Totally agree with Nicci,

I am a SBT owner,under no circumstances would I ever leave my dogs unsupervised ever.
I know too many owners who have trusted ther dogs only to return home to a blood bath.

Even breed club secretries will state not to leave them alone together.

I disagree with this. Most of the fearful dogs I've known (and being in rescue, I've met many) are fearful due to what has been done (or not been) done to them. Some were fearful because they were locked away with no real contact, especially during those important puppy times. Some were fearful because they were abused or mistreated in some way. I've met only a handful I could honestly assess as being fearful due to genetics.


I agree with some of this, but not with all. First of all, many people are working on breeding pits with good, stable temperaments. Many pits live and socialize with other dogs throughout their lives with no problem. Many come through shelters and are just big lovers, even to other dogs. In our neighborhood we have several pits, some puppies, some adults, some older adults. Of those we have two who are DA: One is old and suffering from dementia. She was used as a bait dog and as she's gotten more and more ill, she's become more and more dog aggressive. The other is selectively dog aggressive. He's an intact male dog and is fine with my dog because she's a spayed female, but he will and HAS attacked other intact male dogs.

The others range in age from very young puppies to 7 years old. My dog has played with some of them and greeted and relaxed with others. Most of them were dogs who came from bad situations: one was found half starved to death in a cemetery; another was picked up as a stray; one of the puppies was dumped at 5 weeks (and the owner got him a week later) who was thankfully taught bite inhibition by my dog and through an awesome owner.

Now what I can agree with is that dogs are often bred to do something. Border collies to herd, Greyhounds to chase. But dogs of many breeds are taught to be aggressive to SOMETHING. And unfortunately that does translate to dog aggression. Recently we had a GSD nearly kill a Yorkie at a local park. There's no doubt it saw that little dog as prey.

Were pit bulls bred to fight other dogs? Some were, absolutely. But the thing we have to remember is that dog fighting, while still going on, has been illegal for many years and many dogs MIGHT have come from lines who were not bred for the fighting ring. Many breeders here in the states are breeding dogs for stable, sound temperaments. This may not be true in the UK as they're illegal there, but it IS true here. And so maybe I come at this from a different viewpoint. I've met many stable, non-DA pits here who live with our dogs their entire life with no problems and who frequent dog parks and play with other dogs also with no problems. Maybe those sorts of dogs are just more common here than over there.

In all honesty, it's never a bad idea to be safe with dogs of ANY sort. When we watch my parent's dog and are going to be gone for a few hours, we gate her into the kitchen and leave our dog loose in the living room. Our dog is completely non-aggressive, as is my parent's, but it's better to be safe than sorry. You just don't know what could happen, even with a Border collie/Golden retriever mix and a little Maltese/poodle mix.

I sure do. I've met Border collies who had no herding drive at all. And I've met ones with high herding drive, low herding drive, and everything in the middle. I've met Golden retrievers who wouldn't retrieve. I've met Labrador retrievers who wouldn't swim. And I've met a Rottie who was the biggest mushball and wouldn't protect anything to save his life.

In all dogs there is no guarantee that the breeding will result in the desired traits. There's a better than average chance that a border collie born to two parents with high herding drive will herd, but it's not guaranteed 100% that the puppies will all share that trait.

There's a reason why, in every litter born to dog fighters, some dogs are killed or used as bait. Not every dog wants to fight or will fight.

Will every SBT owner who disregards this come home to a bloodbath?

We're not talking about border collies though are we ?

Before I took on my last two dogs I was warned of the dangers that I could possibly face with keeping two Mastiff males both at the same time, by not only the breeder of my Bullmastiff but also the breeder of my Corso. I wouldn't have considered them to be good breeders if they hadn't issued me with those warnings - But I knew it anyway having previously kept dogs that are known for being dog aggressive once fully mature.

If those warnings hadn't of been issued by either breeder, I would have simply walked away as something would have told me they simply we're not experienced enough to possibly own either breed. The one breeder of my dog has been with the breed for over 20 years, the other for almost 8 years I value their advice and do take it very seriously.

Will every owner that does admit it ?

*headdesk* Of course we're not talking specifically about them. We're talking about inherited traits. BCs are supposed to herd. Greyhounds are supposed to chase small animals. Pit bulls are supposed to be dog aggressive. All supposed inherited traits. But in any breed, some dogs will strongly have those traits, some will have a weaker version of it, and some will not have them at all.

It's good for a breeder to warn that there could be a potential (and it sounds like the breeder is not trying to breed the trait out, but just accepts it as a trait -- some here are trying to breed out the trait from the dogs entirely). But potential is very different from "definite" which seems to be your stance.

EVERY dog has the potential to be dog aggressive (and especially so with intact males meeting other intact males). EVERY dog has the potential to be human aggressive as well. But will they? THAT is not definite no matter how much you want to believe it to be.

I don't quite understand why you got two male dogs (from one breeder?) when you seem to believe they're going to become aggressive to each other someday. If you think that's going to happen, then why risk it?

I didn't get two male dogs from one breeder I got two dogs from two different breeders spaced a year apart But were warned by both breeders potentially what could happen sometime in the future once my dogs hit maturity....But knew it anyway.

I've owned bitches with D/A and I'd personally never go there again. My males on the other hand, seem less bothered by each other, so this time around chose to go with Males rather than females as from my own experience dogs seemed to be less fiesty.

I've never actually said, my dogs will turn out to be D/A show me where ? I'm just FULLY aware it could happen sometime in the future, if I weren't that would make me naive beyond stupidity.

Many people show their dogs and have more than one of each sex, and with careful handling can accommodate same sex dogs in one household,

Not if they are lucky, no. But common sense would tell you that for safety's sake, with any dogs, they cant harm eachother if they are separate.