AURORA | After a few weeks locked in the pound, a badly abused pit bull that bit another dog will be set free.
Aurora Municipal Court Judge Patricia Hebron ruled Friday that the dog, a 5-year-old pit bull mix named Stallone, should be allowed to go live with his new owner in New Jersey.
Advocates for Stallone had worried in recent weeks that the dog would be euthanized after he attacked a dachshund last month at an Aurora dog park.
Hebron stressed Nov. 8 that while pit bulls are banned from Aurora, they are very rarely euthanized, even in cases where they bite another dog. Typically, the city looks for a solution that sees the dog moved out of town, she said.
“It’s pretty unusual for euthanasia to happen, even in Aurora,” she said.
Stallone’s supporters say he was kidnapped from a family in Arizona and used as a “bait dog” in dog fights before being shot in the back and dumped in the desert. The dog was found and eventually adopted by a man in New Jersey.
On the way from Arizona to New Jersey, the man transporting Stallone stopped at an Aurora dog park Oct. 26, where the dog attacked a dachshund, injuring the smaller pup’s neck.
Juliet Piccone, a lawyer representing Thomas Beard, the man who transported Stallone, said that had Stallone’s kidnappers not filed down his teeth, the damage to the smaller dog could have been a lot worse.
Beard was charged with unlawful possession of a restricted breed, but wasn’t charged with other crimes like having a dangerous animal.
Under an agreement between Beard and prosecutors, Beard pleaded guilty to having a dog at large and agreed to a $700 fine and to pay restitution to the owners of the dachshund, who said they didn’t want Stallone put down.
I am so thrilled to see a positive outcome for the dog and the city of Aurora! Stallone’s handler made a poor judgment in bringing him to an off leash dog park, and he will be paying the price for it. This is the way it should be. It’s not about the dog being a pit bull, it’s about reckless handlers. Reckless owners should pay the price and the city should publicize the fact they will hold reckless owners accountable. Resources are wasted enforcing the Restricted Breed Ordinance. If the 3/4 ACO the city employs to enforce the ban were to focus on reckless owners (ie dogs at-large, dog park rules, neglect and cruelty), educating the public on responsible ownership, and providing resources to pet owners Aurora would be a safer community.
Thomas McCartney
Hey Thomas McCartney! Stop eating your cat litter! It’s hard to take you seriously with all those granules stuck to your chin.
I don’t live in Colorado but hey the internet goes all over the world, this story is on it, and I saw it. BSL is idiotic, and you should be embarrassed it tends to be associated with your state (I know all your communities don’t have it, but Denver’s law is infamous, it seems other communities also have it, whereas in many states *no* municipalities have it).
As far as the incident, an owner/handler mishandled a *dog* resulting in harm to another dog, and should be held accountable. What’s so complicated about that concept that some people can’t seem to understand it?
Our dog is a fighting ring survivor: she’s never off leash outside the house. That’s also a simple concept, and has been no problem to maintain, for years now. She doesn’t like being around other dogs so it’s no burden on her to be isolated from them. OTOH she loves being with her humans and has no interest in running out by herself, though there’s always a gate between her and the door anyway.
A pit bull BSL works EVERYWHERE it is useful in almost eliminating all serious dog attacks that maim, disfigure, dismember, maul, cripple.
or kill, this is a simply proven fact in all cases.The number of pit bulls is dramatically reduced as are the numbers of them put to death.
The need to have BSL is to have a preemptive capability to avoid a pit bull attack from happening due to it’s extremely savage consequences.
It is enacted against all pit bulls as they all have the genetic DNA propensity to carry out these horrific attacks that are non existent in 99% of all other breeds, ban the breed and you ban the deed, simple as that.
Dealing with an attack after the fact is simply not acceptable due to the horrific nature of said attacks.
With any other breed other then Rottweiler’s, wolf hybrids and Akita’s and a few others in very small numbers it is not a naturally genetic reality for them to carry out such horrifying attacks.
Hence they need to be dealt with in an aggressive reactive modality where all of the breed are not looked on as one but rather based on the actions of the individual misbehaving dog.
This can be done in a very aggressive proactive manner so that as soon as a dog like a lab lets say starts behaving inappropriately severe consequences can be brought to bare on the owner and their dog in an escalating manner as needed to deal with a situation that has developed.
This duel track approach can deal with the pits issue as other normal dog breeds can be dealt with as well so vicious dogs of other mainstream breeds are also held accountable for their actions.
There should be mandatory Spay/Neuter programs for all breeds but clearly the one that needs it the most and where the most change would be effected would be with the Pit Bull type dog.
Thomas McCartney ! You sound like Hitler !!! This time it’s not the humans getting killed… it’s our four- legged companion. Thanks to your propaganda !!! I guest POS like Hitler keep reincarnating. You are a ” Pittie” of human exsitance.
In Calgary, by Bill Bruce’s own admission and documentation, pit bulls lead the serious bite count with 13% of the city’s serious bites attributable to pit bulls, yet pit bulls account for less than 1% of the city’s dogs.
In fact, pit bulls are responsible for nearly as many serious bites (13%) as the ENTIRE sporting breeding category (15%), which includes all of the most popular breeds (Labs, Goldens, Poodles, Spaniels, etc) and houses 70% of Calgary’s dogs.
Why aren’t these breeds attacking in the face of irresponsible ownership?
28 dead by dog attack so far in 2013.
Pit bull type dogs killed twenty-six of them. fifteen of the twenty-six dead are children.
Stars indicate people killed by a ‘family’ pit bull – ones that had been raised and cherished as an indoor pet, ‘never showed aggression before’, and knew the victim.
Child fatalities by pit bull type dog (15):
Christian Gormanous – 4 yrs old Montgomery County, TX
Isaiah Aguilar – 2 yrs old Sabinal, TX
Ryan Maxwell – 7 yrs old ** Galesburg, IL.
Dax Borchardt – 14 mos old ** Walworth, WI.
Monica Laminack – 21 mos old ** Ellabelle, GA.
Tyler Jett – 7 yrs old Callaway, FL.
Jordyn Arndt – 4 yrs old ** Prairie City, IA.
Beau Rutledge – 2 yrs old ** Fulton County, GA.
Ayden Evans- 5 yrs old ** Jessieville, AR.
Nephi Selu – 6 yrs old ** Union City, CA.
Arianna Jolee Merrbach – 5 yrs old Effingham, SC.
Daniel (surname as yet not revealed) – 2 yrs old (Gilbert, Arizona) **
Samuel Eli Zamudio – 2 yrs old** Colton, CA
Jordan Ryan– 5 yrs old Baker city, Oregon
Levi Watson-Bradford-4 years old** White County, Arkansas
Adult fatalities by pit bull type (11):
Betty Todd – 65 yrs old ** Hodges, SC
Elsie Grace – 91 yrs old ** Hemet, CA
Claudia Gallardo – 38 yrs old Stockton, CA.
Pamela Devitt – 63 yrs old Littlerock, CA.
Carlton Freeman – 80 yrs old Harleyville, SC.
Linda Oliver – 63 yrs old Dayton, TX.
James Harding – 62 yrs old -Baltimore, MD
chased into traffic by two attacking pit bulls
Juan Campos – 96 yrs old Katy, Texas.
Terry Douglass 56 years old. **Baltimore, MD
Katherine Atkins-25 years old ** Kernersville, NC
Nga Woodhead-65 years old Spanaway, WA.
(1 non-pit type killing) [Rachel Honabarger – 35 yrs old – mauled to death by her own GSD mix] Coshocton, OH.
(1 husky-mix killing, unknown if the other half of the dog was pit bull) [Jordan Lee Reed – 5 yrs old] Kotzebue, AK
Two of the pit bull type dogs were BULL mastiffs, ie 40% pit-fighting bulldog.
If 24 of 28 dead were killed by pit bull attack, that’s 86% dead by pit attack, 7% dead by ‘molosser’, 3.5% by some kind of GSD mix, 3.5% by a husky + possibly pit mix
If you count the pit-mix mastiffs as pit bull types, that’s 93% killed by attacking pit bull types. Pit types are only about 5% of the entire dog population.
The man who ran into traffic kept pit bulls himself. He knew perfectly well what the two stranger pit bulls that were chasing him would do if they caught him, so he preferred to risk a swift death by oncoming car.
474 maimed by pit type dogs 2013 (as of November 9).
Dog Attack Deaths and Maimings, U.S. & Canada, September 1982 to May.25, 2013.
By compiling U.S. and Canadian press accounts between 1982 and 2013, Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, shows the breeds most responsible for serious injury and death.
Study highlights
Pit bull type dogs make up only 6% of all dogs in the USA.
The combination of Pit Bulls, rottweilers, their close mixes and wolf hybrids and other Pit Bull Type Dogs:
84% of attacks that induce bodily harm.
75% of attacks to children.
87% of attack to adults.
72% of attacks that result in fatalities.
80% that result in maiming.
Of the 4,098 dogs involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks on humans occurring in the past 30.5 years,
2,540 (62%) were pit bulls;
530 were Rottweilers;
3,295 were of related molosser breeds, including pit bulls, Rottweilers, Cane Corsos, mastiffs, boxers, and their mixes.
Of the 507 human fatalities,
256 were killed by pit bulls;
84 were killed by Rottweilers;
378 (69%) were killed by molosser breeds.
Of the 2,264 people who were disfigured,
1,455 (61%) were disfigured by pit bulls;
304 were disfigured by Rottweilers;
1,861 (82%) were disfigured by molosser breeds.
Merritt Clifton Editor OF Animal People:
Of the 4,558 dogs involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks on humans occurring in the U.S. & Canada since September 1982, when I began logging the data, 2,923 (64%) were pit bulls; 541 were Rottweilers; 3,696 were of related molosser breeds, including pit bulls, Rottweilers, mastiffs, boxers, and their mixes.
Of the 523 human fatalities, 269 were killed by pit bulls; 84 were killed by Rottweilers; 392 (75%) were killed by molosser breeds.
Of the 2,593 people who were disfigured, 1,753 (67%) were disfigured by pit bulls; 319 were disfigured by Rottweilers; 2,169 (83%) were disfigured by molosser breeds.
Pit bulls–exclusive of their use in dogfighting–also inflict about 10 times as many fatal and disfiguring injuries on other pets and livestock as on humans, a pattern unique to the pit bull class.
Surveys of dogs offered for sale or adoption indicate that pit bulls and pit mixes are less than 6% of the U.S. dog population; molosser breeds, all combined, are 9%.
The total number of fatal and disfiguring attacks by all types of pit bull in the U.S. combined, Staffordshires included, came to just 103 in the eleven-year 1982-1992 time frame.
The annual total reached 100 for the first time in 2003 (128), topped 100 twice more in the next three years, and has now risen for six consecutive years, from 74 in 2007 to 467 thus far in 2013.
An example of why leashing and licensing laws don’t work to solve the breed-specific problem of pit bulls:
Pitbull supporters always point to Calgary Model as the perfect solution when dealing with dangerous dogs. The city introduced its responsible pet ownership bylaw in 2006.
Calgary’s bylaw department emphasizes responsible pet ownership through intensive licensing, hefty fines and owner education.
Has their model worked? The statistics from the past four years would indicate a resounding “NO”. For the past four years dog bites have risen steadily every year, and over 350% in the past 4 years, from 58 in 2009 to 203 in 2012.
And In 2010 Pit bulls led the ‘bite’ count. Meanwhile in Toronto, four years after implementing Breed Bans, dog bites were down 32%, from 486 to 329.
Bites in Toronto blamed on the four banned breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010.
Considering these breeds regularly inflict the most serious damage, this is an undeniable win for the citizens of Toronto.
Passing laws without enforcing them doesn’t work. You show no evidence that in Calgary anything was done to actually enforce the laws.
There is actually no real proof that the act of banning a breed is the root cause of the reduction in bites either. Unless, of course, you can concretely prove that the ban actually reduced the number of dogs owned vs. reduced the likelihood that an irresponsible owner would allow a banned dog to roam or be unsupervised because that would result in a fine.
We here more stories every day about communities where breeds are banned but they still exist in those communities.
The Pit bull type dogs truth and genetic reality, watch and learn:
I’m confused…..doesn’t the behaviorist in this video clearly state that it’s an owner problem?
This is just a video version of the same type of rehashing you usually do with words. And as usual, doesn’t really bolster your argument. Though, based on the fact that it actually addresses both sides of the debate (nature / nurture) at least it’s a little more even handed and reasonable than most of the other stuff you cut and paste into these articles.
Learn and become educated about the genetic truth and reality of the Pit bull Type dog and the danger they present:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ban-All-Pit-Bull-Type-Dogs-Everywhere-Today-All-Dogs-must-be-on-a-Leash/180634022056782
Fatal Pit Bull Attacks
Stop the Maulings
A growing archive of U.S. fatal pit bull attacks dating back to 1858
https://www.fatalpitbullattacks.com/
LETTERS: Keep dogs contained
October 22, 2013
I have a personal experience related to the recent pit bull attack on the Corona boy (“Mauled by pit bull mixes, Corona boy still hospitalized,” Oct. 3).
Several weeks ago, I told my 9-year-old grandson he would be safe riding his bike on our cul-de-sac because there was little traffic. Unknown to me, our neighbor had acquired a pit bull mix. Our neighbor’s daughter came out with him on a leash, and when he saw my grandson, he took off after my grandson.
He leapt and bit my grandson on his right thigh. When my grandson realized he could not ride his bike fast enough to get away, he threw his bike on the dog and scaled a retaining wall, getting bitten on his other thigh as he did so.
My husband confronted the owner, only to be told, “He has never bitten anyone.”
When will these attacks stop? When will the owners of these vicious dogs admit their animals are a danger to others and keep them contained? Shouldn’t little boys be safe from being mauled while riding their bikes?
Sue Siebold
Riverside
https://www.pe.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor-headlines/20131022-letters-keep-dogs-contained.ece
In a discussion of the Denver ban, Assistant City Attorney Kory Nelson recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that:
“Since 1989, when that city instituted a pit bull ban, ‘we haven’t had one serious pit bull attack,’ said Kory Nelson, a Denver assistant city attorney. His city’s assertion that ‘pit bulls are more dangerous than other breeds of dog’ has withstood legal challenges, he said.
‘We were able to prove there’s a difference between pit bulls and other breeds of dogs that make pit bulls more dangerous,’ he said.”
Sources: Denver Post
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Toronto:
In a November 2011, public health statistics published by Global Toronto showed that pit bull bites dropped dramatically after Ontario adopted the Dog Owners Liability Act in 2005, an act that banned pit bulls:
The number of dog bites reported in Toronto has fallen since a ban on pit bulls took effect in 2005, public health statistics show.
A total of 486 bites were recorded in 2005. That number fell generally in the six years following, to 379 in 2010.
Provincial laws that banned ‘pit bulls,’ defined as pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and dogs resembling them took effect in August 2005. Existing dogs were required to be sterilized, and leashed and muzzled in public.
Bites in Toronto blamed on the four affected breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010. This accounts for most of the reduction in total bites.
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Salina, KS
Rose Base, director of the Salina Animal Shelter who lobbied for the ordinance, told the Salina Journal:
The ordinance has made a difference, she said. Records at the Salina Animal Shelter indicate there were 24 reported pit bull bites in 2003 and 2004, and only five since — none from 2009 to present.
Salina has 62 registered pit bulls, Base said. Before the ordinance she guessed there were “close to 300.” Since the first of this year three of the registered pit bulls have died of old age.
“We definitely haven’t had the severity of bites that we had in the past,” Base said. “Our community has been somewhat safer because of the law that was passed
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Prince George’s County, MD
Prince George’s County passed a pit bull ban in 1996. In August 2009, Rodney Taylor, associate director of the county’s Animal Management Group, said that the number of pit bull biting incidents has fallen:
“Taylor said that during the first five to seven years of the ban, animal control officials would encounter an average of 1,200 pit bulls a year but that in recent years that figure has dropped by about half. According to county statistics, 36 pit bull bites, out of 619 total dog bites, were recorded in 2008, down from 95 pit bull bites, out of a total of 853, in 1996.”
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Salina KS (a second article)
Note that they admit that the pit bull ban did not reduce the number of bites, but it did reduce the severity of bites reported by all breeds. Proof that when pit bull deniers find a jurisdiction that banned pit bulls, but reported no decrease in overall bites, is a moot point. Its death and dismemberment we are focusing on, not bite counts.
In the monthly city newsletter, In Touch, published in September 2006, the City of Salina reported that the pit bull ban adopted in 2005 significantly reduced pit bull biting incidents in just a 12 month period.
The number of pit bull bites depicted in the “Salina Pit Bull Bites Reported” graph shows 2002 with 13 pit bull bites, 2003 with 11 pit bull bites, 2004 with 15 pit bull bites and 2005 with only one bite. The newsletter notes that “animal bites reported have remained constant, but the severity of bites have decreased dramatically” since the enactment of the pit bull ban.
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Springfield, MO
In April 2008, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department released data to a local TV station – following the City of Springfield’s adoption of a 2006 pit bull ban:
“The Springfield-Greene County Health Department reports that dog bites and vicious dog complaints are declining since the implementation of the Pit Bull Ordinance in the City of Springfield two years ago. In 2005 the health department fielded 18 vicious dog complaints, but only eight in 2007. Bites were down from 102 in 2005 to 87 in 2007.”
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Washington
In 2008, the City of Wapato passed an ordinance that bans new pit bulls, rottweilers and mastiffs. Nine months after its adoption, in March 2009, Wapato Police Chief Richard Sanchez reported successful results:
“Nine months into the ban and police calls about vicious dogs have been cut in half. The Wapato Police tell Action News they’ve gone from 18 reports in January, February and March of last year to seven so far in ’09. “Seven calls in three months… that’s nothing,” says Chief Richard Sanchez, Wapato Police Department.
Chief Sanchez credits local cooperation for the decline of dangerous dogs.”
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Rhode Island
When the City of Woonsocket was debating a pit bull ordinance in June 2009, the animal control supervisor in Pawtucket, John Holmes, spoke about the enormous success of Pawtucket’s 2003 pit bull ban:
“Holmes says he predicted that it would take two years for Pawtucket to experience the full benefit of the law after it was passed, but the results were actually apparent in half the time.
“It’s working absolutely fantastic,” said Holmes. “We have not had a pit bull maiming in the city since December of 2004.”
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Per section 8-55 of Denvers pit bull ban:
A pit bull, is defined as any dog that is an APBT, Am Staf Terrier, Staff Bull Terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of anyone (1) or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards set by the AKC or UKC for any of the above breed.
Over the course of 22 years, the Denver ban has withstood numerous battles in state and federal courts. It has been used as a model for over 600 USA cities that legislate pit bulls, as well as US Navy, Air Force, Marine and Army bases ( so much for Sgt Stubby).
without it, we’d see just what we see in Miss E’s lame replies. Every pit owner would claim their land shark was anything but a pit bull.
Miami Dade county voted 66% to keep their pit bull ban, just as it is worded, last year.
Last year, a pit bull killed somebody in the U.S. every 13 days… ripped off a person’s body part (ear, scalp, foot, hand, etc.) every 3 days… killed other pets and seriously bit multiple people every day.
Pits are 4% of dogs in the U.S. but responsible for 80% of bites that need medical attention, 69% of fatal maulings (95% for 2013 so far, one every 9.5 days).
Pits are 6x more likely to attack their owners than other breeds are; 30x more likely to bite in a given year (per capita basis) than other breeds, and 16x more likely to escape confinement.
Even untrained pits can pull thousands of pounds, so they are absolutely uncontrollable by any mere human holding a leash.
Pits are bad. It has nothing to do with “bad owners.” Does it take a bad owner to bring out the herding instinct in a Border Collie or the hunting instinct in a Beagle? Well, it doesn’t take a bad owner to bring out the 150 years of breeding-for-aggression in a pit bull, either.
Aggression is the NORMAL, DEFAULT behavior for pit bulls. If bad ownership was responsible for the pit maulings, how come there are millions of Beagles, Springers, Goldens, etc. in the hands of bad owners, and none of them are mauling or killing anybody?
In the last thirty years pit bulls have killed 241 humans and disfigured another 1,302 (that we’re aware of). Fully half of these casualties, 126 of the fatalities and 640 of the disfigurements, have occurred in the last five years. That amounts to an average of 25 pit bull canine homicides of humans a year, or a death every two weeks.
An article about dog attacks in the journal Annals of Surgery 2011:
The article starts by describing a pit bull attack on an infant. The baby had to be given CPR, and a tracheal intubation upon arrival at the hospital. Wounds included “scalp degloving,” (skin ripped off head) and multiple bites to the face, neck, chest, buttocks and genitals. The infant died and the article includes a very graphic and awful picture of a pit bull- related fatality.
Here are some stats from the article:
Pit bulls attack indiscriminately
Responsible for 65% of all fatal attacks in 2008
6 of 7 fatal dog bites in Texas in 2007 were inflicted by pit bulls
94% of attacks on children by pit bulls were unprovoked
81% of attacks that occurred off the owner’s property involved pit bulls
One person is killed by a pit bull every 14 days
One body part is severed and lost every 5.4 days as a result of pit bull attacks
2 persons are injured by pit bulls every day
You have a more than 2500 times higher chance of dying if attacked by a pit bull type dog compared to other types of dogs
BADRAP surrenders to facts
“A lie can run around the world six times while the truth is still trying to put on its pants.” ~Mark Twain
on May 20 @ 9:00am PST, BADRAP made the following proclamation:
It’s Dog Bite Prevention Week. Did you know that there was never such thing as a ‘Nanny’s Dog’? This term was a recent invention created to describe the myriad of vintage photos of children enjoying their family pit bulls.
While the intention behind the term was innocent, using it may mislead parents into being careless with their children around their family dog – A recipe for dog bites!
https://cravendesires.blogspot.ca/2013/05/badrap-surrenders-to-facts.html
The ASPCA has no obligation to share safety issues about pit bulls with the public. On their “Pit Bull Information” web page, they write: “Sadly, pit bulls have acquired a reputation as unpredictable, dangerous, and vicious.” Yet, spelled out in the ASPCA Shelter Guidelines — designed to protect shelter workers — are the unique risks attributed to pit bulls. One of them is that they “attack without warning,” which is equivalent to unpredictable behavior.
From the ASPCA’s The Care of Pit Bulls in the Shelter Environment:
There are “cases of experienced handlers who had developed good relationships with the dogs over a period of months still being attacked without warning or obvious provocation.”
Pit bulls “ignore signs of submission from other dogs” and “give no warning prior to attack.” They add that this is “different than normal dog behavior.”
“Today’s pit bulls” have multiple names including: “Staffordshire Terrier (AKC 1936), American Staffordshire Terrier (AKC 1972, Am Staff), American Pit Bull Terrier or Pit Bull Terrier.”
“These dogs can be aggressive towards humans and more likely to cause fatal attacks to people than other fighting type dogs.”
“Pit bulls will climb fences, chew up stainless steel food and water bowls, destroy copper tubing of automatic water systems and conventional cages, and attack other animals through chain link fences.”
“Pit bulls can break through conventional cage doors and destroy typical epoxy paint on the floors and walls.”
“Pit bulls require special housing considerations” and “isolation from other animals if dog aggressive or have a high prey drive.”
“Install a panic button in rooms housing pit bulls along with other restraint equipment in any room housing pit bulls.”
It seems unlikely that the ASPCA or shelters participating in the “Adopt-A-Bull Contest” will tell potential adopters to install a panic button in their home or that pit bulls attack without warning.
ALEXANDRA SEMYONOVA, animal behaviorist
You will also not prevent the dog from being what he is genetically predisposed to be. Because the inbred postures and behaviors feel good, fitting the body and brain the dog has been bred with, they are internally motivated and internally rewarded.
This means that the behavior is practically impossible to extinguish by manipulating external environmental stimuli.
The reward is not in the environment, but in the dog itself! As Coppinger and Coppinger (2001, p. 202) put it, “The dog gets such pleasure out of performing its motor pattern that it keeps looking for places to display it.” Some dogs get stuck in their particular inbred motor pattern.
As pointed out above, this kind of aggression has appeared in some other breeds as an unexpected and undesired anomaly – the golden retriever, the Berner Senne hund, the cocker spaniel have all had this problem.
The lovers of aggressive breeds try to use these breeding accidents to prove that their aggressive breeds are just like any other dog, “see, they’re no different from the cuddly breeds.” But a cuddly breed sometimes ending up stuck with a genetic disaster does not prove that the behavior is normal canine behavior. All it proves is that the behavior is genetically determined.
“These dogs aren’t killers because they have the wrong owners, rather they attract the wrong owners because they are killers.” The 100 Silliest Things People say about dogs.
JOHN FAUL, animal behaviorist
Faul said they were dangerous and a threat to life. He said the pitbull was bred to be absolutely fearless and had a “hair-trigger” attack response.
“The cardinal rule is that these dogs are not pets,” he said.
“The only way to keep them is in a working environment.”
He said the only relationship one could have with the pitbull was one of “dominance, sub-dominance”, in which the dog was reminded daily of its position.
ANDREW ROWAN, PhD, Tufts Center for Animals
“A pit bull is trained to inflict the maximum amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. Other dogs bite and hold. A Doberman or a German shepherd won’t tear if you stand still.
A pit bull is more likely to remove a piece of tissue. Dogs fight as a last resort under most circumstances. But a pit bull will attack without warning. If a dog shows a submissive characteristic, such as rolling over most dogs wills top their attack. A pit bull will disembowel its victim.”
“A study by Dr Randall Lockwood of the US Humane Society found that pit bulls are more likely to break restraints to attack someone and that pit bulls are more likely to attack their owners, possibly as a result of owners trying to separate their dogs from victims.”
Jørn Våge, Tina B Bønsdorff, Ellen Arnet, Aage Tverdal and Frode Lingaas, Differential gene expression in brain tissues of aggressive and non-aggressive dogs
The domestic dog (Canis familiaris), with its more than 400 recognised breeds [1], displays great variation in behaviour phenotypes.
Favourable behaviour is important for well-being and negative traits such as aggression may ruin the owner-dog relationship and lead to relinquishment to shelters or even euthanasia of otherwise healthy dogs [2,3].
Behavioural traits result from an interaction of both genetic and environmental factors. Breed specific behavioural traits such as hunting, herding and calmness/aggression are, however, evidence of a large genetic component and specific behaviours show high heritabilities [4-8].
ALAN BECK, Sc.D
However, Alan Beck, director of the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine Center of the Human-Animal Bond, favors letting the breed go into extinction.
“This breed alone is a risk of serious public health factors,” Beck said. “We are keeping them alive against their own best interests.”
Beck said while he does not advocate taking dogs from current and caring owners, he does feel that it has become more of a social and political issue for people than a health one.
“If these dogs were carrying an actual disease, people would advocate euthanizing them,” Beck said. “This breed itself is not natural.”
“It has this sort of mystique that attracts a population of people. Of course, most of these dogs are never going to bite, as champions of the breed will tell you. But most people who smoke don’t get cancer, but we know regulations help reduce a significant risk.”
“I know you’re going to get beat up for this. But they just aren’t good dogs to own. That’s why so many of them are relinquished to shelters. There are too many other breeds out there to take a chance on these guys.”
MERRITT CLIFTON, journalist, Animal People editor
There are very few people, if any, who have written more on behalf of dogs over the past 40-odd years than I have, or spent more time down the back alleys of the developing world observing dogs in the habitats in which normal dogs came to co-evolve with humans.
But appreciation of the ecological roles of street dogs & coyotes, exposing dog-eating and puppy mills, opposition to indiscriminate lethal animal control, introduction of high-volume low-cost spay/neuter and anti-rabies vaccination, introduction of online adoption promotion, encouraging the formation of thousands of new humane societies worldwide, etc., are not to be confused with pit bull advocacy.
Pit bull advocacy is not defending dogs; it is defending the serial killers of the dog world, who kill, injure, and give bad reputations to all the rest. Indeed, pit bull advocacy, because it erodes public trust in dogs and people who care about dogs, stands a good chance of superseding rabies as the single greatest threat to the health, well-being, and human appreciation of all dogs worldwide.
STANLEY COREN, PhD
“A dog’s breed tells us a lot about that dog’s genetic heritage and makeup. Genetics is a strong determinant of personality. In the absence of any other information, we can make a reasonable prediction about how the dog will behave based upon its breed.” p 84
“When we crossbreed, we lose some of that predictability, since which genes will be passed on by each parent and how they will combine is a matter of chance. Fortunately, there is some data to suggest that we can still make predispositions without knowing much about its parentage.
John Paul Scott and John L Fuller carried out a series of selective breeding experiments at the Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor, Maine. By happy chance, their results revealed a simple rule that seems to work. Their general conclusion was that a mixed breed dog is most likely to act like the breed that it most looks like.” p 77
Dog trainers/animal control, Pit Bull breeders, owners, fanciers, experts
75% of all Animal Shelters in the US will euthanize all pit bulls, pit crosses or any dogs that even looks like one immediately with no attempt to adopt them out.
The other 25% will also euthanize within a few days to a week if adoption doesn’t take place.
Why is this?, because nobody wants any of the evil disgusting Mutants, they can’t give them away, that is why 93% of all Pitts in Animal Shelters in the US are killed , over 1.1 Million Pit Bulls every year are killed in this manner every year after year after year after year in the US alone.
Over 100 a day are killed in animal shelters in LA county alone, 73,000 a year after year after year after year.
That is over 12 million pit bulls killed in Animal Shelters in the US in the last decade alone.
The Idiot Pit Nutters who are playing their rescue game are losers and losing the battle as the few hundred they save is a pittance compared to the Million plus killed the same year.
They show their support for these mutants by fighting against laws against their breeding that could prevent this as a result much needed mass slaughter of pit bulls, they are responsible for all of this and show their ignorance and hypocrisy by continuing fight against what is actually in the best interests of this perverted breed.
That’s 2,750 a day or 345 every hour, right this moment somewhere in the US a pit bull will rip, ravage and maul no more and instead is feeling the loving sting of death, oh what a lovely truth and reality that no pit loving pervert can deny or combat, how does that feel pit nutters……Now the pit bull will find it’s true forever home, the deep dark forever night, all that it warrants or deserves, bye bye mutant and don’t come back!
Please. I’m a volunteer at the second largest ACC in the country (Maybe 3rd now) -> Maricopa County ACC, the place this dog came from. We adopt pit bulls into loving homes every day – homes with children, other dogs and cats You are of limited mind and limited knowledge. You’ve probably never even touched a pit bull.
US NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH.
Breed-Associated Behaviors
“Setting aside the issue of anomalous behaviors, studies show that there are both behavior and personality traits associated with specific breeds (18, 53, 54, 132, 146).
Simply put, border collies do not herd sheep because they are raised on sheep farms; rather, they are raised on sheep farms because they herd. In addition pointers point, retrievers retrieve, and mastiffs guard, all because those traits are part of their breed expectations, meaning strong and continuous selection in the underlying breeding program “.
Simply put Pit bulls do not attack because they are raised with dog fighters and drug dealers, dog fighters and drug dealers use pit bulls because they attack!
It is their nature, their genetic truth and reality.
It is not how you raise them rather it is simply what they are.
Just like sled dogs run and pull, it is just their nature.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3322674/
BARBARA KAY: The Dog (Bite) Days of Summer.
BY BARBARA KAY.
1 August 2013.
Behaviourists (and I) call the cluster of breeds imbued with a genetically-endowed propensity for impulsive aggression – such as the mastiff, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentina and others – “pit bull type dogs.”.
Earlier this month my esteemed colleague at the National Post, George Jonas, wrote a reminiscent column about irascible dogs.
Dogs are a suitable topic for the dog days of summer, and – considering the additional time spent out of doors by children with exposed limbs – dog bites an even more timely theme. But, little did Jonas know, not being immersed as I am in the bizarre world of canine politics, that he committed an enormous faux (ahem) paw in his ruminations.
The two dogs Jonas singled out as particularly ill-tempered were Soossee, a female “of uncertain breed,” but definitely containing some mastiff blood, and Muki, a Rottweiler hybrid, who bit him when he was a child, in the course of a dog fight Jonas attempted to break up.
Later in his column, Jonas remarks: “Startle a Spaniel and it may cost you an upper lip; startle a Rottweiler and it’s likely to be an arm and a leg.” He is not wrong, but nowadays it is considered caninely incorrect to “stereotype” any breed, even though stereotyping is just another word for genetic line breeding.
A mastiff is a larger version of a pit bull, and Rottweilers are first cousins to pit bulls. The genetic history of both the mastiff and the Rottweiler is rife with “impulsive aggression,” a consistent, often deadly trait, for which the pit bull (sometimes known by its image-laundering alias of American Staffordshire) is the poster canine.
Many dog behaviourists (and I) call the cluster of breeds imbued with a genetically-endowed propensity for impulsive aggression – such as the mastiff, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentina and others – “pit bull type dogs.”.
Most dogs will not attack humans under normal circumstances. Of those that have attacked humans, 70% are mixed-breeds, and 30% are purebreds. There are about 400 breeds of dog. Of them, only 44 are statistically represented in attacks on humans. Of the 44, pit bulls and Rottweilers account for 75% of the total actuarial risk for injury since 1982.
When you get into the highest-damage categories of maulings, maimings, dismemberments and dog bite-related fatalities, it can truly be said that pit bulls and Rottweilers own the field.
So Jonas did not distinguish the mastiff and Rottweiler hybrids out of malice. The malice encoded in those dogs’ genes created the high probability that they would exhibit memorably bad behaviour.
Which brings us to the question of what to do if you are the victim or the witness to an attack by dogs like these. Pit bull type dogs do not just “bite,” as normal dogs do. They grip and tend not to let go. As they grip, they rend their way through flesh to the bone. Pit bulls have not earned the sobriquet of “land sharks” for nothing. Photographs of pit bull maulings bear a sickening likeness to shark attacks.
It is never a good thing to intervene in any dog-on-dog fight (as George Jonas learned the hard way), but especially dangerous to put your hand anywhere near the mouth of a fighting dog, in case he redirects his murderous ferocity onto you.
Once engaged, gripping dogs almost never react as normal dogs do to commands or painful blows to the head or body with sticks or baseball bats. Even bullets, unless they hit the brain or heart, can be fruitless in the case of pit bulls, as many policemen can attest. Either they don’t feel the pain as normal dogs do, or they feel it but their drive to fight to the death overrides it.
One thing you can do if you’re desperate to stop the fight or attack is to lift a gripping dog’s hind legs high into the air. He can’t turn on you and he won’t be able to sustain his attack very well, even if he doesn’t let go. At least it allows for his owner to leash him while he is immobilized.
Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People News, is the world’s leading investigative journalist/historian on the subject of fighting dogs. He strongly advises against hitting a gripping dog on the head with any object, as it won’t deflect the dog, and will likely serve only to drive the teeth further into the flesh. Pepper spray – illegal for citizens to carry in Canada – is not the best choice, as one has to get very near the dog to be effective, and the fumes spread with the breeze. In any case, according to Clifton, it is only successful about 40% of the time.
Clifton’s rather surprising weapon of choice is a fire extinguisher, which has a success rate of about 70% with pit bulls. Unlike pepper spray, with a fire extinguisher, you can stand farther back and aim with precision.
The spray suffocates them if they don’t let go. Obviously you won’t have a fire extinguisher handy in the normal course of a day’s outdoors activities, but in the U.S., of 123 fatal or maiming attacks on children in 2013 so far (120 of them by pit bull type dogs), 47 occurred on public streets, but 49 of them occurred at home. In those cases, a child’s life or limbs could have been saved by deployment of a handy fire extinguisher. Clifton always has a fire extinguisher in his car, a prudent idea that can’t do harm, and may prove useful in any number of scenarios.
Not a cheery-beery topic, but the sobering fact is that because of misleading propaganda put out by the pit bull advocacy movement and Rottweiler fans, pit bulls are growing in popularity as pets; as a result, maimings of humans by pit bulls in North America have gone from 35 in 1992 to 184 in the first six months of 2013 (equal to all of 2012).
The bottom line: Don’t intervene in a dog fight between normal dogs, as the fight will almost certainly resolve swiftly with relatively minor damage to either dog. Keep your own dogs, and especially kids in your care far, far away from pit bulls and Rottweilers (and in Canada to unleashed Huskies, whose track record for risk is problematic, often for geo-cultural reasons, a topic for another day).
Most important for your own safety and that of the humans and animals you love: Don’t believe a word of the propagandist (pit) rubbish you hear and read. Fighting dogs really are high-risk dogs you should never “rescue” or buy.
The Front Burner: Banning pit bulls saves lives and protects the innocent.
By Colleen Lynn Guest columnist.
May 24, 2013.
Whether to ban pit bulls is a human health and safety issue that should be steered by health and safety officials. Public safety is not the profession of animal advocates. Thus, public policy coming from animal advocates concerning protecting humans from pit bulls is fundamentally flawed.
So far this year, 13 of the 14 Americans who have been killed by dogs — 93 percent — were killed by pit bulls and pit mixes. This is well above the average of 60 percent from 2005 to 2012.
As the pit bull population rises, more human fatalities ensue. During the last eight-year period that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied fatal attacks by breed (1991 to 1998), pit bulls were estimated at 1 percent of the U.S. dog population. Pit bulls killed an average of three people per year.
The pit bull population has since grown to 4 percent. During the most recent eight-year period (2005-12), pit bulls killed an average of 19 people per year.
Miami-Dade County, which banned pit bulls in 1989, has avoided this loss of life. Other Florida counties — prohibited by state law from regulating dogs by breed — continue to experience deaths and disfigurements due to pit bulls. Since 1989, 18 Florida citizens have been killed by pit bulls — none within Miami-Dade.
The threat from pit bulls results from the combination of the animals’ inclination to attack without warning — an essential trait of fighting dogs — and the type of injuries that pit bulls typically inflict.
Most dogs bite and retreat, but pit bulls have a hold-and-shake bite style, and tenaciously refuse to stop an attack once begun.
Often a pit bull releases its grip only when dead — the trait dog fighters describe as being “dead game.”
Ban opponents often blame dismembering and fatal attacks on environmental factors, such as neglect. That, unfortunately, is the plight of too many dogs of all breeds, not just those who kill and maim.
Opponents also fail to distinguish dog-bite-injury severity. They argue that bans “do not reduce all dog bites.” Of the 4.7 million Americans bitten by dogs each year, 9,500 require hospitalization for severe dog-bite injuries. The most extreme injury level, mauling injury, requires life-saving procedures at trauma centers.
The purpose of a pit bull ban is to eradicate mauling injuries and deaths inflicted by pit bulls, the breed involved in more than half of all severe and mauling attacks.
Since 1986, 18 appellate decisions have upheld lower-court findings that pit bulls are more dangerous than other dog breeds.
Since 1988, four peer-reviewed studies published in leading medical journals have reviewed the severity of pit bull injury. “Mortality, Mauling and Maiming by Vicious Dogs,” published in the Annals of Surgery in 2011, concluded the following:
“Attacks by pit bulls are associated with higher morbidity rates, higher hospital charges, and a higher risk of death than are attacks by other breeds of dogs. Strict regulation of pit bulls may substantially reduce the U.S. mortality rates related to dog bites.”
In April 2012, the highest court in Maryland declared pit bulls “inherently dangerous,” altering common law pertaining to pit bull attacks. Pit bulls are prima facia dangerous in Maryland and held to a strict liability standard. In instances of a tenant’s pit bull attacking, this liability extends to the landlord. The court cited the entire abstract of the 2011 Annals of Surgery study in its opinion.
Influential pit bull advocates have supported regulation in the past and are doing so now. On its Facebook page, the Villalobos Rescue Center, founded by Tia Torres of Animal Planet’s Pit Bulls & Parolees — expressed support for a proposal in Louisiana on the heels of a mutilating attack on a woman by her own pit bulls.
It is time for Florida pit bull advocacy groups to follow suit.
Colleen Lynn is the founder of DogsBite.org, a national dog-bite victims’ group dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks.
Occupy Maul Street.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013.
Count Me In As A Hater.
“That’s Canine Racism!”
A common tactic used by the pit bull industry to shut down any public safety discussion is throwing out the pit bull race card. The Pit Bull problem is an entirely man made creation which could be solved by breeding safer dogs in responsible numbers.
Instead, the breed community seems to be locked onto the blaming others and creating excuses for the situation they’ve created. Pit Bull attacks are always the fault of the owner or victim, and never caused by reckless breeding or the dog fighting industry.
Then the tone deaf advocates hide behind the excess pit bulls they created and blame society for the “Hate”…. totally oblivious that the hatred is not toward these poor animals, but that it is aimed toward the grotesque and criminally irresponsible breed stewardship that they toil day and night to perpetuate.
Race Card Phenomenon:
Frederick Schauer, who teaches a course on the first amendment at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, was reading about some dog lovers who claimed ”canine racism” in response to measures to curb attacks by pit bulls in New York City.
That particular race card, he said, was an extreme example of how society has become so obsessed with avoiding any stereotypes that it ignores reality.
Pit bulls are more aggressive than other breeds, he said, just as statistics show older people have slower reflexes than the young, and there are more bad drivers in Massachusetts than in Vermont. A fair number of generalizations, he insists, turn out to be accurate.
Let’s explore reasons to hate the $Billion dollar a year tax free Pit Bull Industry:
I hate it when a kid is laying on the coroner’s table.
I hate it when someone’s Grandmother is poured into the life flight helicopter.
I hate it that dogfighters kill 250,000 pits a year…hell bent on engineering a better mauler.
Fatal dog attack, Rosie Humphreys.
I hate it when a nice lady and her dog are killed by a chain breaking pit bull and the owner gets a mere $150 ticket.
I hate it that the dog lobby is behaving as corruptly as the tobacco lobby in the 50’s and 60’s.
I hate it that Pit breeders pump out one Million excess dogs that the taxpayer has to euthanize….to top it off they don’t pay taxes.
I hate it that only convicted felons seem to be able to properly identify Pit Bulls.
I Hate it when well intentioned Dog Safety Legislation is perverted into a Pit Bull Breeder’s and Dog Fighters Bill Of Rights.
I hate the grotesque breed stewardship exerted by the Pit Bull community.
I hate when family members of Officers in a state Pit Bull club are busted trafficking fighting dogs.
I hate The Nanny Dog Lie.
I hate it that Law Enforcement is continually having to shoot these animals.
I hate it that the Animal Control Professions and Animal welfare Community have abandoned their public safety responsibility.
I hate it when a pit bull owner leaves a blind person and their injured service dog helpless.
I hate it when radicalized Humane orgs like the Toronto Humane Society spent in excess of $400,000 saving a Pit Bull that attacked on 4 separate occasions, yet this woman can’t get plastic surgery:
Marie-Helene Tokar
I hate it that Pit Bull mauling victims have to hold bake sales and blood drives to pay medical costs, while some Pit Bull advocates live in 500K plus houses.
I hate it that nearly 130 Americans have been killed by Pit Bulls since the Vick Bust in 2007, yet they claim success.
I hate it that Michael Vick’s Beagles have been erased from history.
I hate it that Pit Bull advocates show zero respect to their victims by not wearing black on Pit Bull Awareness day.
I hate it when the neighborhood Mail Carrier is put on the disability rolls.
I hate it when a neighborhood dog is ripped apart by a Pit Bull.
I hate it that Pit Bulls are approaching 500 world wide DBRFS yet their breeders insist they aren’t human aggressive.
I don’t mind it so much when a consenting adult pit bull owner is attacked by their own animal, but I do hate the first responder costs…just being honest!
Oh well…Hose the blood off the sidewalk and pump out another litter!
https://occupymaulstreet.blogspot.nl/2013/08/count-me-in-as-hater.html
17 Barks
Sunday, July 28, 2013.
Pit shelter and euthanasia stats.
Merritt Clifton, Editor at Animal People recently shared some pertinent information about the number of pit bulls in shelters and their ultimate disposition.
I think it bears repeating because it refutes the idea that “BSL” is somehow to blame for all the pit bull deaths.
The current U.S. pit bull population is about 3.2 million, and it has been about three million for about 10 years now, according to the annual ANIMAL PEOPLE surveys of classified ads offering dogs for sale or adoption.
About one million pit bulls per year enter animal shelters, about two-thirds surrendered by their keepers, most of the rest impounded for dangerous behavior.
Most of these dogs have already been through three homes — their birth home, the home that bought them, and a subsequent pass-along home, before they arrive at shelters.
An average of just over 900,000 pit bulls per year over the past 10 years have been killed in shelters after flunking behavioral screening, with a peak of 967,000, a low of 835,000, and 910,000 killed last year.
This is about 60% of all the dogs killed in U.S. shelters today, up from about 50% in 2003. The average age of pit bulls killed in animal shelters is about 18 months.
So what we have at any given time is a third of the pit bull population having not yet reached maturity, a third (at most) in homes they will still occupy at the end of the year, and a third flunking out of homes and being killed — which translates into a 50% failure rate among adult dogs in homes each & every year. Among all other dog breeds combined, about 5% enter shelters each year.
Animal people news.
https://17barks.blogspot.nl/2013/07/pit-shelter-and-euthanasia-stats.html
Behaviorists/veterinarians
RANDALL LOCKWOOD, PhD
Randall Lockwood, who said he has witnessed the best and worst of pit bulls, said illegal dog-fighting is perpetuating dogs that are hazards to humans and other animals. Shaped by dog-fight enthusiasts, they are “a perversion of everything normal dogs should do. What they’ve created is a canine psychopath.”
“Fighting dogs lie all the time. I experienced it first hand when I was investigating three pit bulls that killed a little boy in Georgia. When I went up to do an initial evaluation of the dog’s behavior, the dog came up to the front of the fence, gave me a nice little tail wag and a “play bow” — a little solicitation, a little greeting. As I got closer, he lunged for my face.”
The pit bull, in its purebred or mixed form, has been responsible for most of the fatal dog attacks on humans in the last two years. In 1987, there were eight deaths from dog attacks in the country, and seven involved pit bulls. In 1986, there were 13 deaths, seven involving pit bulls. But pit bulls have been victimized by hype.
The dogs are no strangers to ordinances. A pit bull ban was passed in London in the 1400s.
These dogs can be canine crocodiles. They have a dark and bloody history.
In the United States, pets are considered property in the eyes of the law. And one of the most hotly defended rights of the individual is the right to own anything, no matter how stupid or dangerous the choice — even when what someone wants to own is a threat to them, their family, and the community around them.
FRANKLIN LOEW, dean of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine
I’m not aware of any other breed of animal that has ever been singled out this way. This is man biting dog.
HUGH WIRTH, veterinarian
RSPCA Victoria president Dr Hugh Wirth said the dogs were a menace and were not suitable as pets for anyone.
“They are time bombs waiting for the right circumstances.”
“The American pit bull terrier is lethal because it was a breed that was developed purely for dog fighting, in other words killing the opposition.
“They should never have been allowed into the country. They are an absolute menace.”
“The fact of life is that the community doesn’t want American pit bull terriers. They’ve said it loud and clear over and over again – they want them banned.”
GRAEME SMITH, veterinarian
My views about associating a breed with dangerous behaviours were challenged over time as I saw the impact of Pit Bull attacks. Talking to owners with dogs of this breed who have themselves been turned on, it became clear that these animals are unpredictable and when they attack they can cause serious injury or death.
It is very hard to give Pit Bulls the benefit of the doubt.
Avoiding the identification of dogs and their behaviours by their breed means the legislation in place can be such that allows these Pit Bulls “one free bite.” This “one free bite” can have fatal consequences.
If it looks like a Pit Bull, it is a Pit Bull.
What’s at stake is the safety of people and their own pets in the wider community, there is no room for gambling with an unpredictable animal.
And that is so often the case. No one knows where these dogs are until they come out and cause some form of grief. My position is about protecting the public and other animals from these animals.
NICHOLAS DODMAN, BVMS, ACVB, ACVA
Rottweilers were originally bred to guard the money of peasants returning home from the city of Rottweil in Germany, so their fierceness was prized. Staffordshire bull terriers and pit bulls were programmed to deliver a full crushing bite to the noses of bulls. “They’re locked and loaded,” as Dodman puts it.
on breed profiling
But Dodman defends the practice. “The insurance companies have no ax to grind,” he says. They base their decisions on actuarial statistics showing that certain breeds in certain homes are a recipe for trouble and the cause of lawsuits.
on the MA muzzling law
After a spate of attacks by pit bulls this summer, Massachusetts lawmakers passed legislation requiring the dogs to be muzzled in public. Some pit bull owners protested, but a Tufts expert says the law may be a good idea. Breeds like pit bulls and Rottweilers, says animal behavior expert Nick Dodman, are hardwired for aggression.
“Some of these dogs are as dangerous as a loaded handgun,” Dodman– director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at TuftsSchool of Veterinary Medicine – said in an interview with The Boston Globe Magazine.
Genetics play a big role.
“No doubt about it, pit bulls are genetically predisposed toward aggression,” he told the magazine. “Justas certain breeds of dogs were bred to herd, certain were bred to hunt, certain to point, and others to swim.”
While most pet owners accept that their dogs have certain genetic behavioral characteristics, there is still resistance to the idea that some dogs are more dangerous than others.
“Everybody accepts [genetic behaviors like herding or hunting] until you throw in the word ‘aggression’ and things like a full, crushing bite, which some breeds were specifically bred for in the past.”
Statistics on dog attacks reinforce the link between certain dogs and dangerous behavior.
“It’s like a scene from “Casablanca” when they say, ‘Roundup the usual suspects,’” Dodman told the Globe.“It’s always German shepherds, chow, husky, pit bull.The numbers do the talking.”
He added that pit bulls and Rottweilers alone account for more than 50 percent of the fatal dog attacks every year. Despite the danger, the owners of these dogs often fail to take proper precautions.
“A lot of owners of aggressive breeds are suffering from denial and ignorance, because no one wants to be fingered as having that kind of dog,” Dodman said.
“Genetics does play a role and people who think it doesn’t are kidding themselves,” says Dodman. “The pit bull is notorious for a very hard bite. They are always No. 1 in the lethal dog bite parade. The dog was bred for pit fighting. It was bred to never give up, to bite and hang on.”
KATHERINE HOUPT, VMD, PhD, DACVB
Says Katherine Houpt, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Cornell and author of Domestic Animal Behavior: “Different breeds have genetic predispositions to certain kinds of behavior, though that can be influenced by how they are raised. The pit bull is an innately aggressive breed, often owned by someone who wants an aggressive dog, so they’re going to encourage it.”
“I have seen so many pit bulls taken by very nice, very dog-savvy people who did all the right things,” said Houpt. “They take them to socialization class, they take them to obedience school, they are fine for a few years, and then they kill the neighbor’s dog.”
The people who really need to speak up are those who have owned these dogs and will attest to the truth of their aggression!!
Thomas McCartney
You should start your own web page rather than trying to take over this one. If you post the access on this site, we will all avoid it like the plague!!!!!
He sound to me like one of those people who is so unsure and insecure of his own beliefs he has to cling to the sparse spattering of fringe websites with personal agendas to convert others so he feels better about himself.
As for all these flash in the pan, unbiased and extreme blogs, sites and opinion pages he offers as evidence…..I will stick with the reports and studies of those who are a little more respectable and unbiased. You know, those little groups like :
National Animal Control Association
Humane Associations of Georgia, Wisconsin, Ottowa, Idaho
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
American Kennel Club
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
American Veterinary Medical Association
National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors
Canadian Kennel Club
National Animal Interest Alliance
American Animal Hospital Association
International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants
California Veterinary Medical Association
Colorado Veterinary Medical Association
Texas Veterinary Medical Association
Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association
Chicago Veterinary Medical Association
American Humane
Maryland Veterinary Medical Association
New York State Veterinary Medical Association
American Temperament Test Society
American Dog Owner’s Association
American Canine Federation
International Association of Canine Professionals
Humane Associations of Georgia, Wisconsin, Ottowa, Idaho
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
American Kennel Club
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
American Veterinary Medical Association
National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors
Canadian Kennel Club
National Animal Interest Alliance
American Animal Hospital Association
International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants
California Veterinary Medical Association
Colorado Veterinary Medical Association
Texas Veterinary Medical Association
Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association
Chicago Veterinary Medical Association
American Humane
Maryland Veterinary Medical Association
New York State Veterinary Medical Association
American Temperament Test Society
American Dog Owner’s Association
American Canine Federation
International Association of Canine Professionals
etc, etc, ETC.
Nothing is black and white, so people should avoid the rantings of the extremes on both sides, not post 29 articles from no name cowards who fear what they don’t know.
Tom prefers to take the advice of the 1 out of 10 dentists who say brushing your teeth is waste.
Thomas McCartney
your repeated posting of the EXACT same status (That you cut and pasted
from dogbite.org – a known pitbull hate site) doesn’t impress any of
us. If you feel so strong then take the time to word your own posts
rather than cut and pasting the exact same crap in every article with
the word “Pit bull” in it….. Otherwise you just look like a ignorant
fool who can; pen his own thoughts for repeatedly plagiarizing a site
that has been shown faulty MANY times over…….
@ Thomas McCartney, Thanks for all the posts – its a proven fact that
when people screem the loudest (in this case post the most) they know
they have faults in their argument and there for try to over compensate
with loudness (again in this case quantity and length of posts). While
it is true that a few have lost lives to dog attacks (I don’t find it
funny or amusing either so lets refrain from going there) if you do your
homework from a source other than “Dogbites.org”
then you will learn 90% of the cases you mention as reasons to condemn
the breed were abused/neglected or trained fighting/guard use dogs who
were left unattended with either young children, weak and frail elderly
or people who were otherwise to sick to defend from an attack – so why
not blame those who allowed that situation to occur rather than 100% of
“Pitbull type dogs” or how about this – one could even blame the
.000015% of dogs that were involved from the breed? Using your logic you
would blame every person who ever tasted alcohol for a DWI fatality or
cry that every car on the road needed to be crushed and sunk in the
ocean because one had a mechanical failure that caused a accident – but
your not doing that are you? No, my guess is because YOU don’t want to
walk to work do you? How about this one, do you believe EVERY single
fast food place in the nation should be shut down and the owners locked
away in prison? I ask because fast food creates health risks that kill
hundreds EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR – yet my bet is you have a fast food meal
in your guy right now so you wouldn’t support that would you? As for
the rest of you hate filled “Kill all of the breed” idiots, you sicken
me, you make me weep and cry for my children’s and grandchildren’s
future……… I’ll sit and eat with my “Pit bulls” every day of the
week before I would waste the spit in my mouth to pay homage to your
grave…………
Notorious Pit Haters The List
AList Of Notorious Pit Haters- This is the BLACK LIST of HATERS that
Made it to the List, More will be added when more PIT HATERS are caught
in ACTION.
Thomas McCartney (Pathological Liar, Know to troll pro pit pages, blogs and
communities, Is part of the Colleen Lynn Cult. Copy and Pastes from Pit
hating blogs with no links to the references or sources)
https://www.facebook.com/thomas.mccartney.31
Yeap, pretty well sums you up McCartney! Did you know a thousand
idiots die every day – now we just have to wait for YOUR day 🙂
https://theavocaterforthevoicel…