Tiller- (Skansen's- Ira in the M
I DO Exist...To- Drive You Batty | 
 | | Barked: Mon Dec 17, '12 10:59am PST |  | |  | | Gus covered it pretty well. The horse didn't spook, but rather at some point ended up in a literal fight for his life, prior to which the officer had control of the scene.
To answer your question, Gus, one of the issues in drive is its constancy. That is what separates a PPD from a K9, in example. Or the best example would be a narc dog, who may have to search a factory in high work mode, inch by inch. Not many dogs do much of anything for twenty or thirty minutes without it being rewarding (such as chewing on a bone). I believe you are doing agility, yes? Ok, so dogs can love to go through tunnels. True. But how many dogs would sustain going through a tunnel, pivoting and going back through again and again, without starting to have their enthusiasm wane? That constancy is often what can make dogs more difficult, bring threats to our community and so on, because it will sustain the drive either in extraordinary situations, and/or long enough to do serious harm.
It is an uncomfortable issue to talk about, but pit fighting isn't to the death, but rather about the gameness to engage. The fight is broken and the dog is reset multiple times, each time of course more cut up, bleeding, etc. and needing to remain tanked about reengaging.
I watched an Animal Cops type thing once of a fight bust, at the Philadelphia ASPCA, and there was one dog in the seizure who didn't really look like much other than a perfectly happy and friendly Pit mix. He was put in the iso room as an evidence hold and a little while later there was a lot of brouhaha, everyone raced back in, and the dog literally had torn his kennel wall down trying to get at the neighboring dog 
Pits also can be trained on live prey. You have to think of what this does, coupling that with the above explanation of a pit fight, particularly when viewed on the street level, which has some chance to genetically work its work into a more general community dog genetic, you know? It can be beyond simply "my dog is DA."
I think those arguing for positive Pit promotion need to stay grounded. "My dog would lick a person to death!" is an utterly moronic thing to say in the wake of a dog who just severely maimed a child. Or something such as this, where this was a very over the top scene that endangered a police officer and a horse trying to do his job. This obviously was a cujo-esque scene, and to defend the dog in the name of the "wonderful pets!" Pit Bull makes you, and thereby all who are trying to help the plight of this breed, look utterly delusional and/or fanatical. Only making those on the fence harder to sway down the road.
Part of the "blame the deed, not the breed" puts focus on things like genetics, irresponsible breeding, ownership, and puts zero tolerance on dogs who do things to endanger those in our community. I was doing some searches of the Chronicle of the Horse forum and the subject of Pit Bulls came up, many not so nice, but one thread where a woman had a stray no rescue wanted to take and she was curious about integrating this dog into her home as she had cats, and the responses, one after another, were so sweet. So MANY had Pits it boggled my mind  We need to stand by the good ones, be realistic about those who are dangerous, and above ALL seek to put an end to the fight industry. Particularly at a street level, those genetics are precariously close to getting into the general dog population. Part of these tragedies are those genetics getting a little too close to home. We need to be honest about that.
I think when we can focus, in these more disturbing instances, onlookers on the seriousness of the fight industry and why it is a threat to us, gaining more steam and support to getting it abolished, that is the productive thing to do. Certainly when I was a kid, Pit Bulls did not have this reputation. Certainly I, as a rescuer, see a myriad of PBs who are reminiscent of that dog.
I have one in foster right now who is "sorta" DA, but he's pretty reasonable about it. Gorgeous dog, too. Because of his behavior, his fostering situation is a spacious stall in the basement of the two family I live in. It's our puppy room, has a big window that looks out into the yard. Not too bad. He, like most Pits, is very talented at scaling things (they are great tree climbers). One night, he got out. And headed up the stairs to where Duncan lives, in the middle of the night. She has a thin wood door, held closed by a chain bolt. It is flimsy. If I needed to break in, I could easily kick in. I don't think the door is even an inch think.
At any rate, Duncan got up in the morning with her dogs down by the door, which was ajar (held closed by the chain), peeking in. And on the other side was Ghost, poking his nose through. All three (Duncan's Chaci and her Spoo, Sally) were alert but relaxed. Now HAD Ghost had those more intense genetics, he would have pushed that door off its hinges. It would have been incredibly easy to do, and then there would have been a blood bath in the middle of the night. But he's just "average" in these manners, so it didn't go there.
That would be a difference between the varying levels of where these dogs can go, dependent on their genetics.Edited by author Mon Dec 17, '12 11:11am PST
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