Thread: thinking of adopting a rescue dog

Originally Posted by PhilipA

German shepherd, pit bulls, rottweiler: Dangerous dogs should be banned

In answer to "absolute rubbish"

American Pit Bull are the most dangerous dog .

Now some facts.
So now you are quoting a media article based on opinion?? The author is also not a dog lover but a cat lover. This is opinion and to be factual American Pit Bulls were not originally bred for fighting, they were never bred for that, they were bred for baiting bears, bulls etc that is why the name Pit Bull came about. The problem was idiots used them for fightingThere are no verified stats quoted in that entire article.
Do a bit of research on actual stats and it is quite different.
Australia does not keep very good records on dog attacks and in most cases has absolutely no verification on the breed. This is the major problem and why the Staffordshire appeared at the top of the list for so long and was incorrectly maligned. Not one of these so called attacks was verified.
I have researched this extensively over the years, due to the Staffy being maligned (as is the Pit Bull often).
When you report an attack you do not have to verify in any way the breed, if you say it was a Staffy that is what it goes down as and is accepted as fact, you say it was a Pit Bull that is what it goes down as. Could be a poodle or a labrador. I have taken Rangers to task over this several times when they start quoting this crap and proven on all occasions these so called Rangers )Dog experts) cant tell a Staffy from a English Bully, to an Amstaff, to a pit Bull, to a cross breed, to a labrador, to a cattle dog. Have had my pure bred Staffies called a Pit Bull by more than one of these clowns. Also what is classified as an attack here in Australia is BS, a dog only has to run to a gate for it to be classified as an attack, no contact needed, dog does not have to be aggressive, does not have to bite, bear teeth or make contact.
The biggest issue any big dog attacks it will do damage.

These are the facts 1995-2011 and are fact not media myth.
The four most popular Registered Pure-bred dogs according to the Australian National Kennel Council) were: Labrador Retriever (8.3%), German Shepherd (6.3%), Staffordshire Bull Terrier (5.9%) and Golden Retriever (4.8%) in eighth place is the Rottweilers (2.4%).
Breeds involved in human deaths were: Rottweiler (4), Siberian Husky (1), Cattle Dog (1), Rottweiler X German Shepherd (1), Dingo X Labrador (1), Pit Bull X Mastiff (1), Great Dane X Mastiff (1), Great Dane X Bull Terrier (1), Medium size mixed breed (3), Large mixed breed (3) and Giant Mixed Breed (11) including Greyhounds, Mastiffs and Irish Wolfhounds.

Australia has an estimated dog population of 3,400,000 and an average of 1.1 fatalities per year (33 over the last 30 years), equating to one death per 3,090,909 dogs. (as of 2011)
Now the Bull terrier cross breeds would likely be in the large mixed breed maybe, but bear in mind this would include all 6 bull terrier cross breeds and any other large cross breed.

Because the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is not recognised as an official breed in Australia it isn't included in the statistics. It is believed that there are nearly 70,000 Pure-bred, registered “Pit Bull Types” (Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Bull Terrier & Bull Terrier) currently in Australia. Add to this number the unregistered 'pit bulls' and cross breeds and the numbers could be much higher. (What annoys me the most with this is they are all rather different temperaments and there are 6 plus breeds put in this bracket)
It is believed that the American Staffordshire bull terrier (9,000 pure bred and 34,000 mixed breeds) is replacing the banned pit bull breeds such as the APBT.
The relatively low rate of one fatality per year in Australia makes extrapolation of these statistics useless.
In the US this figure is higher, but ownership is around 9% of all dogs and many are kept as guard, fighting and hunting dogs.
Even in Australia where we know there have been a few Pit Bull related deaths (most have been from Hunting Dogs).
The later stats are not available yet. A lot of the so called Pit Bulls that have attacked have actually turned out to be Bull Mastiff's or Cross Breeds and even then very low numbers. You just here it more in the media as sensationalism is achieved with the words "Pit Bull", you here very little when it is a Shepherd, Cattle Dog etc
I am certainly not saying they cannot attack and or kill, they can, but no more than most other breeds and that is fact.
Within the research I have done I am only able to confirm that 1 Staffordshire has killed 1 person and even that was not confirmed by DNA testing to confirm the breed since records have been kept.

There have been approx 25 dog related deaths in Australia since 2000 (stats after 2011 are difficult to substantiate) to 2017 total so on average not even 2 a year, put that in perspective with the number of dogs.

Some more fun facts:
Male dogs are 6.2 times more likely to bite.
Undesexed dogs 2.6 times more likely to bite.
Chained or restrained dogs 2.8 times more likely to bite.
Most dog bites involve kids under 15yo.

It is really only the last 2 or 3 years that verification has started to occur and this is in only the most severe attacks. Until we get real stats including verification of breeding either through DNA or breeders registration this will all just be propaganda and pointless. The only country that has kept accurate stats over the last 30 years or so is Germany and as breed popularity changes so are attack stats. If you look at the German stats up until about 2008 all breeds of bull terrier and bulldog combined (about 12 breeds on came in at #6).
As said I have had and been around English Staffies, Amstaffs and even Pit Bulls for the last 35 odd years and have not been bitten by any of them (apart from playing and not actually biting as such) but have been bitten by a Schnauzer (4 stitches above the right eye), A ****zu (no stitches but deep gash with teeth marks), 2 Malteese Terriers puncture wounds and 3 Chihuahuas. These dogs show much more aggression than most Bull Terriers.
The hype this has created has given people irrational fear of some breeds to the point an idiot cop over here shot a dog that was showing no signs of agression and actually sat down for him wagging its tail.

Ok and to add a bit more in that 10 year odd period to 2011 animals that killed the most:
Horses 77 deaths - maybe we should ban these
Cattle 33 deaths
Dogs 25-27 deaths (most children under 4 or elderly sadly and why you should not leave kids with dogs). Dogs will also have the most interaction
Kangaroos 18 deaths
Bees 16 deaths - likely more
Sharks 16 deaths
Snakes 14
Emus 5
and then to put it into perspective fatalities on road (Road users vehicle, cyclist, pedestrian) and only 2002-2011 so add another 2 years to these figures 15,315 people killed and all preventable.

Originally Posted by Eevo

but can it play fetch?

No worries at all,a bit of training and all will be good

When I was a kid we had a pet wedge tailed eagle.She used to play fetch with a cricket ball.