PIT BULLS: BREEDING COUNTS: PIT BULLS ARE DANGEROUS

 BREEDING COUNTS

JULY 28, 2022

Today there is more than one fatal attack or mauling by a pit bull or pit bull mix reported every day.  (See Pit Bull Attack Data Base for USA and Canada)  In this month. July 2022, there were 35 reported maulings by pit bulls  for this month so far.  Pit bulls and pit bull mixed breeds are killers. They were purposely bred that way. Today in our “woke” society we are encouraged to ignore the facts of evolution and selective breeding and the science that establishes that “breeding” does count.  

Yet we blithely accept the facts about special porkers bred to produce low cholesterol bacon, or cows that produce more creamy milk,  or Covid virus strains evolving into other more infectious forms.  But to dog lovers, all dogs are equally lovable.   But the truth is that all dogs are not equal.  Some have been purposely bred to kill. 

All of our dog breeds from the tiny poodle  to the Great Dane have come down to us from their wild wolf ancestors.  Our domestic dogs  Canis lupus familiaris.  have been human companions and work mates  for at least tens of thousands of years.  It is postulated that European wolves (Canis lupus)  were taken as pups by humans who lived in Siberia. This may have been the first likely step in domestication.  Later, these growing wolf pups  with excellent hearing and scenting ability may have served as guard dogs. As instinctive members  of a wolf pack these pets also readily took to hunting with their human owners. During a hunt, early humans must have  made  good use of these wolf dogs’ excellent sense of smell and coursing ability.  And at the end of a successful,  hunt these canids were treated to parts of the kill.  They may have learned that being part of a human hunting pack —vs a wolf pack (their natural state) was just as good a strategy for survival or provided even better fare than what they might expect in a wolf pack.  And these circumstances may have encouraged them to resist running off into the wild and kept them close to their “human” pack.

As human needs changed, these early humans must have  selected young pups from a “wolf-dog” litter for other purposes too.  By selective breeding Some could be selected for traits that would make them good guard dogs, others were large enough to pull small wagons, others to herd sheep and cows. 

It was human selection of the thousands and thousands of dog litters that made it possible to select out traits that were desirable and then selectively mate bitches and dogs with similar traits to establish canid breeds that would continue to express those same characteristics.  Humans selected animals with the trait that they wanted.  It took many years of patience and effort to select and breed dogs for the many purposes to which they were put.  Some were selected to hunt game, like the Beagle, their sensitive nose and trait of baying when they scent of the quarry made them excellent hunt companions. The Bloodhound was selected for its incomparable ability to detect faint human scent.  Breeds were established by dog breeders who constantly selected the best examples out of many litters of pups and then bred these indiviuals with the trait that they preferred 

Thus arose the tiny lap dogs, the terriers, the hounds, the coursing breeds, setters, the hunters, the beagles, and even the dachshund which was especially bred to hunt out the European badger in its underground lair. 

Humans did it.  They selected for the traits they wanted and formed the diverse dog breeds. These inherited traits remain hard wired in the many modern dig breeds of today   

Black and Golden Labradors, all have an inbred desire to “fetch”. Most love the water and are great swimmers too.  Throw something and they will go after it.  These dogs were bred to fetch fallen game birds mostly ducks over water.  They swim out catch the duck and carry it back to their owner.  

Beagles were bred to hunt small game mostly rabbits.  They have a recessive trait that makes them bay or howl when they come upon the fresh scent of a game animal.  A half breed Beagle with one parent a beagle and another some other breed will not “open” or howl when it scents game.  This is not desirable and dangerous for the dog often working in front of guns. 

Sadly some breeders bred dogs for killing other dogs. These breeds, the “pit” dogs or pit bulls, and others, were bred to be put into a fighting “dog pit” and fight to the death with another dog.  Observers would bet on the bloody and deadly competition. It was and remains a cruel and ugly and illegal sport. These breeds  have strong jaws and powerful bodies and necks. They tend to bite and hold on until they are beaten off or they die themselves.  

So breeding count. They represent the genetic patterning of dogs that are genetically determined and instinctive or “hardwired”.  The guard dog breeds could be expected to be aggressive, the hunting dog breeds could be expected to be less so, and those bred for killing could be considered dangerous canid killing machines.  

Pit bull breeds and other fighting dog breeds are dangerous to keep pets.  Their instincts are to kill.  However, loving and tame they seem, their hardwired instincts are to bite and kill.  They are the breed most responsible for the deaths and maulings  one reads reported in the press.  Pit bulls are  a danger to their owners, the neighbor’s dogs and children. and the owner snd neighbors  themselves. 

It is a breed that should be let to slowly expire.