My last dog was (as shown in my picture at the bottom of the page), as I said in my post above, a Staffy, which might be called an English Pit Bull. What I learned about that type of dog might shed some light here. The fault lies with the owners of those dogs, but the dog contributes too because of personality traits bred into them. However the trait is not a tendency towards destructive behavior, but instead it's because they identify so completely with their human companion. They are more attached to their human counterpart than they are to dogs as companions. They are somewhat jealous (competitive) with other dogs for that attention and cooperation which they enjoy. They were originally (I theorize here) bred as a working dog in England to ferret out small game, pests, and varmints on an owners property. The British were known to their Roman conquerors for their dog breeding skills even 2,000 years ago.
That breeding was very successful. They are, to a point, obsessive about doing that. Walking my own staffy, Babe, in the woods I felt more of a partner than an owner. We owned enough property that we could walk without encounters, and she would be unleashed. She could hear a small animal underground or in a dead tree (and of course smell them too). I didn't want her to focus too completely on digging out these animals from their hiding places so I would discourage her by putting her leash on her, and making her leave where they were.
Sometimes she would become so obsessed and frustrated with being unable to get at them that she would turn her obsession on an inanimate object like a small tree, ripping it to shreds, or digging a hole and clogging her throat full of dirt turned to mud by her saliva. She would leap straight up in the air and hang there from a tree limb, gnawing on it trying to pull it down with her weight. But this dog never one time offered to bite a human being. Still even I felt a stirring of "fear" when I saw that behavior being displayed, because without a proper outlet for it, it was clear what could happen.
What I concluded, and I tell anyone who is considering getting a pitbull or a staffy, is consider what you will mean to that dog. If ignored and left penned, or without usefull action it will become frustrated. Babe wasn't happy to just roam around her fenced-in area which was about an acre in size. She would become depressed and forlorne if we did not walk every night in the woods. So we did, and that is the key to having a happy, therefore a safe dog of that type. They should be walked every single night (which is best), or possibly every other night might be ok, but they cannot be just ignored in captivity.
Their competitiveness tells us something about its value. They will constantly display their use of their intelligence developed to achieve their goals. I'd like to write something up about what I've observed further on to support my opinion on animal intelligence to a degree that it simply cannot be passed of as instinctual behavior
Here she is as she watches attentively for an indication that we are going for a jaunt in our woods.
One more thing. A Staffy is as far as anyone can tell a Pit-Bull: They have the massive chest, muscular jaws, the same ears (like a bat), bow legs, and are very strong. And as I'd walk my dog every night, I must say that people, and especially "chicks" were fascinated by Babe. One young neighbor (chick type) got one for her family after falling in love with Babe. So yes Pit Bulls are chick magnets!
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