Greater Media Newspapers’ Dec. 19 cover article, “Area Shelters Step Up to Adopt Out Pit Bulls,” reflects the current fashion in dog-lover circles to downplay the bad reputation of pit bulls — including mixes — and paint a rosy picture of the breed with anecdotal stories of “successes.” The problem I see with this approach is that obvious pit bull advocacy can get in the way of a clear look at the history of the breed, which is a story stretching over hundreds of years of specialized breeding for attacking and subduing.
Traits that were bred over the years included aggressiveness, a strong prey drive, and a set of very robust neck and jaw muscles for inflicting maximum damage. The name by which the breed is known springs from the ancient practice of training dogs to subdue wayward bulls by clamping down on bulls’ noses and holding on until the bull gave up or collapsed in exhaustion. The breed name further evolved when the dogs were placed in fighting pits after bull-baiting fell out of favor.
You don’t have to believe me for these facts, as you can consult the Wikipedia entry on pit bulls where the voluminous bite-and-attack records are set out in excruciating detail. The available information is so compelling that countless municipal, state and national legislatures have been moved to ban the breed and its mixes.
In addition, there have been court cases where the breed was adjudged inherently dangerous. In the Wikipedia article, some mild waffling on dangerousness had to have been inserted by pit bull advocates.
Many airlines refuse to carry the dogs, and liability insurers will typically either charge higher premiums for a pit bull in the house or just won’t issue a policy. This “official” recognition of the breed’s dangerousness does little to assuage those attacked and maimed by pit bulls due to owners’ neglect of their duty to secure and appropriately confine the animals — assuming even that pit bull possession was legal in the jurisdiction.
Most people, if you ask them, will attempt to avoid close contact with a person walking one of these animals and may even cross to the other side of the street to be safe. The particular animal may be one of those “successes” that advocates like to talk about, but why take the chance? Far from unreasonable paranoia, this avoidant behavior is easily characterized as good judgment. God help us if we see a pit bull running free. Most of us will take extreme measures to escape notice and contact — more common sense, no doubt.
Certainly, maltreatment will account for much of an animal’s bad behavior. Conversely, good upbringing and socialization will help to produce a good animal. But the problem with pit bulls is that the “attackand hold” instinct is, to one degree or another, in the breed’s DNA.
Therefore, it’s an uphill climb to overcome this characteristic, even through “pitbull optimized” training and socialization. Nothing can be done about the devastating neck and jaw strength when a good dog happens to go bad.
Leave the possession of pit bull types to those with a need to intimidate, and let good people stick to breeds known to be good companions for all seasons, without doubt or worry. R. D. Truitt Little Silver