I'm just struggling to understand what your objection to the statistics used in this thread actually is.
You keep saying they're skewed because some of the attacks may have been committed by breeds that were incorrectly identified as pitbull terrier type dogs, which I have no problem with, and then write off the data that has been presented in ITT.
I think the actual number of pitbull type dog fatalities is increased by misidentification, I just don't see any reason to think that all of the data from all of the sources posted so far is so skewed that it no longer has value.
If we agree that these types of dogs combine for the largest number of kills, why argue what appears to be a pretty straightforward presentation of, what I would think, is easily obtained information.
Oh, not that I think you think this, but I have a fairly large set of criteria for defining what a pitbull type dog is. Whether or not the animal's ears have been clipped is not among them.
That's the only significant difference between the picture you posted of a pitbull type dog, and the picture of the woman and her dog that you were comparing it to.
Edit: I wrote this post in a moving car after a few pints. What a shitshow.
This should be a lot easier for me to clarify.
Look when you see these stats they are composed of 4 entirely different breeds that look similar and some more responsible then others. That much i understand.
1. Staffordshire Bull Terriers
2. American Staffordshire Terriers
3.American Pitbull Terriers
4. American Bullys
Here is to show you the variety within this breed alone.
Now when ever you see these sensationalized numbers you have to be conservative and evenly distribute it among not only these 4 dogs but also you have to assume there are dogs that are being classified as pitbulls which are simply mixed breeds but look like pitbulls.
Now before you do this you have to understand two things. One of these breeds is more responsible than the other and also one of them WILL still be on top of the list for worst offenders in terms of biting/killing above all other dogs BUT it won't be that far off of a Rottweiler and also which one will it be? Can you sit there with a straight face and even begin to quantify which one it is based off of those stats? None of this has escaped me even in the slightest.
You can take a guess if you would like but if you would like to hear mine it would probably be between 3 and 4. 3 Being the one doing the major maiming while 4 would the one more predisposed to attack just based off the fact that it's such an abomination of a dog that has been inbred beyond beleif. 2 would lag behind number 3 and 1 would be nearly inconsequential in comparison but it gets banned any ways and lumped into the same statistics all the same. Why should it?
Imagine a scenario where the poodle was on the top of these lists but 4 other breeds accounted for it and one of them was a sewer mutant monster inbred beyond recognition. Why should they quantify the stats together and not separate?
If we agree that these types of dogs combine for the largest number of kills, why argue what appears to be a pretty straightforward presentation of, what I would think, is easily obtained information.
Because (and where we differ) Is how we view the root cause of these problems and the solutions to them. Firstly if you simply assume that this breed in inherently dangerous and that nothing else matters you have obviously overlooked the insurmountable importance of good experienced owership.
I do understand that these breeds have an extremely high prey drive and are highly capable so leaving them in the hands of a responsible owner should be mandatory. But this is no different than any other large breed which leads me to my next point. Simply banning pitbulls without stressing the importance of sound ownership will eventually lead to shittier behavior that does not help the public what so ever, if you genuinly care about the public you would be trying to drive this point home as it's largley responsible for the attacks at hand, This is something not quantified in the stats and not so easily obtained information.
Then you have to ask yourself if Shitty parenting is another variable being unaccounted for. Most of these victims that get ripped to pieces are children and often times they are either left unattended by their parents or they run up to a random dog to play with them. A dogs prey drive is very sensitive to children. Kids set off dogs because of their awkward and energetic demeanor. Most of the time dogs look at kids as they would prey because of this and it switches on their natural instincts. This is the part im not being obtuse to, Pitulls simply have a higher predisposition to attack because they have a much higher prey drive than others while being physically extremely capable dogs.
Inbreeding, Do you even realize what a problem this is in normal everyday lap dogs let alone physical specimens like pitbulls? As if having a high enough prey drive wasn't enough they are also subjected to a laundry list of mental issues from being selectively bred for retarded characteristics. Ask yourself what could go wrong with a highly capable dog being bred this way?
Other dogs are subjected to inbreeding no doubt but pitbulls have been so far removed it's almost impossible to find a pure bred pitbull now a days.
Last but not least EXPERIENCE. Do you think any random person should own this dog? I don't but i wont even stop there I say any large dog that is even in the same realm as the pitbull (and beleive me there are more than you would like to beleive) should be mandatory to have a license for ownership.
Now once you ban these dogs simply for being dangerous with out driving home any of these other issues or even presenting means you have not actually taken care of any of the root causes. Once you ban these dogs another one will be engineered to replace the pitbull in a hurry OR the over all attack rate will rise as it has in Ontario. So yea these bans don't work also which should immediately end the conversation.
So no im not an apologist im just aware of the problems that surround these dogs even the nature of the dogs themselves and i perfer to look for a common sense approach to fixing them rather then sensationalizing numbers to push bullshit breed specific legislation to win voters over because they are scared shitless of scary ass dogs rather than owning up largley to their own mistakes
In a nut shell we need: smart regulations, harsher penalties for bad parenting/inbreeding/bad owners, licensing requirements of some sort. Oddley enough we need to apply common sense gun laws to powerful breeds in general not JUST pitbulls. because down the road if this thing becomes popular and the new cool thing to get we will have an entirely different problem on our hands and we will have done a full circle.
Turkish Kengal. Bite Force – 743 PSI. Just pray this doesn't take the mantel next
