw over a breed. At least until someone or a group of someone’s. Cares enough to try and breed the other traits out of the line. Which is a fairly lengthy commitment most people don’t have the time or resources for these days.
Not to mention technically speaking Pit Bull at least in modern vernacular is a catch-all for several breeds that are similar in ascetic appearance. But different in other fashions including temperament.
In dog fighting breeds gameness is valued as it gives the dog the ability to maintain the attack in baiting, despite ripped flesh, dehydration, exhaustion or broken bones.[2][3] As one writer describes it, "Game is the dog that won't quit fighting, the dog that'll die in the ring, **the dog that'll fight with two broken legs.”**The scope and method of training to develop a game dog varies dramatically depending on the level and experience of the dog-fighter. Most "gamebred" dogs have a high pain threshold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameness
My personal experience after having spoken with several trainers and dog show types and Breeders when looking for a Pet. General consensus was. Pits were good as Guard Dogs. Not necessarily ideal as family pets. Though they kind of danced around a definitive answer. I guess due to the sensitive nature of the subject.
One guy however noted that some of the difficulty and confusion is the prevalence of Mutts that resemble Pits and often are labeled as such by shelters. Even though they may only have a little in them. Giving a false impression of the breed’s suitability as a family pet. Ala a family believing they’re adopting a Pit. When in reality it’s a Mutt that’s mostly Lab/Collie or some other mix of family/child friendly breeds.
Though the same guy also said “Never rule out training either. Just because the owner or family insists the dog was well trained, and well behaved doesn’t mean it’s true.”
...I have a book from the 1800's titled "Cyclopedia Of Dogs"....
...each breed has a "personality nickname/description" ...
...for the American Pit Bull Terrier the nickname is "The Canine Nanny"....
...the article went on to describe the characteristics of a Pitty, especially how good they were around children...
...the downside of its personality was," it was useless as a watchdog"...
There’s been about a century or more of poor breeding in there between now and then. Enough bad breeding+switching to Breeding for different traits can completely screw over a breed. At least until someone or a group of someone’s. Cares enough to try and breed the other traits out of the line. Which is a fairly lengthy commitment most people don’t have the time or resources for these days.
Not to mention technically speaking Pit Bull at least in modern vernacular is a catch-all for several breeds that are similar in ascetic appearance. But different in other fashions including temperament.
This is correct.
GAMENESS - Dog fighting breeds
In dog fighting breeds gameness is valued as it gives the dog the ability to maintain the attack in baiting, despite ripped flesh, dehydration, exhaustion or broken bones.[2][3] As one writer describes it, "Game is the dog that won't quit fighting, the dog that'll die in the ring, **the dog that'll fight with two broken legs.”**The scope and method of training to develop a game dog varies dramatically depending on the level and experience of the dog-fighter. Most "gamebred" dogs have a high pain threshold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameness