Training and keeping control of their dogs. Like any breed, pit bulls have needs in order to be happy and well-adjusted dogs. Relevant here is that, just like any strong dog with the possible exception of some of the gentle giants, they need extra discipline and a firmer touch in training.
A properly trained and socialised pit bull that’s treated well will not attack people or other dogs, whereas untrained and/or not properly socialised dogs of ANY breed are likely to develop problem behaviour, which can include aggression.
That’s like saying driving a sports car is more dangerous than a regular car. In some sense, yes it is, but at the same time it’s not the cars fault that the driver irresponsible.
Where is all this pit bull hate coming from? They’re not anymore dangerous to people than other breeds of similar size, yet they get such a disproportionate amount of blame. I’m not sure why.
Since 2016, at least 65 different breeds and mixed breeds have been involved in fatal dog attacks in the U.S. including: Akita, Boxer, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd, Great Dane, Husky, Labrador Retriever, Mastiff, Pitbull-Type, Rottweiler, and many others.
The risk of being fatally attacked by a dog (of any breed) given an average of 33 fatal attacks every year in the U.S. and a population of 330,000,000. According to CDC data, fatal dog attacks are exceedingly rare - lightning strikes cause more fatalities (~36/year) than dogs.
No they aren’t. They’re only a problem when not raised right. They DO need a firmer hand in training like literally every strong breed, which not all owners realise and take into account, but neglecting that isn’t their fault, it’s on the bad owners.
How does that say anything about pit bulls in general? Someone else brought up the fact that labs and German shepherds bite just as much as pit bulls. Where’s the scaremongering about labs? Oh wait, they’re the choice breed for service dogs? Maybe it’s not the breed then.
You pointed out the solution: nobody should be allowed to keeep a dog unless they can prove they know how to correctly train and keep a dog. If the owners are the problem, the owners should be held accountable.
Well, as long as we cannot be sure whether a dog owner has done their duty and properly trained the dog, we can never be sure whether a stranger’s dog is well trained or a purpously-trained killing machine. Or anything in between.
Were you personally attacked by a pit bull, or was someone who’s close to you attacked? Your stance comes across as really paranoid, like you have a reason to fear dogs.
I was attacked multiple times by dogs and I don’t care what race they are. All dogs in public should be on a leash and muzzled.
And every time I was attacked I was just walking down the road and some random dog without leash or muzzle just attacked and bit me. And every time the owner was like “The dog has never done anything like that”. That totally makes everything better. I always felt so honored that I was the first one that dog hurt. I still got scars on my shoulder from that one time and that was almost 20 years ago.
I don’t think breed-based laws are a good idea, because they make it look like every other breed is not dangerous.
I think, all dogs should be leashed and muzzled in public and all owners should have to get a license that includes a test and yearly inspections first.
Man, I have to wonder, what are your thoughts in gun control? I mean the yearly dog inspector is great but like, what about social services? You think there is room in the budget to provide care for the less fortunate?
That’s extremely unfortunate. Of the many many dogs I’ve come across, big & small, including a few strays that I was unwise to approach so casually, I’ve never been bitten or attacked. Perhaps I was merely fortunate. Knowing what you’ve gone through, your stance is understandable, although I don’t entirely agree with it. Yes, all dogs in public should be leashed, although I find it unnecessary to put a muzzle on all but the largest dogs who have the actual strength to cause serious harm. I definitely don’t agree with any sort of licensing or routine inspection for dog owners, but I get why you would think this is necessary… perhaps its best if we simply agree to disagree.
Come to think about that: to operate a car, motorcycle, boat or aeroplane you need to get a license, proving that you know what you are doing. Depending on vehicle and jurisdiction, you might even need to re-take tests frequently. All of these vehicles (in most jurisdictions) require frequent inspections and if they fail these inspections, you are no longer allowed to operate them.
Also, there are very stringent laws on how you are allowed to operate these vehicles, with really harsh fines for violations of these laws.
Looks like your stance on dog ownership is much more hardcore than mine, but I could get behind that.
Could you please provide those stats? Skimming thru the Wikipedia article on pit bulls, it seems there’s no clear evidence that pit bulls are significantly more dangerous that other dog breeds of similar size.
You mean these stats from a 32 your study of US and Canada from 1982 to 2009 that shows over 60% of dog attacks from from pitbulls?
Here’s a collections of yearly reported dog attacks.
Any big & powerful dog with a strong bite like the pit bull has the capacity to seriously harm & potentially kill a person, and since you can’t count on every pit bull owner to responsibly train their pets, they do become a liability when in public. Pit bulls are also a popular breed in the illegal dogfighting scene, so violently dangerous dogs that have been bred to be violently dangerous are guaranteed to exist.
Even so, it’s rather unfair to treat every single pit bull like a menace when non-aggressive pit bulls that are affectionate towards strangers are not uncommon. Laws requiring big dogs to be muzzled should suffice; banning the entire breed from public (or, in some places, from even existing) seems excessive to me.
My friend’s pit bull got attacked by a Chihuahua and had no idea what to do about it except sulk all day after it was over. To me, blaming pit bulls for violence is like blaming BMWs for not using turn signals
Exactly! Labradors and German shepherds, along with pit bulls, were responsible for more severe dog bites than other breeds, yet I don’t see anyone demonizing labs & sheps like they do the pit bull. Its reputation is really undeserved.
Exactly! Labradors and German shepherds, along with pit bulls, were responsible for more severe dog bites than other breeds, yet I don’t see anyone demonizing labs & sheps like they do the pit bull. Its reputation is really undeserved.
This is factually wrong. I have a copy/paste from reddit I’ve already dumped… Here’s a copy.
If that were the case, I’d expect that per capita pit bulls would then be equal to all other breeds or at the base minimum to represent their population, so if a pit population is 10% of all dogs, then they should account for 10% of all dog-related deaths. This is a little facetious though as little Pomeranians aren’t going to kill anyone… So let’s look at a number of breeds to determine what could be a valid number…
So how can we account for pitbulls accounting for 7.4% of all dogs and commiting ~66% of all dog-based fatalities when…
Rottweilers are 2.4% of dog population and commit about 10% of the murders recorded.
German Shepherd are 8.5% of the dog population accounting for ~5% murders. (beating population value even though they’re large dogs)
Huskies are 2.3% of the population and account for 3% of the murders
How about a dog bred to kill bears??? Akitas… 0.4% of the population… doesn’t even come up on the murder table… so less than 0.5%…
How can we account for this massive disparity? You really think that ONLY pitbulls are mistreated, untrained, and raised improperly? So all Rottweilers and German Shepherds are trained perfectly? Yes, I can agree with you that an abused dog will absolutely lash out and hurt humans… I cannot agree with you that this is the deciding or only factor. Otherwise we would have seen it with other breeds as bad owners are everywhere. Breeds like Akita’s show that you can be breed for fighting and not be aggressive towards humans. Pit bulls simply were bred for aggression, you can’t always train it out of them, and it only takes one slip.
Source for fatality rates: https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-multi-year-fatality-report-2005-2017.php
Source for population percentage rates: https://www.animals24-7.org/2021/07/07/dog-breed-census-2021-labs-hounds-top-list-pit-bulls-come-in-third/
I’ve never known a pit bull that wasn’t sweet but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that a breed that was bred for violence can be dangerous. Many dogs may bite when upset or feel threatened. Pit bulls are known for continuing the attack in a frenzy and thus have a disproportionate number of deaths associated with them.
If a big dog is calmly walking beside its owner on a leash & is well-behaved, why treat it like a menace, especially if it’s also wearing a muzzle? Otherwise, I’d agree that anyone should be wary around a big dog wandering on its own or otherwise acting strangely.
Cue all the “pit bulls are predetermined to be unstoppable killing machines and should never be allowed in public” nonsense comments 🙄
Adorable pup though ❤️
Shhhh… I won’t let those troublesome facts and statistics hurt you.
I’ve seen them all and none of them prove that it’s inherent to all of them rather than the fault of their owners not being up to the job.
Which job are the owners not up to doing?
Training and keeping control of their dogs. Like any breed, pit bulls have needs in order to be happy and well-adjusted dogs. Relevant here is that, just like any strong dog with the possible exception of some of the gentle giants, they need extra discipline and a firmer touch in training.
A properly trained and socialised pit bull that’s treated well will not attack people or other dogs, whereas untrained and/or not properly socialised dogs of ANY breed are likely to develop problem behaviour, which can include aggression.
They are tho. Look at stats.
That’s like saying driving a sports car is more dangerous than a regular car. In some sense, yes it is, but at the same time it’s not the cars fault that the driver irresponsible.
This is only a valid comparison of the sports car could break out of the garage and hunt people down on its own will.
Is that common in your country? I can’t remember last time I heard about a dog attack here
Does your country have pit bulls?
Where is all this pit bull hate coming from? They’re not anymore dangerous to people than other breeds of similar size, yet they get such a disproportionate amount of blame. I’m not sure why.
Statistics… you can look up bite/ attack/ fatality statistics and pit bulls dominate the leaderboards.
https://www.fataldogattacks.org/
So even if pit bulls are the “dominant” killers, it’s the “dominant” one out of 33 deaths. Which could be 3.
Over here yes. Happens quite often. Mostly when unsupervised children meet unsupervised dogs.
Don’t give them ideas!
Actually thinking about it they might have a valid point… tesla FSD and all being what it is.
BMW’s can
But its not a crab, how can it be good if at anything if no crabiness?
No they aren’t. They’re only a problem when not raised right. They DO need a firmer hand in training like literally every strong breed, which not all owners realise and take into account, but neglecting that isn’t their fault, it’s on the bad owners.
https://www.tmz.com/2021/09/10/cesar-milan-queen-latifah-pit-bull-dog-junior-coverup-lawsuit/
So then when one of the premier dog trainers in the USA runs into significant issues with their pit bull… is it the dog or the owner?
It’s Cesar Milan being a fraud who doesn’t practice what he preaches.
Ah yes… the person with more than 25 years of experience must be wrong! Ya’ll are a trip.
Did you even read the article? He left a poorly socialised dog untethered and unattended.
That would stil be extremely irresponsible dog ownership if he had been the undisputed king of dog trainers for 800 years.
Thus why the source should be questioned… it’s TMZ, all trashy celebrity gossip. I doubt this incident even happened.
There are doctors with 25 years of experience that still fuck up constantly and get away with it.
Argument from authority is a fallacy for a reason.
You’re citing a tabloid, not exactly a reliable source…
So you believe that cesar milan didn’t have a pit bull and it didn’t bite someone and didn’t kill another dog?
You can literally pull up the court records if you want. Other sources can cover it perfectly fine.
https://www.citywatchla.com/animal-watch/22536-lawsuit-cesar-millan-s-pit-bull-kills-queen-latifah-s-dog-in-training-and-mauls-girl
https://www.nydailynews.com/2021/09/10/cesar-millans-pit-bull-killed-queen-latifahs-dog-attacked-star-gymnast-lawsuit-claims/
https://www.businessinsider.com/cesar-millan-covering-up-dogs-attack-on-queen-latifahs-dog-2021-9
What a weird hill to die on.
Since it was settled out of court there is zero truth to any of it. Not saying it didn’t happen, but there is no proof that it happened either.
There’s plenty of proof. Documents were submitted to court. Just because there was a settlement doesn’t mean it didn’t happen
How does that say anything about pit bulls in general? Someone else brought up the fact that labs and German shepherds bite just as much as pit bulls. Where’s the scaremongering about labs? Oh wait, they’re the choice breed for service dogs? Maybe it’s not the breed then.
You pointed out the solution: nobody should be allowed to keeep a dog unless they can prove they know how to correctly train and keep a dog. If the owners are the problem, the owners should be held accountable.
I completely agree. Can we stop with the rampant defamation of usually sweet dogs, then?
Well, as long as we cannot be sure whether a dog owner has done their duty and properly trained the dog, we can never be sure whether a stranger’s dog is well trained or a purpously-trained killing machine. Or anything in between.
Were you personally attacked by a pit bull, or was someone who’s close to you attacked? Your stance comes across as really paranoid, like you have a reason to fear dogs.
I was attacked multiple times by dogs and I don’t care what race they are. All dogs in public should be on a leash and muzzled.
And every time I was attacked I was just walking down the road and some random dog without leash or muzzle just attacked and bit me. And every time the owner was like “The dog has never done anything like that”. That totally makes everything better. I always felt so honored that I was the first one that dog hurt. I still got scars on my shoulder from that one time and that was almost 20 years ago.
I don’t think breed-based laws are a good idea, because they make it look like every other breed is not dangerous.
I think, all dogs should be leashed and muzzled in public and all owners should have to get a license that includes a test and yearly inspections first.
Man, I have to wonder, what are your thoughts in gun control? I mean the yearly dog inspector is great but like, what about social services? You think there is room in the budget to provide care for the less fortunate?
That’s extremely unfortunate. Of the many many dogs I’ve come across, big & small, including a few strays that I was unwise to approach so casually, I’ve never been bitten or attacked. Perhaps I was merely fortunate. Knowing what you’ve gone through, your stance is understandable, although I don’t entirely agree with it. Yes, all dogs in public should be leashed, although I find it unnecessary to put a muzzle on all but the largest dogs who have the actual strength to cause serious harm. I definitely don’t agree with any sort of licensing or routine inspection for dog owners, but I get why you would think this is necessary… perhaps its best if we simply agree to disagree.
By that logic, we should ban cars, motorcycles, boats, aeroplanes, horses and almost all other dogs
Good luck with that…
Come to think about that: to operate a car, motorcycle, boat or aeroplane you need to get a license, proving that you know what you are doing. Depending on vehicle and jurisdiction, you might even need to re-take tests frequently. All of these vehicles (in most jurisdictions) require frequent inspections and if they fail these inspections, you are no longer allowed to operate them.
Also, there are very stringent laws on how you are allowed to operate these vehicles, with really harsh fines for violations of these laws.
Looks like your stance on dog ownership is much more hardcore than mine, but I could get behind that.
You have to license dogs too. In both cases, a license does not mean safety.
Getting a license in america is not hard or stringent at all lmao.
Could you please provide those stats? Skimming thru the Wikipedia article on pit bulls, it seems there’s no clear evidence that pit bulls are significantly more dangerous that other dog breeds of similar size.
https://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/2009-dog-attack-deaths-maminings-merritt-clifton.pdf
You mean these stats from a 32 your study of US and Canada from 1982 to 2009 that shows over 60% of dog attacks from from pitbulls? Here’s a collections of yearly reported dog attacks.
https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-fatalities.php
Here’s a few studies on the medical significance of dog bites and breed.
https://www.nationalpitbullvictimawareness.org/articles/medical-studies-on-pit-bulls/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34100808/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51034290_Mortality_Mauling_and_Maiming_by_Vicious_Dogs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261032/
https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/press-releases/complex-dog-bites-in-children-experience-and-recommended-treatment
And how about breed specific behavior studies?
https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-016-2936-3
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/509315v1
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233995885_Breed_differences_in_canine_aggression
These are just a few of dozens of studies and reports that have been done on dogs attacks and biology.
The Fifth Estate also has a good video with proponents of both sides. https://youtu.be/iFa8HOdegZA
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/iFa8HOdegZA
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Any big & powerful dog with a strong bite like the pit bull has the capacity to seriously harm & potentially kill a person, and since you can’t count on every pit bull owner to responsibly train their pets, they do become a liability when in public. Pit bulls are also a popular breed in the illegal dogfighting scene, so violently dangerous dogs that have been bred to be violently dangerous are guaranteed to exist.
Even so, it’s rather unfair to treat every single pit bull like a menace when non-aggressive pit bulls that are affectionate towards strangers are not uncommon. Laws requiring big dogs to be muzzled should suffice; banning the entire breed from public (or, in some places, from even existing) seems excessive to me.
My friend’s pit bull got attacked by a Chihuahua and had no idea what to do about it except sulk all day after it was over. To me, blaming pit bulls for violence is like blaming BMWs for not using turn signals
Exactly! Labradors and German shepherds, along with pit bulls, were responsible for more severe dog bites than other breeds, yet I don’t see anyone demonizing labs & sheps like they do the pit bull. Its reputation is really undeserved.
This is factually wrong. I have a copy/paste from reddit I’ve already dumped… Here’s a copy.
I don’t think its undeserved at all. When it comes to fatal dog attacks, pit bulls are responsible for more than all the other breeds combined by a substantial margin. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/09/13/americas-most-dangerous-dog-breeds-infographic/
I’ve never known a pit bull that wasn’t sweet but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that a breed that was bred for violence can be dangerous. Many dogs may bite when upset or feel threatened. Pit bulls are known for continuing the attack in a frenzy and thus have a disproportionate number of deaths associated with them.
The correct way is to treat every big dog like a mennace.
If a big dog is calmly walking beside its owner on a leash & is well-behaved, why treat it like a menace, especially if it’s also wearing a muzzle? Otherwise, I’d agree that anyone should be wary around a big dog wandering on its own or otherwise acting strangely.
Putting a dog on a leash and muzzle it is how I’d treat a mennace. So I think we are mostly in agreement ;)
All dogs should be leashed when in public regardless of size, breed or training.
Total agreement.