Pit Bull vs Homeowners Policy

[Airstream25]

Originally Posted by enduroryda

Such a bummer that pits get such a bad rap.

In my opinion, pit bulls deserve a bad rap because of the many occurrances of them attacking and severely injuring innocent passers by. My step daughter was a victim. At another time and place, my wife's horse was a victim.

We will not have another tenant with a pit bull.

Anyone looking for a family pet has many other choices.

[COArgosy78]

1st of all - Paula, you are one step ahead by just caring enough to rescue that boxer Your trainer is very right, the leader of the pack will have the best control over the behavior. I have seen many "rescued" dogs go from a scared, cowering mess or snarling, nasty, scary to best family member ever. The best example was many years ago when my boys were small. Our neighbors across the street adopted a VERY large Rottweiler. I was extremely concerned as the boys were of course "interested". I don't think the dog came off as overly aggressive, but the "name" implies many visions. The owners care and patience made that dog a wonderful addition to our area, with never a complaint. But, I also know that the owners were ever vigilant about the known tendancies of the breed. I also feel very strongly that, unless a dog is extremely well trained to come on voice command, they should be on leash while in public. My very first dog (she was a shy, sweet Yorkie)was lost to us when out one day with us in our front yard. A German Shepard w/out owner ran into the yard, grabbed our little girl by the head and used her as a play toy. She was dead before we could even respond. It was devastating. It could have been a young child.
Lastly, when there is enough abuse of, or lack of responsibility, in most any situation, there is going to be an authoratative crackdown to try to curb it. The unfortunate part of that is that the responsible suffer along with the rest. Just my 2 cents.

[SteSpot]

Originally Posted by COArgosy78

1st of all - Paula, you are one step ahead by just caring enough to rescue that boxer Your trainer is very right, the leader of the pack will have the best control over the behavior. I have seen many "rescued" dogs go from a scared, cowering mess or snarling, nasty, scary to best family member ever. The best example was many years ago when my boys were small. Our neighbors across the street adopted a VERY large Rottweiler. I was extremely concerned as the boys were of course "interested". I don't think the dog came off as overly aggressive, but the "name" implies many visions. The owners care and patience made that dog a wonderful addition to our area, with never a complaint. But, I also know that the owners were ever vigilant about the known tendancies of the breed. I also feel very strongly that, unless a dog is extremely well trained to come on voice command, they should be on leash while in public. My very first dog (she was a shy, sweet Yorkie)was lost to us when out one day with us in our front yard. A German Shepard w/out owner ran into the yard, grabbed our little girl by the head and used her as a play toy. She was dead before we could even respond. It was devastating. It could have been a young child.
Lastly, when there is enough abuse of, or lack of responsibility, in most any situation, there is going to be an authoratative crackdown to try to curb it. The unfortunate part of that is that the responsible suffer along with the rest. Just my 2 cents.

Sorry about your poor little dog. And yes, we see owners walking their dogs off leash every day. It is scary for me because I don't know what might happen when me meet....I am trying to walk on the wider streets so that I can keep our distance but on the narrow canal side sidewalks that is not possible. We do know that we have some learning to do but we did see a beautiful voice controlled elegant looking boxer that was next door to us when we took our new 68 Ambassador to Malibu for our first trip out....that dog stayed in their trailer without the door being closed and was under perfect voice control. So we know it is possible. And actually that boxer caused us to look into the boxer breed. The boxer rescue organization rescued our Bandit from the pound and tested him for agression (he is not agressive) and friendliness to kids (he is friendly to people and the neighbor's dogs) besides giving him his vacinations, neutering, and chip. Thanks for the encouragement....sometimes I wonder what we signed up for....and then he does something that is so cute.....and he is crawling into my heart......paula

[COArgosy78]

Ohhhhh, this is, I don't know, off the charts. I'm afraid this guy would not be able to get Life insurance, for sure. I hope he never falls into the water

[steven2themax]

I am a huge dog nut. Several years ago I got a dog off of craigslist. Was told he was an american bulldog. With several kids I wasn't interested in a pit. He was a great dog. Totally bombproof around kids. I later suspected he was actaully a pit mix not american bulldog. About 7 months ago it seemed like he shifted emotionally. hings that never bothered him seemed to stress him out. He snapped (did not bite) two small kids. Then about a month ago he got into a fight with the neighbors dog who died of heat stroke. Even though in many ways he was getting better and better trained I realized something had shifted for him. I did the tough thing and put him to sleep. Cried more that day than the previous 35 years combined. I wasn't willing to re-home him to someone less capable of handling him than I was. I knew when I got him that I had a responsibility for other people's safety and I was willing to have zero tolerance for bad behaviour, especially when a second chance could put someone's kid in the hospital.

Just my 2 cents from having been on both sides of the fence.

I would like to add that anyone testing him around kids would have said he was great with kids. It was just a certain type of kid and situation that would stress him out.

[345bill]

UPDATE- We asked everyone for their opinions back in Jan. 09., and Thank All for replies.

We ended up writing a letter to the ins. co. defending our 'Boy'.
The ins co did not reply to our letter however in Aug. of 09 they did re-new the policy, as well as just now in 2010.

We decided to stay with the same company mainly because we felt having a cancellation due to a pit bull would just be another negative, not deserved.

BTW, He's 14 yrs. 6 months old right now. Although he has many of the same ailments we're all getting with age, he gets along pretty well, and like all of us he looks forward to traveling and camping.

[bolerama]

Originally Posted by 345bill

UPDATE- We asked everyone for their opinions back in Jan. 09., and Thank All for replies.

We ended up writing a letter to the ins. co. defending our 'Boy'.
The ins co did not reply to our letter however in Aug. of 09 they did re-new the policy, as well as just now in 2010.

I'm so glad to hear this! Thanks for keeping us updated on the policy and your boy. He's getting up there. He must be living the best life, traveling around in his Airstream, to have such longevity. Best wishes,

Lisa