Dogs killing people

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I seriously doubt the person getting bit mauled or killed doesnt distinguish between whos at fault the dog or the owner.

[Sensei]

2 questions:
1) Is there a debate as to whether pit bulls are even in the top five most popular breeds in America with regards to total numbers of dogs in America?

2) Is there a debate as to whether pit bulls cause more deaths and serious injuries in America in terms of raw numbers of attacks than any other breed?

If there is no debate on those numbers, then there can only be 2 possibilities:
1) Pitt bulls cause disproportionate numbers of deaths and serious injuries.
2) Pit bulls disproportionately attract shithead owners who cause their dogs to be dangerous.

Personally, I don’t think the 2 options are mutually exclusive, so I avoid pit bulls and people who own them like the plague.

[UNM1136]

I was a little slow on the uptake.

I guess I am done here.

pat

[FNFAN]

Anecdotally, from a 20+ year animal control officer (one of my ex's) in a very busy city, the dogs you don't want your kids around and the dogs she least wanted to deal with would be: #1. Chow, #2. Dalmatian, #3. Cane Corso, #4. Pit's. Pit's get a bad rap and their behavior is dictated to a huge percent by how they are socialized. Some are about as sweet a dog as you can find. Cane Corso's would have the same tendencies as Pit's except that they're so massive and strong they require multiple staff to deal with if they go haywire.

[TGS]

No doubt about that. I think you might be aware I recently had to put down a protection trained Mal because of age. Theres several pics of her with my kids in the Dogs thread. I dont have a problem with dogs that bite when they are supposed to.
A dog who is only 6.5 % of the population and is the main killer of people in the US makes me take notice. Particularly when those dogs are family dogs and have been for years and then they kill somebody in the family.
And then if you look at the actual damage from non fatal dog bites and the amount of surgery required to address that damage, again pit bulls are at the top of that list too.
I dont gaf who own what dogs I thought the statistics were pretty damning and personally I dont like or trust them.

A demographic representing 13% of the American population commits about 80% of the violent crime in America, and 55% of homicides in particular.

This isn't because of their breed skin color, it's because of the problems facing that demographic within their socio-economic class; namely, broken households and a prevalent lack of positive male father figures.

IMO, the same thing applies to dogs. What are the primary demographics that owns pitbulls? What is the prevalence of criminality in those demographics? Is it reasonable to hypothesize that the same factors among a household which lead to a life of crime among their children also leads to violent dogs? Does it surprise that large dogs with high drive and strong bite strength account for what deaths do occur, as opposed to cowardly dogs like labs and golden retrievers which will literally let themselves be killed without even putting up a fight?

I don't have any particular love to pitbulls and grew up in an area where I put down stray dogs and stray cats on our own as a matter of routine practice, as their presence threatened the safety of the dogs that we kenneled as part of my grandfather's bird dog training business. I write this just to point out that even I am reading your posts in the same way that @HCM interpreted it with an axe to grind, and I'm not one of those bleeding-heart dog owners that owns a pitbull as some sort of social justice virtue signaling.

[UNK]

A demographic representing 13% of the American population commits about 80% of the violent crime in America, and 55% of homicides in particular.

This isn't because of their breed skin color, it's because of the problems facing that demographic within their socio-economic class; namely, broken households and a prevalent lack of positive male father figures.

IMO, the same thing applies to dogs. What are the primary demographics that owns pitbulls? What is the prevalence of criminality in those demographics? Is it reasonable to hypothesize that the same factors among a household which lead to a life of crime among their children also leads to violent dogs? Does it surprise that large dogs with high drive and strong bite strength account for what deaths do occur, as opposed to cowardly dogs like labs and golden retrievers which will literally let themselves be killed without even putting up a fight?

I don't have any particular love to pitbulls and grew up in an area where I put down stray dogs and stray cats on our own as a matter of routine practice, as their presence threatened the safety of the dogs that we kenneled as part of my grandfather's bird dog training business. I write this just to point out that even I am reading your posts in the same way that @HCM interpreted it with an axe to grind, and I'm not one of those bleeding-heart dog owners that owns a pitbull as some sort of social justice virtue signaling.

As I said earlier I doubt the people who are getting bit mauled or killed really care if its the dogs fault or the owners, same as people who are victims of crime dont care about problems facing demographics.
And if somebody actually read the websites info they would see that those dogs that wont put up a fight are on the list too.
If one person reads this and assess the situation around them and takes due consideration and it somehow prevents a tragedy in their circle then hooray it was worth it.
I personally was at a 4th of July celebration many years ago on a farm. A guy showed up with a couple pitbulls. The kids were running around in a hayfield next to the house and the dogs went into the hayfield, their actions indicated to me they were going to attack those kids. I yelled at the kids to freeze and they did the dogs stopped and the owner got the dogs. I havent liked or trusted them since then.
To me its no different than talking about pre crime indicators or any of the other subjects normally discussed around here obviously some people take it differently.
No where did I say all pitbulls are bad. Also I dont think you have to be a genius to look at a dog and say thats a pitbull. Its not like they have AKC papers.

[blues]

... and I'm not one of those bleeding-heart dog owners that owns a pitbull as some sort of social justice virtue signaling.

Is that actually a thing? Tell me it ain't so.

[Clusterfrack]

Is that actually a thing? Tell me it ain't so.

Yes. Yes, it is. I had to lasso-leash one by the waist to a chainlink fence because it was killing a dog at the park. Hippie yoga chick owner was clueless.

[JohnO]

I have had dogs all my life. Currently I have two German Shepherd Dogs. Each quite capable of inflicting serious damage on a human. Do I worry about them harming someone in my home or someone outside, never!

I am a firm believer that the following is 99.8% accurate. There are no bad dogs only Bad Owners!

[blues]

Yes. Yes, it is. I had to lasso-leash one by the waist to a chainlink fence because it was killing a dog at the park. Hippie yoga chick owner was clueless.

That is too sad for words...

...although...the personality type might not be all that far from the woman who owns the pit /mix shorty that got loose and came after my dog a couple weeks back. (Her husband is often not around as he pilots yachts.) He was there that day and they both ran out and yelled at me not to kick their dog while I'm in the midst of a fight. I yelled back I'll stop when the dog is under control. (It's goofy Lab sibling was also on hand for the fight, but was clueless about whether to engage or not.)

I've since learned from another relatively close by neighbor that they've seen indications of issues with this dog in the past when they were walking their dogs. (My new neighbors only recently moved into an adjoining property. Previously they were renting a home a few hundred yards distant, so I never had occasion to interact with the dog.)

The dog won't be given a second chance if the situation arises again...now that I know that they should know better.

Still, I don't blame the dog for their failures as owners and trainers. As I say, I walked up and petted the dog about a week later after letting it check me out.