Dog attack in Lancaster CA
Dog Kills one at RV camp If you wonder where Lancaster is, as I did, it is 20 miles NW of LA in the desert.
Forum Discussion
agesilaus wrote:
I was going to say that pit bulls weren't the most dangerous but looked it up. Forbes says they had 284 attacks with Rottweilers and German Shepards far far below them. 280 or so for the PB and 45 IIRC for the Rottweiler. All the other breeds added together probably are less than half of the PB.
I thought Chows were highly dangerous but they aren't even in the top ten. Of course how many dogs of a specific breed exist in the US is a factor. Not many chows around for example.
Anyone can buy a "pitbull" for $100-$500 or get one from a shelter for even less. They look "tough". They have a reputation. And they are used for illegal sport. That means they are owned and bred by lowlifes far more than other breeds. And these lowlifes will purposely breed the least sound in temperament to encourage that reputation. So it's logical that there are more reported bite incidents with "pitbulls". Shepherds, dobies and rotties can be had for around $500 from backyard breeders, but they are not used for illegal sport and therefore aren't purposely bred to be unpredictable and/or dangerous, so while there are temperamentally unsound dogs of those breeds, it's not as common as unsound temperaments in "pitbulls". In addition, many, if not most, of these lowlife owners abuse, neglect, fail to socialize, fail to obedience train, fail to control, fail to keep contained, etc their dogs. And many of these lowlife owners use dangerous and cruel techniques like alpha rolls to "dominate" their dogs. All this leads to individual dogs with serious issues.
The other consideration is that the "pitbull" label is not limited to one breed. There is the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT), the american staffordshire, the staffordshire, the bull terrier, and a huge variety of mixed breeds comsisting of mastiffs, dogo argentinas, cane corsos, etc. All of these can and do get identified as "pitbull" for bite statistics. So, while a "german shepherd" label is pretty much limited to one or two breeds plus their mixes, a "pitbull" label is used for a dozen or more breeds plus their mixes.
