Are Pit Bulls Evil or Just Simply Misunderstood

Pit bulls have been the discussion of the decade. People have been outraged by what seems to be 'purposeful" attacks on owners and even complete strangers. The real question is, are pit bulls evil or just simply misunderstood? This has become a huge issue because, if determined to be evil, plans to terminate the breed entirely will be put into play. 'Breed bans" have already been enacted in 12 states. This is a human-problem not a dog problem.

The 'War on Pit Bulls" all started with what seemed to be heightened attacks on humans, especially children. What people fail to realize, however, is that pit bulls “ and other dog breeds “ are products of their environment and their genes. To go further in depth, this all means that their surroundings (including people who raise them) are huge factors in how they will behave.
Questions typically asked include 'Was the dog a fighter?" and 'Was it abused?". It is the same argument that is spoken about criminals “ what was their childhood like? Were they abused? The huge difference between the two is this “ one knows and understands that what they're doing is wrong, the other does not. Pit bulls do not have human intelligence meaning that they have no knowledge of right and wrong. Therefore, this is a people people-problem, not a dog problem.

The 'pit bulls were only raised to dog fight" argument is simply invalid. Studies show that 'People who selected the pit bull breed for bullfighting would not tolerate a human aggressive dog." (Enos). This means that, although the dog used would be aggressive towards other dogs, they were trained to not bite their owners when being pulled out of a fight and to act well around their families.

It is also impossible to say that 'pit bulls" are the most aggressive dog breed because there's more than one breed of pit bull “ The American Bully, The American Staffordshire Terrier, The American Pit Bull Terrier, and The Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Only one of these breeds was originally bred for bullfighting “ The American Pit Bull Terrier. This information correlates with the fact that 'People often mistake any dog with a large head and a short coat into the category instead of separating them out for each pit bull breed." (Worrall).

Pit bulls used to not be viewed as evil “ they were America's most beloved dog. Once the blue-collar mascot, becoming most popular in World War 2 and the Great Depression, there was a 'massive push for kennel club breeds and the pit bull fell by the wayside." (Worrall). In 1928, a show called Our Gang debuted and the main character was a pit bull named Petey. Pit bulls were all-American. They were just everyday dogs. Within 30 years, this all changed. In 1970, the humane movement was in full swing. The reason this movement came to be is because they wanted to get rid of dog fighting entirely. To fulfill this action, they put illegal dog fighting on the front page of every newspaper in America. Their dog of choice to exhibit this was the pit bull. The fear for this dog stems from propaganda used over 40 years ago. They managed to put extreme speculations such as 'they have 5,000 pounds of jaw pressure", so, the more terrified people became, the less popular the pit bull breeds became.

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