Are You an American Pit Bull Terrier Person?

Having owned an American Staffordshire terrier for 14 years, I can only share from my experiences. I bought my dog, Tyson as a puppy from a breeder. Raising him from a puppy, I have experienced a lot of positives and some negatives. As far as the dog's interaction with family, friends and their children, my experiences were 99.9% very good. Tyson loved everyone and just wanted everyone to love him. He especially had a sense of calm around small children and smaller animals. One day our friend’s 10 month old crawled over to Tyson as he slept, grabbed Tyson’s tongue that was sticking out and started to yank on it!! Tyson woke up, just looked at the baby, yawned and went back to sleep. He was a 50 lb. baby, who just wanted to spend time with people and go for walks....Which leads me to some of the negatives. There are people out there who have no idea what Am. Staffs or APBT's are about and do judge based on media (I use the term loosely) reports and hearsay. Some people will judge you and your dog with no reason or proof of any wrong doing. So if you choose this breed be aware of this.

An example of this was years ago, my wife was walking Tyson ON A LEASH. As she was approaching a neighboring apartment, a man and his friends were in the front yard, preparing to leave. In the yard was his Aussie sheep dog NOT ON A LEASH. Before she could cross the street, the dog charged her and Tyson in an aggressive manner, snapping at Tyson's torso. From our apartment three apartments down I heard her screaming and ran because I knew it was her. As I arrived the owner of the Aussie was pulling Tyson of his dog's rear quarters, As he's doing so his elderly neighbor is yelling at my wife, (who is hysterical), "Your dog is evil and should be killed. Pit bulls are evil animals and they should all be killed." The owner of the other dog asked the elderly man to please leave. It all worked out in the end. The Aussie owner was very cool, his dog had a bite wound to the rear, we assisted with a portion the vet bills, but the owner realized it was his responsibility. But there were several other occasions with off the leash dogs, when we narrowly avoided serious problems.

So to wrap up this novel, These are GREAT dogs with proper breeding, training, and supervision. Just be prepared for the other people who aren't educated and aren't being good owners. Because in the end you are the owner of the "Bad dog" and even if they do not start a fight, they will finish it.
R.I.P. Tyson

good article thanks