Yes. Unless you can watch the dog every moment of every day. That's impossible. There is no good reason to own a pit bull.quote:Originally posted by indybob:
Ok you two, I have no disagreement with you two that pit bulls can be horribly vicious dogs. They're strong, they bite really f'ing hard, are sometimes raised by criminals for dog fighting, and they get loose on occasion. During the course of my job, I've been around the worst ones a number of times. They're terrifying. A local writer came up with this a few years ago, in a review of a Japanese restaurant: "their wasabi clears your sinuses faster than a pitbull clears a playground."
The reputation is there and, well, sometimes deserved (taking into account the multitude of fighting dogs).
All that said, no responsible parent leaves their dog unattended around any infant/small child.
But, I see no reasonable evidence that a properly raised, trained and cared for (this is key) pitbull isn't as great a dog as any other breed. Do you?
Owning an animal that has that much potential for damage is simply irresponsible. Check the stories on attacks. How many of them say, he was such a good dog and never did anything like this before? A lot of them.
Here's my compromise. You own a pit bull and it attacks another animal, one year in prison. You own a pit bull and it attacks a human, ten years in prison.
By the way, do you support people owning lions and tigers and keeping them as pets in your residential neighborhood?