Even Darth, one of the most opinionated people here, plays coy and not really making an argument but still calling people stupid (reading between the lines).
I wasn't playing coy. I truly didnt want to have to type out the lengthy argument this would bring from me. However I guess I have to. I wasn't calling people stupid. I was calling the discussion and the stigma behind it stupid. I will most likely jump around quite a bit so try to follow as well as possible.
Lets start with the term Pit Bull. Define that. The AKC to my knowledge still does not recognize this as a breed. So if it is not a true breed what designates a dog as a pit bull? The origin of the name came from pit fight with dogs as well as a dog with jaws and body strength powerful enough to bring down Bulls. This is the origin of the name as these were two reasons for their creation/breeding. It has nothing to do with a specific breed in reality. Most "Pit Bull" bans include the following true breeds, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier,, American Bulldog, and some even go so far as to include Boxers, and English Bulldogs. Kind of stupid really, since characteristics between all these breeds are not remotely similar except possibly the jaw make up...but even that is a stretch.
Lets look at some numbers before I delve further into this.
One of the few known instances in which a breed ban’s effectiveness was examined and reported on in the United States occurred in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where a task force was formed in 2003 to look at the effectiveness of its pit bull ban. The task force concluded that the public’s safety had not improved as a result of the ban, despite the fact that the county had spent more than $250,000 per year to round up and destroy banned dogs. Finding that other, non–breed–specific laws already on the books covered vicious animal, nuisance, leash, and other public health and safety concerns, the task force recommended repealing the ban.
In a study looking at dog bite data, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Veterinary Medical Association together produced a report titled Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the US between 1979 and 1998.This report appeared in the September 15, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The study stated that during this 20–year period, more than 25 breeds of dogs were involved in 238 human fatalities. Pit bull type dogs caused 66 of the fatalities, which averages out to just over three fatal attacks per year. Rottweilers were cited as causing 39 of the fatalities. The rest were caused by other purebreds and mixed breeds. Some of the breeds listed were Dachshunds, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and even a Yorkshire Terrier were responsible for fatalities.
The media is also very biased when reporting on attacks involving dogs. There was a study done as well during a four day period in 2007 by the National Canine Research Council. During those four days the attacks were tracked and the number of publications reporting these attacks.
On day one, a Labrador mix attacked an elderly man, sending him to the hospital. News stories of his attack appeared in one article in the local paper.
On day two, a mixed–breed dog fatally injured a child. The local paper ran two stories.
On day three, a mixed–breed dog attacked a child, sending him to the hospital. One article ran in the local paper.
On day four, two pit bulls that broke off their chains attacked a woman trying to protect her small dog. She was hospitalized. Her dog was uninjured. This attack was reported in more than 230 articles in national and international newspapers and on the major cable news networks.
So clearly the media already targets a specific breed as it is. Thus everyone hears about it more. This is akin to if the media only reported crime stories involving Native Americans in mass publications and ignored other races for the most part. A very negative view of Native Americans would eventually develop would it not?
To further prove it isnt a breed issue but more an owner issue the following stats were collected by the The National Canine Research Council in 2006.
97 percent of the dogs involved were not spayed or neutered.
84 percent of the attacks involved owners who had abused or neglected their dogs, failed to contain their dogs, or failed to properly chain their dogs.
78 percent of the dogs were not kept as pets but as guard, breeding, or yard dogs.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, the Centers for Disease Control, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, no one dog breed is more likely to bite than others.
A study performed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the CDC, and the Humane Society of the United States, analyzed dog bite statistics from the last 20 years and found that the statistics don’t show that any breeds are inherently more dangerous than others. The study showed that the most popular large breed dogs at any one time were consistently on the list of breeds that bit fatally. There were a high number of fatal bites from Doberman pinschers in the 1970s, for example, because Dobermans were very popular at that time and there were more Dobermans around, and because Dobermans’ size makes their bites more dangerous. The number of fatal bites from pit bulls rose in the 1980s for the same reason, and the number of bites from Rottweilers in the 1990s. The study also noted that there are no reliable statistics for nonfatal dog bites, so there is no way to know how often smaller breeds are biting.
Breed specific bans are not a new thing. As just pointed out two other breeds have been looked at closely in recent decades because of one simple reason. Popularity. The more of one type dog, the more bites from that specific breed. It is simple math.
Owning a grooming salon where 25% of my clients own pit bulls I can honestly say none have ever tried to take a bite out of me. The top biting dog in my salon by Breed is the CHOW CHOW (I have been bit by 75% of them, Chihuahua (the only dog to bite me in the face and actually drop me to ground while gushing blood profusely out of my nose, Shih tzus (half of these little crap dogs bite), and cocker spaniels. I would say 25% bite and they always have horrible teeth so infection is a major concern. Don't get me started on stupid cats who also tend to leave infection....
I have heard the floppy ear discussion before. However this holds no water. As most dogs that are classified as pit bulls have their ears docked and thus were born with floppy ears until an operation changed that. Also there are several dogs that do not have floppy ears naturally and are rarely ever involved in any biting incident. Toy Fox Terrier, West Highland White Terrier, Akita, Alaskan Malamute, American Eskimo, Australian Terrier, Basenji, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Shiba Inu, Boston Terrier, Cairn Terrier, Canaan Dog, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Chihuahua, Chinese Crested, French Bulldog, Ibizan Hound, Keeshond, Norwegian Elkhound, Norwich Terrier, Papillon, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Pharaoh Hound, Pomeranian, Samoyed, Schipperke, Finnish Spitz, Scottish Terrier, Siberian Husky, Silky Terrier, Skye Terrier, Swedish Vallhund, Yorkshire Terrier. So to say floppy ears or poity ears is an indication does not hold water.
Now I might agree to a correlation with cropped ears assisting in bringing out aggression as this has to affect nerve ending and I have read this can affect some things in a behavioral way, but this is still under study and not conclusive to my knowledge. As I can always bring up the breed of Great Dane to counter act this thought process as well as Schnauzers, boxers, Bouvier de flander, Neopolitan Mastifs, Brussel Griffons, Boston Terriers, Briards as well as a couple other lesser known breeds. But cropping was brought about to keep the floppy ear out of harms ways. as most of these breeds were used in some sort of fighting or defense manner way back when.
Albuquerque has probably one of the highest concentration of Pit Bulls in the country per capita. In the last 3 years we have had four attacks on humans by pit bulls. In the same amount of time we have had three individuals killed by wild dog or local neighborhood packs that did not include pit bulls.
I will stop there as to not flood this post with to much information I am sure most of you have never read before.
