
Many have heard of Pit Bulls. Many know what they look like. Many people also believe that Pit Bulls are all evil, naturally aggressive, killer dogs. Here’s what a lot of people don’t know about Pit Bulls. They were not always the most hated and unwanted dogs in America, in fact they were the most popular dogs in America at one point. Overtime people have altered the way society looks at Pit Bulls due to dogfights and not neutering Pit Bulls thus creating a mass population of Pit Bulls. The consequences of this have led to dogfights, discrimination on their bulky appearance, and the few cases where Pit Bulls have attacked people severely and fatally. Other consequences include the placement of Breed-Specific Legislature (BSL) in the United States. Breed-Specific Legislature is a law that bans or restricts certain types of dogs based on their appearance, usually because they are perceived as “dangerous” breeds (4). However, these consequences didn’t happen overnight. These dogs didn’t all agree to be mean and bulky out of nowhere. (1) They learned this from their owners. The owners bred them to fight instead of to love and be part of a family. The owners neglected them because they were already too busy with other things and realized a dog was too much responsibility. The owners never trained them and allowed them to run wild thus leading them to get pregnant and produce more Pit Bulls. This sadly is the case with most Pit Bulls in America, but the blame shouldn’t be placed on the Pit Bulls, it should be given to the owners. 

I believe it’s important for people to recognize the history of Pit Bulls and where they came from. According to Google when you type in “Pit Bull definition” you will see a Pit Bull defined as “A dog of an American variety of bull terroir, noted for its muscular build and often associated with ferocity.” The fact that the most general definition includes the word ferocity gives the readers a preconceived idea that all Pit Bulls are ferocious dogs. The history of Pit Bulls starts in the United Kingdom where they were originally bred to fight for money in dogfights. So yes, initially Pit Bulls were bred to be muscular mean dogs that kill, but once the Pit Bull terrier breed was brought to America many saw this as an opportunity for a perfect guard/herding dog. Once they were brought to the United States people saw them for more than their fighting ability. Pit Bulls became a necessity to households in order to protect the home and family. Many trusted these “vicious” dogs because they were trained to protect the family instead of harming them. They were also trusted companions for the children and were known as nanny dogs at one point. As nanny dogs they would stay by their side and alert people when the babies seemed to need something.  They were also known for being therapeutic at this time because they were trained to love their owners but also protect them at all cost giving the families a piece of mind. As time carried on Pit Bulls were known for their bravery and became the poster dogs for World War One. It’s hard to believe that a time existed where Pit Bulls were loved and adored even though they were bred to kill. Today the history of Pit Bulls consists of countless dogfight raids, shelters euthanizing Pit Bulls because they look scary, and hundreds of petitions across the country that want to ban these dogs. What the history of Pit Bulls can teach us is that yes, these dogs were bred for fighting and killing back in the 1800s, but these dogs were also trained to be the most loved dogs in the United States at one point. Today dogfights continue because of poor ownership. However, this can all stop if we start making a change on the way owners treat and train their Pit Bulls. As history has shown, these dogs can be trained for good.

As mentioned before Pit Bulls have only appeared dangerous in the past decade or so. (9) Caesar Millan, dog training expert said it best. “In the 70s they blamed the Dobermans, in the 80s they blamed the German Shepherds, in the 90s they blame the Rottweilers, and today they blame the Pit Bulls. But when will they blame the owners?” Before the year 2000 it was incredibly rare to hear bad news about Pit Bulls, but today the statistics on Pit Bulls are frightening. In 2009 a study was conducted that there were 88 dog attacks that were fatal in the United States. 59% of those fatal attacks were caused by Pit Bulls. From the years 2005-2015 Pit Bulls have killed 232 Americans. That’s one citizen every 17 days who will be killed by a Pit Bull attack. And as a result 53% of dog attacked in the United States are caused by Pit Bulls. Somewhere recently in the United States owners have done something completely wrong with their Pit Bulls. There’s no hiding that these dogs have the build and genetic make-up to fatally hurt someone, but we must recognize that this is not because Pit Bulls are natural born killers, it’s due to the irresponsible owners across America. These statistics only started popping up about 15 years ago meaning that Pit Bulls were not always killers. 

So how did this happen? How is it possible that this many fatal attacks have happened in just the past 15 years? With the research I’ve done I believe that it’s due to how popular dog fights have become in the United States, owners not realizing the importance of neutering their dogs, and because of Breed-Specific Legislature. As mentioned before Pit Bulls were bred to be in dog fights back in England long ago. It wasn’t until 1976 that dogfighting was completely outlawed in the United States. Studies have shown that most dogfights take place in the poorer parts of the United States where gangs are more relevant. Dogfights in the United States have always been pretty low-key because of the consequences. (2) It wasn’t until August of 2007 when a very well-known athlete was caught running dogfights outside of Virginia for money.  In August of 2007 Michael Vick, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was arrested after he was caught operating dogfights and distributing money to the winners. He was found guilty and was sentenced to 23 months in jail. After this incident people realized that dogfights could be happening all over the country and no one would even know about it. Since then the priority of stopping dogfights became more important to Animal Humane Societies across the US. After a three-year investigation the Humane Society of the United Stated discovered one of the largest Multi-state dog raids to ever happen (12). In August of 2013 they were able to save over 367 dogs. This raid was happening between multiple states and the people involved were trading these dogs and breeding them with the dogs who would win the most to create the toughest and most vicious dogs possible. The Human Society discovered the horrible truths about dogfights and how they were treated. After this discovery it became clear why so many were terrified of this breed.

This leads to the importance of neutering not only Pit Bulls, but also other breeds who are over populated. Since people involved in dogfights don’t care about the environment for their dogs they never kept up with them breeding. This created a surplus of Pit Bulls in environments where they can’t receive the love and care they need. It also doesn’t help that out of all the dog breeds Pit Bulls typically have the largest litters from about 6-12 puppies in each litter. This should be an easy fix to make because so many animal shelter agree that there are too many neglected Pit Bulls that they usually will have a day or two out of the month for free neutering. If an animal shelter near you doesn’t do monthly free neuters, the cost is almost none. The average cost to neuter your dog is typically $50. So to fix the uncontrollable amount of Pit Bulls owners should neuter their Pit Bulls, stop buying them from litters, and adopt a Pit Bull in a shelter. One that desperately needs a home. 

Another reason there is an over population of Pit Bulls in America is because of Breed-Specific Legislature. (5) BSL makes it incredibly difficult for people to buy or adopt Pit Bulls. The BSL basically restricts certain breeds (yes Pit Bulls are included) from certain neighborhoods, counties, and cities. The reason for BSL is due to discrimination of these breeds. For example, Pit bulls are included to the list because of their muscular build and tendencies to be ferocious. Those who agree with BSL don’t understand that these dogs are now restricted from loving homes as well as specific areas. With this restriction they are forced to be placed in a shelter where they will most likely never be adopted or they will be euthanized due to over-crowding. BSL doesn’t solve any problems. It doesn’t help these dogs in anyway, it just makes it harder for these dogs to live happy lives in today’s society. 

So all these issues that have been recently taking place in the United States are creating a horrible lifestyle for these Pit Bulls in America. With the over population of Pit Bulls in our country the statistics for Pit Bulls in shelters are heart breaking. According to www.Barkpost.com (7) 1.2 million dogs are euthanized each year. 40% of these dogs are Pit Bulls. The worst part about this awful truth is that 40% of dogs in animal shelters are considered “Bully dogs”. (3) www.Freedicitonary.com defines a Bully dog as “A dog of many various breeds having a muscular body, broad powerful head, and short coat, especially an American pit bull terrier, an American Staffordshire terrier, or a Staffordshire bull terrier. Also called pit bull terrier.” This means not only Pit Bulls but other related breeds are automatically discriminated based on the way they look. (11) According to www.Caninejournal.com 48% of Pit Bulls in American shelters place pit bulls up for adoption. 30% of Pit Bulls are placed under special circumstances which usually mean they’re ill. The other 22% of Pit Bulls are euthanized no matter what the disposition is. Many Pit bulls aren’t even given a chance to be adopted because there’s either too many, they’re not allowed to live in certain places (thanks BSL), or they are not trained well enough. The worst part of this is that only 1 out of 600 Pit Bulls born will make it to a loving home (10). The rest are euthanized, mistreated, or made to fight against their will.

So with all these statistics who do we blame? Do we blame the English men who created this breed to fight and be vicious? Are the Pit Bulls to blame for just being born with a muscular body and square shaped head? Sadly, many would agree with these statements. The opposing side, the same people who are for BSL and say they would never own a Pit Bull believe this because they think that no matter how much training a Pit Bull gets, or who trains it, or where this dog comes from they will always have that natural born killer instinct. The evidence they use to support their argument is basically based on real life cases where Pit Bulls have fatally attacked children and others. Many of these cases involve more than one dog leading them to believe that Pit Bulls and other variations of this breed are savage pack dogs much like wolves. When in a pack they hunt for prey and will kill anything. (8) A case during the winter of 2013 in Savannah Georgia caused an upstir on the debate. A family of 6, one mother, 2 sons/uncles (12 and 15), a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a 21-month old toddler lived in a house with 9 unregistered dogs. These dogs were both Pit Bulls and variations of Pit Bulls. The 12-year-old uncle was supposed to be watching the toddler as his sister was at the store and his mom and grandmother were upstairs sleeping, but as he was doing his homework the toddler crawled outside to be attacked by 7 dogs. The dogs killed her almost immediately. This sad horrific incident resulted in all 9 dogs being euthanized although only 7 dogs attacked the toddler. Charges were placed on the mother for second-degree felony child cruelty.

This incident is terribly sad and I wish it didn’t have to happen, But that’s exactly it. It didn’t have to happen. Besides the responsibility of watching a toddler being given to a 12-year-old boy doing his homework there were also many mistakes that were made. Out of all 9 of these dogs not one was registered. Registering dogs is important for the safety of these dogs. If they were registered its likely that they wouldn’t have even been living with this lady because the household wasn’t stable and safe enough for them. This house was much too small for these 9 dogs let alone the 6 people living there. This also could’ve been avoided if the owners took the time to train these dogs. When you keep 9 large dogs in a backyard all the time with barley any affection being shown to them they don’t know how to act around people. It’s cases like this that terrify people and make them stay away from Pit bulls.

In today’s society people have become terrified of these beautiful big dogs but many fail to ever look at the uplifting statistics on Pit Bulls that prove they are great quality dogs for the family. The American Temperament Test Society has a temperament test for all dog breeds. Passing this test means that dogs in the breed have good behavior, can adapt to new environments easily, and are quality family dogs. It should be known that when the American Temperament Test Society tested Pit Bulls 87% of them passed their temperament test. They are the second highest breed to pass this test (6). This means they scored higher than the Collie, Golden retriever, and Beagle. All of which are extremely popular choices for families when searching for a dog. People also often forget how smart this breed is. As stated before these dogs were trained and taught to kill long ago, but doesn’t it only make sense that these dogs could also be trained and taught to love and protect? (13) According to Ashley Eneriz, an interesting fact about Pit Bulls is they are most likely to be house-broken before other large sized breeds. These dogs are full of great qualities and with all the information providing these positive facts its proven that they are true. These Pit Bulls didn’t become furious out of know where. These dogs learned how to be mean by their owners. As crazy as it sounds training a dog can be like explaining to a young child what is right and what is wrong. You would never allow your children to say mean words or hurt others so why would you allow your dog to be mean and hurt others? Statements like these build my argument to be creditable. My argument is significant because the discrimination of Pit Bulls has become more relevant that ever in the past decade and it’s concerning many across the country. My argument is meant to inform people on the ugly truth about how this breed is being treated unfairly and this problem could easily be avoided. There is a way to help these dogs, all we have to do is reach out to these hurt Pit Bulls and make them realize they’re wanted and not alone.

Everyone knows the saying history often repeats itself, but when it comes to discriminating dogs and wanting to restrict them from specific places we need to make sure this never happens. For about the past 15 years’ people think of Pit Bulls as untrainable, mean, killer dogs. They think this about Pit Bulls because of dogfights, they’re intimidating build, how many of them are in shelters, and the few cases each year that involve Pit Bull attacks. I understand that these are true to an extent and some Pit Bulls are mean, but these few incidents don’t represent the entire breed of Pit Bulls. Most fail to look and see where these “mean” Pit Bulls came form in terms of who raised them, are they a rescue, or are they simply just homeless dogs on the streets? If we took the time to see where these Pit Bulls learned to be cruel we would see that the owners are to blame. The owners who didn’t train them to love. The irresponsible owners who didn’t fix them thus creating too many Pit Bulls. They are to blame yet today’s society thinks the best way to fix this problem is to support Breed-Specific Legislature which would only reject and restrict them from possibly being in loving home. With Pit Bulls not being allowed to live in certain place the only place they can go is the shelter or death row in the shelter. What I hope to happen is for law makers to focus more on the punishment for the owners who cause Pit Bulls to get this reputation. I hope that when people look at Pit Bulls they are hesitant and they treat them like any other dog. If we can just focus on the quality of life for this underdog breed I believe that the next generation won’t look at them as scary. We should set an example by seeking justice for this breed and not discriminate any dog breed from this point on. 
