The majority of types of dogs bite and release but pits have been bred to hold on - this is a prized trait among pit bull owners and breeders that they call “gameness.This is precisely my point: they have been bred by unscrupulous breeders to be dangerous, vicious fighting dogs. This has affected the "breed" on a massive scale and is meant to turn out unstable dogs by the tens of thousands, and it does. Millions when you consider all the animals that are then produced by those animals. It is the reason so many "pitbulls" today are dangerous. However, only the "cream of the crop" go on to become fighting dogs. The rest are surrendered to shelters or abandoned. None of them, or few of them are suitable for adoption. These are the dogs we hear about. Remove the human filth from the equation who are breeding them or brutally abusing them (as you rightfully point out, the dogs are essentially wild animals by the time those two groups finish with them), and the breed would return to its more docile roots.
Let me pose you a question: Do you really believe that if every last pitbull on Earth were exterminated tomorrow, dog fighting people wouldn't turn their attention to the next best prospect for becoming the top fighting dog in the world (Saint Bernards, Presa Carnarios, Caucasian Mountain Dogs, or perhaps something that today is a little more domestic, etc.) and in a few short generations completely ruin it in the public eye as well, breeding it for stronger jaws, fearlessness, "gameness," unpredictability, etc. Let me tell you, if they choose Presas or Caucasians, say, public safety will REALLY be in jeopardy and we'll all be talking about the good old days of the pitbull.
“This is precisely my point: they have been bred by unscrupulous breeders to be dangerous, vicious fighting dogs.”
I wish we agreed on more. :)
The breed was created by, got it’s origin from, continues to be defined by unscrupulous breeders. The breed, from it’s foundational stock, is not suited for community living - it was meant to fight other dogs and kill them, it was meant to fight and never give up and it has a nasty habit of killing people, either strangers or those who have gently and lovingly raised them from puppyhood. I wish there were a blood test or a brain conformation test (CAT scan - no pun) that would identify those which will one day beocme violent but there isn’t. I read recently that one woman walked her dog past another woman on the sidewalk and her dog simply latched onto the woman’s thigh and wouldn’t let go. I’ve watched videos where pits go bouncing up to someone, tongue out, tail waging, right until the attack begins. How can a civil society live with dogs whom may or may not kill and you don’t know if it will attack until the pain and bleeding starts? I’d say about 80 of the time, the news accounts say the dog(s) “got out” and I had a friend who loved his little pit, but she “got out” so much he gave up trying to restrain her. Part of the pet agreement is that leashes and kennels work and back yards work to safely house pets - but pits don’t conform and easily defeat restraints and, here’s the really freakish part, too many pits GO HUNTING! When I had dogs, if they got out I worried about the trash. Too often when pits go out, they attack to kill. Bizarre. When people tell me their pit would lick me to death, I know they actually believe that but no dog owner knows for certain and pits have been bred for gameness (never stop attacking until the other is dead) and have physical attributes that make them unlike dalmations or chihua huas. I feel bad for people who love their pits - but I worry about the safety of those people too. And I just got tired of reading “kid loses face” and owners say the dog “got out.” The apologists state as fact information that flies in the face of the countless accounts and videos etc. I wish it were different, but these dogs are not fit for domesticated dog status.