Replies

"Apologist" does not describe me. I am in no way apologising for the breed, myself, or anything else for that matter. Yes, pit bulls are genetically hard-wired to fight to the death--with other dogs, not people. Anyone who has done any kind of research on the breed knows that in the fighting ring, if a pit bull bit, attacked, or even growled at a person, it was culled. If a pit bull attacks a person unprovoked, it is a bad representative of the breed. These dogs were bred to not injure a person no matter how heated the battle got with the other dog. Not only that, but these dog fighters used to wash each other's dogs to ensure that there was nothing put on the skin to hurt the other dog. They had to be people friendly. I am not in any way condoning dog fighting, as I think it is a sick thing to do, but I am stating the facts. The dog aggressive tendencies bred into them are no different than the human friendly tendencies that were bred into them at the same time. Anyone trying to breed these dogs to be something other than that is breeding an abberation, not true to type. And I DID state statistics on deaths, if you had bothered to read it. My quote about the pomeranian wasn't to show that I believe all poms are dangerous. It was just to show that any dog can bite, and any dog may be capable of killing a person. There have been about 30 different breeds of dogs responsible for human deaths that have been reported. Also, remember that the media, uneducated witnesses, police officers, and even animal control officers have all wrongly identified these dogs. There are many many people who have been relied upon to determine the breed of a dog who are simply not qualified to do so. http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
I wonder how many of you can go to this site and correctly guess the first time. Even experts who have been around them for years take a few trys before guessing right. This is a great example of why it is so hard to sometimes identify the right breed. For one, their standard states they should only grow to about 60 pounds. Many of the news articles I read lately involve 100+ pound dogs, more like American Bulldogs, not pit bulls. Not to mention the fact that many people who unscrupulously breed pit bulls for money tend to mix mastiffs, dobermans, mutts, etc. in to make the dog more aggressive. These are mutts, no matter what percentage of pit bull are in them. And, pit bulls are the number one most stolen dog, not only because people steal them to fight, but because they can. Many of these dogs just aren't good at guarding, and will happily follow their captor out of their own back yard. (The ones that are true to the standard have never been good at it. Too trusting towards people.) And lastly, I am getting all my information not from experience with the breed, which I do have, but I am getting all this info from factual accounts and statistics from true experts. People who have done studies and unbiased reports for the good of dog owners as well as the general public. Not from my sister's boyfriend, or the 6 o'clock news, or the politician that has never even seen a dog. I really think that if you all just did a little research yourselves, you would find that what the media says, and what is the truth are two completely different things.

Oh yes, and almost forgot this one:
According to the American Canine Temperament Testing Association, 95%of the American Pit Bull Terriers that took its temperament test passed, compared to a 77% passing rate for all breeds on average. Furthermore, APBTs had a passing rate that was the fourth highest of all 122 breeds tested. So, according to unbiased facts, this breed of dog is less likely to bite or attack unprovoked than a golden retriever. Don't believe me? Look it up for yourself.
http://www.atts.org/stats1.html The website is here for anyone interested in seeing which breeds of dog do well and don't. The only reason there are more deaths from strong dogs like pit bulls and rottweilers is because they are very strong. There are also quite a few deaths occurring from huskies, german shepherds, great danes, and saint bernards, to name a few. It's not because these dogs are mean, it's just numbers. Sooner or later an attack leads to a fatality in any strong breed. And, compared to the sheer amount of pit bulls in the population now, the percentage of them that are biting, attacking, or causing fatalities is infinitesimally small. Oh, not to mention anytime a pit bull mix is reported, or even if its assumed to be mixed with a pit, doesn't have to be proven, they report it as pure pit bull. Nevermind the other breeds which shaped the attitude of the dogs. You hear a lot on the news also because many of these reports tend to air for weeks at a time on every station. A lot of them end up being the same story, but due to human error, names, places, breeds of dog, and events are skewed. So you see five articles in a month's time about pit bulls and think "wow, they're out of control" but what you don't realise is all those reports are the same dog. Please, I beg of you, if you are going to post things about this subject, do yourself and the community a favor and do some research also. You never know how your opinion may change with a little more information. I used to despise pit bulls too, until a friend of mine introduced me to four of his dogs, all of which led happy lives and died of old age, never hurting anyone.