10 Myths About Pit Bulls
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A few weeks ago I attended the Pet Days at the Orange County Marketplace. I had the chance to talk to several different dog rescues and even met several loving dogs who were up for adoption. Not surprisingly (to me) some of the friendliest dogs I met were Pit Bulls. Many of you now might be thinking: What are you talking about? Aren’t Pit Bulls mean vicious dogs bred solely for dog fighting. That’s hardly the case.
10 Myths About Pit Bulls
One of the rescues (I’m not too sure which one or I’d add a link here) had some great information on 10 Myths About Pit Bulls. Here’s the list I received from the rescue:
Pit bulls have locking jaws. They can’t let go even if they want to.- Once they bite down, a pit bull will not let go. You can’t even pry its jaws apart if you kill it.
- Pit bulls are genetically bred to kill people.
- Pit bulls are not good for anything except dogfighting.
- Pit bulls are very aggressive.
- Pit bulls can not be trained or controlled.
- Pit bulls are unpredictable; they can turn on anyone, even their owner, at any time.
- Pit bulls do not feel pain.
- If a pit bull bites down and tastes blood, they will become aggressive and unstoppable.
- Pit bulls have jaw muscles that can clamp down with (insert high number here) PSI of pressure.
All of the above rumors/myths are completely absurd and untrue of a Pit bull.
Fatal Dog Attack Statistics
Here are a few interesting facts about fatal dog attacks:
- 2000-2001 there were 41 fatal dog attacks. Of these, 28 were attacks by a single dog (the other 13 were caused by multiple dogs).
- Of the 28 single dog attack fatalities: 26 were male, 2 were female. Of the 26 males, 21 were found to be intact (the reproductive status of the remaining 5 male dogs could not be determined).
- Of the 448 cases of fatal dog attacks from 1965 – 2002, there is NO documented case where a single, neutered, American Pit bull terrier was teh cause of a human fatality.
Source: Karen Delise, Fatal Dog Attacks (www.fataldogattacks.com)
Those are some pretty amazing statistics.
My Experience With Pit bulls
A couple of our best friends are a Pit bulls. Bubba and Finn are friends with Derby, Linus, and Stetson and all of them get along really well. Bubba and Finn are two of the sweetest kindest dogs we know and also very well trained.
As I mentioned earlier some of the nicest dogs we met at the Pet Days were Pit bulls and if we were in the dog adoptions market we wouldn’t hesitate to adopt a Pit bull.
Do you own a Pit bull? Would you consider adopting a Pit bull a your next dog?
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How do you get a pitbull like mine over his obsession with wheels on a car? He’s never been hit that we know of, we have had him since he was 6 lbs and 8 weeks old. Thanks
I rescued my pittie 6 years ago from a fighting ring when she was a puppy. She was born and bred to fight, but when I rescued her I showed her nothing but love and affection. She is the sweetest, most loving, non aggressive dog I’ve ever had. I’ve always said it’s not the breed, it’s the owner. I had a similar experience with a Rottweiler I adopted many years ago. So sweet and cuddly. Education, training and loving these dogs matters a million times more than any dogs’ breed.
My sister has a full blood pit bull and her name is Nova but she is 4 or 5 months old and all she does is come up to you and want attention plus wants to play tug of war a lot but she is a emotional support dog and is friendly but shy and the breed she is a red nose and a blue nose to make her a full blood
CAN A PIT BULL WHETHER MALE OR FEMALE TURN ON DOGS THE OWNER ALREADY HAS? ALSO IF A PIT BULL WAS ATTACKED BY ANOTHER BREED OF DOG AND TASTED BLOOD AND ATTACKED THE OTHER DOG BACK ,WOULD THE PIT BE AGGRESIVE,AFRAID , AND ATTACK OTHER DOGS ???? MY DAUGHTER HAS A BEAUTIFUL PIT BULL KHLOE AND SHES SO SWEET!😞
it makes me mad how pitbulls have such a bad rap
Did you ever get and answer about your question? I’ve had the similar experience happen with my pitbull and my son’s pitbull, my sons dog killed my little dog chihuahua, so my son took his dog home and my pit is still here but when my other chihuahuas come around she starts to smell them and chatting her teeth I don’t know if we should keep her I’m afraid? If you can help or refer me to a professional pitbull handler. Thank you. Billie
Hey, I have 13 week old Pit Bull named Dixie. She is the sweetest puppy/ dog I have ever owned. She gets along with the family cat & dog. The worst thing Dixie may do is lick your face. She was very easy to house train. I love my little pit bull to bits!
Thanks for telling us about Dixie. She sounds like a wonderful dog!
i have a pit named buster,hes the best dog ive ever had,very smart too,sometimes a lil too smart lol hes saved my live in more ways then one,so we have 3 pits now,thanks for the read/!!
Hi Joyce,
No problem. Thank you for sharing.
Take care,
Colby
At first I wasn’t sure for pitbulls my family raised me to little dogs but when I met my wife bobbi she always talked about pitbulls and wanteed one so when I deployed to afghanistan she got one from the alaska dog pound I was nervous but she was so happy to have her a 3 yr old black and white pit this great wonderful dog saved my wife’s life from a wolf that followed her on a walking trail while I was gone my wife didn’t know y the pit started to snarl and drewl then turned and saw the wolf the pit stood her ground and the wolf left then went right back to panting and licking my wifes hand I come home and fell in love her iv never ever cared for a dog as much as my pretty pitbull ill always stand by the pitbull breed
@adam that’s a great story about your pitbull thanks for sharing.
I have owned two pitbulls who were very good my last dog was a very sweet boy just like a big baby. My ex kept him for me because I could not keep him at my house. But pitbulls are very protective if you bother a owner and they feel the owner is being in danger they will attack sometimes and its not because people trained their dog to fight. So I agree with you and thank you for putting up this article.