Should there be an age limit on owning and or handling an APBT?

and another thing you can read all the books in the world but nothing can educate you better than experience !
Very true.

How are you supposed to get experience if you can't handle the dogs until your 18??

harry its 16 and you havent long left pal good things come to those who wait

In confined places ie training schools after all you would not let a 10 year old out with a shot gun.Im not saying that you need to be a certain age but you must show that you are capable of controlling the dog.Not just pit bulls any dog. p.s carnet vote for some reason.

yeah i agree thats why i've spent a lot of time around all dogs not just pitbulls but some people just are not ment for a pitbull there are people who have dogs years and as mush as they love the dog they and have the experience of owning that dog for how ever many years and still cant take care of them proper and one small thing might happen and its always the pitbull thats going to be blamed theres plenty people out there with the experience of owning a pitbull for years and "out of no where" the dog gets in a fight with another dog and its back to square one for pitbulls so no matter how much expierence some one has with a dog or breed of dog doesnt mean they would be a good owner

harry as i said kid theres no doubt you'll be a great owner and i know its soon enough for ya ;-) lol but your an acception to the rule as i said i voted 16 because of physical maturity not how much experience you have thats a different thing its just imagine a dog like scud his size and strenght (that you know well lol :-D) getting into a fight with another dog now think how hard that would be for even a full grown man to break up it'd be impossible for some one 12 13 or ther abouts
you've shown you can handle dogs properly so i dont think it matters what age you are when you get your dog you'll be able for em

Harry wrote:How are you supposed to get experience if you can't handle the dogs until your 18??

harry whether or not you are of age to handle a dog you are gaining experience just being around them and doing your research, although some can have different opinions about the breed you will come to your own, there's a lot of people that have being around the breed for such a long time even they dont clam to know it all their experience comes from the past and their information can be quite useful, people that have being involved with the breed over the years have a lot of knowledge to pass down and the most important thing is to keep an open mind, life is a teacher it never stops at any age there's a fountain of education and information for every1, for new comers and old timers.

By the way Harry it seams like you know what you are doing and every one speaks highly of you so just keep doing what you are doing.

pitties rule wrote:once you get a license for your dog the government should ask you to put your dog through basic training at a low cost or tie in a fee for both licence and training, now this goes for all breeds. this will show your able to handle your said dog and the dog gets some sort of training... then maybe someone who is younger then the legal age limit could possible own there dog of choice.

ive seen grown men dragged down the road by there medium/large dogs. ive also seen children walking medium/large dogs without a bother because the dog was a well trained dog and just looked like it was enjoying the walk.

to be honest i think it should be the test first and then your license if you can pass that test, and i agree it should be for all breeds, the main problem we face all around the world is BSL, where particular breeds are labeled dangerous due to attacks that have happened to small children and in some cases the child being killed, we can discuss the topic of the age in handling a breed that is very strong but we must also mention the issue of education within the household and the reasons we have these restrictions and bans etc

Attacks are the reason we have banned breeds and these restrictions and in my opinion the only way forward is for compulsory education IE a test to be certain that that family understands whats involved in being a responsible owner, this would also put the blame on an individual if for what ever reason an attack has happened in the family home and not on each and every one of us as we suffer the consequences along with particular breeds and the innocent victims when these incidents occur, most children that have being attacked or tragically killed by dogs have being attacked in their own homes or a friends home etc, this is down to the lack of knowledge on the owners behalf, im always stating this when this topic comes up and i think its very important to mention the reasons why these attacks happen and how BSL only deals with the symptoms and not the cause of an attack by basing it on the breed of dog, by doing this nothing is ever learned by these mistakes its just the same story "it happened out of the blue" i dont believe for 1 minute that a dog attack is unprovoked, there's always something that triggers it, may it be as in most cases an unsociable dog that is a back yard ornament, may it be that the parents or minders of small children have left a child and dog unsupervised, leaving a child with a dog regardless of breed that doesn't understand how to behave around that dog is a Recipe for Disaster, even the most stablest of dog if taunted enough will react and unfortunately with its teeth, again i will say a child to young to understand a dog can pull their tail, poke them in the eye, jump on their back etc, if the dogs has growled/warned the child then in these circumstances how is this child to understand this with out an adult being their to recognize this and stop it. this is when the parent or minder is in the kitchen and hears the incident and runs into the room, this is where the cause is not seen and the attack has happened out of the blue and this is the area i feel that has to be targeted. We can deal with what age you should be to handle a strong breed its just common sense, but if we are to deal with the prevention of attacks, if we are to change the opinions about certain breeds, BSL needs to be scrapped and as mentioned before compulsory education needs to be introduced and not come up with laws only the responsible will follow, innocent children still being attacked, and innocent dogs on death row because they happen to look a certain way.


Jesus if that post doesn't give you all a headache ill be surprised

In the last few days when I was sick, I was thinking about this, and I realised that I won't actually have to break the law on this anyway.... I'm almost 15, and when I get my pup, by the time he's 6months (when the laws start taking effect) i'll be 16 so won't be breaking the law :)

whats all this about doing a test before you get a licence before you get a dog , this is one of the most ridiculous things iv ever heard , YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE AN A.P.B.T UNTIL YOU OWN ONE !, reading a book will not give you experance , i cant swim but its ok im going to get a book and then i'll be grand, breed education is very important but come on Lily be honest with yourself most of your knowledge didnt come from books it came from practical experance and being around pitbulls for a long time !

of course there should be a age limit on owning any dog and a test that is funy. should be a age limit on kids giving people advise on matters that they havent a clue what they are talking about. the only experance is hands on

i think the thing about the tests is not just do a test theres more to it then that... so how does some one learn to drive before they get a licence? to get the licence they need to do the theory test which means you have to read the book otherwise try do the test trust me some things are easy and common sence but theres questions put in their that you wouldnt know unless you read the book so now you have a licence to drive a car even tho you may never have drove before now you get lessons and do the test and another thing if some one wants a dog so badly they'll do the test or what ever and if some one does it chances are they'll be the ones that will look after their dog if they want is as a fashon statement they wont spend no time doin the test its too much hastle for them so say if they do the test they could have a dog and then lets say go to a few socilisation and training classes where they get to learn from the dog.

people spend years of their life going thru college reading books about business or what ever the corse is before they graduate and actually move onto that job... edcuation is the issue if people can be edcuated on dogs in general specially bully breeds then there would be much less hastle and problems... i agree the best way to learn is from experience but something needs to be done to change peoples view of pitbulls and to edcuate people about their breed of choice before they get a pitbull realise they cant look after it the test wouldnt just be to weed out those who cant look after a dog but also let people know about their breed of choice...
you can learn from experience but why not have the experience and from reading and researching your breed the two together is better then either one on their own

specially now at christmass not just bully breeds but all breeds will be given as presents for christmass and the truth unfortunatly is not all those dogs will get the care and attention they need... there'll never be an end to irrasponsible people ownin any breed of dog but we can at least try do something to help lower it

if theres any better ideas then a test then it'd be great to get something going to help after all thats why were here to promote responsible pet ownership and do our bit to make sure dogs go to proper homes where they'll get the care they need bully breed or not

connollyeamo wrote:of course there should be a age limit on owning any dog and a test that is funy. should be a age limit on kids giving people advise on matters that they havent a clue what they are talking about. the only experance is hands on

the only kid on the forum is harry and he's looking for advise not giving it?
(no offence harry your more capable of owning a pit then most people that have one )

is that a fact....

that harrys the only kid or that he's not giving advise?

good job.keep up the good work.

jbrady wrote:whats all this about doing a test before you get a licence before you get a dog , this is one of the most ridiculous things iv ever heard , YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE AN A.P.B.T UNTIL YOU OWN ONE !, reading a book will not give you experance , i cant swim but its ok im going to get a book and then i'll be grand, breed education is very important but come on Lily be honest with yourself most of your knowledge didnt come from books it came from practical experance and being around pitbulls for a long time !

james go back and read the post again, its not about doing a test to own an American pit bull its a post on how to prevent children from being attacked, not sure if you know this but the laws on specific breeds where put in place to protect children from being killed in some cases, these are the kind of laws us as owners face because of a minority of people, are they working, NO, should attacks be based on breed, NO i don't think that banning breeds or putting restrictions on breeds is going to make a change to dog attacks, IS IT? what my post explains is that if people where made to take a simple test to be more aware and educated about dogs in general, ie behavior, body language etc it would be more productive in preventing attacks in witch dogs are blamed when its down to educational errors, as a responsible owner i wouldn't mind taking any test and the main thing would be that at least people would understand what is involved in owning children and dogs so that children wouldn't be the victim of irresponsible owners due to their lack of knowledge. also people like me and you wouldn't be tared with the same brush as such people, BSL would be scrapped, so to sum this up, less attacks on children and breeds being treated as an equal because a simple test is brought out. A while back they were going to put up the price of a restricted breed dog license for what its only the responsible owner that will buy it and what will it do to stop the root of the problem NOTHING, just like the laws they are doing nothing to keep the public any safer all they do is persecute the innocent responsible owner and spasific breeds,would you not agree that preventing attacks is down to education? if not maybe put a post up and tell us how you think it should be dealt with.

connollyeamo wrote:good job.keep up the good work.

sound i'l do my best

connollyeamo wrote:of course there should be a age limit on owning any dog and a test that is funy. should be a age limit on kids giving people advise on matters that they havent a clue what they are talking about. the only experance is hands on

lol i think harry could educate 1 or 2 adults here on this forum to be honest and he has as much wright to give advice to people if he feels he can as any other member here,
why do you think that taking a test is so funny eamo tell us? and the hole hands on is the only way lol, yeah i agree you will learn a lot from hands on experience but all dogs are different and it would involve a lot of time being around different dogs and people to gain experience, not researching others opinions that has maybe being involved with dogs for countless years is just Ludicrous, after all every1 can active great knowledge from the research of knowledgeable dog people and their experiences.

Who is this harry you are all talking about and who ever said it was this forum im talking about?? It must be the case seems as you all hit defence mode.

who is harry? if you looked at the creator of this thread and most the comments in it you would know who harry is... if you weren't talking about this forum then why bother posting about it here?

I never once said it was this forum. I never even said it was a website im talking about..my god i think a few of you need to chill a little bit.. Every body mad to argue on here from what ive been reading..

the reason why i mentioned training is so that ppl get to know certain breeds in the classes and get to know there not all bad.... start giving the R.B the positive image that they deserve. if ppl get some sort of training to start with then maybe dogs roaming around streets and attacking ppl and kids would become a thing of the past. im sick to death of dogs off lead coming up to my dogs and starting trouble and the owners cant recall there dogs and they end up making matters worse by screaming and shouting. all breeds of dogs need training so you have some sort of control over them. also the training will build a better bond between you and your dog.

it was just an idea i had so that maybe one day BSL could be scrapped coz lets face it ppl it just aint working. one can always dream.

connollyeamo wrote:Who is this harry you are all talking about and who ever said it was this forum im talking about?? It must be the case seems as you all hit defence mode.

eamo there is a difference between an opinion and having a go at people, people that have posted in this tread are voicing an opinion, we have rules here and personal attacks on members is one we dont take very lightly, rules NO1 stated in the rule posting section "about us" on the home page "It's okay to have intense discussions and arguments as long as everyone involved behaves in a professional manner; in fact, we here believe that mature debate and discussion are vital to an educational forum such as this. Please do not misinterpret polite but firm disagreement or debate as a personal attack. Remember that strong disagreement and debate are not the same things as "flaming."
if its a thing that you were talking about another forum then you should have stated that clear as this can easily leave people under the impression you were talking about IPBTA, i suggest that if you have a problem with other forums than you go and PM the admins and explain your problem to them as its nothing to do with any member here, i think the only person here that is hitting the defense mode as you call it is you, we are having a discussion not an argument.

heres a question if this test was in effect whos going to run the training and test center ? the ispca crowd sure the majority of that lot could do with some bullbreed education they havent a clue! also have you any idea about the financial side of setting up such a department , its unrealistic to say the least , and do we not have enough stupid rules and regulations is this country without adding this sort of thing . also what about people who cant read or write people who wont be able to sit your test because they cant read are they not allowed to own a dog ?

@ harry just a bit of advise for ye pal dont be brain washed by all this carry on , im sure youll make a grand responsable owner when the time comes , youll get your pup and youll put the time into forming a bond and building a trusting relationship with your dog and in time youll be able to read your dogs mood and body language like a book , you will learn from your dog , education doesnt give people common sense!