Seems like any time a breed becomes popular you see a rise in poor temperaments. Way too many pet breeders that don't understand how to train or properly evaluate a dog. Combine this with a dog with an incredibly strong bite bred specifically to fight and you have a potential problem. People get these dogs thinking that in the right home all the generations of breeding will just go away. The new wave of PP training doesn't help matters much either.

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Claycreekfarm.info

Lets see. 52 deaths over a 3 year period. That's 17 people per year and the population of the USA is over 311 1/2 million people.

While I have a great deal of sympathy for anyone killed by a dog, that sure doesn't make dogs look very dangerous.

Also, that "Pitbull type" makes the statistic meaningless. Just like when I worked in Animal Control and we were forced to count every bite made by a dog with erect ears as a German Shepherd bite. Thousands of bites went in as made by "German Shepherds" and in all that time only two bites were done by real German Shepherds and those were both provoked righteous bites.

Yet, you can look at the official government statistic and show that German Shepherds are really bad biters. It doesn't matter that all those bites accredited to them were made by assorted mongrels with no German Shepherd blood at all.

Dogs Bite: But Balloons and Slippers Are More Dangerous

The only dogs I've really been seriously bitten by (enough to leave a mark) have been Lhasas, Shih Tzus, and Mini Poodles. Oh, and a Samoyed. Had lots more attempt to bite me, mostly smaller dogs, but I can usually read them well enough to know when they're thinking about it and take preventative measures.

Dachshunds, Bassets, and anything with short legs
Cockers
Chows
Short-legged terriers
Dalmatians
Bichons

Are among the other breeds that have attempted to eat me.

Absolutely--and far, far fewer "pit bull type dogs" would be on the list.

I've never been bitten by a "pit bull type dog", a German Shepherd, or a Doberman. I had a Rott try to bite me once.

I've been attacked by 3 dogs in my life. All of them were small dogs. Two of them were Dachshunds and the other a rat terrier. Give me a snuggly buggly "Pit type" any day and keep the yippers far far away.

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http://kwings87.blogspot.com/

Which Dogs Bite? A Case-Control Study of Risk Factors (1991) - DogsBite.org
"Dogs predominantly of German shepherd, chow chow, collie and akita breeds were substantially more frequent among biting than nonbiting dogs. The total numbers of dogs mainly collie (n=9) and akita (n=5) breeds were small compared to the total numbers of German shepherd (n=47) and chow chows (n=40).
Biting dogs were significantly more likely to reside in homes with one or more children, ages 10 years and younger, and to be chained while in the yard. Of the 83 chained dogs, 44 (53%) had growled or snapped at visitors to the house. This same behavior, however, was reported in unchained dogs 44% of the time."

Those are non fatal bite statistics.

As a groomer, I am lucky that I have avoided any serious bites. Worst one - a puncture wound came from mini poodle who was hiding in the corner. I do not wish to take chases with being bitten and put out of work over miser money so I do not work with dogs that act stupid and there is no way to work around it. So far only dogs that were openly agressive toward me or people in the shop were chows, akitas and a pit mix who arrieved already muzzled and was lounging at me in the lobby while his owner was saying that he dosn't bite. I never had issues with rotties or pure pits.

It is in part the way the dogs are raised and in part in their genetics that causes severe biting. Some breeds are more prone to biting than others but the problem lays in the fact that most owners are not capable of training their dogs. Most should not own dogs period. Outlawing certain breeds is easier that public education.
In Germany for example, in some provinces pits and other breeds of fighting background are prohibited, however in some of them the dogs can be kept if they pass an equivalent of canine good citizen exam. I wish that this is something like that can be done in states. As a dog owner you can only control your dog and be responsible for its actions.
I found similar statistics in San Francisco pedestrian/car accidents and no one there is trying to outlaw cars: Pedestrian fatalities in San Francisco on pace to surpass last year's - The Bay Citizen
"Since 2008, San Francisco has averaged 17 pedestrian deaths a year. For the past two years, there have been more than 800 pedestrian collisions a year"

Most Shih Tzus around here seem to be very laid back and docile. They are also more popular than any other breed atm.

About 15 years ago we had one bad Shih breeder of a particular color that was flooding the region with nasty Shihs. My old boss actually refused to take in any new Shih clients of that particular color because we just new it was going to be crazy.

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~Winter~Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto No.4 in F minor, Op.8, RV 297~

This is my personal opinion only.
When people talk about being attacked by a dog they can mean different things.
I don't consider an attack to be just a bite or attempted bite. A small dog without the power in its jaws to hurt should not be called an attack. They can and will bite but really can't do much damage. Sort of like calling a mosquito bite an attack.

I have been bit so many times I can't even count them. I have been attacked once.
There is a difference.

I totally agree with this. Some of the dogs that come in for grooming are little spoiled snots. Most of the time I can still pick them up to put them on the grooming table with little worry. I can control them to a point and lessen the chance of being bit. Some need muzzling, but most give it up once they realize they are getting groomed anyway. My daughter's little min pin/chi mix was a terror when I went to look at her as a pup. I could not pick her up without her snipping at me(10 weeks old). Her father was also snippy, couldn't pet him. My daughter is 14 and used to being around dogs, and I figured we could work her out of the snottyness. I would never have bought a border collie or lgd pup with that attitude, no way. The little thing just didn't worry me. I have had some herding dogs in for training that would bite as well. Usually it's defensive, but have seen a few aggressive. Still the dog is small enough you can hold the leash up away from you and keep from getting bit until you get the thing in a cage. The threat is pretty minor. I wouldn't want to take on an aggressive lgd, rott, bully breed, or some of the other larger breeds.

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I was attacked once when I was a kid. I think I was 10 or 11, we had just moved into a new house and I was out in the front yard minding my own business. Suddenly, two big black Lab mix dogs came running over from the house across the street, and circled me, barking and snarling. One of them bit me on the hip, then as quickly as they had come, they ran back to their house.

My mom and I went to confront the owner and ask if the dog was UTD on his rabies vaccine. The owner was shocked. "Oh, but he's such a love! I think he's just grumpy because it's hot outside."

A neighbor saw the whole thing, and asked my Mom and I how things turned out. As it turned out, these two dogs would walk the neighborhood off-leash with the owner's senile old mother, and had terrorized everyone. The owner herself was a nice lady but a total ditz (many years later, she had a Samoyed that she brought in for grooming, and that dog bit me also).

My mother said, "Doesn't it make you feel good that someone else saw the whole thing?" I asked her what she meant by that and she said, "You know, so people don't think you were just making the whole thing up." As though the bite wound on my hip got there by itself?

Being a dog lover, I went back and made friends with the dog that bit me, and never had another problem with him. In hindsight, I suppose it wasn't a serious "attack", but it was scary nonetheless.

I disagree. When i was a little kid we went to a yard sale where i was viciously attacked by this lady's dachshund, who "had never hurt anyone ever". I don't mean he nipped me i mean he ran across the yard, leaped onto me and took a bite out of my face. I had to go to the hospital and get stitches.

My grandmas dachshund was a vicious cuss of a dog. He would viciously attack anyone, family or not, when they came into the house. He had to be kept tied to a leash when she had company. He bit my cousin when she was a baby and it took my grandma everything she had to keep my grandpa from killing that dog right then and there. We were afraid of going to her house because DJ would try to kill us every time we came over. Nothing like visiting your grandma with a hot dog shaped demon growling at your from the end of its leash in the middle of the living room floor.

The third was my friends rat terrier who could do no wrong, he viciously attacked me on more than one occasion and bit one of our neighbors on 3 different occasions all of which resulted in him going to the hospital.

Little dogs not having the power to hurt people is crap, they can and do. People just think that they cant because they see this little dog and think it can't hurt a fly, and then it bites you in the face.

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http://kwings87.blogspot.com/

Oh, yes. First its pitties, then it will be shepherds, then chows, then...what? You need to know this is yet another step on your toes of freedoms worthy of being in the basement in GC.

By the way, I've had chows my whole life and shepherds for years and been around numerous pitties and crosses forever. The only dogs that have ever bitten me, two separate dogs and two different occasions, were poodles.

Pancho, I respectfully disagree...an attack encompasses the intention behind a bite. Little dogs attack, they just don't do much damage as a rule but only because they are little. The intention behind a lhasa bite is the same as with a St Bernard; biting to deliberately cause injury or worse. Little dogs cannot be excluded if they bite just vecause they don't do damage.

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Becky

Here's a few local ones:
Pit Bulls Kill Concord Toddler | NBC Bay Area

Calaveras County man apparently killed by pit bulls | news10.net

S.F. boy, 12, killed by his family's pit bulls / Shocked Inner Sunset neighbors call 911 after hearing mother scream, 'Help me!' - SFGate

And the young woman mauled to death by pressa canarios inside her own apartment building Presa Demand Grows for All Wrong Reasons / Dogs wanted for killing, fighting - SFGate

Wadda ya do when people want killer dogs?

My dad had a saying that I grow to appreciate even more as I get older (and wiser). He used to say, "Figures lie and liars figure."

You ask them why they don't want a dog more publically acceptable like a Golden Retriever

Dog killed ripped 2-month-old baby's legs off while father slept in other room: police - New York Daily News

Or a Poodle

Girl, 7, Hospitalized After Poodle Attack - WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 -

or a collie, everyone loves Lassie!

Family's border collie leaps into car and mauls baby | Mail Online

Toddler needed 200 stitches after attack by his grandparents' 'timid' collie | Mail Online

My point is, yes, these "type" ( i hate saying that) of dogs WERE once used for fighting, but its bad breeders and bad/inattentive/ abusive/ clueless owners that make bad dogs. I'd rather be around a big full muscled but properly trained and socialized Pit bull. Than any of the "more acceptable" dog breeds that have never even heard the word sit and have no idea what discipline is. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to the rule, but for the most part bad owners turn what could have been a great family pet, into someones nightmare.

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http://kwings87.blogspot.com/

Another problem is that pit bulls are often misidentified, even by animal control. Look at Petfinder. There are lots of dogs on there called one thing, but they don't resemble that breed at all. Heck, pit bull isn't even a breed. Problems with pit bull identification - Expert testimony in animal behavior

Yes, pit bull is a breed. One of the oldest breeds of dogs. It has been called several different things through the years. You can say the entire name, american pit bull terrier or shorten the name to pit bull. Just because most people can't recognize one when they see one does not mean they are not a breed.
They have been a breed even before most of the everyday breeds were developed.

It is sort of funny, the web site given has a picture of a dog. It isn't a pit bull.

When people are held accountable for their dogs actions things will change not when a breed is banned. Make it a criminal offense that goes on your record and people will take ownership a lot more serious. Anyone who has ever worked as a ACO knows the animal laws are a joke and most cases are thrown out. Your dogs mauls or kills someone and you basically get off free, that is the real problem. There are an estimated 20 million pit bulls in the U.S. if not more. They are the most popular type of dog out there right now. If they were inherently dangerous a lot more people would be killed each year, obviously the more popular the breed the more likely there will be bites.

Minneapolis puts pictures of their dangerous dogs online. Note the different breeds and how some dogs like Darla, Nico and China are called pits and they are obviously mutts and there is no way to be certain if the have pit in them or not. The others are even questionable to breed and this is a prime example of how the stats get thrown way off. http://www.minneapolismn.gov/animals...erousdogs_list

Jeffrey how is banning one breed going to solve the dangerous dog problem? 16 of the 27 dangerous dogs are not "pitbulls" and even some of the so called pit bulls are MUTTS that no one can be certain on their ancestry. Breed specific laws do not work.

Jason, did you notice the new breed in the pics of dangerous dogs?
Guess it is a new breed, I never heard of Sharpie.
That might give some indication of the knowledge of the people who made up the list.

I didn't notice that poncho. I wonder if Sharpie's disfigure their victims with magic markers.

I personally do not like large dogs these days. They do have the potential for greater harm than a dog who weighs fifteen pounds.

I have seen dogs raised perfectly well, with nothing but firm rules and training, plenty of kindness and nothing but gentle people, turn into biters. I do believe nature will out nurture; else we'd not have all the threads we do here. People get a pup of a herding breed, raise it to adulthood, and move to the country. They are then shocked and appalled when it, surprise! Kills their chickens.

I think it's kinder to avoid breeding dogs with certain inclinations. While I'm all for individual freedom, breeders should be more regulated. People should stop supporting the fools who breed carelessly. It is *not* 100% nurture, of that I have no doubt. Pet ownership should come with civic responsibilities. Shelters should temperament test *every* dog that comes in before adoption.

I could support grandfathering in the dogs already here, and not allowing new ones to come without a temperament test. I really don't get upset at the idea of a breed ban... if living wher I do meant that I could not have a sheltie because they were the local "problem" for whatever reason, fine. I'll get something else. Maybe there's a couple bad breeders turning out neurotic nasty beasts. *shrug*

I was at our shelter a couple weeks ago with this wrinkly faced bull dog pressing himself to the bars, whining and tail going a mile a minute while I cooed to him and rubbed his ears. That's the way nine of them behave, but number ten is a slavering beast brought in by his own owner for becoming too aggressive.

It's complex. Honestly, ugly as it sounds, problem puppies should probably be culled mroe than they are. I've been at a shelter, playing with a litter of fuzzy, spotty little poodles X babies, and had one of them so aggressive it was disturbing. Same story with a litter of baby bulldogs. Six of them are wiggling and fawning at your feet, one's trying to eat your hands.

I so disagree about banning breeds. It is people that need to be educated and should no what to look for when getting a dog or puppy. How many people buy a dog on impulse or because of the way they look and have no clue to what the breed was bred to do.
eduction.

Another factor that has not been brought up is vaccine damage and especially the rabies vaccines which studies have shown over and over that we over vaccinate our dogs and it can and does cause issues. The Rabies Vaccine for Dogs and Cats: What You Need to Know Now

How many dogs get a death sentence because of aggressiveness when no one has put 2 + 2 together and figured out that this may be vaccine related and can be treated with homeopathy.
The Rabies Vaccine for Dogs: Side Effects and Precautions You Can Take

Rabies Vaccinosis Alert------ by
" Unfortunately vaccination can result in certain sensitive individuals a chronic disease state one that is long-lasting, indeed in some cases a life-long condition. In human children there is increasing evidence of linkage between vaccination and chronic illnesses such as autism, juvenile diabetes, and asthma.

This state of "vaccinosis" is understood as the disturbance of the life force that results in mental, emotional and physical changes induced by the laboratory modification of a viral disease to make a vaccination.

In other words, instead of seeing acute expressions of viral disease, we are, instead seeing symptoms of chronic illness which are actually documented to occur in rabid animals. Symptoms of rabies include restlessness; viciousness; avoidance of company; unusual affection; desire to travel; inability to be restrained; self biting; strange cries and howls; inability to swallow resulting in gagging while eating/drinking; staring eyes; swallowing wood, stones, inedibles; destruction of blankets, clothing; convulsive seizures; throat spasms; increased sexual desires; disturbed heart function; excited and jerky breathing. My biggest concern with pets are the changes in behavior after being vaccinated. This is usually along the lines of aggression, suspicion, unusual fears, etc. The essential aspect is a lack of control of impulses."

Here's another one, ack. Family is savaged by their own pet Staffordshire bull terrier | The Sun |News . I am not really into bully breeds, but I can see that many working breeds of dogs just don't seem to fit into the modern "pet" situation. Most people nowadays are so out of touch with how animals think. They get a pet and don't train it. It's all kindness , and cookies, and for some reason Cujo snapped. I don't know why. People who are willing to spend the time training a working dog appreciate the edge that pet people can't handle. A friend of mine told me long ago, that the average person wants a stupid dog that does nothing. At first I thought she was joking, but now I think she's right. Even though I'm a working collie person at heart, I can see the dilemma of the bully dogs.

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Claycreekfarm.info

The quickest way to make an enemy is to call a pit bull a bully.

Sorry Pancho if I offended you, it wasn't intentional.

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Claycreekfarm.info

No, it didn't bother me. Just a word of advice if you are ever around a pit bull owner.
A pit bull owner would be very offended if you called their pit bulls a bully.
That is about the worst insult there is to a pit bull owner.

Does the word "bully" mean something different than what I think it means when pertaining to pit bulls?

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Yes, many people have cross bred pits to other breeds to make them look more "bully" as in bulldogish. For a long time they tried to pass them off and register them as pit bulls. The pit bull purist aren't so happy about that.

Here are some bullies.

Most people would mistake this for a pit.



An extreme bully.

Yes, take a look at the pics Jason posted. Many people think this is what a pit bull is supposed to look like.
Can you imagine either one of those dogs winning a fight with another dog, or any other animal. How about one of those being used as a catch dog.
The pit bull is supposed to be an athlete. Either one of those dogs would have to stop and rest after walking a block.

Imagine calling a basset hound a greyhound. That is comparable to calling those dogs a pit bull.

Pitbulls have been targeted by groups such as PETA, the HSU and the media because it makes them money. Lots of money. Lets just say that pit bulls, Amstaffs, Staffy bulls and the other "fighting breeds" were banned in the U.S. Do you think that will be the end of bsl? These groups will need to target a new type of dog because they need the stories and donations to keep going. Here is an example of how easy it can be to turn a group of dogs into villains, the beloved LGD.

I could keep going but ran out of time but it think I made the point on how easy it is to make any working dog into a villain. Banning dogs won't just stop with pits.