What to say to people who bring up HA dogs of old

(crosspost) Because I like it..

I usually tell people who dub pit bulls as vicious people killers that the dogs were not bred to be aggressive with humans and that HA dogs were culled in the past, but I ran across someone who told me that, that is a myth started by Richard Stratton. This person brought up Chinaman, saying that he was a man biter and that he was bred and that many of today's dogs have Chinaman's blood in them (all of which I already knew) and used this as his proof. I researched the subject some and found that there are quite a few other people who state this too on non pit bull forums where the subject is pit bulls being aggressive toward people. One man said that pits should never be around children because of the myth that HA dogs were culled (not just not left alone with them, but not around them at all), another brought up pit dogs being matched against humans, another brought up Corvino's Blackie and said that they had to fence in the pit to keep him in 'cause he was was so dangerous, another brought up a dog (can't recall the name) that had to be carried in by three people and that his owner would throw him into the pit 'cause he was worried it would bite him, another brought up Bolio, another brought up two dogs that were very man and child aggressive (I can't recall which two) and another said that if a dog was a winner in the pit and was HA, it wouldn't be culled because they cared more about the money the dogs brought them (and that these dogs were bred despite being HA 'cause the pups would bring them money). I know a little about the dogs of the past, but not much. I've tried to educate myself the best I can on them (and still am) because I feel that knowledge is power and I like to know as much as I can about any breed I own, but some of these stories I'd never heard and because of that, I'd be at a loss in how to respond. Chinaman I know about, so I stood firm and stated that most HA dogs were culled, but then the guy said that bit about Chinaman being bred and his blood running through the veins of many of today's dogs and that could be part of the reason for the stories of HA dogs of today (which I don't believe for a minute....I seriously, of course, doubt Chinaman is the reason).

My husband and I got in a discussion on what to say to someone like the one that was disagreeing with me and he thought I should ask more knowledgeable people, so I figured I'd ask you all so I could be better informed 'cause, like I said, I don't know everything about the dogs of the past. As far as I knew, most HA dogs of the past were culled, so what do I say in response to someone like the one I mentioned?

I don't think anyone in their right mind would cull a good dog for a minor imperfection. An unpredictable or outright aggressive dog, sure. I think some people take human submission to literally and expect it regardless of the situation. I'm going to say that a solid temperment is the most important thing to consider.

*bump*

I really like this topic.

Just tell the people that HA is a flaw, and all dogs have flaws. This was even true back in the "good 'ole days."

Perhaps the same stood true back then as it does now. That MOST pitbulls were bred with temperment as one of the things they had in mind and that a HA dog should be culled. But we know that there is little control when it comes to breeding standards and such and that people are going to breed the dogs they want, despite major or minor faults in the dogs, for their own reasons. It's one thing when you can track a dogs lineage (kind of - paper hanging makes it that much more difficult) and can tell if there is a supposed HA dog in the ped, but now there's all these byb dogs (don't get me wrong, I have two, but it's a total crap shoot) who's lineage is a total mystery. You just don't know what kind of dog you will get.

I hear all the time that HA APBT's were culled, honestly I don't believe this was always the case. While there is no doubt that they should be, It's naive to think that a dogman would of always done so even though the dog was or even thought to be champion..jmho