Some people really amaze me. Seems like every time you read an article in the newspaper or see a story on the evening news about a “pitbull” attack, they’ll have a quote or soundbite from some person or other whom we might otherwise assume is well-educated and/or open minded. Often, these people work for “Animal rights” groups. Some of them even have credentials after their names, like PHd. What really surprises me is the fact that these people are, apparently, so willing to buy off on the media’s party line that APBT’s are mean or vicious and that they should all be destroyed. How does a well-educated person arrive at such a place in their life that they can accept such logic?
I think that many members of the general public are often willing to accept what they see in the media simply because they are given no alternative. The pit bull stories that get the most air time or print space are those that talk about the latest “Pit Bull Atrocity”. But when an APBT risks life and limb to protect a person, or otherwise does something praiseworthy, all it gets is a third page article about 3 sentences long. And THOSE articles usually have a slant like “A pit bull saved a young girl’s life today by dragging her from her burning home. Wow. Isn’t THAT surprising?”. The media has gone out of its way to make sure that the ONLY image the general public sees is that of a vicious killing machine. So I can understand why some members of the general public have that point of view. THose who are well-educated, though, have no such excuse, especially when one takes a critical look at the logic inherent in such judgemnts.
To claim that “all pit bulls are vicious” is ludicrous. There aren’t even any statistics upon which one could base such a statement. Are there vicious pit bulls? Certainly. But there are also Yorkshire terriers with fatalities accredited to them. In fact, nearly every breed currently recognized by the American Kennel Club has at least one human fatality to its name. To claim that all pit bulls are vicious is to apply logic that also tells us that all black people are thugs, all mexicans are lazy, asians can’t drive, and white people are all racist. Certainly there are some black thugs in the world, just as there are likely to be lazy mexicans, non-driving asians and racist whites. But on the other hand, I’d be willing to bet that the numbr of black people who are decent, law-abiding citizens FAR outstrips the thugs. Frankly, the same is true of the others. We, as a society, do not tolerate the use of that logic amongst ourselves, but we have no problem with using with other living creatures. Why is that? I think it is just plain, old laziness. Rather than go to the effort of being decent people, many of us would rather just go along with the crowd. And THAT is true whether one is educated or not. That is human nature at its worst.
It is easy to disprove this logic by simply looking at observable facts. First, there are many American Pit Bull Terriers in service with various agencies of the US Government ranging from the BOrder Patrol, to the Forest Service to FEMA. Clearly these highly trained individuals cannot be labeled as “vicious”. If they were, they would be unable to function in their trained capacities. And what about all the APBT’s living in this country who never make it in the news? Many of this breed live out their lives in loving homes without ever once having shredded anything but a chew toy. Do THEY not count? Clearly, it is not valid to claim that all pit bulls are vicious. In fact, if one looks at population statistics and compares them with bite statistics, one would be hard-pressed to even make a valid claim that MOST pit bulls are vicious. The numbers simply do not add up.
Secondly, many who support this point of view love to quote statistics compiled by the CDC in a report they released sever years ago. This study was an attempt “to summarize breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks during a 20-year period and to assess policy implications”. Right on the first page, the report says “Although fatal attacks on humans appear to be a breed-specific problem (pit bull-type dogs and Rottweilers), other breeds may bite and cause fatalities at higher rates.” It continues with “Because of difficulties inherent in determining a dog’s breed with certainty, enforcement of breed-specific ordinances raises con-stitutional and practical issues.” So right at the beginning, the CDC recognizes the problems with this mind set. The study also notes that fatal attacks are a small percentage of dog-bite incidents. The astute reader will also note the wording used in the quoted portions of the study. Firstly, it refers to “Pit bull-type dogs” and then “Rottweilers”. This implies a certain inaccuracy in the methods used in the gathering of data for this study. Since both methodology and results for this study are so easily called into question, one must wonder about the validity, and therefore the usefulness, of the study itself.
So what does all this mean? It means that even highly educated people fall victim to human nature. It means that the APBT community must come to grips with that fact and find a way to provide an alternative source of information to the public. Perhaps THEN we will have a fighting chance to save our breed.
