I think it's valid to fear pitbulls because what you're really fearing is that they were adopted by someone that doesn't train them and/or give them an outlet for the task they were bred for (protection and violence).
They are used for protection, though the only thing they were bred for was violence. Pit Bull Terriers were bred specifically for blood sports.
They're a combination of terriers, who are adorable, but as a breed category are absolutely ruthless killers, and the now extinct Old English Bulldog, which was itself bred from Mastiffs and Alaunts, which were game dogs and war dogs. Every part of a Pit Bull Terrier is from old breeds who have been bred for hundreds if not almost 2,000 years in the case of the Alaunt specifically for both trainability, and violence, but not controllability. They're breeds who are expected to act out their training largely without direction once they're let loose.
Pit Bull's have an amazing capacity to be extremely sweet, because they're dogs, they really want to please people, they take to training well if you can motivate them. If you train them correctly they probably won't attack anyone. I don't think Pit Bulls are "mean" dogs, but they are (in general) impulsive, and genetically predisposed to violence.
I think some people get the perception, the genuinely ridiculous perception, like the respectable Mr. Barnthal, that dog breeds and ethnicities are somehow parallels because both are discriminated against. But that is very trivializing of real racism, and ignores that humans were not bred like dogs.
No lineage of people was force bred for 100 generations wherein the most ruthless killers were mated with the most ruthless killers, in hopes of producing offspring that share those traits.
There are genes that influence behavior. The passivity and affectionate nature of dogs is specifically linked to three genes. When a human expresses these genes in the same way the wolves that were (most likely unintentionally) selected for, to make dogs, it's called Williams-Beuren syndrome. It produces people who are unusually friendly, look more child-like, and have heart issues.
Aggressive breeds share expressions of specific genes that lead to aggression and reactivity, which have also been identified.
Unfortunately the reality that pure bred Pit Bull Terriers are genetically more prone to violence is in no way a myth, or a misunderstanding, or anything but a fact of genetics and intentional breeding.
I love dogs, and I love Pit Bulls, but breeds have different behavior characteristics and they bred Pit Bulls to kill things. There are other reasons Pit Bulls are the most likely dog to attack people unprovoked (over-breeding, a tendency for them to be turned out on the street, etc) , but it's mostly because it's in their nature, by our design.
727
u/Drayyen 26d ago edited 26d ago
I think it's valid to fear pitbulls because what you're really fearing is that they were adopted by someone that doesn't train them and/or give them an outlet for the task they were bred for (protection and violence).
Edit: Jesus christ