BestBullySticks.com Celebrates Pit Bull Awareness Month & Day!
October is designated Pit Bull Awareness Month with the 27th being the focal point of the month for Pit Bull Awareness Day. This is the day to celebrate the breed and break down stereotypes of the nature of Pit Bulls. The dog was once called the “Nanny Dog,” so what happened? Why does this breed get such a bad rap? That’s why BestBullySticks.com wants to start the conversation with you. We’re going to talk about 4 myths about Pit Bulls and “Bully” breeds.
#1 Pit Bulls and “Bully” breeds are aggressive.
Some cultural thought suggests that pit bull type dogs are inherently aggressive toward people. The history of these breeds originate in England, where all “bully” breeds have their ancestors. English baiting dogs were bred to grip and hold bulls, bear and large animals. After bull baiting was banned, dog-on-dog fighting began. These owners bred small, agile terriers with large, heavy bulldogs to create fighting breeds. These dogs eventually led to breeds like bulldogs, mastiffs, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Boxers and Bull terriers. There really is no such dog as “pit bull,” but simply dogs that have the same general look.
However, the term “bully” doesn’t suggest a temperament problem against people. Unfortunately, these dogs were bred to fight dogs, and still today are more likely to be aggressive toward their fellow dogs and not people. In fact, the American Temperament Test Society found that, on average, most dogs are 77% likely to have a good temperament. Pit types were above average with an 82% or better. So needless to say, pit bulls that exhibit aggressive behavior are atypical.
Temperament depends on many different factors including reproductive status, sex, training, socialization and more. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) found these very interesting facts.
- More than 70 percent of all dog bite cases involve unneutered male dogs.
- An unneutered male dog is 2.6 times more likely to bite than is a neutered dog.
- A chained or tethered dog is 2.8 times more likely to bite than a dog not chained or tethered.
- 97 percent of dogs involved in fatal attacks on people in 2006 (the most recent year statistics are available) were not spayed/neutered. Read more
