Staffs are they all vicious???

[Love That Collie]

I assume you meant the lobbyists

No, I meant "Pits" are right up there. The lower level insurance companies will insure them because they know that the majority of the high profile ones more often than not, will not. But, I'd watch out for that fine print with those lower level insurance companies policies.

[DrKym]

More Pitts than I care to mention hold an award for "finding Timmy" in this example, being there for their family. Without the benefit of Hollywood. You can find several confirmed references on this site alone.

My daughter owns Staffodshire terriers, and her homeowners is through Allstate. So is her car insurance. Her rental Insurance was through State Farm. She lives in Yavapai county Az. Go figure.

As I said not all dogs need to bark down a well, nor are they expected to. Several insurance policy writers would be better employed barking down that well, present company excluded.

[SunsetRose]

They aren't vicious dogs.

But they aren't the right dog for everybody. Do they have a high prey drive? yes. Can they be dog aggressive? Yes. They make wonderful dogs IF they get the proper training and socialization. But by no means are they vicious dogs that should be banned or put to sleep.

I too am suprised at how many people say they would beat their dog if it attacked another animal. Believe it or not, reacting to violence with violence can actually make it worse. The dog will take it's pain out on the animal it has in it's mouth becuase it thinks it's that animal causing the pain.

The best way to deal with a situation like this besides using pepper or citronella spray is simply to get ahold of the dog, force it to lay down and pry the animal out of it's mouth. I know this because we once had a German shepherd a long time ago when I was younger who would attack cats. Hitting him never worked, just made it worse, what did was grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, putting his body between your legs, restrain movement, push him to the ground and then remove the cat.

[wolfsoul]

get ahold of the dog, force it to lay down and pry the animal out of it's mouth.

The problem in my cat's case -- the dog was a mastiff/rottie/GSD mix. He was huge. He was moving around so much my mom couldn't even grab the dog's back legs. There was no way he could have been pinned down.

[SunsetRose]

Grizzly was actually a large shepherd as well. He was a bit over 100 pounds. It took both of my parents to get him off the cat the first time. It only took a few times before he learned what he was supposed to do. Then all it took was for my mom to grab the scruff of his neck. Even I could do it.

We were eventually able to get him to the point that he would see a cat and almost start to chase it, but we could call him, tell him to leave it, and he was fine.

He died young though, at age 6. We have no clue why, he just layed down and died, literally.

[Catlady711]

I happen to know very many friendly, and well trained pitts as well as rotties, and don't think any single breed should be banned.

I've said it to many people before, and I'll say it here..."even if any breed (whether pitt, rott, or gsd) was banned, bad owners and people breeding/training for viciousness on purpose would simply find another breed to give a bad rap to."

I could just see the media circus now, headlines reading 'states want to ban poodles after vicious attacks', or 'chihuahuas now considered number one on the most dangerous dog lists' or 'homeowners insurance cancelled after discovered homeowner kept a yorkie as a pet'. *read sarcasm*