Pit Bulls - Myths/Facts

4 Year Old Pit Bull Chevy with
New Puppy Lexie Playing Tug of War

4 Year Old Pit Bull Chevy Sleeping while
Lexie Rest her Head on Him for Comfort.

Let me start off by saying I adore our Pit Bull, Chevy has been around children, adults, elderly, other dogs, cats, gone to crowded area's and loves pet store visits and car rides. Chevy has never in his 4 years showed aggression towards anyone and is a very protective dog which is why I love him so much.

In decades past, the American Pit Bull was a canine icon. Nicknamed "America's dog," and loved for its remarkable loyalty and affability, images of the breed were everywhere. A Pit Bull named Sergeant Stubby won 13 decorations for his service in the trenches of the First World War. Nipper, the dog from the classic RCA advertisements, was a Pit Bull. So was Pete the Pup, canine companion to The Little Rascals. Their affinity and gentleness toward children was so widely known and appreciated it inspired a second nickname: "the nanny dog."

That perception profoundly changed in the 1980s. Dogfighting enjoyed a major resurgence in America in that decade.

The Pit Bull's trademark loyalty combined with it's muscular physique made it a prime candidate for exploitation. The breed quickly came to represent aggression and a perverse idea of machismo, thus becoming the preferred guard dog status symbol for drug deals and gangsters.

Popularity for the breed in low-income, urban areas exploded. Consequently, there were (and still are) a large number of unspayed and unneutered Pit Bulls living in extremely close proximity to one another. It was the perfect recipe for an epic puppy-boom. According to Mid-American Bully Breed Rescue, there are approximately five million registered Pit Bulls in the United States today: a combination of breeds which includes Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, or any mix thereof. This figure does not include the substantial number of pit bulls circulating the shelter system and living on the streets. The ASPCA reports that 35 percent of American shelters receive at least one pit bull a day. And in Detroit, where the stray problem boards on epidemical, pit bulls and pit mixes compose 90 percent of the homeless dog population.

Where pit bulls were once ubiquitous in American pop culture, they are now ubiquitous in actuality. And because of overpopulation centers predominantly on low-income areas, the pit bull is arguable one of the least-responsibly cared for breed in the country.


Pit Bulls have locking jaws.
MYTH

• Pit Bulls do not have any special physical mechanism or enzyme that allows them to "lock" their jaws. If you compare a Pit Bull skull to a skull of any other dog breed, you can see with the naked eye that both skulls share the same characteristics and general bone structure. However, one personality of a Pit Bull breed is determination. Whatever Pit Bulls do, they do it with a great deal of enthusiasm and passion, an it is this trait that can make them seem like they have a locking jaw when they bit down on something and are determined not to release it. 

Pit Bulls are all inherently vicious.

MYTH

• This is a STEREOTYPE that is biased toward generalizing and condemning an entire breed based on the actions of a few bad people. The truth is that each dog should be evaluated by his own merits and not by his breed. A corollary truth is that there truly are no bad dogs, only bad people. Yes dogs can be a victim of racial profiling just like humans. But who stands up for them, who marches down streets for them. Think about it.

A Pit Bull that is aggressive toward other dogs will also be aggressive toward humans.

MYTH

• Dog-aggression and people-aggression are two distinctive traits and should not be confused. Unless a Pit Bull has been poorly bred or purposefully trained to attack humans, they generally love people. They are, in fact, one of the most loving, loyal, friendly and dedicated companions you can have. THIS I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH

It is dangerous to adopt a Pit Bull that has an unknown history and parentage from a  rescue or shelter, rather than buying a Pit Bull from a breeder.

MYTH

• Remember: each dog is an individual and should be judged by his current personality and behavior. Certainly he may be influenced by his genetics or history, but after working with several Pit Bulls, I can assert unequivocally that many (if not most) Pit Bulls of unknown parentage that have been horribly abused, neglected, and/or forced to fight still love people more than anything, and still will be loving family pets. Responsible rescues and shelters evaluate dog behavior prior to adoptions, and then adopt out only those Pit Bulls that display the proper temperament toward humans. 

It is better to adopt a Pit Bull puppy instead of an adult.

MYTH

• It's a fact that puppies are adorable and we all love them. But the thing about puppies is, well, they grow up. And as they mature their personality develops and that's when you really find out whether your Pit Bull is dominant or submissive with people, or whether she is aggressive toward some, non or all dogs. Dog-intolerance and dog-aggression are traits that do not develop in some dogs until they are fully mature. It is possible that a cute little puppy you adopt who is friendly with all other dogs may not like other dogs at all later in life, even dogs she has grown up with and lived with for her entire life. Both nurture (environment) and nature (genetics) play a role in determining a dog's mature personality. This doesn't mean that Pit Bull puppies should not be adopted, but if you want to know how big your dog will ultimately be and how she will act around humans or other animals, you may want to consider adopting an adult.