In my community of 200,000 the city did a bite statistics study. Someone said that pibulls make up a small percent of the population. Not in my part of the world. We have thousands of pitbulls in our area. I literaly see five pitbulls a day just driving around. Anyway the study had shocking results. The pitbull was number four on the lists of serious dog bites.

1. Black Labrador
2. German Shepard
3. Cocker Spaniel
4. APBT

And actually mixed breeds were first but were not included in the results. So I guess we shoulg ban labs and GSDs like the Shepard that bit the genitals off of a 8 month old boy while getting his diaper changed with no warning. For every pibull attack you read about there are five from other dogs.

Ryan....we've discussed this in depth before, let's look at this using some common sense, ok?

First off, if you go by number of bites, the more common dogs will produce more bites - that's just common sense. There's nothing "shocking" about that, is there?
And they are *far* more labs and German Shepherds in any area than pitbulls, often at a ratio of over 20 to 1. So it's no surprise that labs will have a higher number of bites.
You have to go at what the percentage of dogs is to the number of bites to get a valid number. Total numbers without population ratio numbers are useless.

However....let's go by number of fatal attacks, shall we? It's there that pitbulls dominate the statistics. And pitbulls make up a tiny number of dogs in the overall population, but make up between 65% to 85% of dog bite fatalities. And that's what the general public will look at.
And it's those fatal attacks which are most commonly caused by a pitbull that lead to BSL.

And people defending pitbulls but not being up on the facts of what the statistics show doesn't help their case any.

Will,

Can you give me the website or book where you are getting this information about the statistics? I was trying to research this and can't find out how may reg. pits and other breeds there are?

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However....let's go by number of fatal attacks, shall we? It's there that pitbulls dominate the statistics. And pitbulls make up a tiny number of dogs in the overall population, but make up between 65% to 85% of dog bite fatalities. And that's what the general public will look at.
And it's those fatal attacks which are most commonly caused by a pitbull that lead to BSL.

Thanks

Paula, just do a "search" function here on the forum, I've posted the links to the Mortality and Morbidity reports and the CDC links before plus the links from the Humane Society that we get at the animal control office.
The reports are sometimes a few years out of date ( like 2002 or 2003, but not too bad.. ) , but they're very acurate regarding reported bites vs. breeds and include age demographics of victims, etc.
Handy information to have at your finger tips.

This site has some statistics, but they are from a few years ago. Will may have already posted this one before too (sorry if it is already on here somewhere).

National Canine Research Foundation

Well Will in my area it is actauly pretty rare to see a GSD. And actually the pitbull is one of the most common breeds in some cities in Texas and New Mexico. I have 8 pitbulls on my residential block alone. Every close friend I have owns a pitbull or has within the last year or two. I know two people personaly in my town with GSDs and ones a cop. Granted we do have a lot of labs in my area. But we have many more field type bird dogs(pointer,setters etc.. And the labs still bite more often.

Animal Attacks - Texas
Aggressive Dog Breeds
You may never know when or why a dog becomes aggressive. However you should always keep a watchful eye on the following breeds:

Pit Bulls
Rottweilers
German Shepherds
Huskies
Doberman Pinchers
Chows
Studies have shown that the increased population of large dogs in America has resulted in an increased severity of bites across the country. German Shepherds were identified as the breed involved in 44% of all reported bite cases but accounted for only 22% of license registrations. Small purebred dogs accounted for less than 20% of bites but more than 40% of registrations. The pit bull terrier has historically been a major offender of urban dog bite injuries to children. The major problem is that these dogs can be unstable, with 94% of attacks reported as unprovoked.

Every bite statistic I found listed the GSD and Rottwielers as one of the breeds most likley to seriously bite. Also the vast majority of bites are from non purebred(read muts)dogs. Granted the two breeds most likey to cause a fatality are the pitbull and Rott. And most statistics say pitbull mixes. The average person can't even identify a pitbull. We had a very publicized attack of a 14 year old girl were the press reported the perpetrators were a Rott and a black pitbull. After dozens of people called the station after seeing the dogs on tv and informed them that the black dog was a lab they were forced to change their story. So I guess we should ban Rotts too. And then what's next? Malinois, Gsd's, Dobbies? But I guess they only serioulsy injure kids, they hardly ever kill one so who cares. If you give these morons an inch they take a mile. I guess your for gun control too. They kill thousands of people a year. If cities would try half as hard to rid the streets of gang bangers as they do doggies we would be really safe then.

Well first, hello everyone! This is my first post on this board.
I had been rehabilitating aggression in "pit bulls" (and occassionaly other dogs that bite) through my rescue and have learned a lot along the way.

1. There are bad dogs.

But there are many times more bad owners! Example: our latest rescue was a beagle that had bitten four children. The dog is of sound temperament. It was literally screaming in pain from an ear infection that had been negleted for 8 - 9 months. Bad dog? nope. Bad owner!

2. Nobody, not even the breeders and registries agree on what is and what is not a "pit bull."

The actual term desribes a group of working terriers and working bulldogs of about 15 - 20 breeds. Is an American Staffordshire Terrier the same as an American Pit Bull Terrier? It depends on the bloodline.

It is very clear that the AKC is trying to differenciate between the two with the introduction of acceptable and unacceptable markings and colorations to the breed standard late last year. The AKC/UKC buyout has caused the UKC to add color and markings specifications to the standard of a breed that has been bred for the last 207 years for purpose and not appearance. Undoubtedly to create a scot-free image for their registered dogs - but will result some years down the line in health problems, low drive, behavioral problems, increased aggression and unbalanced temperaments.

3. Nobody knows how many pits there are.

It is estimated that there are 20,000 in Chicago alone. One statistic says 9 million documented in the USA (which I'm pretty sure was way off, even though it was a "credible" statistic. If it is correct it would mean that 31% of people in the USA own a documented pit or pit mix.) Many owners do not want to register their pits, fearing BSL, or register them as other breeds. Undesirables of course do not license their dogs and it is widely assumed that the largest sector of the pitty population is being used for fighting. There is no way to quanitfy this, unfortunately.

4. The worst one to me: No one knows what a "pit bull" looks like!

Even myself and a friend - an experienced APBT, American Bulldog and developer of the Colorado Bulldog (a healthy hybrid nost similar to the original bull-baiting dogs) - cannot reliably pick out the APBT from the Fila, Presa, Mallorquin, AB and others. How can a fearful parent or pet owner possibly pick out the breed of a dog in mid attack?

5. There is no easy solution.

It will always be the "pit bulls" fault.
1) I work at a vet clinic that handles bite quarantines for the city. We had a quarantine coming in and a beautiful pitty in the canine ward. My coworkers assume that the old, sweet pitty was the bite quarantine. Well the pitty went home to a loving home and a nasty 5 mo old golden pup came in as the bite quarantine.
2) Another rescue of ours was a pit/mastiff mix that was attacked by and out of control shepherd. The pit mix rolled over on her back. The pit was injured. The shepherd was not. The pit was blamed for the attack. She had never shown a sign of aggression towards other dogs in the past or while I evaluated her repeatedly. Her owner is now disputeing the police report.

Tough restrictions on breeding (of all breeds) to weed out the backyard breeders and their miserable sickly "cute" dogs would be nice.

Tough enforcement of existing animal control measures. Some counties go door-to-door giving tickets for tag not being on collars, etc would be good too.

Spay/neuter required of nonshowing, nonworking dogs would be excellent but hard ot define and enforce.

Public education is great.

Fair media attention would be best.
In the latest string of dog attacks, we all heard about the pitties. Did anyone hear about the Husky that killed the baby? It barely made local news.The 3 labs that attacked the older lady barely made local news. The lab that killed the baby barely made local news. Somehow the 2 Malamutes in Denver that killed the little girl made the news.

I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that many animal shelters are doing much more harm than good to the reputation of pitties - but that is a different topic for a different day.

I hope I have made myself clear! Have a good night!

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I had been rehabilitating aggression in "pit bulls"

I really hope that means that you arent adopting out pit bulls that have bitten and shown human aggression....

Folks, when reprinting an article it's important to give credit from where you got it.
If it's taken off the internet, please supply a link to the site. If it's from a newspaper, etc - again, please give credit for the original article.

Everyone's attention to this important bit of internet posting protocol would be appreciated.

Will Rambeau
Moderator

I understand your concern - I should have stated that more clearly! All have been soley dog aggressive. I have only accepted one that had bitten a person. I'll tell you what happened and tell me if you think I did the right thing.

An irresponsible humane organization disregarded the information provided and an untrained staff person was put in a dangerous situation.

I evaluated a "pit bull" (it was a shar-pei APBT cross). I found that the dog who was nearly unmanageable on a leather flat collar behaved beautifully and was obedience trained - when wearing a prong collar. I hung a fitted prong collar and the results of the evaluation on the dog's kennel. I recommended placing the dog in a quiet room at night, rather than leaving the dog in the kennel. The humane association agreed that would be the best situation and stated that they had the means and ability to do it.

I went back to followup his first training session. The dog had gone completely crazy from stress (as I had predicted). A staff person at the shelter had attempted to walk the dog (without using the prong collar that was on the kennel). He lunged at a cage with a particular obnoxious pair of dogs. She put her arm between the dog and the cage and was bitten. Please note that it was not legally a bite because it did not break skin. If the shelter had followed the recomendations that they were given and agreed to, it would not have happened.

Knowing the the situation was going to be repeated, I offered to foster the dog. Out of the stressful kennel, he never exhibited any sign of aggression, even in a staged confrontation with an agressive dog. (We feel that the temperament must be tested in the most stressful situation to see if the animal is a "good citizen") He went back to the shelter a month later and was adopted within 2 hours. The family came back to adopt a kitten for a playmate - he had grown very attached to my husband's cats. He has been neutered and very well cared for. I couldn't have wished for a better outcome.

When we have any dog come in, we don't know if it can be taught appropriate behaviors and become adoptable or it we will have to euthanize it. Every potential adoptive family is told the exact history of the dog, good bad, and worse. We have a lenghty adoption process. The adoptive family is sent home with a strict contract, vouchers for free training sessions, and a booklet defining responsible handling. With the local humane associations' dangerous and outrageous negligence, I make the effort to evaluate, train intensively, test thoroughy, educate and screen potential adoptive homes.