Dog breed discrimination

My local friend couldn't watch Chewie while I am at Fiat's on the Dragon 9th-12th, so I had to call around for local kennels. I could have used my vet but I know it's just sterile cages in a back room & occasional potty breaks and food. I was hoping for something more "humane" and a little more human interaction.

Very first place I called sounded ok, had to bring him in to be "evaluated" first, ok I can do that. "Ok, what kind of dog is he?" He's an American Pit Bull. "Oh, we don't accept pit bulls". I didn't know what else to say, I hung up on the bitch. berkeley you Doggie Retreat Daycare.

I called Petsuites of America, they would take him, but he couldn't participate in group playtimes with other dogs "for insurance reasons". Are you berkeleying kidding me?

I posted my bitching on the Facebooks about the first place, and a SCCA friend recommended a local place. Out of the way on a farm, indoor/outdoor runs, bring your own food and toys if you want, 1/2 the $ of Petsuites, and owned by a local policeman and his son. When I talked to him he apologized for raising his rate from $14 to $15 an hour. He also doesn't nickel and dime like PSA ($3 for extra potty breaks after 3 per day?)

I think I've solved my problems with having a dog now & still wanting to have a life. Even for this vicious guy:

it's a shame that Pit's have gotten the reputation they have … but it has been earned (shiny happy person dog fighters)

when I was a kid it was German Shepard's (and Alsatians), then it was Doberman Pinchers … now it's Pit Bull's turn … if humans would grow up enough to NOT need dog fighting to feel fulfilled, maybe this sort of problem could go away

and don't come down too hard of the other 2 places, they don't know your dog, or how it's been raised … and I'm sure that their ins. has made this a thing for them

happy you could find a place for him

My local pet sitting chain told me that they evaluate all breeds prior to admitting them to ensure that they get along in a group. They have to turn away pure pits on occasion, not because of any concern over the dogs themselves, but because of their web cameras. Apparently other dog owners see their dogs in free play with a pitbull and they complain. They generally don't understand how dogs interact with each other and when they see a pitbull roughhousing with their retreiver, they freak out. My pit/lab mix apparently looks more like a mutt on the webcam and is OK.

They also flat-out refuse Chihuahuas because they bite the employees.

pinchvalve wrote: They also flat-out refuse Chihuahuas because they bite the employees.

Ex-SWMBO is a vet clinic practice manager, worked in a shelter before that. Probaly 10+ years of animal experience. Said the only dogs that ever bit her, or most of her coworkers, were ankle biter things like Chihuahuas.

My pit submits to both of my cats.

Jerry wrote: My pit submits to both of my cats.

LOL. Mine was sporting a nice gash from our 5-pound cat after a disagreement over who would be sleeping on the couch. The 70 pound pit now steers clear of the 5 pound fur ball.

When I was growing up in the 70s.. we were one of the first people to have Siberians. We actually bred them on occasion (we were an AKC registered kennel, but rarely bred for sale) and when walking one of these "wolf" like dogs back then.. people would steer far away.. like cross the street away.

Not only was it the looks of the dog.. but the eyes. We had one male who had temper issues, but had brown eyes, so people would try to approach him.. but the bigger male with blue eyes and a cupcake disposition, they stayed far away from.

In reply to pinchvalve:

sounds like the place I take my girls to. There are several pits in our neighborhood, out of the 12 or so 11 are total sweethearts, one was a trouble maker, but I haven't seen him for awhile. My Border Collie is far more aggressive then any of the pits with the exception of the one, and my lab mix attacked one of the pits that jumped into our yard when the border collie was 11 weeks old. The pit went full submissive, I reimbursed the owner for stitches (even though it shouldn't have been running off leash or been out) under the condition that they let me help them fix their gate, as they had an escape artist on their hands. Their pit is now friends with both our girls, the lab mix loves him and he accepts the border collie herding him, which she can be bad about.

Dog discrimination? Better call Reverend Al Shar-Pei.

Looks like it's wearing leg warmers!

In reply to bgkast:

Your dog is melting..

Jerry wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: They also flat-out refuse Chihuahuas because they bite the employees.

Ex-SWMBO is a vet clinic practice manager, worked in a shelter before that. Probaly 10+ years of animal experience. Said the only dogs that ever bit her, or most of her coworkers, were ankle biter things like Chihuahuas. My pit submits to both of my cats.

The only time I've ever had an issue with a dog in a customer's home it was a little fluffy ankle-biter. Most of the people with Pits or the like that are aggressive toward people are smart enough to put the up.

We've never had any problems with places turning away ours- but it helps that he's a boxer/pit mix and looks more like a boxer, and usually we describe him as a 'boxer mix'. And frankly from what I've seen his boxer nature of being very jumpy and 'handsy' is far more problematic than any pit nature (which generally just has him trying to lick you to death or thinking he- at 85 lbs- needs to be lying on top of you on the couch). Biggest problem is that SWMBO finds all of the boarding places we've seen WAY too sterile, depressing, and dog-pound-like to want to take him there any more- I'd LOVE to find a local place like that farm...

moparman76_69 wrote:

Jerry wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: They also flat-out refuse Chihuahuas because they bite the employees.

Ex-SWMBO is a vet clinic practice manager, worked in a shelter before that. Probaly 10+ years of animal experience. Said the only dogs that ever bit her, or most of her coworkers, were ankle biter things like Chihuahuas. My pit submits to both of my cats.

The only time I've ever had an issue with a dog in a customer's home it was a little fluffy ankle-biter. Most of the people with Pits or the like that are aggressive toward people are smart enough to put the up.

I partially agree. I have been bitten by big and small dogs because customers would say "They are really sweet they won't hurt you". Yeah I learned my lesson the 3rd or 4th time that happened.

I did get attacked by a cat once. It was quite bizarre. It cornered me in a room and when I would try to leave it would attack me. When the owner took it out of the room, it decided the hallway was the next best place to wait for me to attack. That was the first animal I ever had the thought in my head about punting.

I couldn't take my German Shepherd anywhere due to his aggressive nature. Heck, he bit me the first time I met him(I rehomed him at 3yo), but that was probably a "Hey berkeleyer, pay attention to me barking at you" moment.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

I've gotten the owner that swears their dog is passive. I normally respond "that's what the guy told me before his dog bit me." Luckily if I feel like the dog is a threat and they refuse to put it up, I get backed up without question.

Most cats come right up to me and demand attention, even the ones that the owners claim are anti-social. I have had one attack me once though.

Oh and don't worry I punted the little fluffy bastard that latched onto my boot.

My daughter has a Pit/Boxer mix. Don't think that dog knows he's supposed to be mean. Wouldn't intentionaly hurt anything although he does get a bit friendly and likes to jump on you for attention. I guess as mentioned the Boxer in him. Thinks he's a 70lb lap dog. My daughter has tried calling him a Boxer mix but as soon as someone looks at the dog they say Pit. She has to pay extra for her house insurance because of that dog.

The_Jed wrote: Looks like it's wearing leg warmers!

Racist.

wlkelley3 wrote: My daughter has a Pit/Boxer mix. Don't think that dog knows he's supposed to be mean. Wouldn't intentionaly hurt anything although he does get a bit friendly and likes to jump on you for attention. I guess as mentioned the Boxer in him. Thinks he's a 70lb lap dog. My daughter has tried calling him a Boxer mix but as soon as someone looks at the dog they say Pit. She has to pay extra for her house insurance because of that dog.

That must be par for the course for boxer/pit mixes... ours thinks he's a lap dog and 98% of the time we're sitting/lying on the couch he'll be sprawled out across our legs or lying with his head on one of our chests. He's the biggest baby ever- he's scared of so many things (the other 2% of the time when he's not lying on us? it's because he's hiding in our walk-in closet during a storm...) including smaller dogs (when they're not trying to infringe on his yard- he'll stand his ground against them then...), thunder, fireworks, my larger cat if the cat is growling at him (smaller cat will just take off like a pinball trying to get away from him- and of course he has to give chase after her...), the blender, and plenty of other things I've forgotten. The biggest danger with him is that he'll jump up on you and knock you over and lick you non-stop- or that he'll not realize just how much he weighs and walk all over you without thinking about what half his weight or so on a paw's surface area will feel like on your leg, chest, groin, etc.

We're fortunate- for the most part, Marley looks like a brindle boxer- the pit in him has just lengthened his face a bit (has much softer features than a pure boxer) and a bit more of a barrel chest than a pure boxer.

On the flip side of this.

When my elderly Basset Hound was attacked, I took him to the emergency clinic. The vet looked at me and said "Do I even need to ask what breed it was?" I just shrugged and he said that 95% of the dog on dog attack victims he sees were pit related. We discussed that perhaps that was because the victims of less powerful breeds didn't require medical attention and other variables that would skew the numbers of his experiences, all of which he conceded but as a professional his opinion is still that there was a problem that needed addressed and that we were the 4th dog he had seen to attacked by a pit that night.

I LOVE pitties and would have one in a heartbeat. I want to make this clear. The reason I didn't offer up the name of the breed that almost killed my dog is because I abhor the reputation they have.

I had one for 6 years. He was a lovely dog. But they come with a lot of preconceptions and that is just the way it is. Love the dog but I would not get another thanks to all the crap that they come with.

wlkelley3 wrote: She has to pay extra for her house insurance because of that dog.

We have a couple mutts from the county shelter and our insurance guy saw them. He tried to charge us more for our insurance because he thought one of them was a German Shepard. I love dogs but am no vet, so I couldn't say definitively if he is or is not any particular breed, as far as I know his breed is "pound mutt". After that explination, there was no extra charge.

My only prejudice when it comes to breed is why you would pay good money for a dog with "papers" when there are plenty of good dogs that they're throwing away anyway. The Pit and Greyhound rescues are fantastic (and I know your pup is a rescue), but generally speaking, I know people that have spent cubic dollars for specific pure-bred dogs while they're euthanizing perfectly good animals. Heck, our big dog was almost totally free when we got him since he was way over his expiration date. The next dog that came in to the shelter would have meant the big fire hydrant in the sky for him if my wife hadn't stopped by the pound that week. Granted, he did a couple thousand worth of damage to the house, but still.

That is pretty eye-opening about the boarding process. We've never boarded our dogs, but yikes -- charging extra for more bathrooms breaks?

The rules exist for a reason. Some of it unfair, sure. But the truth is, they are statistically more dangerous. That is getting better as time goes on; there are less dog-fighters and a lot more responsible owners that are helping the averages.

Of the pit-mix I have experience with, he is a great dog, although very energetic. The issue with him would be that he'll bite your hand trying to get the ball. It isn't that he wants to bite your hand, but he goes too hard for the ball. Mean? No. Dangerous? Yes, but only for the uninformed. He'd also never harm another dog. Harmful to humans, unintentially, safe with other dogs.

My dog, on the other hand, is a Golden Retriever. He doesn't like other dogs, and we don't trust him with other dogs. If he wasn't so clumsy and had better depth perception (I think he is partially blind in one eye) I would trust him with a newborn baby though. And again, his issues are due to how he was raised--we got him when he was 5 years old. If he had been nuetered as a puppy, he would have been a much better dog. If he had been trained as a puppy, he would have been a much better dog. Completely safe with humans (other than being a 80 pound klutz), not safe with other dogs.

Which one is better? Well, with responsible owners (like my friend, and like me and my family), it doesn't matter. Irresponsible, it does matter. I'd argue that the Golden is probably more dangerous than the Pit, because people are stupid with other dogs.

In reply to wae:

I would kick that insurance company to the curb for charging more for my family having a GSD. Seriously, berkeley them. Same goes for any other breed to be honest.

Unfortunately, even being out in the middle of nowhere, you'll still get shiny happy person riding their family past on bicycles.....of which, my GSD, nor my parent's 2 GSDs will bat an eye at them, so long as they aren't taunting. I took an extendable baton from a peckerheaded father for riding past with his family taunting the dogs with "Come get the stick" When I caught up with the guy, I gave him 2 options, 1. I forcibly remove said baton from his possession and beat him senseless with it, 2. He hands over said baton and NEVER goes down our road again.....or else I'll beat him senseless with it.

Our local police chief laughed at this when I told him.....even more laughing to this date as they still haven't come back past.

In reply to wae:

Well, if the insurance agent combined one of the dog's bodies with the other dog's coloring, I could maybe see a GSD, or was he dumb enough to think the one was an albino German Shepard?

Yep. Every one of the dogs that we've had running and killing livestock wouldn't hurt a fly. Several owners insisted it was the fault of our livestock, or us.

And yes, insurances prohibit certain breeds.