No Pity for Pit Bulls

[Lindsay Szymanski]

I was walking down my quiet, neighbourhood street the other day, taking in the sunshine and enjoying the cool, salty breeze. People were walking their dogs, children were playing happily in their front yards and families were relaxing on their decks. It was like strolling through Mayberry. I passed a woman walking her golden retriever. We exchanged waves and the dog looked up and seemed to smile at me.
Several minutes later, I noticed a man in the distance walking his dog.

As I got closer, I could hear the dog growling and snarling, and at once I could see that it was a pit bull. Scary eyes, snarling face, stocky, muscular body. As the owner strained to hold back his dog, he looked up and said, “Don’t worry, she’s harmless.” I quickly crossed over to the opposite side of the street to avoid coming close to the intimidating animal. The owner turned around and shouted, “What the hell is wrong with you?” I glanced behind me and replied, “I’m scared of your dog,” to which he replied with the utmost courtesy, “Don’t be so [expletive] ignorant!” You’re parading around a vicious man-eating dog, and I’m the ignorant one.

In recent months, there have been several incidents surrounding a pack of dogs on Vancouver Island and in Surrey, B.C. According to CBC news, on August 10, 2008, “A man walking his dog in a Surrey park was bitten by more than one pit bull.” Victim Jody Tomlinson told CBC News that the owner of the dogs didn't even try to stop the attack. CBC also reports that “Don Brown, the chief bylaw officer for the Victoria’s Capital Regional District, believes the same dogs are responsible for several attacks on Vancouver Island over the past year.” In North Saanich, several pit bulls mauled a dog so severely that it had to be put down.

Pit bulls, well known as an aggressive breed, are at the centre of a debate over whether or not questionable breeds should be euthanized. Throughout the media, the dogs have been portrayed unfavourably; they are seen as vicious, unpredictable, dangerous and daunting. It begs the question, if these dogs are so dangerous, why are they not being phased out? I know the idea may seem crass and some may view it as a form of animal genocide, but for an animal that causes more harm than good, the solution seem simple: forbid breeding and they will become extinct.

Although there is no definitive method for tracking the types of dogs that are involved in deadly or serious confrontations with humans, it is clear that there are a disproportionately high number of attacks made by pit bulls. Known by several names such as the American boxer terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, pit bull terrier and Staffordshire bull terrier, the breed has evolved over time to include terriers with the characteristic stocky build, and large, wide jaw.

According to the Merritt Clifton Dog Attack Study of 2006, 74% of dog attacks in the United States were by pit bulls and pit bull cross-breeds. Clifton states, "Of the breeds most often involved in incidents of sufficient severity, pit bull terriers are noteworthy for attacking adults almost as frequently as children. Pit bulls seem to differ behaviourally from other dogs in having far less inhibition about attacking people who are larger than they are. They are also notorious for attacking seemingly without warning."

The breed is historically aggressive, as bull terriers were originally bread for bull-baiting, bear-baiting and dog fighting. As the aggression and strength of the diverse terrier breeds were recognized, the strongest varieties were interbred to create the modern bull terriers, English bull terriers and American pit bull terriers.

In recent years, there have been attempts to legislate the breeding and ownership of pit bulls in Canada. In 1990, Winnipeg imposed legislation that would ban ownership of pit bulls within the city limits. Taking it a step further, in 2005, Ontario went forward with an outright ban of the breed. According to CBC news, "Pit Bulls are not allowed to be imported into or brought through Ontario. Severe fines are in place for bringing new Pit Bulls into Ontario. Pit Bulls owned prior to August 29, 2005 are grandfathered in. All grandfathered Pit Bulls of over 36 weeks of age are required to be sterilized immediately. Grandfathered Pit Bulls must be muzzled and leashed on a leash of less than 1.8 metres while in public. Sale of non-grandfathered Pit Bulls to residents of Ontario is illegal."

This method of restricting the breed is an ideal solution. Even in the supposed safety of off leash parks, there are many dog owners who are afraid that their smaller dogs will become prey and victims of pit bull attacks. This is also evident with other members of the community who often fear for their own safety and the safety of their children.

These dogs are not a necessity for life. They are not part of any fragile ecosystem where if they did not exist there would be an overpopulation of wild rabbits or fallow deer (there may, however, be an overabundance of small children). The world would not spin out of control if the breed were extinct; the majority of those affected by their absence would be drug dealers, junkyard owners and dogfighters.

How can a breed that is well known for its brutal nature be desired as a pet? Is it a novelty for people to boast that they “own a pit-bull”? Is there an element of danger associated with pit bull ownership, like that of owning a venomous snake or keeping pet piranhas? Pit bull ownership differs slightly, however; it is a rarity to see snakes running off leash, or for owners to take their piranhas out for a walk. The fear of those animals doing harm to the general public is small because their prevalence is minimal.

According to the Victoria Times Colonist, "the man whose pit bulls are alleged to have been involved in three attacks in Surrey was charged [recently] with 24 violations of the municipality's Dog Responsibility Bylaw.” The dogs are being held until a decision on their fate can be determined.

If B.C. follows Ontario’s lead, and bans pit bull breeds from existing, it would make the sidewalk, parks and playgrounds safer for people to enjoy themselves. People could take pleasure in the outdoors without the fear of been attacked and bitten. Although there seems to be a great deal of debate over how a law like this would be enforced, the solution is really quite simple: fine the dog owners substantially, take the dog away, and have it euthanized. Eventually the breed will die out. Close down pit bull “grow-ops” and whack $10,000 fines on pit bull breeders. Slap jail sentences on people who insist on using the dogs for fighting and gambling purposes. How many more people have to die or be injured before the government implements strict precautionary measures?

[ginger macdoanld]

hey your blog that you wrote on the english bull terriers and other breeds like them are not all aggressive i own a english bull terrier and she is the most lovably dog their is not one bad bone in her. the bull teriers breeds are a misunderstood dog because people dont ready know their reel history and when they get a bull breed they think they can treat them like they are a toy to play with but their not you have to be with them 24 7 all the time plus you have to train them with people kids other dogs . you cant just get them and keep them chain in the back yawn and think that their going to be like ok with it they were bred for fighthing and if you keep them shelter and away of people you can turn them into mean fighthing dog and then when somebody gets hurt who pays for it the dog not the person who rased the dog to be that way in the first place. we need to give people the information about this breed so we can rased them to be better dogs so people can stop calling them krillers because some of them are ready good dogs they just need second chances because this breed can not speak for itself i am here to speak up for the bullies that are misunderstood.

[Jessica Krippendorf]

The pitbull debate is long and arduous, and is essentially a reprint from the days when dobermans, german shephards and boxers also had their days in the not-so-flattering sun.

Statistics are a malliable medium when it comes to contentious issues - this one included. It's important to consider that statements like "74% of dog attacks in the United States were by pit bulls and pit bull cross-breeds," logically, can only refer to 74 percent of reported dog attacks, and poodles rarely make the news. It is possible to track the breed to bite ratio, as SPCAs and Animal Control Offices keep careful records. I contacted the offices in Kitchener, ON when the pit bull ban hit the headlines in the 90s and it turned out that pit bulls ranked somewhere around 9th, way below golden labs, german shepards, shitzu crosses and, yes, the number one culprit: standard poodles. Where pit bulls did rank highest, however, was as victims of physical abuse, neglect and preventable death.

There are a few factors that make pit bulls newsworthy, including the fact that they have been used for fighting. When these dog fights were popular, the dogs were bred to fight other dogs, not humans. In fact, it was standard practice for owners to wash each other's dogs before a fight so as to prevent cheaters from dousing the fur with poison. Any dog that showed an ounce of aggression toward a human was shot on the spot. Less known is that long before humans got wise on making a few bucks watching their dogs tear each other apart, pit bulls were used to pull wounded men from the battle field during the Second World War and were awarded medals for doing so.

Truth be told, the majority of people who get pit bull puppies 1. get them from back yard breeders, which essentially removes all hope of a guaranteed lineage and 2. get them as guard animals. Unfortunately for the breed, the majority of pit bulls end up with men and women who are equally as obnoxious as the pit bull reputation (men and women who, for example, might be inclined to scream, “Don’t be so [expletive] ignorant!” to a perfect stranger.) When was the last time you heard of a Cleaver-like family jumping into the station wagon on a Sunday morning and heading over to the local breeder to pick up a nice pitbull for the children? People get pit bulls when they want something scary and people get black labs when they want an all around uber-friendly goofball ... And the media tells us which is which.

I used to train as a dog trainer under Norman Jean Laurette, founder of the training school, Puppy Power in Kitchener ON, and creator of the Canine Communication Studies course, now offered internationally. During the pit bull madness in Ontario, we hosted a "Good Canine Neighbour" course, which was open to any breed of dog, but mandatory for pit bulls. The owners brought their dogs through a series of behavioural tests and if the "banned" animals passed, the dogs were exempted from having to wear a muzzle in public (which, by the way, can cause a dog to overheat and die, but perhaps that was the point.) Over the course of several weeks we tested every registered owner of a pit bull or pit bull cross in Kitchener-Waterloo, and every single one of them achieved the perfect score needed to pass. (All other breeds combined achieved a 50 percent pass rate). We certainly didn't see the non-registered owners, which further exemplifies the question of ownership and its relevance in the formation of the animal's behaviour.

I'm going to stop now, before I leave the impression of a crazy dog person who lays on her couch all day using her eighteen terrier-crosses, each in various stages of decay, as pillows while eating bon bons and watching I Love Lucy. I just wanted to add some perspective.

peace*

[Lindsay Szymanski]

I'm not fully convinced that an animal's aggression is based on their upbringing. Sure, if a dog is beaten or mistreated, or trained to attack on command, it would be the fault of the owner if it did so. I find, however, that pitbulls are predisposed to agression, and even those that are raised in happy, loving homes can (and often do) turn vicious. It's similar to humans raised in loving homes... for all intents and purposes they seem happy, are socially well-adjusted, just like their siblings. But one day they go on a mass-murdering rampage. You always see the parents of the killer on 20/20 sobbing, "he was such a nice boy. no one else inthe family is aggressive. It's just not like him!" But if the kid has an agressive (and psychotic) predisposition, no amount of positive upbringing will alter that. I'm not going to get into the nature/nurture debate, but i definitely think it's genetics.

[Eric Pettifor]

Rather than advocating genocide, breeding violence out as an undesirable trait might be a possibility. Did you know that if you cross a pit bull terrier with a rottweiler you get a dog significantly less dangerous than either breed? Whoda thunk it. That's just one interesting bit of information from a list of statistics gathered by Animal People, a publication devoted to animal protection. I like this quote:

The humane community does not try to encourage the adoption of pumas in the same manner that we encourage the adoption of felis catus, because even though a puma can also be box-trained and otherwise exhibits much the same indoor behavior, it is clearly understood that accidents with a puma are frequently fatal.

I live with a Felis catus, and were she a puma instead, I would most certainly be dead just from play. I not infrequently observe how fortunate it is that she is small relative to other members of the cat family, or else our association would not be possible.

The comparison between felines and canines is a tad specious, however, as cats aren't social animals (ok, except for lions). Theoretically even pit bulls should be trainable by an appropriately dominant (from a dog's perspective) owner. That said, the statistics would seem to support legal requirements for dog ownership which vary by breed, and which are significantly more demanding for pit bull ownership.

And clearly, if anyone says of a pit bull, "Don't worry, she's harmless", then worry, they're clueless. That should be one major objective of any legislation regarding pit bulls, to keep these creatures out of the hands of the clueless.