Blog Post Four - Dangerous Dogs Over History, and the Pit Bull Issue Today

Over the course of human history, there have been many breeds of dog that at one time or another were considered dangerous. The particular dog breeds that are considered to be dangerous change with the times, and some would be considered laughable to most people today. However, the media continues to portray certain breeds as dangerous, and we often accept this as truth without a second thought. As a result, many people fear these breeds, and there are many of these dogs in shelters because they are less likely to be adopted. The breed that is painted in the most negative light at the moment is the pit bull.

                One of the first dogs to be recorded as being dangerous was the bloodhound in the 1800s. There were many attacks by bloodhounds in the 1800s, but very few after this time period. Upon

closer examination, it seems that many owners neglected and chained their bloodhounds and even abused them to promote aggression. In the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, characters were chased by bloodhounds and live bloodhounds were even used in a theatrical production to chase after the actors. After these incidences, there was an increase in reported bloodhound attacks. Several other dogs were considered dangerous in the 19^th century. These included newfoundlands which were used as guard dogs, under socialized and sometimes part wolf northern sled dogs, mastiff-type guard dogs, and collie dogs. Interestingly, collie dogs were involved in attacks in the 1800s, but their public reputation was saved by the Lassie stories. German shepherds were demonized in the 1920s despite the fact that there was not a high incidence of attacks. The media chose to focus on attacks on livestock by German shepherds and people began to believe they were closely related to wolves, resulting in the first breed ban in Australia in 1929. The reputation of German shepherds was saved by Rin Tin Tin, a famous movie dog, as well as heroic acts by police dogs and the fact that the first seeing-eye dog was a German shepherd. The next breed to be painted in a negative light by the media was the Doberman. This breed tended to be associated with Nazi SS guard dogs. There was also a myth that their skulls did not grow large enough, causing their brains to explode which lead to the dog attacking. In the 1980s and 1990s, Rottweilers and pit bulls became the new popular “dangerous” dog breeds, due to dog fighting busts involving these dogs being highly covered by the media. An article in Sports Illustrated called even more attention to pit bulls, and created the myth that their jaws have the ability to lock when they bite. The same article also claimed that people were being attacked by “family” pit bulls when the reality of the situation was that pit bulls involved in attacks towards humans were usually

chained guard dogs with little socialization. As a result, pit bulls became more popular among people who wanted them for the wrong reasons such as dog fighting or simply intimidation. The CDC report is also commonly used to demonize certain breeds, particularly pit bulls. However, the CDC has stated that their study is not reliable. It is biased because they only used media reports, breeds were misidentified, the function of the dog involved in an attack was often unknown, socialization level and reproductive status were often unknown, and circumstances of the attack were often unknown.

                Currently, pit bulls are the dog of choice to be painted in a negative light by the media. It is often said that the breed as a whole is dangerous, despite the fact that pit bull type dogs are not even all one breed. They are often identified as pit bulls based solely on physical traits resulting in a lot of inaccuracy. Furthermore, if a dog happens to attack someone, the media is much more likely to widely broadcast the story or at least to mention the breed if the dog involved was a pit bull type dog. Many different breeds of dogs are involved in attacks on humans, but the media chooses to focus almost exclusively on pit bull attacks, cultivating a widespread and irrational fear of the breed. Pit bulls that have attacked people are almost always identified as “family pets” that mysteriously and suddenly became aggressive despite the fact that many of them are chained dogs that live outside and away from people. Many of them are also trained to be guard dogs, but guard dogs can only tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar people, not “good” people and “bad” people. This often results in unfamiliar children that came too close to the dogs’ territory being

attacked, and the dog is painted in a negative light even if it was only doing what it was trained to do. The reality of dog attacks on humans is that any individual dog of any breed has the potential to be dangerous, but there is no breed that is inherently dangerous. As it is stated on the Peace for Pits website, “there truly are no bad dogs, just people who teach them the wrong type of behaviors.” It is also a reality that for any animal to become domesticated, only the most gentle and friendly towards humans of the species can be bred. In Belyaev’s fox breeding experiment, wild foxes became domesticated fairly quickly when only the most docile foxes were bred with one another. This example can be applied to dogs as a whole since they are likely descended from the friendliest wolves. Every existing breed of dog has already been successfully domesticated and is predisposed to love people unless they are taught the wrong behaviors or mistreated by their owners.

                It is truly a shame that any breed of dog has ever been demonized by the media due to rare incidents where not all of the details are clear. It is also a shame that there are so many pit bulls filling America’s shelter system due to a media-induced bias against the breed. Hopefully, the majority of people will someday realize that there is no specific breed of dog that is inherently dangerous.