What are your thoughts on the results of this study regarding most dangerous dog breeds?

I think those breeds end up with crappy owners because so many of those crappy owners go in thinking “oh, man! I want a pit… they’re badass!”... come home with a pup, and then chain them outside permanently so they become damn near feral or train/encourage/exhibit the bad behavior to make them “proper” guard dogs.

It’s disgusting.

Pitbull ends up with more crappy owners than other breeds of dog, because the crappy people are specificalyl attracted to the dog that can do the most damage.

The pitbull is responsible for 66 fatalities, because it has the power to get the job done. Yes, they are more dangerous if they do attack.

However, looking at the numbers, if there have only been 66 fatalities from these things, compared to the 1000’s of deaths that come from cars, I say do away with laws controlling all dogs, because they are obviously not as dangerous as we make them out to be.

Only 66 deaths? I should be more worried of my own bathtub or stove based on those numbers.

(That article is almost impossible to read because of the ads that keep popping up.)

I do think some breeds are innately more aggressive and thus need more training but that there are individual variations within breeds.

I didn’t have that problem this time @janbb.

(Tried it a second time and got through it but the ads were very distracting.)

@poofandmook said it. Owners who want aggressive dogs are drawn to breeds that have this reputation. Then they train (or not-train) them appropriately. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. It does not mean in any way that you can’t raise a pit bull or a Rottweiler to be an absolute sweetheart.

But I do think the jaws on pit bulls are designed to lock down when they bite. Or is that wrong?

And my terrier definitely has some domineering tendencies.

Little yappy dogs are often more aggressive than larger dogs, but not nearly as dangerous.

Pit bulls bite and hold. Other dogs typically chomp and back off. They can be trained to hold on.

Maybe it’s just the media but you hear about pits attacking children and even infants. Those kids who were waiting for the bus and were chased up a tree by two pits running around comes to mind. When the bus came, one came down and tried to make a run for it and the dogs slaughtered him. I haven’t heard of, say, a German Shepherd doing that.

@Dutchess_III: I seem to remember German Shepherds being the enemy back in the 80s and 90s.

I can’t even access the link from work, since it’s blocked, but I have to ask if the results are in any way normalized. That is, how are the total populations of each breed stacked against the “incident reports”? If you have a population of 1,000,000 pit bulls with 10,000 reports of dangerous attacks and 1,000 deaths (for example), and 100 terriers with “only” 50 reports of dangerous attacks and 1 death, then obviously the terrier would be a much more dangerous breed, but simply looking at absolute numbers of “incidents” and “deaths” wouldn’t transmit that information.

German shepherds were #8 on the list, at 17 fatalities @poofandmook. Still, 17 is a long way from 66.
Rotties and Chows have a bad rep too.

@CWOTUS I don’t think the list is that comprehensive.

@CWOTUS has a good point. I remember a friend telling me that he read that 85% of the dogs in kill shelters are pit bulls which doesn’t indicate the numbers existing but possibly the problems that owners encounter – or their lack of commitment. Someone also offered the explanation that pit bulls are rarely neutered or spayed so they propagate a lot.

I agree with @poofandmook. Also, and don’t be a hater if this reflects on you personally, but any owner who does not have 100% control of their animals at ALL TIMES, is always responsible for the dangerous behavior.

Having owned three pitties in my life with no accidents, I can assure you, it is not the dog’s fault. My vet taught me domination excercises to use when they were pups, but a lot of people don’t take the time to be proper dog parents, or to train their dogs, or to even know the difference in breeds/ breed temperament. The dogs and children who get hurt, etc…are the ones who suffer from this ignorance.

@KNOWITALL Good to hear a pit bull owner with positive experiences weigh in. I’ve known some others as well.

@glacial Thanks, they are good active dogs, good running partners in my younger days- lol I had one girl, Brandy, who saved my life once, too. They are loyal and will fight for their owner(s) if attacked, good guard dogs.

What really upsets me is that the town I lived in at the time passed breed-specific legislation against pit bulls. Which means every pittie has to be registered and paid for. So what ended up happening is a lot of people turning them loose because they couldn’t afford the registration fees, vet fees, etc.. It was horrible, and they were euthanizing a ton of good dogs.

Also, in our area, fighting them and using them as bait dogs is still popular underground and you can make money at it, so unregistered pitties just get shot. Breed-specific legislation, to me, is abusive, dangerous and part of the problem, not a solution.

FWIW Dachshund , Chihuahuas, and Jack Russells are the three most aggressive breeds. By this I mean, there are the most reports of these dogs attacking strangers.

@poofandmook hit the nail on the head with why Pits and other dogs like them get the bad rep. Shitty owners thinking “IMMA GET A KILLER DOG!” and then they treat it like shit until it does become an asshole. Thing is, these dogs have such a fierce bite that when they do attack it’s a lot more devastating than the dachshund.

Working in a pet store for a while I saw this mentality a lot. It wasn’t just limited to dogs either. I’d see people like this with fish all the time.

@uberbatman And big birds, too! One owner said their bird was left out on the porch and they went out when it was screaming and because it was chained to the pole, a freakin’ ‘coon was eating on it’s feet and it couldn’t get away. Ugh, people suck so much. You should have to get an IQ test before having kids and owning pets.

The thing that you need to keep in mind is the size of the population sample. There are millions of pit bulls in the US. Statistically, that’s a tiny fraction of dogs that have caused fatalities.

The other consideration is physical ability. Pomeranians kill, too, but it’s much less likely for a pom attack to be a fatal one.

What it all comes down to is that any dog has the potential to attack. Any dog has the potential to kill. Large breed attacks have more potential to be deadly merely because they are physically more capable.

The 4 most evil dogs I have ever known were a Dachshund, a Doberman Pinscher ( both which seriously bit me as a child without provocation ) a German Shepherd and my old Coon hound who was very stranger aggressive.
He was always well treated and went through obedience classes. He was just a bad seed, mentally unstable.
I have no desire to have a dog of any kind these days, but, I have known a few Pit Bulls and they were all very sweet.

My thoughts are that any dog can go bad, and a lot of them are mentally unstable just like people. I think it is the mental factor more than the breed a lot of the time.
I also knew an evil and neurotic Cocker Spaniel. Ugh, nasty little dog.

Wow
Such dog
many woofs
very aggressive

Here is an interesting, if somewhat onesided view of pitbulls.

The pits I have known personally have been extremely loyal, loving and caring animals but then again, no one I know who has owned one raised them to be aggressive. I have had more violence done to me by poms, poodles and Chihuahuas; admittedly it would take a pack of ‘em to bring me down but still they are much more likely to launch themselves at you.

Around here it’s not uncommon to see people from the “ghetto” areas with their bling and their sagging pants walking their pit bull. I’ll admit that when I see that, I tend to assume the worst…

I’m not blind to statistics. I’m not going to say “pit bulls are so nice!” and assume that the statistics mean nothing.

People train their pit bulls to fight and they neglect them by leaving them outside in all weather, putting heavy chains around the dog’s neck, walking them with a heavy chain instead of a leash, and doing all this crap that’s supposed to make the dog strong and tough. They use other pit bulls, dogs and cats as “bait.” These dogs are traumatized and it’s no wonder they’re vicious.

A good friend of mine has a grandson who was maimed by a neighbor’s pit bull that got out of their yard. The boy was walking with his sister and pushed her away to protect her, and he got his arm ripped apart and his ear ripped off. He is traumatized to this day. Even the most aggressive Chihuahua is not likely to do that kind of damage.

I’ve been bitten in the face by a dog… she was a Lhasa Apso. MY Lhasa… who was treated with love her whole life. I still have a scar. Sometimes shit just happens. Of course, when it’s a Pit or a Rottie, it’s a whole other ball of wax.

I want a free-range rottweiler farm. So that when I greet them in the morning I will be bombarded with slobbery, kissy rottweilers. So there.

I also heard that in the “ghetto” they feed the dogs gunpowder to make them nuts. It’s really sad for the dogs. On Facebook, I get updates from Anti-Dog Fighting groups. When you see the dogs and how they’re ripped apart, it’s disgusting.

Our dogs have to be registered. It’s like, $7.00 a year.

One of the urban cities in my area passed a law about 12 years ago that anybody who owned a pit bull had to have a $1,000,000 insurance policy on it. Therefore the local shelter was flooded with pit bulls after that.

I just spent the weekend at a friends house who has a pit bull that is so gentle. It was a rescue, poor thing is easily terrified by certain noises or gestures she was abused to badly previously. Doesn’t matter, I still think pit bulls are scary! I am in favor of communtiies having covenants that ban them, and I think people who try to sell that it is notnthe dog it’s the owner need to give it up. I do think the owners are a huge part of the problem, but it doesn’t change the fact that those dogs do a lot of damage. I feel the same about doberman’s and even German Shephards and a few others.

I agree with people above who said many of the people who want pitbulls think it’s badass to have one and they themselves are assholes in every which way. The dogs are bred to be mean and trained to be aggressive. Then there are also lovely people, like my friend, who own pitbulls and love animals, and just want to protect all God’s creatures. Unfortunately, for me, the bad way outweighs the good. I persnally know people who have been attacked by some of these more aggressive breeds. I also know people who have been bitten by dogs who are traditionally not very aggressive, but their injuries were significantly less severe.

I think a lot of dog owners are in la la land about how dangerous dogs can be. They also are oblivious to the feelings of people who are afraid of dogs, and judge people who are not dog people. I don’t mean the majority of dog owners, but enough of them. I’m not a dog person, mostly because of fear, and dangerous breeds are going to generally fall on the top of my list for dogs to avoid.

They also breed aggressive strains of pits, too, especially dog fighters. If you get one of those, you HAVE to do the domination exercises or something. One of mine was pretty aggressive (from a bad person, but I didn’t know at the time) and I had to be really careful who I let her interact with. She killed like 15 cats that were in our neighborhood, it was a bloodbath and caused problems with neighbors. She passed away from a lady infection but she was definately the most aggressive I’ve ever owned.

I’m sorry to say this, but I would have gotten rid of the dog after it killed the first cat.

@Dutchess_III I’m allergic so until the bodies started piling up and I made the neighbor lady cry (she rescued them but let them all wander free in the neighborhood), I didn’t worry much. Plus they were in my fenced yard trying to eat the birds, where I feed them, so all’s fair I guess.

Allergic to what? You lost me @KNOWITALL….

I’m a dog trainer and, although Pit Bulls are banned in this country (a law I don’t agree with but that’s by the by), I work with a large number of Staffordshire Bull Terriers (as well as owning one) which are the breed that gets the most bad press over here. So far, I have not yet worked with a single aggressive Staffie but then, the owners that bring their dogs to us tend to be responsible and decent people (if a little naive at times).

When looking at any dog attack we need to take into account the dogs living situation. Many “status dogs” like Rotties and Bull breeds are living with people that are not responsible and have the dogs for the wrong reasons (hence why I call them status dogs). They are often not getting the mental or physical stimulation they need to be sound of mind and they are living in small, cramped council houses or flats. Sadly many dogs go crazy because of shitty living situations which is completely the human’s fault but it’s the dog that gets the bad rep. This is why I feel that pet welfare laws should be much stronger as well as breeding and animal supplying laws. Sadly, these laws are difficult to enforce.

Banning whole breeds tends to make them more desirable to the wrong people and so the BSL laws are pretty pointless. I have also known of some very sweet Pit Bulls that have been put to sleep simply because they are a banned breed which is why I am 100% for “blame the deed not the breed”.

Good post @Leanne1986. I can’t believe the utter cruelty of humans at times.

I always swore I would never have a German shepherd. Then Rick brought Dakota home. The guy who had her originally paid $600 for her because she came from a long line of viscous guard dogs. He trained her and trained her. She learned her stuff (and I’ve seen her use it a couple of times over the last 8 years,but only under extreme circumstances,) but she refused to become viscous. Guy got disgusted and gave her to us.
She was the most scared, depressed, emotionally (and probably physically) beat up dog.
As her personality emerged, she turned out to be the sweetest, most intelligent, non-aggressive dog I have ever seen. But watch out, boy, if you threaten one of her family, even if it’s just her cat. I saw her take out two big stray dogs who showed up in our yard and attacked Dutchess, our other dog. Dakota just kicked their ass! She was like Cujo! It was like, “Who are you and what have you done with my dog??”

But during peace times, if we’re taking a walk, and a dog starts barking aggressively, Dakota ducks her head and tugs me across the street away from it. It’s like, “Look, Mom. I’ll kill him if I have to, but I really hate doing that so lets just go somewhere else.”

One time she got out during the night. Turns out there was a 5 year old kid walking past our house at about 4 a.m., crying and alone. Long story short, all we could figure was that Dakota cleared our 5’ fence. She stayed with him the whole night, guarding him, until people found him about 8 a.m. the next morning. The kid’s mom made a point of finding us to thank our dog….

@Dutchess_III When I was a kid we ended up with a German Shepherd (only we called it an Alsatian because of where we were) who was a police academy dropout. He was just too nice to do what they wanted him to do. A very intelligent dog but one that did not care to be aggressive. A friend of my father who was a policeman happened to mention him (his name was Kim the dog, not the friend) and that they were looking for a home for him so took him and he was my constant companion for many years.

If I ever get another dog, it will be a German shepherd. They seem perfect to me.

@Dutchess_III I’m allergic to cat dander, it sucks.

I’m a terrier girl now, I have a male and female now and their little beards and furry feet are so cute, and they’re very playful and cuddly. My male, Teddy, looks just like a little teddy bear with his yellow fur and brown eyes, so cute!!

So…wait. Are you saying it was OK with you for your dog to kill the cats because you are allergic to them? I hope I misunderstood…..

@Dutchess_III No, I’m just saying that I’m allergic and they used to sleep on my porch (leaving fur everywhere) and leave paw prints all over our vehicles (had to keep windows up at all times), so although the murders bothered me, I was glad they were gone. Sorry.

And again, my old cat used to walk on a leash, so I don’t feel that letting your cats roam, especially without being fixed, is a benefit to the cat or to the feral populations, or to the neighbors. It’s dangerous out there and if you love your pet, keep them safe.

My small town has a major feral cat problem by the way, and we go out of our way to help them, not run over them while driving, and several people feed them and get them fixed.

Dakota sounds like a lovely dog @Dutchess_III

She is AWESOME. She trained our Dutchess dog. It was kind of amazing to watch.
Once, soon after we got Dutchess, she (Dutchess) jumped up and put her paws on Rick’s knees. Rick pushed her down and said, “No, Dutchess.”
She did it again. Rick got a little angry and said, “NO DUTCHESS!!”
All of a sudden Dakota was there. She slapped Dutchess (literally slapped her!) and knocked her to the deck then pinned her by the throat to the deck. It was all very quiet and calm and firm and no nonsense and Dutchess didn’t do it again.

If there is one thing I have learnt about dogs it’s that they learn far more manners from each other than they do from us regardless of how experienced we are as handlers!

I wish Dakota would get Dutchess’ barking under control.

I wish Dakota would come over and do a little work with Frodo!

:D I could loan her out as a Train Dog!

Call me a wimp, but I could never work up the nerve to approach a dog like this

That dog has obviously been socialized at some point. I wonder what her story is. Whoever dumped her should be shot.

Agreed. I would also assumed she’d been abused….which is why I would hesitate to approach her.

I don’t think abused. Her body language doesn’t convey that. But she’s certainly used up. And notice how she didn’t want to leave her place. Definitely neglected.

But the kind of person who would dump a dog, isn’t the kind of person who takes care of them…...I would be tempted to give that dog a home. She’d do well here. But…3 dogs is a pack.