Pit bulls: vicious or victims?

Sara Meehan has seen the reports of pit bull attacks and calls in some areas for pit bull bans.

[Pibble]

[quote]
Perhaps most damning is an extensive list compiled by Merritt Clifton of Animal People,...[/quote]

It`s not damning when you understand that this "study" is nothing but a collection of Newspaper stories.
[quote]Junk "Science" - Merritt Clifton's (Animal People)
Mr. Clifton's "study" can be found on a prominent dog-bite attorney website and is being used as "statistical evidence" of breed behaviors by those who seem unable or unwilling to recognize the critical errors in data collection and the damaging and erroneous conclusions drawn from a biased and flawed sample.
Read the rest here
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/...
Another problem is the "identification" of dogs by unqualified people.
[quote]Pomeranian was killed by what witnesses said was a pit bull[/quote]
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/...
[quote]Everything is a Pit bull, whether it is or not: Again
On June 4, 2008, at least 29 news articles were run on a story about a Los Angeles boy "mauled by a Pit bull." Some of the headlines were:
*
"LA toddler hospitalized after being mauled by Pit bulls" - Fresno Bee
*
"2-year-old stable after pit bull bites his face" - LA Times
The Mercury News even reported that two Pit bulls attacked the child. Another article described the dog as the "family Pit bull." The Los Angeles Times reported the boy in "critical condition after he was bitten by a pit bull."
Perhaps the media should not bear the brunt for this serious error, as the source of the breed mis-identification was found to have originated from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The LAPD should not attempt to identify breeds of dogs or comment on canine behavior. The average police officer is no more skilled in breed identification than is the average reporter. Perhaps in the realization of this, the LAPD later referred all inquiries on the dog involved in this incident to the city's animal services department.
The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services released a statement declaring the dog involved in the attack on the boy was "in fact a shepherd mix."

Note: Acknowledgement is given to the Los Angeles Times for printing a "For the Record" remark on the erroneous breed identification of the dog in this incident. On June 7th the LA Times printed the following: "An article in Thursday's California section about a boy attacked by his family's dog quoted authorities as saying the dog was a pit bull. The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services said Friday that the animal that bit the toddler was a shepherd mix."
However, this small retraction cannot possibly undo the damage that was done by the media. All the headlines run by the LA Times which initially identified this dog to be a Pit bull have not been pulled and can still be found in the LA Times archives.
Additionally, more than one attorney website and dog bite "advocacy" website has picked up this "Pit bull attack" story and posted it on their website as additional "evidence" of the nature of Pit bulls.[/quote]

Focusing on Breed or perceived Breed is not helpful in reducing bites or the very rare fatalities.
More than 50 Breeds of dogs have been involved in fatalities.
Let`s start listening to the Experts
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/...

[knowin yo business]

Pit Bulls are dogs that have extreme strength. There was a report that stated that weiner dogs bite more often then pitbulls. Of course a weiner dog can't do as much damage. Dalmations are high strung and tend to bite as do German Shepards, Dobermans, Rotties, Akitas, Chow Chows and just about any other larger dog. A lot of this mess has to do with how the dog is raised and trained. Heck, I have seen cats tear someone up. Often in the case of owner and dog- it is the owner that is more of an animal than the animal itself.

[Hampton resident]

i love my american staffordshire terrier aka Pitbull it is the best dog i ever owned. my 3 kids love him to. this breed has excellent temperment around children.
its never the dog its the owners!

[Garbarge Dogs]

Pitbulls are stupid animals that serve no use, unless you are thug wannabe that needs them as a statis symbol.
The breed should be wiped off the face of the earth with no undue haste, along with their retarted owners.

[Herman King]

I have met several pit bulls that only wanted to lavish sloppy affection on me. Richard Harris was right about the kind of people who usually own pit bulls. Sounds like he or she who posted under the name Garbage Dogs belongs to that category.

[JWG]

Is it to late to ship them to China?

[CPatts]

Any dog, no matter what the breed, is only as good as the training its' owner gives it. The last pit bull I encountered was a big baby. Gerbils were more vicious than this dog. I agree with the above posters, breed has nothing to do with it... the owners are the ones who ruin pit bulls by training them to be aggressive.

[Jerry]

I've known plenty of Pit Bulls that were nothing short of docile - as loyal and friendly as any Lab. How many of you realize that the dog Petey from the Little Rascals, that we all loved so much, was, yes, a Pit Bull.

[Love my pitbull]

Garbage dogs.....you are cordially invited to kiss my pitbulls ass! Thank you and have a nice day:)

[GattonS]

Yes a lot of pit bill owners are morons and should never be allowed to reproduce much less have a dog. But narrow minded people are the source of the problem and I hate narrow minded people so should you be wiped of the face of the earth?????

Garbarge Dogs wrote:

Pitbulls are stupid animals that serve no use, unless you are thug wannabe that needs them as a statis symbol.
The breed should be wiped off the face of the earth with no undue haste, along with their retarted owners.

[GattonS]

Oh and it is spelled r-e-t-a-r-d-e-d. I can have my pit bark it to you if you need him to...

[DHM]

Right on - pit bulls shouldn't be banned - people should. Quoting the post that stated 2K publicized dog attacks (some fatal) - for real, humans are far more dangerous than dogs.

[wykkan]

i agree with pretty much everybody on here. the pitbull can be one of the best dogs you will ever own.they have a strong sense of loyalty and are very smart dogs. it's the people that train them to be mean are the ones who should be put to sleep when the dog turns vicious,not the og, because they are the reason the dog ends up that way.a frien of mine has a pit name "hellboy" and believe me he is the total opposite of his name. every time someone comes to his house "hellboy" carries on like a puppy trying to lick the people and get them to pet him.pitbulls,like all dogs, are only mean if people make them that way.

[Parent of a Pitbull]

The breed is simply amazing. Very strong, athletic, loving and loyal. It all falls on how the dog is raised and not the breed itself. These dogs want nothing other than to make the people they love happy. Yes some people use these dogs stregnth it the wrong way. Once agian not the breeds fault that falls on the owner. My pitbull is a big baby. When we have company he "attacks" them with nothing but love and lots of kisses. Hes my 9month olds bestfriend, as she is his. He is one of the best dogs i have ever had the privelage of owning.