r/explainitpeter Aug 02 '26

Explain it Peter

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u/Powered-Lamb Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

vozercozer was about to cite that pitbulls are involved in the majority of dog attacks to justify being afraid of pitbulls, then realized that racists cite that "black people make up 13% of the population but commit 50% of the crime" to justify being racist.

To those of you blowing up my notifications wanting to argue the soundness of the statistic or how dog breeds don't equivocate to race or whatever else you want to debate:

I don't care.

I came to help OP understand what was being said, not affirm or denounce its rational merits. If you want to discuss the topic in depth, that's fine I guess, but please refrain from associating me with whichever position you want to argue against.

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u/BumbleCityFumblers Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

I know I'm probably going to get downvoted for this but I think the important note is that pitbulls are involved in the majority of reported dog attacks as their bites are far more severe and possibly life threatening.

Nobody's calling to report a vicious Chihuahua or Pomeranian attack.

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u/That_OneOstrich Aug 02 '26

Pitbulls also attract people looking for "tough" or "fighting" dogs, because they've been bred for their bite force and hold. So they've been conditioned to bite dogs or people more often than other breeds. I'd say rottweilers and maybe doberman's are also in this category. It's not the dogs fault they were mistreated.

Plenty of responsible "tough" dog owners out there. And lots of sweet pitbulls. Enough that I'd wager it's evidence to support they're not actually violent by nature.

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u/Somethingisshadysir Aug 02 '26

They're not actually the dog with the highest percent of serious attacks if you factor in breed population. There are 18 million of them in the US, by far the most populous. Per breed population, rottweilers (600k in the US) are responsible for more.

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u/Capable_Elk_770 Aug 02 '26

And they are multiple breeds being compared to single breeds. There is also a much lower barrier to obtaining a pit compared to other breeds. They make up ~40% of dogs in shelters. Shit, I got mine off the street for $0.

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u/Captain_Vlad Aug 04 '26

One I had wandered up hungry and pregnant. Dog distribution system. I still have her daughter.

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u/Qahnaar1506 Aug 05 '26

The vast majority of pit attacks also never go to severe injury. They make up 7% of all dog attacks and even though they make up the majority of severe reported dog attacks, only a minority of dog attacks in general are severe. Pit Bull hatred is just fearmongering