Pitbulls are Violent Dogs

[ohiostate124]

Anecdotal crap. Again large scale statistics and science disagree with you.

Does that info include any other information about how they were raised or who the owners were?

[Varitok]

So, 22 fatalities from in 2016 from pit bulls. How many pit bulls are there in the US? This site http://www.realpitbull.com/reality.html estimated approximately 5 million pit bulls in the US (shockingly, there's not really any accurate census data on dogs /s). 22 fatilities for 5 million? I'll take those odds. The site also satirically describes that a person is 16 times more likely to die from a 5-gallon water pail than a pit bull.

The 5-gallon water pails are the real hidden enemies here.

#stopthepails

Its funny. You see big pie charts with 71% and 81% on them but fail to actually see how little the number for fatalities is. I mean, as you said, you should be more afraid of 5 gallon water pails.

[unbound]

To the OP, thank you for providing a lesson to everyone about how to use statistics badly.

Yes, I see that Pit Bulls are far and away the leader in deaths. But, what you are missing is contextual data.

First, what is a Pit Bull? There is no such breed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...00b_story.html). The term is used to describe a number of breeds or mixed dogs. These include American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Terriers, American Staffordshire Terrier, and American Bulldogs. Then you have a variety of mutts that look that way. So, you have a huge data quality issue right there.

Second, and more importantly, there were 22 deaths cause by this Pit Bull group last year. Do you know how many dogs in the US are in that group? Conservatively, about 5 million (since there is no such breed, getting an exact number is impossible, some estimates put it as high as 8 million). So, we are talking about, literally, 0.00044% of animals from the given population. Therefore, the other 99.99956% of the specified population should be held guilty?

The reality is that a Pit Bull isn't anymore aggressive than other breed. Any dog from any breed can be raised to be aggressive. In the 70s, it was Dobermans. In the 80s, it was German Shepherds. In the 90s, it was Rottweilers. Just because these Pit Bulls are more commonly raised that way has nothing to do with the breed itself. Proper use of statistics and an understanding of history makes that extremely clear.

BTW, I have never owned any dog remotely resembling a Pit Bull. I have no dog in this fight, but am merely pointing out the atrocious use of statistics here.

[medievalman1]

Anecdotal crap. Again large scale statistics and science disagree with you.

Large scale statistics and science make the threat of fatality-by-pit-bulls laughable.

[Crissi]

Anecdotal crap. Again large scale statistics and science disagree with you.

There are 3 types of lies. Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

(I'm a data analyst so I work with stats, loool).

The most accurate stats break stuff down to find a real cause. Merely "Pit bulls kill lots' doesnt explain why. If you can isolate the why, which form research is mostly bad ownership and / or bad genetics, you can tackle the problem without being unfair to a larger population.

[Nathreim]

Anecdotal crap. Again large scale statistics and science disagree with you.

The human variable makes all that worthless.

They are a popular fighting and guard dog and uneducated people get them because having a fighting pit bull is a part of "gangsta culture".

They are not naturally dangerous idiots make them that way.

[Crissi]

Large scale statistics and science make the threat of fatality-by-pit-bulls laughable.

More people end up dying form cows than by dogs :x

[medievalman1]

More people end up dying form cows than by dogs :x

Makes me feel more justified when I eat a burger. Kill or be killed.

[lockedout]

Violent dogs are violent dogs. Pitbulls just excel at working and are game dogs for the most part.

[Ateo]

I have a pit bull that is nothing but a giant needy lap dog who's scared of its own shadow and wants nothing more than to cuddle and play... this is retarded. It's the exact same issue as guns. Any dog can kill you if it's big enough, it's the owner who turns it into a killer.

[ohiostate124]

Why do I feel like op won't be back to his own thread after people proved how flawed his stats are?

[Mister Cheese]

There is a pitbull attack every day. There is a problem with the breed in of itself.

[Altrec]

The pitbull people are gonna be pissed at me. Imagine that, a dog that was bred to be a violent fighting dog actually contributes to far more fatalities per year than other dog breeds. It's almost like genetic science and selective breeding work, and no matter how well you "raise your dog to be nonviolent" it is not going to change the dogs physical genetics. Accept the science of genetics and spare me your "cute" pictures of pitbulls with children because I believe in statistics and science not propaganda.

http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-sta...ities-2016.php
http://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-sta...ities-2015.php
http://www.dreamindemon.com/communit...ite-org.82564/

For someone so concerned with statistics you seem rather emotionally invested in this cause. Doing a quick look there was roughly 30 dog related fatalities last year, and while most of those were Pit Bulls that number of deaths in a country of over 320,000,000 is statistically irrelevant. From a less emotional standpoint I think there are a lot of things far more important to think about and work on than this.

[Mister Cheese]

All dogs can kill you.

Wow how vicious and deadly this dog looks.

[ohiostate124]

There is a pitbull attack every day. There is a problem with the breed in of itself.

I wonder if I would be banned if I switched out the word pit bull with something else.

[Crissi]

Well, you can't say "my pitbull is sweet, so there's no way this is true". There's a problem with the breed. If there wasn't, he wouldn't see so many bans in place. And it's more than "bad owners". Some breeds are more prone to aggression than others.

Terrible genetics tend to make up the other half. Ive heard not so great things about "blues" in pit bulls. Ive also seen inbreeding in other breeds, like labs, result in aggression. I have no doubt that if we just banned Pits al together, we'd keep moving down the breed list til we got to small dogs.

[Deleted]

It's not about the dogs but about their owners if they become violent.

[grandpab]

Ah yes, the return of the legendary pitbull thread that repeats itself every few months and everybody has the same discussion as the last thread.

[Vanyali]

Terrible genetics tend to make up the other half. Ive heard not so great things about "blues" in pit bulls. Ive also seen inbreeding in other breeds, like labs, result in aggression. I have no doubt that if we just banned Pits al together, we'd keep moving down the breed list til we got to small dogs.

the problem with blues (and reds) is that people buy and sell based purely on "rare" (it's actually very common) colors with zero thought to temper or soundness of dog. So you end up with a poorly socialized dog that's in pain basically from birth that also may or may not have a low tolerance for bullshit, a fight response to fear coupled with anxiety, or various other tempers that don't do well with idiots that buy them knowing nothing of dogs.

[Crissi]

Yes, bad breeding and in-breeding is a major problem. It can cause any dog to snap, and when it's a powerful breed the result can be much worse. That's why when Police and Military look for dogs they only choose the best bred dogs. They want a quailty line because a bad one can cause a seemily good/trained dog, to suddenly just snap. They can't have that kind of mistake happen with their dogs.

Which is why Id be ok with restrictions on who can breed, and make sure mandatory training for all pitbull owners. A breed ban does nothing to help the long term problem of bad inbreeding and bad ownership. It just shifts the problem to other breeds.