The Truth about Pit bulls

The Pit bull is one of the most feared dog breeds of our time. To get this out right away, throughout this hub when I say pit bull, I don't just mean the APBT, I mean all 20 or so breeds, and their mixes, that are normally classified as pit bulls. More on that later. I'm sure everyone has seen, heard, or read about some viscous pit bull biting or killing an innocent victim. Why is it always a pit bull? The obvious answer is because they are mean dogs.

As seen on the right, pit bulls are just mean animals. I sure hope whoever took that picture escaped with their life. With all the stories in the news about pit bulls attacking and killing people, it has to be true, right? There must be a good reason they have such a bad rap. I highly doubt the media would ever just take advantage of people's ignorance, just for the sake of better ratings.

All joking aside, if you look at dog bite statistics, pit bull type dogs lead in pretty much every category. Many use this as proof that pit bulls are viscous killing machines, but there are a couple problems with those statistics. First, Rotts and German Shepherds are specific breeds, pit bull types aren't. I'm sure if all breeds were ranked like that, and it was two rows, pit bull type and non pit bull type, it would be a different story. Second, they get those stats from police reports. Let's say I'm walking down the street and get bit by a Chow. Then when the police come, I say its a pit bull, either because I don't know any better or for some other reason, and as far as the stats go it gets counted as a pit bull. I'm not saying that happens every time, but I have seen plenty of pictures and video's with headlines reading Pit bull attacks, with the dogs being English Bulldogs, German Shepherds and everything in between.

"Animal aggression usually leads to human aggression." That statement couldn't be further from the truth. That's like saying everyone who speeds should get life in prison, because eventually they will murder someone. They are both crimes, so why not? Dogs are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. The female pictured above (those are my dogs) likes adults, loves kids, is wary of unknown dogs, and hates cats. She doesn't have just one level of aggression, she has a different level for different categories, for lack of a better term. Just because a dog is dog or animal aggressive, doesn't mean it's going to bite a human. It might, but the two aren't related.

First, and most importantly, don't assume all dogs are friendly. If the owner is around, ask if it's ok to pet their dog. Once you get the go ahead, stay calm. Dogs can and will feed off your emotions. If you have gotten the ok to pet a dog, it's fairly safe to assume that it won't attack you for no reason. This is more of a recommendation than a rule, but get on the dogs level. Dogs see your face and head as a point of contact, and will occasionally jump to try and get to yours. It's not something you really need to do, and it's not the case all the time, it's just something I like to do.

I got my first pit bull for all the wrong reasons; I wanted a big tough dog to make me look cool. Fortunately what I got instead was a best friend and family member that made me fall in love with the breed. Since then I have owned 5 pit bull type dogs, the American Bulldog/APBT mix shown bellow, and 4 APBT's. Until the day I die, I will always have a dog, and that dog will more than likely be a pit bull.