Parenting Website Questions if Pit Bulls and Children Mix

Why Risk It?
Lehigh Valley, PA - A blogger at the Lehigh Valley1 Parenting website recently pointed out the danger of mixing pit bulls with children. The author asks the simple question, as we have asked in previous blog posts, "Why risk it?" All parents must ask this critical question to themselves, as many of the attacks recorded by DogsBite.org involve a child being severely mauled by a pit bull while visiting the home of a pit bull owner, such as a relative, neighbor or friend.

Do Pit Bulls and Children Mix?
"Michael Vick signing with the Eagles got me thinking about pit bulls and how I would never let my kids around them.
I know they can be tamed, but I still view them as land sharks. If you own one and it makes it to the end of its life without biting you or a loved one, you’ve won the game of roulette. If it has attacked, it’s because that’s what they’ve been bred to do.
If you have a pit bull and children in the same house you’re risking a major disaster, in my opinion.
Here are the facts: Pit bulls were genetically designed through different breeds of dogs to attack bulls, bears and other large animals and were trained to hang onto them until those animals bled to death.
I’ve covered and read about many cases over the years in which reportedly “well-trained” pit bulls mauled people. Sometimes children.
Maybe they felt threatened. Maybe they thought someone was breaking into their home. Whatever the case, the damage has been horrifying. Why risk it?
Apparently, when it comes to pit bulls, being well-trained means that the trainer or owner has successfully been able to suppress the dog’s natural tendency to rip your flesh off by making it known that the owner is the boss and such behavior won’t be tolerated.
It’s the type of natural aggression that you could never instill in a Golden Retriever or a St. Bernard. They just could never be that nasty and damaging.
That’s the reason I’ll never let me kids around my friend’s pit bull, even though he says he’s a “baby.”
I spoke with a humane society director years ago who said her branch simply doesn’t save any pit bulls that come in. They’re just too dangerous to place with a family, she said, and the chances of disaster are too great. Some cities in the U.S. and Canada have banned pit bulls altogether.
You can train a tiger to be around humans and perform cute little tricks, but at the end of the day – as Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy found out – it’s still a tiger with natural predatory instincts."

Related articles:
04/22/09: Wappingers Boy Suffers Life Altering Injures in Pit Bull Attack
03/11/09: 2-Year Old Tampa Girl in Serious Condition After Pit Bull-Mix Attack
11/24/08: Girl Attacked by Pit Bull in Vancouver, Washington
11/21/08: Pit Bull Attack Stopped by 4 Men and Police Gunfire in Oregon