What a horrible, tragic event. I noticed the little girl right off the bat and could not believe that man just waltzed on in there with her, people astound me.
IMO those dogs were the 'typical' pit bull story. Untrained, encouraged to act like a 'pit bull', taught to play wild and hectic. Probably had a guy wrap towels around his arms, smack them up, scream at them. I think dogos too but they are mighty small. However, American pit bull terriers (if we are going to be specific here) bite and hold on. The one dog had some good holds and shakes, but let go and re bit many times. The other dog did a whole lot of bouncing and jumping in and out. 'Pit bulls' do not do that, especially not trained ones.
On the topic of breeds, there is : American pit bull terrier (APBT) recognized by ADBA, American Staffordshire terrier (Amstaff) recognized by AKC/CKC and can be dual registered as a pit bull with ADBA and Staffordshire bull terrier (staffies) which is England's version of the American pit bull terrier. Pit bulls are smaller size than Amstaffs.
For all of those who think that pit bulls are the number one biting breed and german shepherds only kill one person per year please read the book Pit Bull Placebo [ame]http://www.amazon.ca/The-Pit-Bull-Placebo-Aggression/dp/0972191410[/ame] . It really opens your eyes on what the true statistics are. Believe it or not Bloodhounds once were the breed flavour of the decade and were responsible for most deaths by dogs at that the time.
I live in Ontario which has the largest geographical area BSL in North America. I have a grandfathered American pit bull terrier, this August marked 10 years that she has worn her muzzle. There are still pit bulls and puppies. I love it when I see them but I fear for their lives. Over the years people have just turned to other breeds. I'd say the number one biting large dog in my city is the German shepherd. I work pet retail in a low income city centre area. I see a LOT of dogs. The pit bull type dogs (I like to call 'em pitties) are generally sweet and outgoing as bully breeds should be, while most gsds I see are out of control nervebags whose owners are purchasing muzzles for. I rarely see a nice GSD who is a great representative of their breed. My heart breed is horribly represented by the majority of it's population here. Most people who have been bit by dogs have been bit by a gsd. I hear of a serious gsd attack often enough. Recently a friend of mine's daughter went through a situation very similar to that video, but with german shepherds. I have also seen a surge of poorly bred boxers, rotties and dobes. But the one that I hear about attacking is most often gsds.
I'll be the very first to say apbts are NOT a breed for everyone, just like the gsd is not a breed for everyone. You need to know what they are before you get one, and you need to be prepared to handle it. When they bite, it really is serious, and I won`t argue that. Unlike most of the haters here who want them banned, knows a friend of a friend who`s dog turned on them out of the blue, or watched so many videos or read an article once and it said millions of people are killed by pit bulls every year, I have dealt with pit bulls gone wrong. A few of them. I`ve seen how they attack, I`ve been the one to get them off. It is not something the general public is capable of doing. But neither would it be easy if it was two german shepherds, or two labs. There was recently a video on my facebook about a Labrador that attacked a pit bull being walked by a kid. It was nasty, the owner ran after her dog and had it up in the air by its backlegs. It wasn`t letting go. Pittie was one of the great big headed blue ones too. The kid obviously couldn`t do anything to get the lab off his dog. A security camera caught it all. If I were more computer literate I`d be able to find it. I tried on youtube but when you put in `lab attacks pit bull all you get is videos of pit bulls attacking and dogs playing. Guess the serious attack where the woman legitimately cannot get her lab off of another dog isn`t big enough news for youtube. Just like you didn`t hear about it on national news
I just don`t think breed specific legislation is the answer. But I have no idea what the answer is. There are too many pit bulls and too many idiots wanting to own them. And too many idiots in general owning dogs and not caring for them properly. We need something, but what is it? We really shouldn`t be encourage breed bias`s though, it`s already difficult for people to rent or get insurance with our own breed.
Well I guess that's my rant lol. I've been watching this thread since it's been posted but haven't had time to say my thoughts.