Pit bulls are dangerous. There is no way to refute that. They are sweet natured dogs but every dog can get panicked. It’s not their fault. Then the only variable is how much damage they do. Pit bulls do a lot of damage. Again, it’s not their fault but that doesn’t make them less dangerous.
Well there you have it. Dogbites.org has put the truth out plain to see. .... or have they? Wait a second? Who is “dogbites.org”- the people who made this chart? Well- never mind. It’s reliable data I’m sure right? Let’s check with the CDC or the AVMA... oh wait... CDC stopped collecting data on breed in 1998 for dog bites because they, the AVMA- and many other canine experts have deemed that the data is too unreliable and there are too many false or unconfirmed breed identifications for the data to be meaningful and useful? Huh.
Well... surely we can agree that pit bulls are a more dangerous breed right? Wait... what is a pit bull again? Wait... there is no such breed as “pit bull” and most major dog breeding societies including the AKC do not recognize the breed as a breed at all? Maybe we need to dog deeper here...
“Pit bull” is not a breed. It is a broad classification of dog of mixed lineage. When we say “Dalmatians are known to be temperamental” or “Chow Chows are known for aggression. With strangers”- those are BREED traits. Shared genetically on some level by most all dogs of a breed. With a pit bull type dog- the breed traits are somewhat unclear since... there is no breed. They are essentially mutts- often a mix of some percentage of terrier- especially bull terrier. But like any dog that is a mutt- what you get animal to animal or generation to generation is... somewhat a mystery.
Now- bite studies are controversial even beyond breed identification and integrity of information in the statistics because... well- they don’t really tell
You anything useful. Rottweilers are and German Shepard’s are known as dogs that make top tens on bites as well as deaths. But... that kinda makes sense doesn’t it? Your purebred and well tempered house dog isn’t a biter... what gives?
and even if the data is accurate that doesn't necessarily mean that pit bulls are just an inherently aggressive breed. It could just be that people use and raise their pit bulls to be aggressive and that they're capable of dealing damage.
Well- these breeds are commonly used as guard dogs and working dogs for militaries and police forces. Used as attack dogs and such- so what happens if we sift the data? What if we remove bites from working dogs on the job, from dogs acting in self defense against abusive owners or handlers? Remove dogs where they bit a person engaged in criminal trespass or activity while the dogs were serving as a guard dogs? The numbers change.
Now- deaths are different than bites. But when it comes to bites- a family pet biting a family member or close friend isn’t likely to get reported. It’s also unlikely a bite that doesn’t cause any real harm to a stranger will get reported. That’s lots of paperwork and the dog may be put down- and really- most people don’t want to go through the whole thing of no harm is done.
So your shitzu is not only less likely to be reported if it bites- but obviously it is far less likely a lap dog is going to kill a person or seriously injure them than a bigger animal right? But- even amongst bigger dogs we still see pit bulls lead in deaths (sometimes bites- depending on who’s study we use...) what gives?
Well- let’s remove fighting dogs, or direct defendants of lines bred for fighting. Remove abused animals. What does THAT chart look like? We don’t really know. Because of difficulties in tracing the actual breed or mix of an animal- let alone the lineage- and the general unreliability and other issues of data on the subject- we can’t get much meaningful data on the subject to soft it to a level where we can see something concrete.
In short- this is somewhat akin to looking at US crime statistics and saying “Every black person you meet is more likely to make you the victim of a crime than any other type of person...” Well... no. Some people from certain socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to commit crimes. Many of the people in those circumstances are black. But Ken Chenault- Former Fortune 500 ceo and current black man- is VERY unlikely to make you the victim of a crime. This is a forgotten art from long ago I like to call... critical thinking.
You anything useful. Rottweilers are and German Shepard’s are known as dogs that make top tens on bites as well as deaths. But... that kinda makes sense doesn’t it? Your purebred and well tempered house dog isn’t a biter... what gives?