When I lived in a medium US city 99% of pitbulls I saw were dragging their owners (tiny white women) down the street and completely out of control. I don’t think large dogs should be allowed to be adopted from shelters without a lot regulation and shit. People should have to prove they have experience training dogs and that they have enough outdoor and indoor space before they can get one. That being said, the wildly varying sources here for things like bite force and other statistics along with the knee jerk comparison with racism is one of the areas where I diverge from the generally online left. I get that the way pitbulls are seen and banned from apartments goes alongside the way that black people in america have been discriminated against and persecuted, but that doesn’t mean that the dogs aren’t dangerous. Almost all pitbull stories involve “the sweetest kindest calmest little family boy” who has “never done anything like this before”. Training is a huge part of why dogs get violent but when you selectively breed a dog for certain traits you get an animal who has violent impulses along with the physical capabilities to act on them. I can promise you that having been charged by multiple escaped pitbulls, witnessing FOUR separate attacks on dogs and humans over the past couple of years, and having been around dozens of pitbulls that the real issue with them isn’t as much “bite force” or that they clench and don’t let go, the issue is the tendency for totally spontaneous aggression towards humans and other animals. It’s something unpredictable, terrifying, and that I’ve only witnessed in pitbulls. Even the well trained ones are a bomb that could go off any time. Just my two scents as a person who works with animals professionally.
EDIT:
I don’t think it’s the dogs fault. Humans are responsible for their breeding and they are really just a product of shitty eugenics.
When I lived in a medium US city 99% of pitbulls I saw were dragging their owners (tiny white women) down the street and completely out of control. I don’t think large dogs should be allowed to be adopted from shelters without a lot regulation and shit. People should have to prove they have experience training dogs and that they have enough outdoor and indoor space before they can get one. That being said, the wildly varying sources here for things like bite force and other statistics along with the knee jerk comparison with racism is one of the areas where I diverge from the generally online left. I get that the way pitbulls are seen and banned from apartments goes alongside the way that black people in america have been discriminated against and persecuted, but that doesn’t mean that the dogs aren’t dangerous. Almost all pitbull stories involve “the sweetest kindest calmest little family boy” who has “never done anything like this before”. Training is a huge part of why dogs get violent but when you selectively breed a dog for certain traits you get an animal who has violent impulses along with the physical capabilities to act on them. I can promise you that having been charged by multiple escaped pitbulls, witnessing FOUR separate attacks on dogs and humans over the past couple of years, and having been around dozens of pitbulls that the real issue with them isn’t as much “bite force” or that they clench and don’t let go, the issue is the tendency for totally spontaneous aggression towards humans and other animals. It’s something unpredictable, terrifying, and that I’ve only witnessed in pitbulls. Even the well trained ones are a bomb that could go off any time. Just my two scents as a person who works with animals professionally. EDIT: I don’t think it’s the dogs fault. Humans are responsible for their breeding and they are really just a product of shitty eugenics.