Andrew emails a link to a pathetic article on pit bulls entitled Pit bull apologists, wake up. I will not bother addressing the rather emotional screed and its conclusion that begins the article, but further down:

Whenever there is an account of a mauling by a pit bull, there is a howl of protest from those who love the breed. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners, they say. Or they ask how the media reporting the incident knew the dog was a pit bull. Pit bulls, they insist, are no more inherently dangerous than any other breed of dog.

That’s not true.

“What I usually say is that it is not uncommon to spend thousands of dollars breeding a good hunting dog,” says Gamez. “With a good hunting dog, that is not something you teach — he’s got it in his genes. The pit bull is bred for fighting.”

Pit bulls do have fighting in their history and it is unfortunate, which is why responsible owners socialize the animals or do not allow them near other dogs. Pit bulls were also cattle and hog dogs, which is why they shouldn’t be allowed near cows and pigs (unless you want them to catch one).

Pit bulls were bred to fight and the quality that made them fighters is a trait known as gameness, which means tolerance for pain. The dogs were also bred to be pulled off other dogs by their masters while fighting. As such, they were bred to be exceptionally tolerant of human beings. Stating that because an animal is bred for fighting denotes a predisposition to attacking humans is a bit of a stretch. It doesn’t work that way.

“You can’t make a German shepherd stop herding,” says Merritt Clifton, editor of the Washington-based Animal People magazine. “You can’t make a Chihuahua stop barking.”

Actually, yes you can. I raised and trained police dogs for years and 99% of them were German Shepherds. None of the dogs I worked with displayed any urge to herd anything because they weren’t taught to do it. They did, however, learn to attack on command, detect drugs, and master obedience.

It is at this point that everyone starts yelling at each other and pointing fingers. My pit bull, someone says, plays with my children every day. He’s the cutest, most affectionate pet we’ve ever had. Pits are no more aggressive or dangerous than beagles.

That’s not true.

Actually, it is true depending on the context. Pit bulls are more aggressive toward other dogs. That aggression does not mean aggressive toward humans. And aggression toward other dogs can be curbed somewhat by socializing them. And, statistically speaking, a pit bull is comparable to a golden retriever in terms of temperament.

According to a study by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covering the years between 1979 and 1994, pit bulls were involved in 57 fatal attacks — well over twice the number for the next breed on the list, rottweilers, with 19, and more than German shepherds (17), huskies (12) and malamutes (12) combined. A 2000 study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that pit bulls “were involved in 65 fatal attacks between 1979 and 1998 … twice that of rottweilers and more than three times German shepherds.”

I’m not sure where the CDC gets its numbers, but a more comprehensive study from 1965-2001 states that 431 documented fatal attacks were broken down as follows:

Pit Bull and Pit-bull-type dogs (21%), Mixed breed dogs (16%),
Rottweilers (13%), German Shepherd Dogs (9%), Wolf Dogs (5%),
Siberian Huskies (5%), Malamutes (4%), Great Danes (3%),
St. Bernards (3%), Chow Chows (3%), Doberman Pinschers (3%),
other breeds & non-specified breeds (15%).

Additionally, the one factor that seems to lead to such attacks is the reproductive status of the dogs. This study also states:

While at times informative, statistics on fatal dog attacks can also be misleading. For example, a number of cases were a Pit Bull, Rottweiler or GSD were counted as causing a human fatality were in reality the direct result of gross human negligence or criminal intent (i.e. discarding a newborn in the yard where the dogs were kept, or cases of extremely emaciated animals, or cases were the dog was ordered or encouraged to attack the victim).

The fact is that dogs that are historically viewed as aggressive (pits, Rottweilers and Shepherds) attract irresponsible and criminal owners. Many drug dealers, for example, keep nearly emaciated pit bulls to guard drug stashes.

Even more damning are the statistics kept by Clifton, a dog activist who has been keeping meticulous records since 1982 of dog attacks severe enough to have been reported in the media. It should be noted that Clifton excludes attacks by guard dogs, police dogs and trained fighting dogs and does not chart cases where the breed is uncertain.

The numbers are stunning. As of last week, meaning Mabel Wong’s mauling would be included, pit bulls were cited in 831 attacks. The next closest was the rottweiler with 373. No other breed made it out of double digits.

And what percentage of the dog population is pit bulls and Rottweilers?

But that’s just part of the story. If you’ve been to an animal shelter lately, you know that it seems like half the dogs there are pit bulls. Naively, our family thought that was because families were not adopting them.

Actually, it is the result of a population boom in pit bulls. In the three days before the Fourth of July holiday, Clifton contacted 22 animal shelters, and compared the results with a study he did 11 years ago. In a sample of 918 dogs, he found that the number of rottweilers and pit bulls had increased five times, including an “astonishing” four times more pit bulls. And, it is important to note that with spay and neuter programs, the number of animals of all breeds in shelters has actually been decreasing.

“I’ve been in this business since 1975,” Gamez says. “In those days, we used to pick up lots of types of dogs, Irish setters, Afghans. Now you walk into a shelter, and every other dog is a pit bull. This has been going on for 10 years. It may appear to be exploding, but it has been happening exponentially.”

Oh, you mean like what I just said above about what percentage of dogs are pit bulls? Sadly, people get these dogs and can’t handle them. They take a lot of work and they are not for everybody. There are a lot of them that end up at shelters. It seems as though the author of this article is, rather roundaboutly, getting to the real problem with the breed: it’s popularity. The pit bull is becoming more common and it stands to reason that they would be involved in a higher number of incidents. It’s sort of like how Hondas are involved in more accidents than other vehicles but that doesn’t mean that Hondas are dangerous. It just means there are lots of Hondas. Unlike Hondas, however, the pit bull tends to attract irresponsible owners who want bad ass dogs. There is the same phenomenon with Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, and Presa Canarios. Sadly, the Canarios had a surge in popularity after those two killed the woman in San Fran. These owners encourage aggression. And someone who wants a particular breed of dog because it killed a woman is likely not going to be the most responsible owner.

The problems with dog aggression in most cases are the result of a lack of owner responsibility.

Posted in uncategorized on July 6th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |