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

jbrady wrote: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!

james what in the name of god are you babbling on about? the ispca deal with rescue not dog training or behavior they wouldn't have the knowledge on that subject to call such a test? again i must point out that im am not saying the test should be for just bully breed owners i emphasize at all times it should be for all owners regardless of what breed they own as responsible ownership involves all breeds.

also have you any idea about the financial side of setting up such a department , its unrealistic to say the least ,

as a matter of fact such educational programs are quite easy to set up, experienced dog trainings and behaviorists would be the people for the job, explaining body language, different types of dog behaviors and how they occur and how to prevent them, generally how to read your dog and the importance of teaching children how to behave around your dog, giving children the tools to deal with dogs on a safe know it bases, the do's and the don't s etc, financially this would not be a cost it would make money.

and do we not have enough stupid rules and regulations is this country without adding this sort of thing .

Ehhh Hello! thats the hole point im trying to make here james, if these kind of educational programs where put in place we would have no need for all the rules and regulations, i think your mixing your self up by thinking im saying people need to learn about a certain breed that is far from what im saying, what im saying is that if these tests were brought out then people would understand what is involved in being a responsible owner, dont we always say the breeds have their bad names due to the irresponsible? well this would be a chance to prove and be treated as an individual, if you hold a lenience to say you have done this test and passed it now go get what ever breed you want and if the irresponsible that has a dog that does something we wont all be tared with the same brush just like the law is now, the irresponsible will be the people punished for attacks not people like us and our dogs that have done nothing wrong, the irresponsibility and blame is put on the owner and not every1 else and also based on a specific breeds. yeah? why do you think Holland lifted their ban on pit bulls and got rid of the laws? because it didn't work and now they provide these programs to people just the way i explained above.


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 ?

what about tests for cars etc how do they pass them?

@ 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!

responsible ownership comes in many forms james, its not just about people getting dogs and bonding with them, you have to understand there is people out there getting dogs and not understanding how to look after them this is why we have attacks etc, and from these attacks by other peoples dogs we get the blame, id have no problem sitting any test but for me it would not be for my benefit but for those not so educated so at least people have no choice but to learn and prevent these issues from happening,

if there was a test out tomorrow for people here and in the UK for bans and restrictions to be lifted im sure every1 would jump at the chance, we have bans and restrictions over 17 years and nothing has change we need education not legislation and thats what an educational program would provide.

have a read of this

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i dont agree with this test thing i just cant get me head around it , i dont think it will fix anything except some dog trainers pocket! you get nothing for nothing anymore ! if it some sort of totalitarian system you want to live in move to north korea , and just because you write half a noval as a response doesnt make you right ! im leaving it at that !

james no need for your smearly little remarks i dont see anywhere here where i have insulted you darling, maybe you could reply with some kind of response with something that would contribute to the issue instead of just disagreeing with no back up theory in your defense, i suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree, people that have being involved with the public on a different note than just being around 1s dogs see the problem we face but i don't expect you too, i believe such people would agree with what i say as its common sense the problem we face is education and not ignorance that has led us to laws and restrictions.

i never insulted anyone i mearly expressed my opinion surely im entitled to that !

james whos trying to brainwash harry?? look ath the posts ! every one said he'l be a great owner find a post that says in any way he shouldnt own a pitbull and post it for me cos i read back and found nothing !

I'm leaving it at that !

unless you can find the post i mentioned

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what are you talking about slattery i know harry will make a good owner, i never said any body said harry shouldnt have a dog , now you go and find the post where i did !

Look there's enough off topic posts lets just stick to the original 1 and start posting some comments that are beneficial to every1, all the he said and she said auld ones and Nancy talk is not going to get us anywhere here.

i never said you said harry shouldnt own a dog ! i said find a post where any one said he shouldnt have a dog... i'm quoteing you on the aqusation you made that people are brain washing harry ! every one agreed that he would be a great owner and no one said he wouldnt so how are we brain washing him? the topic is about our opinions on how old some one should be to own a dog and ways to help the pitbull situation in ireland at the moment theres no brain washing no one jumped down any ones throat for their opinion about the age to own a dog only a few people that did get a bit bothered is a few who are against the age limit...

the test thing was just an idea to help the situation but some people seem to get bothered about a few posts over an idea that was just put out there to see what people had to add to it and there was a few good points made maybe your right its a bad idea theres no full way of knowing at least were doing something to help the breed instead of just been negative most the time

next time read the post at least 4 or 5 times before you reply so you understand what your replying to

Haha i said u said she said. I never said..joke....

year all (bold word) mad with your test and poo the cavemen who fight them give them bad names.cavemen.yea can give all the education yea want 2 people about the breed but yea have 2 own 1 to no what der like and not every dog is the same. harry its not a lion your getting its a (bold word) dog anyway its not about handling a dog harry its the way u look after it

connollyeamo wrote:Haha i said u said she said. I never said..joke....

haha i no... there'd be no need for he said she said if people just read the posts proper before they replied

shanepit wrote:year all (bold word) mad with your test and poo the cavemen who fight them give them bad names.cavemen.yea can give all the education yea want 2 people about the breed but yea have 2 own 1 to no what der like and not every dog is the same. harry its not a lion your getting its a (bold word) dog anyway its not about handling a dog harry its the way u look after it

Shane again we have to remind you of the rules, have some respect we do have children here on this forum and bad language is just not acceptable here.

I dont see any bad language...iy says bad word??

eamo did you ever hear of word censoring?? have you anything to add instead of making silly little comments and thinking things are a joke? im sure people don't need you to speak for them they can speak for them self

shanepit wrote:year all (bold word) mad with your test and poo the cavemen who fight them give them bad names.cavemen.yea can give all the education yea want 2 people about the breed but yea have 2 own 1 to no what der like and not every dog is the same. harry its not a lion your getting its a (bold word) dog anyway its not about handling a dog harry its the way u look after it

as a matter of fact the cave man you talk about gave the breed a name as a fighting dog, cave men as you call them never had any intentions of the public being involved with this breed, the reason that this breed has a bad name is down to irresponsible and uneducated owners owning dogs that have attacked and or killed children this is where the fear and legislation came from, the cave mans dogs don't generally leave their surrounding unless their going to prove them self, these are not the dogs involved in such attacks that has caused this its down to so many different issues such as the irresponsible breeder selling to just any Joe soap and not taking into consideration if that person should or shouldn't have a dog, owning with the wrong intentions of ownership, IE using the breed as status dogs etc, households with children and not understanding whats involved in child and dog safety, the importance of socializing and exposing a dog to every day situations i could go on and on about the subject, the bottom line is at this stage dogs shouldn't be ban its some people that should be ban from owning dogs, if im to be honest here i think some people I have encountered shouldn't own as much as a goldfish.

this tread was started by a kid that hopes to get his pit bull next year, i applaud him for getting out there before he has his dog and trying to find out as much information as possible as to be responsible with his dog, i think the way this tread has gone is downright disrespectful to this kids research and the whole thing about learning from the dog itself is not the type of advice that should be giving, yes harry will learn with hands on approach but its also nice to have some1 there if he needs a little help along the way.

agree with yea %100 celtic

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I believe a dog ownership test should be put into place. The test should be to teach your responsibilties as a dog owner, how to take care of a dog (including basic diet, exercise, training etc), what to look for in a breeder/puppy and how to choose the correct breed for your life style e.g. if you're looking for a dog to sit on your lap and be happy with a 15 minute walks round the block you shouldn't choose a working/sporting breed.

After passing this test you're given details of local breed clubs of the breeds you are now looking at. It's there you will find more detailed info on that breeds needs, care and whether this is the breed for you.

Hopefully with this sort of thing in place it should help to weed out the people that get a dog with no thought to whether it will suit them as it's these idiots that are filling the dog shelters every day.

well said, there is just no education is the legislation, and this is what we need to fight for, the governments need to scrap BSL and start putting more time into programs, all that you mentioned above along with introducing bite prevention programs once a year to educate children about dogs in schools, i understand what people are saying ie only the responsible will do it etc, but if we just thought about it only the responsible follow the laws we have now and we are still tared the same as the irresponsible when an innocent happens, if this was to be introduced we wouldn't have to worry about people not doing it as they would be the people targeted not the responsible and their dogs.

RickyB wrote:great comment by celticpitbulls, all of the dog attacks by this breed in the UK was dogs owned by owners who kept them as pets or watch dogs, the one big here was the attack in finglas on a girl, when the papers printed all negative stuff about pit bulls. what should have being printed was the breed was a American bulldog, but pit bulls have the bad name, ...R

that's the truth, i was on a TV show back when that happened along with the mother of a little boy that was attacked by 2 rottys, TD Joe Costello was also present and brought up an attack that happened in the 90s, i witnessed that attack on that little boy and helped to get the child to safety as the owner was to intoxicated to do anything, twice the pit bull breed was brought into it as Joe Costello said a pit bull was involved, i did quote him on the show told him his information was wrong as i was there and there was not pit bull involved, then the father of that little girl came on a stated clear it wasn't a pit bull that it was an American bull dog, im not condemning any breed here we all know its the owners and not the dogs, all im saying is that a lot of mistaking identity comes into things when people see a short haired dog with a little muscle they automatically believe its a pit bull, and a lot of the time i meet people they get on the knees sometimes to give my dogs a pet, then comes the question? what breed is it? im sure you all know what happens after they get their answer

i think another important thing to mention when owning a bully breed is that you have to have thick skin, you will on a regular bases come across people that look at you like you are committing a crime just because you own this kind of dog, but we have to be proud and fight back with education and be the opposite to what they expect a pit bull owner to be.

another thing that should be introduced in all schools is how to approach dogs, not sure if all schools do this this but i remember lia came home from school one day with a work sheet "dangers in the home". she said they also done other things like how to cross the road, how to tell someone about abuse. they could tie it in with that maybe. alot of kids just walk over to dogs and think its ok, i recently seen a dog tied up outside a shop and as a kid was approaching he gave a warning growl. the kid still kept going coz they didnt understand what the dog was doing. i had to tell the parent to tell the kid to stay away as the dog wasnt happy about her giving him a rub. the parent looked at me as if i had 10 heads. while the mother was talking another kid tried to do the same thing as her own kid and she heard the dog growl this time and asked the kid to stop. when i walked out of the shop she then thanked me coz she understood why i said it to her in the first place.
kids and some adults need to learn how to be around dogs coz the excitment, screaming, shouting and jumping around just freaks dogs out. if kids learned thru school maybe it would help alittle towards attacks not happening. im not blaming the kids or dogs coz its a chain of events to why something like this happens. if it helped alittle wouldnt it be worth it. not all parents tell there kids how to behave around dogs.
educate early so when the are growing up they have some knowledge as to be around dogs. i couldnt live with myself if anything like that happened to me coz i own pitbulls. thats why i have my dogs in training with john and am teaching my children how to be around dogs. i want to do good for the breed and my children so if an idea pops into my head im going to get people opinions after all thats wot a forum is for.

i also gave an interveiw to a local paper after that " little girl " was attacked while she was out running the streets late at night !

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i understand that ricky and agree 100% , my dog doesnt cross the door without a muzzle and even though he's great with kids i dont leave them unsupervised, in my opinion the finglas incident was a case of neglegence on both sides dog owner and parents !