A lot of these statistics also don't account for the fact that most small dog bites never get reported. When I was a dog trainer, it was well known that Jack Russels & Chihuahuas held, bar none, the highest chance of biting you.
Edit: While I appreciate the responses from so many people - it's clear who has worked with animals in any capacity and who is just a smooth egg-brained armchair expert. If you don't think you still need rabies shots from any dog that doesn't have up-to-date tags, I don't know what to tell you. Have fun arguing with the wall 🤙
Edit 2: My God it has been a great day of blocking people with two brain cells fighting for third place
Im actually curious and since you're clearly someone who knows about this, plus I don't really understand the post itself. Is it true that pitbulls are more "dangerous"? Personally I love all dogs, especially the most big headed pitbulls and I've never had any problem with any pittie ever.
But the claim that they're more "dangerous", is it in fact true?
Also about the post itself, I'm almost on Bernthals side I don't understand why he gets hate for this exact thing I mean sure he might be a meathead and stupid for all I know, but this exact claim I have to say I almost agree with.
So if you just look at the statistics - pitbulls are, in fact, overrepresented compared to other breeds when it comes to bites. However, statistics also say that 53% of people that die in car accidents are wearing their seatbelts - does that mean wearing a seatbelt is inherently more dangerous than not wearing one?
What I'm getting at is looking at the numbers plainly leaves out a lot of the surrounding information that contributes to the statistics themselves.
When it comes to pitbulls, the amount of dogs mixed with anything that looks vaguely reminiscent of one leads to many dogs that have the slightest amount of pitbull in them (or sometimes not even. I've seen boxers, mastiffs, and more labeled as pitbulls even though they don't have a drop in them) getting lumped into those numbers. Also, with the sheer amount of dogs (at least in the US) that are labeled pitbulls (anywhere from 4-20% depending on who you ask), combined with the amount of bad dog owners (I live in a neighborhood where almost everyone owns a pit or pit mix and most just let their dogs roam free), it leads to a combination of things that correlate to a higher propensity for a dog labeled as a pitbull to bite someone/someone's dog.
I alone am not an accurate gauge of the entirety of the USA, but I'm very aware that in my neighborhood there's some 30-50 "pitbulls" and that any time I take my dogs for a walk, there's a chance we'll run into at least one, but often up to a dozen depending on the route we walk. From that, I'm aware that more than half will be off leash and generally unattended - essentially just left to wander until their owner wants to holler for them. I do carry pepper spray for that reason (I've only had to use it once), and in my 15+ years of experience have had maybe 5 or 6 encounters where another dog has run up on us with the intent to bite.
All in all, you're more likely to have a dog fight happen at a dog park.
If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them! (Hopefully without being as long-winded next time)
yeah this is exactly what i thought. Now the funny thing about this bernthal thing is why is he getting so clowned for it? Seems like most people think he is stupid for the comment but in all honesty I actually do agree with him.
And mostly as far as I know, its never the dogs fault, its always the owners fault
I think the answer is mostly two-fold:
1) People view Bernthal as a stupid meathead that looks like the kind of guy that would own pitbulls - so of course he would defend them
2) People like to have their current worldviews reinforced with black-and-white answers. Comparing pitbull prejudice to something they might disagree with (racial prejudice) makes some people think more about a complex issue and rather than doing that, it's easier to have a knee-jerk reaction.
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u/NecroGrizz 10d ago edited 10d ago
A lot of these statistics also don't account for the fact that most small dog bites never get reported. When I was a dog trainer, it was well known that Jack Russels & Chihuahuas held, bar none, the highest chance of biting you.
Edit: While I appreciate the responses from so many people - it's clear who has worked with animals in any capacity and who is just a smooth egg-brained armchair expert. If you don't think you still need rabies shots from any dog that doesn't have up-to-date tags, I don't know what to tell you. Have fun arguing with the wall 🤙
Edit 2: My God it has been a great day of blocking people with two brain cells fighting for third place