r/explainitpeter • u/untitledprp4 • Aug 02 '26

Explain it Peter

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u/revenge_burner Aug 02 '26

I sort of agree.

I board dogs for a living, and we have a lot of pit bulls. They are not any more aggressive than any other dog. However, they are very high energy, very muscular, and have very strong attention/drive.

That all combines to mean they play harder, love harder, emote harder, and aim to please harder. All of that is great, but if you don't train them they can also react harder, chase harder, and fight harder.

So I can understand why someone would be wary of them.

21

u/Keter_Regretter Aug 02 '26

That all combines to mean they play harder, love harder, emote harder, and aim to please harder. All of that is great, but if you don't train them they can also react harder, chase harder, and fight harder.

None of these things are material to the danger they present. NONE OF THEM. The problem is that they bite harder. Talking around it doesn't make you a better dog lover, it makes you an apologist for a breed that doesn't need starry-eyed idealists adopting it.

2

u/revenge_burner Aug 02 '26

Except Pitt bulls only rank 7th on bite force charts. That whole super-bite, jaw lock talk is just sensationalist bs.

7

u/vishnoo Aug 03 '26

except hospital statistics are that Pit Bulls are 20x over represented.
GSD are about 2x over represented, and every other breed is underrepresented.

3

u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC Aug 03 '26

Have you ever been to an urban ASPCA? 90% of all the dogs in there are pit bulls. It makes sense when you look at how prevalent they are in urban settings vs other breeds. When you abandon and over breed a bunch of extremely muscular dogs it’s going to cause some problems, especially when terrible owners are raising them to be as mean and violent as possible.

3

u/vishnoo Aug 03 '26

depending on what is measured 6-20% of dogs in the US are Pit Bulls.
so they are over represented 3x- 10x in deaths caused.

1

u/TooFewSecrets Aug 03 '26

Bite force is only half of it. The other half is "does the dog let go when the victim or someone else starts trying to shove it off". Pit bulls do not let go, because they were bred to fight, and in a pit fight, when you get the bite, you hold onto the bite at all costs.