3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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Anyone ever own one of these or been around the breed much? My son decided to adopt a spayed female one yesterday without checking with me. I was ready to throttle him but his motives were good so I backed off a little. I really don't want another dog around but it is a sweet 10 month old house broken bundle of affection with a clean bill of health from a local vet. They say it has some kind of pointer in her too but I dont really see any evidence of it. Most of the things Ive read say they are great with children and make good pets. I might keep the dog and see if the humane society will take the son but I'm just having a hard time getting over the pit-bull stigma. The excersize it would require might be good for me though..I dont know... I guess I just need someone who has more knowledge of the breed to talk me out of keeping it. I took a real hard-line yesterday about getting rid of it and as far as anyone but the World Wide Web now..knows Im still holding that line. However, after watching how she behaves and working with her a little its clear that she has potential and she is growing on me a bit.
My dog training skills are above average and I've worked with retrievers, pointers and heelers. I've read that AmStaffs pickup on nuiances more than retrievers so they can pickup bad habits from sloppy training. This one has passed all the puppy tests. In fact you can lay her on her back hold her there while looking her in the eyes and she'll just sprawl out, thump her tail and think its belly-rubbing time-I cant get any aggressive signs from it at all. It has been worked with moderately by its owner but doesnt know down-stay from rollover so Im a little concerned that at 10 months she will have learned a little something about manipulating the "alpha" through passive behaviour.
Any advice, aside from booting my kid would be appreciated.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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fishdoc
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Thick Tail
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After receiving 37 stitches from a pit bull my vet explained to me that trained correctly they are great dogs. I wouldn't be able to get over the memory....good luck with yours though!
doc
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If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always gotten.
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Southfork
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Not Normal......
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Instincts are a whole different thing than training and it's breed into them. They where breed for one thing and I don't care how much training you do it'll always be a instinct and you can' train it out of them.
It's like pushing a boulder up hill IMO.... You'll always be pushing..
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Quillback
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South of the Mason/Dixon line
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I have good friends who had an Staffordshire for years until it died, then they got another one that they have now had for about 5 years. Both dogs were absolutely harmless, and were as sweeet as a dog could be and never acted agressively. They did look mean however, huge heads on those things. Now of course I wouldn't say that every Am. Staffordshire had those characteristics, but those two dogs were as harmless as any dog could be.
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Mojo
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I have had several friends that owned/own pit bulls. The first experience was a woman my buddy lived with for 3 years. Her (2) pitbulls loved me. Both female dogs, by the way. They would crawl up in my lap and put their head on my shoulder and get ear scratchings and all sorts of love. They hated Mike, however. Partly because he was petrified of them. They sensed the fear and capitolized on it. It may have been part of the end of that relationship.
Second case was another good friend who had a female. Got it as a 8 week old puppy. She was always sweet as can be. At age 3 she was out in the fron yard with him playing and a kid on a Big Wheel went by. That dog launched before Dave could grab it, and had the kid by the arm. Dave had to kick it in the gut to get it off the kid, then it turned on him. It had NEVER shown any agressive signs. That dog was dead within 5 minutes, and Dave got his butt handed to him in court - even though he was completely cooperative and plead guilty. The lawsuit was significant as well. He would have been screwed if he didn't have a personal liability policy that covered the million dollar suit.
I know there are people that are going to argue to the death that these are the best dogs ever. In my opinion, you got a better chance of teaching a lab not to retrieve something than you do getting a pitbull to never attack anything. If the lab still fetches, no one gets hurt.
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Mojo
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Ask your insurance agent what owning one does to your policy?
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Tight Lines,
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Quillback
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After reading what Mojo had to say, I don't think I would want to own one. And if I did, I would want insurance up the wazoo.
But, my next dog will be a GSP. If a dog can't hunt, why own one? 
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Can we get a new WDFW Director?
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3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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I like to play poker--but I'm not seeing any upside to this risk--the stakes are too high. Thanks guys.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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workin4fishin
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Chromer - I wonder what one looks like up close
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Our neighhbors have a pair of female AmStaff's and they are great dogs.
They are indoor dogs, and very well behaved and socialized with other dogs. Even though they live inside, they get at least an hour of heavy exercise everyday. They often go to one of those dog parks and have never had a problem.
The only problem they ever had was with my old <now destroyed> lab-pit-heeler mutt. It was all my dog's fault. They were sniffing and playing, and she went from tail-wagging to snapping in a blink. We got our dogs separated right away, but one of theirs had to get a few stitches on the face. It was only a short time later, that another neighbor's lil Yorkie Terror[b/] got out and charged our dog. She went defensive. One bite resulted in two dead dogs...
Aggressive dogs, regardless of breed, is one reason I always carry a knife, Er, uhh, edged tool.
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BorntoFish
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"Instincts are a whole different thing than training and it's breed into them. They where breed for one thing and I don't care how much training you do it'll always be a instinct and you can' train it out of them."
 Granted there's always an exception, but is it really worth the risk? Always wondering what could set it off? And ultimately who would want to deal with the guilt and financial/civil repercusions should things turn south. IMO, there are plenty of equally deserving pets available in local animal shelters that don't share these potential instincts/reputation. Just my 2-cents worth.
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3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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Yeah. The dog is elsewhere now.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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Southfork
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Not Normal......
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Bum deal Ron, but I think you made the right decision. If you want to borrow Trouble for a few days your more then welcome to
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3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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Thanks Mike but Im still trying to get the nose of Kobie the wonder-lab back in joint after having that bitch around for a few days. He was less than pleased. Every time the dog came around him he headed the opposite direction and sulked. Shoulda named him Nancy instead of Kobie.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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Southfork
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This young dog might teach the old one a trick or two....
Trouble now knows how to open up the refrigerator 
Really if you want to borrow her there will be NO charge...
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Gooose
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I had one these critters go off on me in the grocery parking lot....if I packed a pistol I probably would have drawn, popped the safety, and took up a defensive stance. Luckily for me, the dog and it's Dumass owner it did not leave it's position in the trucks driver side window.....rolled all the way down and the dog unrestrained. Dog was ready to attack. Sheriff's deputies took care of the issue. I know of no other breed that would react unprovoked like this one.
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3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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Just to clear things up. There IS a difference between Am/Staffs and American Pit-bulls. Petey from little Rascals was an Am/Staff for example. They are similar but different and those similarities and close blood lines are what made me nervous. Young son found a great permanent home for her though so it turned out very well and the boy gets to stay here till he pulls another well intentioned but ill-advised stunt.
Southfork, if trouble lived here for a few days and showed Kobie how to open the fridge and all the other fun things a dog could do while its owner was out of the house I would really be in for it.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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3RivrFishr
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Jonsin' for Steel
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Well that didnt work out so well. The dog was at the new house and got ran over by a car. Was in thier yard, in front of the fence. Whoever hit the dog took out a fence post in the process.
Why would someone intentionally run over a dog. Unbelievable.
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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwile. -Wilfred T. Grenfell
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Gooose
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There's certain breeds of humans that are Arseholes
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Mojo
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WOW, that sucks.
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jimh
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Sorry to hear about the dog. That's horrible.
There's lots of people with strong feelings about that breed and many who aren't quite rational about them. Personally, I'd rather not own one. I can't see any advantage of owning that particular breed and there are lots of disadvantages.
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TeXMojo
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Where'zem Fish
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Not to mention that they are being banned from many countries and many states. I have met some really nice ones but I have also read many stories of nice ones going off the handle and attacking someone without any provocation. I hate to say it, but I think humans in general have damaged this breed beyond any repair. AMS and AM Bulldogs are different, AMB are huge, usually close to 100 lbs while AMS are smaller, but I don't think I would ever own one just because of liability.
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hybridcx
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i had one, raised it up fine, supper freindly took it everywhere with me. at 2 years old it was like a light switched turned, tryed attacking my gf dad and cornered him in there house. 2 days later at a neighbors house it went after a 3 year old. my gf at the time interceptd him, after that we put him down, no way we were ganna live with mauling he might do. after talking with a vet aparently theres a brain development problem that can happen sometimes around 2-3 years old, she thought it sounded like that may of been what happend to him. he was a good dog though otherwise. just my exsperience with them.i stick to labs now and wont switch
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