hmmmm...maybe so...can't help but wonder how many pit bull owners (or former owners) who having gone through the tragedy of an unexpected mauling of their own child by the family pet concluded, "Gee...we just don't understand them, fundamentally."
from
Dog attack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"It is extremely difficult to establish the inherent human aggressiveness of a
breed in general. To establish meaningful results, research would have to consider such factors as the following:
- What proportion of a breed's owners are knowledgeable about dog training? When a breed's popularity increases, it might be more likely to be the first choice among owners with no previous experience with dogs because it's the breed with which they're familiar. Novice owners might not know how to properly socialize a dog of any breed.
- What proportion of owners deliberately encourage aggression in their dogs, or keep their dogs in a manner which fosters aggressive traits? This would be a difficult number to discover, because it seems likely that not many owners would readily admit to it. Also even though it may not be intended to train a dog to be aggressive, it is well documented that many dog owners do inadvertently teach a dog to think of itself as dominant.
- What proportion of dogs involved in acts of human aggression came from a known mother or father who exhibited human aggression? This can happen in any breed, and responsible breeders would generally not breed such a dog. However, as a breed's popularity increases, people who know nothing about breeding or genetics (or who don't care), might breed dogs who otherwise shouldn't be bred.
- What proportion of that breed in the community exhibits human aggression? For example, if there were 5,000 pit bulls in a given area, and 5 attacked humans during the previous year, but there were 100 of some other breed in the same area and 5 also attacked humans, statistics would suggest that the other breed is a far more aggressive breed than pit pulls, with 4,995 pit bulls behaving quite decently.[1] Most statistics published show only the number of dogs of various breeds involved in attacks, not the percentage of dogs of that breed in the area who were involved in attacks. Any popular breed is more likely to show up with more attacks because there are simply more dogs."
also:
"Pit Bulls are said to be popular with irresponsible owners, who see these dogs as a symbol of status or machismo. This type of owner may be less likely to socialize, train, or desex their pet. These are all factors that have been shown to contribute to increased likelihood of dog aggression, and may partially explain why Pit Bulls feature so heavily in dog attack statistics. It is known that unneutered male dogs account for 96% of all fatal dog attacks. (Fatal Dog Attacks by Karen Delise), showing that irresponsible ownership can have a great impact on how a breed is represented in attack statistics."