Most people have never met a pit bull and know nothing about them, only what they hear in the media — which is rarely the whole story. All you read is that pit bulls are "spawns of the devil." It's deeply disturbing that any particular breed could be judged and euthanized based entirely on their appearance or their breed mix.
Most dogs labeled as "pit bulls" aren't at all. Canine DNA testing is showing these "pit bulls" are a long line of mutts with no American Pit Bull in them at all. Imagine that. The inside of the dog has nothing to do with the outside of a dog, their behavior, or their appearance.
Many people believe this breed of dog is irredeemably, magically vicious. It is said to be guarding dope dens, suffers from something called Jekyll-Hyde Syndrome, is a killer of kittens and people, and can exert 2,000 to 20,000 pounds of pressure per square inch with its double or triple jointed jaws. Let me share a secret. They don't exist.
People will say a dog's behavior is attributed to its DNA and predicted by its breeding. It is a notion of predicting behavior that we would never claim in humans. That would be like saying the French are snobs, the Irish are hotheads and the Germans are rigid. Researchers have looked beyond appearance and found that in the case of pits, there is no indication that they are anything other than a family of mixed breeds. DNA is not a predictor of any dog's individual behavior. They are not genetically predetermined to be hyper-aggressive. You simply cannot identify breed composition by physical characteristics any more than you can pinpoint the ancestry of a person by their hair color.
So, what is a pit bull? A pit is exuberant, affectionate, loyal, block-headed, athletic, rewarding and big on kisses. They are comical, extremely affectionate, mischievous and will make you realize how judgmental people really are on looks alone.
In the 1980s, the tough image associated with dogfighting inspired everyone to capitalize on the image of a snarling pit bull. The July 1987 issue of Sports Illustrated had on their cover: Beware of this dog, above a picture of a snarling dog. The story made it clear the pit bull was the dog to fear, and it might come get you in the middle of the night. It was obviously a slow week for sports.
Probably the most well-known pit bull story is the Michael Vick dogs. Vick was arrested on dogfighting charges in July 2007. Impossible — he was an athlete! The dogs were pit bulls, born to fight, unsalvageable and unlovable. It was suggested that all 70 dogs be killed. What happened with Vick went beyond dogfighting. The dogs were kept in a building with blacked-out windows. The pool foundation was worn down from dogs trying to claw their way up before being killed by electrocution. Vick admitted to participating in the torture and deaths of several dogs, but couldn't recall the details.
I'll keep my thoughts to myself about Vick. Dogfighting is morally despicable. Shockingly, only two dogs had to be euthanized due to behavior. The others were placed with rescue groups and thrived, earning Canine Good Citizen Certificates, becoming therapy dogs, making public appearances and inspiring children's books.
Amazing, isn't it? That a savage dog used in fighting is now being used in hospitals and schools as therapy dogs. They are being also being used as military dogs, service dogs for returning soldiers with PTSD, and in nursing homes.
Contrary to belief, pits don't like fighting. They fight because they are forced to and have little choice in the matter. There is no correlation to how an individual dog might act outside the ring. Unfortunately, the wrong people began using pit bulls as an emblem of danger, and the public began to reverse the cause-effect relationship in the equation. With these "dangers" burned into our minds, it was inevitable that some people would get confused and think that the dogs were inspiring bad behavior among the people, instead of the reality, which is the people are inspiring bad behavior in the dogs. What people need to see is that these dogs are not the perpetrators, they are the victims.
Dog attacks happen. Just like people do bad things, dogs do bad things. Any dog. Unfortunately, the only ones we hear about are those involving pits, as society has declared this dog as vicious. You'll find just as many attacks are from "ankle-biters" and other common household dogs. They just aren't interesting news.
Society needs to quit judging all pits on the actions of a few. That's like saying all of us gun owners are going to go on a shooting rampage because a few others have done so. Or the children of rapists and murderers don't have a chance to be anything but the same because they have their parents' same genes. Quite an assumption and sounds rather stupid, doesn't it?