Thread by
Rob Labonne on X.com (archive). Comments are also worth reading.
I owned a Pit Bull for 12 years and fostered 2 others. Now that I have kids, I would never get another. As a parent, it's important to stack the odds in your favor. Owning a pit bull is the opposite of that.
The one I owned for 12 years was amazing (besides his separation anxiety). He never met a dog or human he didn't love. A true ambassador to the best traits of the breed.
As my vet would say "I've worked with thousands of pit bulls and he is the exception to the rule". The other 2 both had dog and people aggression issues (even with thousands of dollars of formal training and socialization as puppies).
The following is an excerpt from Terrierman's Daily Dose:
"In the U.S., where Pit Bulls account for 2 to 3 percent of all dogs, this breed type (it is not a formal breed) accounts for over 50 percent of all serious dog bites.
And while Pit Bull-related fatalities are low (about 10 a year), for every fatality there are thousands of hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
Those who focus solely on the low number of Pit Bull fatalities are lying by omission when they fail to mention the physical and emotional scars left by Pit Bulls attacks.
So, does this mean that Pit Bulls are a problem? Yes it does.
And part of the problem is that this breed -- like most others -- comes with a code inside it. Of course, we all know that dogs come with a genetic code.
When we talk about Pointers and Setters, everyone knows these dogs are particularly "birdy."
When we talk about retrievers, everyone agrees this breed is particularly biddable, loves water, and has a desire to bring things to hand.
When we talk about Jack Russell Terriers, everyone agrees they hate rats, and have a natural inclination to go to ground. But Pit Bulls? The Pit Bull community wants us to think these dogs are just like any other!
Never mind the illegal kennels here in America that crank out line-bred fighting dogs like Pez from a dispenser. Never mind the history of this dog as feral hog hunter, pit fighter, and junkyard protector.
To even suggest that Pit Bulls might have a different genetic code inside them than Pugs, Standard Poodles, Pointers, or Salukies is heresy among many breed-blind Pit Bull defenders.
Of course, canine genetics is only part of the equation. Along with nature comes nurture.
In the right hands, even a Pit Bull with a lot of drive can end up being a happy, docile, and extremely playful family dog.
The sad truth, however, is most Pit Bulls in America do not end up in the right hands. This is a breed that tends to attract "the wrong types" to the point that research has shown that U.S. Pit Bull owners are far more likely to have criminal records than other dog owners.
The predictable result of too many boisterous Pit Bulls meeting up with too many ill-prepared and unstable owners is that the dogs suffer.
And in America, Pit Bulls suffer terribly. Nearly a million Pit Bulls were euthanized in American shelters in 2009 -- more than the sum of all dogs of all breeds registered by the American Kennel Club last year.
In the last decade, about 8,000,000 Pit Bulls were euthanized in U.S. animal shelters -- approximately four hundred million pounds of dead Pit Bull.
What makes this particularly distressing is that Pit Bull euthanasia rates in the U.S. have been on the rise for 30 years, even as all other canine impounds and euthanasias have been on a steady and steep decline.
What's going on with Pit Bulls?
The problem is not Pit Bull haters. Ironically enough, the problem is Pit Bull lovers.
After all, it's the Pit Bull "lovers" that are breeding these dogs. It's the Pit Bull "lovers" that are acquiring these dogs. It's the Pit Bull "lovers" that are too often abusing the dogs through ignorance and neglect before abandoning them to their death a year or two after acquisition.
You mean Pit Bull "haters" are not the problem?
No, they are not. The problem is young numbskulls who acquire these dogs in ignorance and haste, discover that they are too much dog to handle, and who then abandon them at leisure.
So what to do?
One of the most obvious ways forward, is to do with Pit Bulls what we have done for hawks, guns, and and cars in the U.S.: require a license conditional upon passing a basic training course.
When "hunter safety" courses were mandated in the U.S., accidental shootings fell to the point that golf and tennis are now deemed to be more dangerous than hunting.
When falconers were required to serve two-year apprenticeships, the longevity of captive birds soared, and concerns about raptor abuse plummeted.
And, of course, driving courses and driver's licenses have been in place since the beginning. Do accidents still happen? Sure, but no one argues that driver's license enforcement is not Step One to improved highway safety.
With dogs, however, the assumption is that everyone knows everything they need to know about dogs at birth -- and never mind if that is demonstrably wrong, especially for large game-bred breed like Pit Bulls.
And the consequence of this crazy idea? Millions of dead dogs."
