Working Pit Bulls - Page 1

I'm just curious to find out if the pit bull owners on this board work their dogs and if so what kind of work they do with them. I have known many great pits but all were pets.

 I currently own 3 APBT, I do Schutzhund with all and one will be doing show as well.

That's great! Congratulations for taking the time and putting the effort in to training your dogs to such a degree. Do you have pictures of your three on the database? One thing I wonder about is whether people give you a hard time when they find out you want to train your dog to do bitework. I know when I contacted my local schutzhund club they told me the only breed they will not allow to train with them is a pit bull. Seems to me they would be great at it  as long as they have a good temperament and they have the obedience down first.

 I don't have any pictures on the Database. 

As for training, I have a great trainer that does not discriminate breeds. I do admit that there is a difference between an APBT and a GSD, but my trainer has been there for me 100% to help me through problems that arise. Where are you located at?

we have 4 and 2 are servise dogs  the other 2 are in training

I looked at the pictures on your site; your dogs are beautiful. Especially Tank, he's georgeous.  I live in Portland, Oregon. I have two GSDs,went to check out the Sch club with one of them and asked them about breed participation. A friend of mine has two pits and both are great dogs; I thought maybe we could go out to train together. That's when I found out they won't allow pit bulls to participate-- at least not in the protection phase. I always a thought a pit bull would be one of the better working breeds-- strong, smart, determined... but it seems they are being disincluded from many things anymore. It's good to see there are people out there including them.

Thank you. : )

 It is so sad. You would think that someone so involved with dogs ( the people @ that club ) would see past the media hype. The people in my club love my dogs. 

As for not letting them do the protection, every DOG is different. A good trainer would know that and be able to tell, by training, that a dog is not cut out for a SPORT. Besides, the biggest part of the protection is control over your animal which translates into OBEDIENCE. It is probably best you say away from them, too much drama. 

As for being a better working breed, it depends on how you look at it. My Pits are less likely to shy away if they are injured during practice ( which can happen when training several days a week), but my Shepherd learns things 1/4 the time of my Pits. There are +/_ to both breeds.

Good luck to your friend.

My Nemos herds cattle/horses as a lifetime job living on a farm. He's the sidekick to a Malinois and a Cattle Dog. :o)

I do Tractor Pull with him at Rodeo 1/2 time shows for MSNRA just for fun. He's the only Reg. APBT there most the time, most dogs arn't Reg at all who compete and of course it's just for fun.  If he wins 2 more times in a row we get centerfold for the national publication of unbeatable 1/2 time Rodeo JDGreen Pro with 8 consecutive wins with 100 or more points. LOL Quite silly but I think he'll do it. He looks mighty fine pulling a John Deere Green.   :o)~

I do want to show him sometime in the future just to see how he places. We love him.

GOOD LORD, WERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR INFORMATION FROM ON APBTS. ANY PIT BULL PUT INTO A SERVICE AS A GUARD DO IS STUPID AND IGNORANT. GOES AGAINST WHAT THEY WERE BRED TO DO AND THAT IS TO BE HUMAN FRIENDLY. WE ARE NOT TALKING GSD WHICH HAVE THE INSTINCT TO BITE AND PROTECT THEIR PROPERTY. STOP BEING SO COOL AND SO CALLED PRO ACTIVE IN THE DOGS  IF ARE TRULY PUTTING A POSITIVE IMAGE IN THE DOGS DO SOMETHING ELSE. WHAT POSITIVE IMAGE CAN SCH. WORK PROVIDE FOR A PIT BULL THE SAME THING PEOPLE ALREADY THINK. YOU WANT A TERRIER WHO CAN BITE GET AIREDALE OR A GIANT TERRIER BREED THERE IS NUMEROUS ONES. PROMOTING THE DOGS IN A POSITIVE IMAGE IS GREAT BUT TRAINING A DOG AGAINST THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD IS NOT A ONLY A INJUSTICE TO THE DOG BUT TO YOURSELF. YES PITBULLS (AS YOU CALL THEM) ARE WORKING DOGS, WORKING DOGS IN A DIFFERENT SITUATION NOT JUST FIGHTING. WE HAVE WEIGHT PULLS, AGILITIES, TRACKING (ANY DOG), OBEDIENCE, FRISBEE COMPS, TREADMILL RACES, REAL WORKING DOGS DO THESE JOBS, CATCH DOGS (HOGS AND BIG GAME), RESCUE WORK, OR JUST HAVE A NICE PET.

SORRY I DIDN'T FINISH. THAT IS WHY THE CLUBS DON'T LET PEOPLE BRING THEIR APBT TO TRAIN IN PROTECTION WORK, BECAUSE THE DOGS ARE NOT GENETICALLY PROGRAMMED TO DO IT AND THE OUTCOME OF THIS COULD BE THE NEXT MEDIA FREINZE. BAD IDEA ALL THE WAY AROUND, JOIN YOUR LOCAL CLUB AND MEET SOME PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY KNOW THESE DOGS AND NOT SOME WHO PREACHES THAT THE DOGS CAN DO ANYTHING, I CAN JUMP OFF A BRIDGE BUT DO I . NO, JUST BECAUSE A 1967 CAMARO CAN DRIVE ACCROSS THE COUNTRY, SHOULD YOU NO! JUST BECAUSE A BULLDOG (APBT) CAN BITE HARD DOES THAT MEAN WE SHOULD TRAIN IT IN SCHUTZHUND. THE EXACT REASON I DON'T BREED DOGS AND EVERYTHING I HAVE STAYS AROUND MYSELF AND CLOSE FRIENDS. BECAUSE OF THESE PRO ACTIVE OWNERS WHO THINK THEY ARE DOING RIGHT BY THE DOGS, I DON'T WANT TO CHAIN HIM, I DON'T WANT TO KENNEL HIM WHILE I AM AT WORK, OR LET'S GO TO THE DOG PARK BECAUSE HE IS FRIENDLY MOST OF THE TIME. GOD HELP US ALL PLEASE.