Sunday, March 11, 2012

Not For Everybody

This is from an article I published in the Pueblo Chieftain Sunday March 11, 2012


  This is in response to Christine Luceros comment on pit bulls. I have been an animal behaviorist for over 30 years. The truth about pit bulls and any “strong breed” dog is that they are not for everybody. I find in my experience that people get dogs for many reasons. In some cases they neither have the experience nor the knowledge to own certain animals. Yet our laws allow them to purchase any dog they want. Many people are very irresponsible when it comes to dog ownership. I wouldn’t even consider getting a Tiger for a pet. They are beautiful animals but I know nothing about them and I would be in way over my head. This is a great article Gary Wilkes wrote on pits: http://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/pit-bulls-gary-wilkes-spring-2010-off-lead.pdf. He is a world redound behaviorist.
  You have a double sided problem here: on one hand you have pit bull owners trying to convince the world, pit bulls get a “bad rap”. And on the other hand you have some people pushing the issue that Pit bulls are “bad dogs”. Neither are correct. I have trained probably in excess of 50 pits in my day. They basically train pretty easy, in my opinion not the smartest dogs I have ever worked with but not bad. Do a majority have an animal aggression problem, yes. But if you get a well-bred pit, and engage in very heavy socialization from 8 weeks on, and obedience training, there should be no problem. If anyone has any comments or concerns they can contact me via my website.

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