Let me first say that I like APBT's. I know people with the breed and I have friends who breed them. In fact my sons baby sitter whom we used to have watch him 5 days a week while we were at work when he was a toddler had a APBT. I knew the dog well and had no qualms about leaving him there.
The problem with the breed is not so much that they are more likely to attack. But that they tend to cause so much more damage when they do.
Unfortunately. The stats do little to dispel the myth that they are more aggressive then other breeds. Again. because they tend to cause so much more damage when they do attack.
And the difference is by no small margin
Between 1982-2010 PBT's are responsible for 1652 bites that caused bodily harm. And 166 deaths The next highest number is the rottie with 457/73
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In all fairness. I would personally attribute a good deal of attacks to poor ownership. entirely too many people get APBTs because they want a badarse dog. And to a certain extent I can see the appeal to that. Much like I can see the appeal of owning a 357 magnum over a 9mm. But unlike a 357 or a 9mm Dogs can go off by themselves
Thing is. No matter what dog you own you have to remember that they are still animals with animal tendancies. My golden that I had to put down a couple months ago once bit my daughter on the mouth when she was little (at which point I proved that dogs can fly) Turns out that she decided to join him in chewing on his chew toy. Something I couldnt place too much blame entirely on him over because people dont like when you start eating their food either. Still. Afterwards I spent alot of time teaching him where he was in the pack so that would never happen again to the point where you could stick your face in his dish while he was eating at he would back off. Still you could always see he didnt like it. He'd raise lip. but he wold back off.
Any event. After several stitches in her lip She currently still carries a small scar on her lower lip from the incident.
Different dogs have different bite tendancies too. Goldens when they bite tend to do a quick nip then let go. At which point they are immediately sorry for it. So the damage is usually pretty minimal. He bit me on several other occasions when I was rough housing with kids and one other person who was trying to grab my extremely submissive lab. Each time was the same a quick nip then let go
I shudder to think how bad it would have been if it were a PB. Or a boxer or any number of other dogs who tend to take big or more powerful bites when they do bite.
Fact of the matter is. When they bite they can and have a tendency to cause alot more damage then many other dog breeds
The top 3 most agressive breeds are the dachshund, chihuahua, and the Jack Russell terrier. But they dont usually cause alot of damage when they bite. Lets face it. When was the last time anyone heard of someone being maimed or killed by a chihuahua?
One of the very things that make APBTs appealing are the things that can make them dangerous. Very powerful dog. Unfortunately they also have a very powerful bite.
In the end it mostly comes down to responsible dog ownership and knowing your dog.
the people that used to watch my son were my friends parents. Very responsible owners Very well trained well mannered dog
Their daughter and her husband are the breeders and friends of mine. Also very responsible owners. Yet they also recognize the dangers that these dogs can be. and as soon as one shows any signs of being aggressive after training. They put it down. No second chances. they are among the growing number who are working to breed the aggressiveness out of the breed and will only breed with other pits that they know to be non aggressive.
The families son also a long time friend of mine is what I would categorize as an irresponsible owner. So aggressive are his dogs that despite his assurances that they wont do anything. I refused to enter his yard or his home while they were out and would only approach his yard with buck knife in hand assuring him that if his dogs so much as came near me I wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Eventually I just stopped going over his house altogether. They were just too unpredictable.
Any dog no matter the breed can bite. But the bites on some dogs are worse then others APBTs are among those with the higher capability and likelyhood that a bite is going to be more severe. i place most of the responsibility on the owners though. As they need to realize that like with a gun. They possess a potentially deadly weapon. and must act in such a manner
you kept a dog after it bit your daughter? I would have buried its dead body.
I know many people who own "pitts" and breed them....do you know how many actually have a true APBT? one....
but, but they are registered as APBT's......does not matter.
those stats are wrong. plain and simple.
A true APBT will not just bite people, the dogs that are "pitts" today and for the last 20+ years, are not true APBT, they are cross breed curs that "look" like APBT.
a true APBT, is a dog that can get his front leg ripped off and still show no signs of aggression towards its handlers.
I would bet my life on it that every one of those bites attributed to APBT were not full blooded APBT and most of them were not even part APBT.
trust me a true pitt wont attack people.
guaranteed 100% of those dogs were not APBT.
take Reaper90 very nice looking brindle in the middle....120 lbs....wrong(yes I know he is a cross breed, but he didn't get the 120lbs from a yellow lab)
every body thinks a Pitt is a big badass dog....and it aint, its a small dog, that should never weigh more then 60 lbs, and is preferable to be around 50 lbs.
they think Pitts have huge wide chests and this is just not the case, and is so wrong its absurd.
an APBT in fighting weight is around 45 lbs.
in the 70's people wanted to show there dogs in a "show" ring so some changed the dogs name to "staffordshire terrier" come to find out there was a dog with that name already so the name became "American staffordshire terrier" these people started breeding there APBT with other breeds of dogs such as Mastiffs and larger breeds of the sort to get the bigger more impressive size with the same "look".
well these dogs are what you get, dogs that lost the game to fight, and the love of people, two of the main qualities of the American Pitbull Terrier.
are these4 pics of Pitts? I am sure most of you will all say YES...and you would all Be WRONG.
_absolutly hate this dog.
_this one you can really see the great dane in his blood
Here are some true APBT.....unless you were truly hurting their owner...these dogs would NEVER attack a person NEVER
A true American Pitbull Terrier would not attack people, it was breed in them as much as wanting to fight other dogs. they just would not attack people, they made the worst Guard dogs period, they LOVE people and would let a burglar into the house and not attack him.
sad thing is no matter what truths are showed people have their idea's and no one can prove them wrong.
