The Pit Bull is associated with aggression both against other dogs and humans. What makes this dog a monster? Breeding and handling for the large part are responsible.
In breeding there are generations of aggression bred into this breed and the American Bull Terrier, and the Staffinshire Terrier. What has happened is that these dogs have been specifically bred for aggression for dog fighting and bull baiting. The breeding for aggression also breeds out the normal social responsiveness that would normally make dogs cooperative pack animals. These dogs do not react normally to the signals of the social order of the pack. They do not respond to the submissiveness of another dog, or that matter of a human in a weakened condition.
The breeding makes these dogs easily stimulated to the point where they will launch an attack. On occasion the stimulation that triggers their aggressiveness is inadvertent or accidental.
Some would say that these statement made of the Pit Bull, Staffinshire Terrier and American Bull Terrier are reason enough to ban the breed. It should also be noted that the Akita is also classified as a fighting dog. Yes this dog is a good pet.
Instead of banning these breeds and committing a canine genocide let us look at alternatives.
What can be bred in can also be bred out. This will however, take many generations of breeding to get Pit Bulls that are not easily provoked and have the natural pack animal instincts.
Case in point of breeding for gentleness and easy trainability a man by the name of James Hinks of Birmingham England. "He believed that that the breed then called the Pit and Bull Terrier could be shaped to provide the gentlemen of the day with an elegant looking companion, one that was calmer and more reliable than the dogs bred for fighting"
(Stanely Coren " Why Does My Dog Act That Way" 2006)
Hence after mixing several dogs into the genetic pool the result was the English Bull Terrier with the barrel chest and slopped snout. The dog from "Our Gang" This took several generations of breeding in order to get the right mix of appearance, and temperament.
Another case in point is the Bull Dog. Initially this dog was designed for Bull Baiting. This dog was bred to be easily provoked to violence and aggressive action and a tenacious fighter that would ignore injuries. Physically it had wide shoulders, the head and forequarters very well developed and the rib cage made of heavy bones.
These qualities particularly the aggression over many generations was bred out.
In conclusion then, it should be said that rather than banning a breed, lets get good responsible breeders involved in making the necessary genetic changes to the above mentioned breeds so that in several generations they are good, reliable calm dogs that are not easily provoked.
In breeding out aggression the first step is to spay and neuter any potential breeding dogs that show any sign of aggression and breed only those that prove to be gentle and not easily provoked. As well as this it is important to possibly through another breed into their gene pool to guarantee the outcome.
Yes this is a long process and would probably take twenty or thirty years to get they type of dog we want as part of our household. Isn't it worth it, rather than having breed specific bans. ?
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2 comments:
In a perfect world with time and energy to spare I'd probably agree with you that we can breed out the aggressive traits of pitbulls. Yet once you've been attacked, your perspective changes! The downside of an unprovoked dog attack is physical, emotional and financial stress that can be totally crippling.
There are so many other wonderful friendly dog breeds. Why spend the effort to breed out the aggression that was deliberately placed there? Let the current generation die of old age and ban any puppies.
No one needs a pitbull. They are not worth the effort to fix. If you want to rehabilitate a dog, there are lots of rescue groups for breeds with good genes but an unfortunate life experience.
There are already many pitbulls and "Staffordshire" terriers with good dispositions. They are not all monsters. I work in rescue and have met many "lovebugs". Most of whom are spayed or neutered however because they are in rescue. It's the people who do the dogfighting unfortunately that do the breeding and I doubt that they will start breeding for "nice" dispositions. That being said I still don't believe in breed bans. We need to address the problem of irresponsible owners first because if we ban pitbulls or Akitas or Rottweilers they will just start breeding something else to be nasty. Because that's how people are.
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