Where are you getting data? I wish I had direct info but even AKC makes it hard to find over many years without having their print magazine.
Mine is casually based on a general knowledge of at least AKC registration ranks and some sundry old stud books from the past. The only fighting-prone PBTs listed in AKC are Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers. Even triple that combo (ranking 82 and 83 this year!) and that won’t compare to Rottweilers. Rotts have been in the top 10 AKC for the last 30 years. Anecdotally, while I never saw a single Rott in “public” before my foray into the show world in the ‘80s (when they started their meteoric rise), since the ‘80s I see one about every week, and our old day-care owner has one.
I DO see various PBT types these days (only in the 2000s), but this is liberal-land, where lots of do-gooders have been inviting Moslems and illegals galore into our area (same area as this very story).
But I’d hardly compare them to the immense population of GSDs, which have been #2 for at least 5 years and in the top 5 for who knows how long. They definitely have been tops for the last century since Strongheart hit the theaters and WWI vets returned with tales of their wonder.
And Germans Shepherds are my “thing”, BTW. I am not a frou-frou dog type. Neither am I an uninformed idiot, although this is not my whole life (i.e., how many hours must we spend before we may post, eh?) as I’m sure it’s not yours, so don’t try to paint me as “not researching” while somehow, you always do every day?
I linked it up thread
Primarily this one
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States
Like anything it’s political
That which people term “pit bulls” are not an AKC breed, therefore, there are no actual statistics on how many exist.
I can say, from observation, if I see 4 Rotts in a month, it’s a miracle.
I see a dozen PBs every time I leave the house, *at least*.
AKC dog breed rankings are less than useless for how many of one breed actually exists versus “pit bulls”.
Case in point, at Martinsburg Bike Night, alone, you literally could not take three steps without a “pit bull” walking past you.
There are a LOT of them.
That same night, I saw one Bull Terrier, no Rotts, one Lab, a couple Chis being carried around and several little “designer” dogs.