Why pitbulls have a bad reputation

However, they are still incredibly popular dogs, and many have come to their defense, arguing that bad guardians are to blame for dog behavior, not inherent violence in the breed. So, what do most people think?

This survey attempted to find that out. The paper begins with some background, noting that pit bulls were once prized as gentle, protective family companions, while breeds like German Shepherds GSDs and Dobermans were portrayed as vicious killers. Furthermore, the authors note that the incidence of fatal dog attacks on children in the U. Put simply, dogs are not a major threat to American children. In any case, pit bulls do not display aggressive or violent behavior at abnormally high rates compared to other breeds.

Finally, the authors highlight the role of the media in fearmongering about pit bulls — they pay high levels of attention to dog attacks and portray pit bulls in poorer urban areas, associating them with the violence in those neighborhoods.

This leads the public to think of pit bulls as violent dogs with violent guardians that live in violent areas. The authors then describe their own study: a survey of 56 adults from the East Lansing, Michigan area who work with companion animals in some capacity, such as veterinarians and shelter workers, as well as Michigan State University sociology students.

Fourteen percent of the respondents were pit bull guardians themselves. So your chance of being killed by any type of dog in the U. People who have studied these cases, like Jeffrey Sacks at the CDC, have shown that when it comes to fatalities caused by pit bulls, the breed identifications are often not accurate.

A study on fatalities between in the journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that in over 80 percent of those cases there were four or more significant factors related to the care and control of the dog. These were dogs that had not been socialized; were large and sexually intact; and had no relationship to the person who was killed. In other words, perfect storm of factor upon factor. But the three other breeds that are lumped into this category have always been dog show conformation breeds.

The short version is: The dogs were really popular during WWI and the Depression, when there was this nostalgic feeling around the average blue collar working Joe. They were seen as all-American: no fuss, no frills, everyday dogs. In the s, with the consumer boom after WWII, there was a huge push toward kennel club breeds and the pit bull fell by the wayside.

But in the s, there was this well-intentioned move by the humane movement to stamp out what was left of illegal dog fighting. In order to do that, they partnered with the media to put dog fighting on the front page of every newspaper in America. In doing so, they encouraged wild speculations about these dogs that were not based in science or historical fact—things like they have 5, pounds of jaw pressure.

And the more terrified everyone became, the more people who probably should not have had these dogs, wanted them. I grew up in the s, and I was always terrified of them. My own pit bull is called Nola. She is seven and is extremely affectionate, wonderful, and smart.

I have met everything from the most scary and unstable pit bull to the most bombproof and mellow. Mickey the pit bull nearly killed a child but ended up in a cushy, air-conditioned cell while the boy could not find funds for medical surgery.

That was one of the things that troubled me. It was a major media spectacle. Kevin Vicente was severely bitten. He was temporarily blinded in one eye and his jaw was broken. Everyone thought the dog would be euthanized. Thank goodness, after the attention the case received, the Vicente family has had more donations. This is a child who really suffered, his family suffered, and that deserves an incredible amount of compassion.

But once a dog becomes a symbol like that, people can act in ways that are not rational. It seems to be shoot first, ask questions later. There have been police who shot and killed dogs at the wrong house or killed dogs who were just going about their business.

It mostly comes from fear. Obviously, the police have a very difficult job. But the trigger-happy mentality is pretty bad. There was a case in Idaho recently where a policeman shot a dog in a car because it barked at him. The officer claimed that he was shooting a vicious pit bull. If Pit Bulls are so gentle, then why do so many people fear them? After all, many insurance companies, housing complexes and even the whole city of Montreal flat out ban them. They also likely have been abused or starved well into adulthood.

Other mischaracterized canines include rescue dogs like St. Bernards and German Shepherds. Bernards are famous for hazardous alpine rescue missions and are described by breed experts as gentle giants. German Shepherds are also canine heroes. These strong pups are popular within K9 units and make good drug-sniffing and bomb-detecting dogs.

Another mischaracterized breed is the Siberian Husky.