They are more likely to bite, more likely to inflict severe injury if they bite, less likely to stop biting before the kill; and MORE likely to be owned by a “certain segment of society”.
And I have known dozens of Pitbulls, dated a woman whose brother had one (truly a sweet and lovely dog). Five Pittbulls attacked me that I can recall off the top of my head. Two wound up dead. The other three wouldn't get close enough, I wasn't armed with a ranged weapon, or the owner was there saying “They won't bite!” (the wife)and “why are you attacking my dog? How would you like it if I attacked you?” (the husband); my brother and I were walking on the other side of the street when their dogs crossed the street to attack us.
“a certain segment of society” indeed.
You need to hang with a better crowd. I have been around many pit bull type dogs, at the dog park, in my obedience classes, at dog show, owned by friends, etc. I have never had ONE even lift a lip at me.
” Five Pittbulls attacked me that I can recall off the top of my head. Two wound up dead. The other three wouldn’t get close enough, I wasn’t armed with a ranged weapon, or the owner was there saying “They won’t bite!” (the wife)and “why are you attacking my dog? How would you like it if I attacked you?” (the husband); my brother and I were walking on the other side of the street when their dogs crossed the street to attack us.
“a certain segment of society” indeed.”
Can’t you see that your stories mirror almost every other dog attack victim? I’m not talking about the breed of dog involved, but the situation. Dogs running loose, some in packs. That is irresponsible ownership, and THAT has been proven by the AVMA and the CDC to be the single most common factor in dog bite fatalities, not the breed of dog. If it was just a breed issue, we wouldn’t have 50 some other breeds involved in dog bite deaths.
Not to mention the fact that pit bulls were never trained or bred to fight or guard humans. They fought other animals like dogs, bulls, and bears, and simultaneously were bred to have a willing, trusting demeanor so they would not bite people trying to separate them. There are so many other breeds of dog that started out this way that are not viewed as monsters.
Animal aggression and human aggression are two completely different things. If you are willing to use the argument that they were bred to fight and that’s why etc., then you must also agree that they are mostly not vicious towards humans because for all the years they were bred to fight dogs, they were bred not to bite people. Can’t have it both ways.
There are an estimated 5 to 10 million pit bulls in the U.S. today, which makes the breed more popular than labs in some areas. However, the average number of dog bite fatalities has not risen during this time in any significantly noticeable way, and the average remains from 17 to 35 a year. Of course, the dogs doing the most damage change with changes in the popularity of certain breeds, and this has been true since we started calculating fatalities in the 1800’s (when bloodhounds were considered vicious mankillers), but if only 0.00004% of the entire breed has done this, and of those, almost 100% were irresponsibly owned, the only logical thing to do is to blame the owners. Whether they believe their dog is a creampuff, or they want a chained monster to look threatening, both types of owners are wrong, and should be held liable if they are unable or unwilling to keep their dogs safely confined and healthy.
Lastly, since other dogs take human lives, what were they bred to do? Collies, chespeake bay retrievers, labs, border collies, dachshunds, west highland white terriers, pomeranians, saint bernards, bloodhounds, and newfoundlands must have all been pit bulls in past lives, because these breeds have all taken lives. Dachshunds have taken several, by the way. Yet, before pit bulls came along, the death toll was the same. The amount of serious attacks was the same compared to the population. So what is the difference? Ban the dogs so you can feel safer getting your face ripped off by some other breed? Are you any less dead if a saint bernard kills you? How about some responsible ownership laws? It has been proven to work in Calgary. Their dog bites have been drastically reduced, and they didn’t have to ban a breed of dog. Denver has had a ban for twenty years and their stats haven’t changed. The same can be said for certain areas of Florida, some of which have seen increases in their serious attacks.