[Lowell Goudge]

to all those who think dogs are the scourge of parks. Meet Finn.

[mkgd1]

to all those who think dogs are the scourge of parks. Meet Finn.

Beautiful happy dog.

[Wheatfield]

Interestingly, I'm yet to come across a nasty Pit or Staffy, ever.

^^^^^^this^^^^^^^. The Staffordshire Terrier was developed in Victorian England and was known as a "nanny dog" The reason for this was because the dog could be tossed into a room full of children and get along just fine. When the breed was being developed, any dog that showed any sort of people aggression was culled to ensure that trait was not passed on.
The American Staffordshire Terrier (what the Pit Bull Terrier was derived from) is a kissing cousin of the Staffordshire Terrier.
It should not, by nature, be people aggressive.
However, they are tough sons of guns, and they became something of a status symbol for a particular type of person, and this is when the problems started for the breed (I don't believe the Pit Bull is actually recognized as a breed, but I could be wrong). When a bad person buys a dog expecting it to be a man stopper and it turns out to be a lover, not a fighter, the tendency is to try to turn the dog into something it isn't.
Most Pit Bull or Staffy bites are from dogs that have suffered trauma and abuse in an attempt to turn them vicious.
Also, they are Terriers, and that group represents the hired killers of the dog world.
Every terrier was bred to kill something.

[MossyRocks]

to all those who think dogs are the scourge of parks. Meet Finn.

It usually isn't the dogs, it is the their owners.

I would agree with the others in that I don't think I've ever come across a member of any of the bully breeds that wasn't a really nice dog. A buddy of mine had a boxer/old english bulldog mix that had the height and length of a boxer with the build of the bulldog and the brains of a brick. Nicest dog ever my only complaint is that the dog always got super excited to see me but that was my fault because unlike my buddy I was strong enough to play hard with that dog and did so it just expected that. There there was the rottweiler that a guy in college I knew had super friendly unless you were acting aggressive towards someone it knew then it was a protector. We were campus security guards and that dog got a lot of late night walks when someone, understandably, wanted an escort home to the really bad neighborhood after about 10PM (a service offered by the school). I took that dog for a walk one night at about 2AM and after dropping the person off had a three guys pull up onto the sidewalk with their car and surround me. That dog got between me and them barking and snapping.

There's also a very real problem of poorly supervised dogs (of all breeds) running loose and in packs. Such dogs revert to a semi-wild state and love to hunt and kill prey. I think the only way to deal with that kind of problem, if you're the outdoorsey-type, is to carry some pepper spray with you. Could also help with two-legged predators.

Again that is entirely the owners so pepper spraying them would seem like the correct course of action. At a dog park where off leash running is expected I don't have problems with dogs running and being semi-wild but have come across far too many people who let their dogs run everywhere and do what ever. I've been out with properly trained hunting dogs and they never do the stuff I see a lot of people's regular pet dogs do when off leash, even on a wide open 1,000+ acre plot full of birds the hunting dogs are all well behaved.

[Lowell Goudge]

It usually isn't the dogs, it is the their owners.

I would agree with the others in that I don't think I've ever come across a member of any of the bully breeds that wasn't a really nice dog. A buddy of mine had a boxer/old english bulldog mix that had the height and length of a boxer with the build of the bulldog and the brains of a brick. Nicest dog ever my only complaint is that the dog always got super excited to see me but that was my fault because unlike my buddy I was strong enough to play hard with that dog and did so it just expected that. There there was the rottweiler that a guy in college I knew had super friendly unless you were acting aggressive towards someone it knew then it was a protector. We were campus security guards and that dog got a lot of late night walks when someone, understandably, wanted an escort home to the really bad neighborhood after about 10PM (a service offered by the school). I took that dog for a walk one night at about 2AM and after dropping the person off had a three guys pull up onto the sidewalk with their car and surround me. That dog got between me and them barking and snapping.

the only thing i have to caution people about with our dogs, and finn is the smaller of the two at 80 pounds, is when playing with children 80-90 pounds of dog against 40 pounds of child is no contest, if the dog bumps into a little one while playing, the little one goes down. not that it has ever happened yet, but it is something i warn people about. Our dogs are funny, in that they seem to understand little kids are, well, little.....

Again that is entirely the owners so pepper spraying them would seem like the correct course of action. At a dog park where off leash running is expected I don't have problems with dogs running and being semi-wild but have come across far too many people who let their dogs run everywhere and do what ever. I've been out with properly trained hunting dogs and they never do the stuff I see a lot of people's regular pet dogs do when off leash, even on a wide open 1,000+ acre plot full of birds the hunting dogs are all well behaved.

thats because they know that a) wild birds can do a world of hurt, and b) because their owners dont reward them for that behavior, they get rewarded for bringing game back in one piece