Let me preface this by saying, any life lost to a dog attack is one to many and every time it happens if the dog involved looks a certain way, it will be labled a "pit bull"...the statistics of misinterpreting a breed responsible for an attack are higher than the reported statistics of actual pit attacks...many times when a pit is named in an attack it isn't even a pitbull. People that talk about pitbulls being very large, or even as being large dogs, aren't looking at or talking about actual pitbulls. They aren't large, they are a medium sized dog and range anywhere from 30-60lbs....they are a cross between a bulldog and a terrier....
Concerning the recent attack in Nova Scotia....I didn't see the dog, so I won't say if it was an actual pitbull or not...nor do I know for certain if it killed it's owner, as I haven't heard any coroners report, or any expert attest that the woman was killed by her own dog....the dog wasn't found near the woman, and was run over by a vigilante wanna be hero, Mark Taylor, erasing any identiifing ability to be absolute about what happened ....the woman was seen walking the dog, then the woman was found dead, and the dog was running loose, this is apparently enough eveidence to prove the dog killed it's owner?...Most are making that conclusion based on those events, that the dog killed the woman. BUT, could she have been attacked by another animal, or could something else have happened, possibly. Shoudn't we be absolutely certain of something before we make a conclusion, or when it comes to animals, do we kill them first, then put together the facts.....it appears so. I find it interesting that without proof positive that her dog killed her, people are making that conclusion and that the RCMP put out a warning without evidence that it was her dog that killed her. Since when do the RCMP decide on scene how someone died, since when is it their job to make that conclusion, then report it publicly without a coroner, or another experts report? They made an assumption, yet in earlier months, when a psychopath who had been reported to them on a couple of previous occasions, as being dangerous was on the loose shooting people and burning down properties, they put out no warning, and made no assumptions, nor reported anything intially.......even after witness reports and seeing multiple damaged sites....and where was Mark Taylor with is van that day, apparently there was no need for him to scurry out to run Gabriel Wortman down....Mark only goes after dogs......dogs he deems dangerous that is, because the RCMP deemed it to be because they made an assumption without proof.....as many do about this breed. To many make assumptions about dogs in general. To many believe in having to dominate a dog, to be a "pack leader". To many key board warriors in times like these start googling statistics such as can be found on dogbite.org (which is a site no one should believe, and I'll get to that later). They read and believe all what is said, and often without any research into who is writing what they are reading. Seldom to these commentors even have any experience around dogs. But you believe what you want, I'll continue to believe what I've experienced. And I've been around many, to many to count, pit bulls and pit mix dogs, with never an issue. I am now studying dog behavior, and those who teach this, actual scientists who've 11-12 yrs of education both in dog behavior and veterinary science, I will believe, not key board warriors, pit haters, or those who believe everything they find with a google search.If you want to google however.... One of the more sensible comments made towards pitbull bite statistics I've read recently through a google was this one
((quote-
Lack of critical thinking is a serious problem for the world at large. People come to conclusions and create opinions with zero valid analysis whatsoever. So you can think of what, dozens of pit attacks? There are MILLIONS of pit bulls in this country! When something that is supposedly a genetic problem only manifests in a statistically insignificant number of a population, that makes the occurrence an aberration, not a feature! If pit bulls are the dogs most likely to be trained to be aggressive, cheapest to acquire, most likely to be abused, most likely to be abandoned, most likely to not be well socialized – all of which they are – then you don’t need genetics to figure out why they bite. The question is how come despite all this they’re still less likely to bite than chihuahuas!
It makes a heck of a lot more sense to try to figure out what conditions led hundreds of pit bulls to cause problems when millions of pit bulls don’t, and try to make sure pit bulls don’t suffer these conditions. This is why plane crashes or train de-railings are investigated: we don’t just throw our hands in the air and decide planes and trains are dangerous so stay away from them – it’s obvious that millions of flights and train trips go on with no incident all the time – the question is why was there a problem with THIS one.
Geez…people with ZERO ability to think and reason feel totally fine creating opinions based on ignorance and committing to them tooth and nail. Shame on you! -end quote))
The problem in all dog attacks is before they happen, something occured to initate the attack, and the dog gave a warning and the person injured didn't interpret the warning as a warning....if you are going to own a dog, you need to learn dog body language. They speak from their eyes, ears, hackles, tails and bark and more often than not they are misinterpreted. Dogs bite/attack for many reasons, fear, guarding, pain, and children should NEVER be left alone with any dog, even the smallest, most resilient dog. Every dog is different, and no trait is inherent in a breed, dogs are individuals. No two labs will be the same. One may be a great water dog, and the other, not. It is just as ignorant to say that all little dogs are yappy, as it is to say all pit bulls are dangerous, or that they "just snap". Sure there are mentally unstable dogs, but the likely hood of a dog just "snapping" out of the blue, and for no reason, is even less likely than you winning millions.....
Concerning the site that some key board warrior pit bull haters like to rely on Dogbite.org.....
((quote-
Except Dogsbite is run by someone who doesnt even have a degree in anything animal related. She’s a fortune telling website designer who manipulates police reports, legal documents and much much more for her stats to include using the same system the CDC stopped using in 1998 when they found an 84% fail rating in victim identification for dog breeds.
She was bitten in 2007 and got a pay out from insurance yet her biggest “volunteer” is writing insurance companies to tell them to not back laws pertaining to non discrimination so more victims of any and all dogs are covered, like the master once was. lol Hypocrisy at it’s finest.
Until you’re educated on who you spout from, you have no verifiable information. Not even medical experts understand dog bites. It’s not their field. Even vets who follow dogsbite have been put into question regarding the information they’ve tried to use in supreme court hearings because it’s jut not reliable.
There are also victims false labeled on the blog pertaining to dog breeds.
There are dog breeds left out, there are dog breeds crossed off. Cant implicate anything more than the “pit bull” just as it says in the mission statement that it focus’s on.
Question: Do you know where dogsbite donation money goes? I didnt think you did either and neither do any of the other followers.
There is no science to back up what the PeTA backed extremist organization of Dogsbite has. Nothing she has even for medical is sound and it’s been proven by people with degree’s in both medical and animal fields to include peons such as myself. -end quote)).
More about dogbite.org....https://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2010/03/the-truth-behind-dogsbiteorg.html.
If you'd like to hear more have a look at the comments at the end of this article.....some of them make sense....https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics/ some of them commenting have obvious education and actual dog experience.....
((quote- A dogs eye view of training....
Dogs are not moral creatures,at least not by the human definition of morality. They don't have an inate, ethical sense of right and wrong. When you come home from work. for example, and you find your garbage can knocked over and debris strewn about for the umpteenth time, your dog may be groveling at your feet. She is not feeling guilty, however. Dogs are masters at reading body language. Your dog can probably tell that you're upset, and she is being submissive, in an effort to appease your anger.
If she connects your behavior to the garbage at all, it is only because she ahs learned that the presence of garbage on the floor turns you nito an unpredictable, dangerous humna, and she is attempting to avert your wrath. She really doesn't understand your attitude about this-to a dog, garbage on the floor is a very good thing.When she was frollicking in the garbage three hours earlier, she wasn't thinking about how bad she was being, nor was she anticipating that she would get a beating when you got home. She was having a wonderful time, enjoying the great and wonderful rewards of garbage-play.
You may still wonder why, given the number of times you have punished her for getting into the garbage, she hasn't learned to leave it alone. The answer is, she likely thinks she is being punished for you coming home, not for getting into the garbage. My question to you is given how many time your dog has gotten into the garbage, why haven't you figured out a way to secure the lid or place the pail in a closet so that she can't get into it? We are, after all, supposed to be the more intelligent species. end quote))
This last quote is to show that without knowing how to properly train a dog ( with positive training methods, instead of punishment), a dog will most likely, repeat the negative behavior and misread what you are trying to teach her. Which can cause unexpected lash outs throughout the dogs life. If you hit the dog when she disobeys you, at some point she may consider your hand dangerous to her and attack it, even after months, or even years, of never doing so.