For all Those Wanting to Beat on the Pit Bull Breed...

[Mikeinsmd]

Mike, You know how some people spell lightening instead of lightning, well it is vicious and not viscious. The reason the pit type attacks are more severe (which is what I think you are getting at) is because they are a larger and stronger animal. I have seen some real vicious super-small dogs that just didn’t have the ass to do any damage. Doesn’t make them any less vicious now does it? More then 5 million people get bit by dogs each year . Of those about 1 million have to seek medical attention. About 1/3 of those are serious enough to require emergency room visits. And there is one fatality for every ¼ to ½ million bites. This is pretty much it as to what’s going on with dogs, is it really a problem?

KK-2
Mike-0 (I had made a mental note to check that but forgot).

Nahhh...that's not my point Ken. It's a given that a larger dog can do more damage than a smaller dog. I'm trying to convey that Pitts, although a very small percentage (1-3%) of dogs in the USA, are responsible for over 50% of the most vicious attacks. That's all.

The Pitt owners continue to defend and portray the dogs as friendly, harmless. and wrongly accused. Well maybe their dog is friendly and harmless but Pitts (and Rotties) as a whole are not and their bad reputation is justified.

Is it really a problem? No, but I know when I see a Pitt or Rott, I will steer clear simply based on these facts.

 

[Nickel]

Huskies/malamutes are dominant towards other animals, typically. Pit Bulls act dominate across the board -- human and animal.

My uncle bred Alaskan Malamutes, and they scared the crap out of me. The female was a cuddly bear, she would even let little kids ride her around the yard. The males, on the other hand, were very agressive toward humans and other animals. On the flip side, my aunt had a rottweiller, and I was never scared of him.

 

[Ken King]

KK-2
Mike-0 (I had made a mental note to check that but forgot).

Nahhh...that's not my point Ken. It's a given that a larger dog can do more damage than a smaller dog. I'm trying to convey that Pitts, although a very small percentage (1-3%) of dogs in the USA, are responsible for over 50% of the most vicious attacks. That's all.

The Pitt owners continue to defend and portray the dogs as friendly, harmless. and wrongly accused. Well maybe their dog is friendly and harmless but Pitts (and Rotties) as a whole are not and their bad reputation is justified.

Is it really a problem? No, but I know when I see a Pitt or Rott, I will steer clear simply based on these facts.

Well look at it like this. 5,000,000 bites from upwards of 60,000,000 dogs of which 333,333 require an emergency room visit (must have been vicious) of which only 10 to 20 are fatal. Doing some quick math you say roughly 2% (you actually said 1% to 3% so I’ll split the difference) of dogs are of the pit-type breed. That would give us about 1,200,000 pit types throughout the USA and since most if not all of their bites are serious and you say they account for 50% of all vicious attacks that would give them credit for 166,666 attacks leaving some 4,833,334 attacks/bites to the remaining breeds.

Now considering that half the total serious injuries would account for almost all of the pit type bites means that about 3% of all bites would be from a group that has a representation of just about 2% of the entire dog population. To me that is telling in that it appears that they are on par with all the other breeds. The difference as I see it is that it is solely the size and power of these dogs that make their bites more severe, not in the likelihood that they are more vicious or more prone to attack.

 

[vraiblonde]

HOWEVER, this can be trained against - but maybe not ever fully trusted.

I'm giving you good karma for this because that's EXACTLY the point.

People are willing to take a lethal chance by owning these dogs. And yes, most experiences will turn out fine and there will be no incident. But do you really want to take that chance when the stakes are so high?

 

[Bustem' Down]

What ever happened to teaching kids to stay away from strange dogs? I'm not saying that that's how all attacks occur, but when I'm walking my 2 JRT's, I constantly have kids running up from down the block yelling "doggies!". Now all I have to worry about is mine like to jump which can be scary and they might scratch them but it drives mr nuts! I see these kids do it to all types of dogs from a rott on a chain to my little dogs. I was always told as a kid to stay away from strange dogs, especially if thay were strays.