OT: Not all pit bulls are bad this one saved his family

[J Miller]

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/Red-Cros ... 24604.html

Family says dog tried to pull baby out of burning home

Originally printed at http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/Red-Cros ... 24604.html

BRISTOL — The Elkhart County Red Cross is calling a Bristol pit bull a hero after he alerted his family to a fire, and even tried to pull a 3-month-old baby girl away from the danger.

The fire started around 3 a.m. Thursday in a hallway and quickly spread throughout the home.

“It sounds like the real hero here is the family pit bull,” said Frank Connolly, assistant executive director of the Elkhart County Red Cross. “Apparently ‘Thor’ woke the family up and even tried to pull the baby and bassinet out of the house. Lately we have learned how important pets can be to a family, and this is as stark an example as I’ve ever seen.”

The family says Thor barked and jumped on them until they woke up. Then he grabbed the baby's bassinet and dragged it to the front door.

"He's the hero today. He's the man," said Kemper Hunter, Thor's owner. "We turned around to look for the bassinet that was at the head of the bed, and it's at the door. All we got to do is open the door and go out. [Thor's] like 'Let's roll, dad! It's time to go, I got you.'"

No one in the family was injured, but their home was heavily damaged. The Red Cross is providing short-term housing as well as food, blankets, clothing and a crib for the baby.

Donations to the family may be directed through the Elkhart County Red Cross. Call (574) 293-6519.

That's the kind of pooch to have.

Joe

[Bullard4075]

Sorry, doesn't change my opinion of the breed.

[FWiedner]

The Pitbull is a fine dog.

Like any other dog, the only things that makes one a bad dog is either a bad owner or the over active imagination someone who doesn't know any better.

[Mac in Mo]

As the owner of pits going back to the late seventies(we currently have two) this does not surprise me.They can be a very intelligent, loyal breed. Since the media started their propaganda war on this breed, the results have been akin to the war on guns and their owners. Don't fall into the category of being led by the nose into disliking something based upon lack of knowledge. I have to deal with dogs on a daily basis and will tell you that any medium to large breed dog that is aggressive can be fearsome to confront. That being said, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Thanks, Kevin

[RKrodle]

They make pretty good pillows also.

[jeepnik]

Pits are like any breed. They can be raised right or wrong. Yea, it's possible to get one that is mentally unstable. That can happen with any breed. But the only piet I've personally ever seen that went off turned out to have parvo. Otherwise, well raised and trained pits are good dogs.

The best example I can give is the female my neighbor had. He had two little girls. They would play out front, and Legs would be up on the porch "dozing". But if anyone came by, even walking on the side walk, or a car slowed. She'd get up, do that stretch/whine thing dogs do and saunter out, placing herself between the kids and whomever. No barking or growling, no aggressive behavior at all. She'd just stand there and stare at them. Sorta saying, "these are mine, now kindly move along". You don't get a better dog than that.

[AJMD429]

Springer Spaniels are the Parker Shotguns of the dog world, Beagles the .22 Leverguns, and Pit Bulls are simply the 'Assault Weapons' of the dog world.

[madman4570]

God Bless that dog!

Pit bulls are fine dogs! (its the idiot owners)also they tend to inner breed them alot and that can cause problems.

People are suppose to know more than the dog!
For example (IMO) that Dr. Brady Barr guy with the test on the strongest dog bite???(now has all these people thinking Labs dont bite as hard as humans. WT*
That was a joke.-----They show a trained attack Rottie and Shepard and Pit attacking the stuff of of that pressure monitor arm(which really wont give a accurate reading of a dogs true bite within its mouth.
Then he has a nice friendly Lab running to the arm and grabbing it like grabbing/mouthing a duck
and says Labs have only 125 PSI bite force
Less than Humans! (170psi)
That data I am surprised someone that got a couple fingers yanked off by that big mean Lab hasnt sued the pants off him??

Oh ya, take that big male(non neutered)120 pound lab and grab a member of its family and see what its force is!
I had /Pits/Bull Terriers/Shepards/Dobes/ and this frigin unneutered male big Lab I now have, has as strong actually I think stronger jaws than any of them I had including my Staffordshire bulldog.And he is only a 8 month 90 pounder.

With the exception of the fight in the dog---noramally pretty much bite wise, a dog is a dog is a dog! Its the size of the head/connective jaw muscles(which actually the bite muscles are mostly located on the top of doggies head)
Pits are no different!(better/worse) Instead of them grabbing and hanging on/many other breeds will rip you apart real bad with many mutiple serious bites! Just MO
In fact many times its the hanging on with the humans that is the dogs undoing when the human has a club/knife etc. The quick in/out attack style usually damages humans the most(like with a shepard)
Thats why you will notice when a perp keeps moving when the dog has em the dog will keep biting in various spots.
Only true honest way to tell how hard a dog can bite is if the dog could understand you saying(OK,now bite down on this measurement device as hard as your little mouth can stand)----- anything else the +/- tolerance = alot---and isnt accurately measureable.

[Doc Hudson]

Sorry, doesn't change my opinion of the breed.

You know I used to be the same way. Then I got to thinking. It is no more right to darn an entire bred of dogs for the behavior of some than it is to condemn an entire race of people for the misbehavior of the few.

Sure, there are lots of scumbags who raise and train their pitbulls to be vicious and dangerous. Likewise there are plenty of folks who raise their pitbulls to be gentle. loving family pets. For example, Dan Staley, aka Ol' Dan or OD, would be lots more likely to bite an intruder than his pitbull, Buffy the muffin-Eater. And Dan's bite would be of the terminal .45 caliber variety.

I'm not saying that every pitbull is a misunderstood cuddle-bum. I'm just saying that not all of them are vicious brutes.

In the FWIW Department, I've encountered more dangerous Doberman Pinchers than dangerous pitbulls. IMO the problem is overbreeding, especially of mentally unstable animals. IME, Dobermans are much more likely to be "fear biters" than pitbulls. And I've known of a couple that had to be destroyed because the became overly aggressive toward some of their family members. I guess bad temper is to be expected from a breed developed by a tax collector.

All I have to add is: WELL DONE THOR! i hope you get a big steeak for a reward.

[madman4570]

Guys,
Sorry about my rant above.
Maybe tomorrow I am going post a topic on needing some advice of those who owned/owns Labs.
Its just I never thought Labs were as guardy and strong and need some advice while he is still young from those in the know!

[Chas.]

Speaking of the strongest bite, where does Terry fall on that scale? He can bite pretty hard.

[soon 2 retire]

You can't ignore breeding in a dog. If a pointer comes from a long line of big running field trial dogs for horseback mounted hunters, no trainer in the world is going to turn it into a close working personal grouse dog. A dog who was bred for aggression is going to be aggressive; he'll defer to his pack leader but the chances are greater that he'll can be aggressive toward anyone else. Golden retrievers have lower odds of being aggressive for example and a pit bull has greater odds. When choosing a breed it's a gamble. Look at the breeding and consider the odds. Then ya pays your money and takes your choice.

Bob in NE Indiana

[Nicknack]

Springer Spaniels are the Parker Shotguns of the dog world, Beagles the .22 Leverguns, and Pit Bulls are simply the 'Assault Weapons' of the dog world.

Here is our "parker shotgun" you couldn't get a better dog than an English Springer Spaniel.i have never seen a dog that loves the water like this breed he will just lie in the poring rain go down for a swim in the dam or his water dish.they just loves kids and human company.

dogs 001.jpg

[Streetstar]

This conversation reminds me of a sweet pit bull i had, his name was Bacon. I bought him for $35 from a ghetto backyard i ran across while working. Michael Vick was nowhere in sight, but it looked like a shady operation. I raised that dog like a member of the family . I lived on an acreage and i am gone with work a lot --- my wife said she always felt safe when Bacon was out there "on patrol". He was an outside dog, grew up outside and roamed a bit, but was always around at night. Regrettably, i moved to a different acreage that was a little more suburban, --- Bacon did not take to being behind a fence and disappeared ---- I feel bad about that -- he was an admirable dog , but after 5 years without a cage, i guess he couldnt deal with it, and who knows what happened. (i was the same way when i was forced to work from a desk for 3 months a few years back)

The pic below is not Bacon, -- this is Dixie. (Princess is the Border Collie mix in the background and if she were a human, would be upset if i didnt acknowledge her) Dixie is a Boxer/Rottweiler hybrid , who resembles a Pit. Dixie, on the other hand, barks a lot, but Cupcake has her number (the little dog in my avatar), and she is afraid of cats. She is a very sweet dog, but its comical to see her when she sees a cat, and to see my little tiny Cupcake treat her like a servant .
Dixie looks like a "big, tough dog" and she tips the scales pretty hard -- 70 pounds plus -- but when it comes down to it, she has much more in common with the Golden Retriever example than my Pit Bull Bacon -- he was almost a centurion . The story the OP posted does not surprise me at all, and i have tons of respect for this courageous breed of dog ---- i hate to say it though, the odd breeding habits and other things that certain elements of society do to these poor animals though can trickle down --- and if you do like i did ( basically rescue a pup from a crackhouse existence for 35 bucks) it can be a crapshoot. Some of these dogs are so single minded with devotion to their owners, that they just dont tolerate others (or kids) well, and put 2-3 similar minded dogs together, and presto -- pack mentality.

I love the breed in theory, but alas, Bacon was probably my last one, --- Dixie barks a lot, but generally while she is running away from something I can picture my dog Bacon dashing into the face of a fire , but he just wasn't very domestic

[piller]

Dogs are individuals, just like humans. Don't judge them all by a few examples. One of the best, gentlest dogs I ever knew was a TimberShepherd named Gypsy. The attached story just shows that any individual dog can be a great dog. I have known a couple of Pit Bulls and neither was an aggressive dog, and both were in homes with small children. The only dogs I have ever known which had to be put down were a mix which attacked my cousin, and my wife's Australian Shepherd which was bred by a puppy mill. The Australian Shepherd tried to attack our son and his mix breed Boxer/Shepherd stopped the other dog from even touching him. We still have the mix breed and still love her. Again, dogs are individuals.

[Doc Hudson]

You can't ignore breeding in a dog. If a pointer comes from a long line of big running field trial dogs for horseback mounted hunters, no trainer in the world is going to turn it into a close working personal grouse dog. A dog who was bred for aggression is going to be aggressive; he'll defer to his pack leader but the chances are greater that he'll can be aggressive toward anyone else. Golden retrievers have lower odds of being aggressive for example and a pit bull has greater odds. When choosing a breed it's a gamble. Look at the breeding and consider the odds. Then ya pays your money and takes your choice.

Bob in NE Indiana

Excellent points Bob!!

And in general I agree. However you can't totally discount rearing.

[FWiedner]

Yeah, Pitbulls are viscious and uncontrollable brutes that will kill any other dogs brought around them. When they get old their brains swell up and they go crazy.

Here's one of my kill crazy Pits and his latest arch enemy.



Terrifying, ain't he?

I just don't know what to do.

[OJ]

The Pitbull is a fine dog.

Like any other dog, the only things that makes one a bad dog is either a bad owner or the over active imagination someone who doesn't know any better.

Or possibly an irresponsible owner not as smart as the dog or doesn't know intelligent dogs need training to be good citizens -

I'm Kyla - you called????



My first dog was a Pitbull - she chose me to own her. I lived in a tiny ranching community in the Sandhills of Nebraska and "Boots" belonged to a rancher two miles out of town. She would walk those two miles into town and follow me all day, then go home at night. Her owner got the message and gave her to me as a gift. She was the sweetest dog in the world but extremely protective of me - saved me from some spankings I really deserved but dad thought that was basically a very good thing so we got by with it.



In about 1934



Four or five years later. She did have an "alpha" personality and reminded the first dog or so every morning but - never drew blood - just reminded - she was the ideal boy's dog - no one ever boasted "My dog can whip yours and - I didn't have to" -





Having tragically lost two great Mastiffs to incurable diseases the past year after some 25 years of showing the breed, I was informed the Humane Society had a "Mastiff mix" pup - well, when I went to see - there was nothing Mastiff about her but - I'm fairly sure she is some Pit Bull/ Boxer - or such mix - possibly all Pit Bull (we've sent DNA swabs in for identity - and we adopted her three weeks ago.

She is the sweetest, quickest, and smartest dog that can be imagined at estimated 3 - 4 months of age - now 32# (up from the 22# three weeks ago) - she gets spayed tomorrow and is enrolled in obedience shcool next Wednesday - I know she's young but her personality can't wait and she just loves everybody she meets and is particularly gentle and sweet with the kids. My nieghbors keep asking if they can walk her or take her to their place for their kids to play with.

Having registered Mastiffs over 2 1/2 decades, she is the first "undocumented" dog I've owned since My Rhodesian Ridgeback I got 40 years ago and he had the reputation on the golf course of the CC I was member of to be more intelligent than the average golfer that passed by - watching them in a sand trap and barking just at the top of their back swing.



You called ??? - I'm a little busy at the moment -

My suspcian is she ended up at the pound because she got into a family with no dog knowledge or canine experience and they were just overwhelmed - their loss and our gain -

DNA swab will tell - I'll eport it..