Myth-Busting Monday!

Today's Myth Monday is dedicated to Randy and Melissa, proud parents of Max.

Randy (who is one of Bruce's biggest fans) mentioned this weekend that pit bulls have locking jaws, to which I promptly replied "That's a myth!!" Melissa said I better hurry up and bust that myth, so here we are.

Myth: Pit bulls jaws lock (hence they are so evil and dangerous)
Truth: There is absolutely no evidence that a pit bull's jaw is different than any other breed. More information here.

The "kids" playing

Myth-Busting Monday!

Myth: A pit bull is a breed of dog

Truth: From Pit Bull Rescue Central (www.pbrc.net): This is "a generic term often used to describe all dogs with similar traits and characteristics known to the public as 'pit bulls'." The term "pit bull" should refer to one of three breeds - American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier (www.wikepedia.org).

Problems arise when media reports of dog bites refer to any large, square-headed dog as a "pit bull" without investigating the true breed of the dog, thus inflating the number of "pit bull attacks" to include attacks by breeds other than the three mentioned above.

Myth-Busting Monday!

Today's myth is brought to you by Parade magazine (and my mother in law, who made me aware of this article)

Myth: Once a pit bull has been trained as a fighting dog, it will be aggressive forever and there is nothing you can do about it.

Truth: Apparently, complete rehabilitation of fighting dogs is totally possible. This article from yesterday's Parade section in the newspaper tells the story of several of Michael Vick's fighting dogs that have been rehabilitated. Some are even service dogs that work with the elderly and children.

Myth = BUSTED (with the added bonus of some positive media attention!!)

Myth-Busting Monday!

Myth: Animal aggression is directly linked to human aggression

Truth: Exactly the opposite of this is true. I was reading the American Pit Bull Terrier "magabook" (not just a magazine, but not quite a book!) and I learned that there are several types of aggression, and absolutely no link has ever been found between animal aggression and human aggression. So, when a pit bull (or any dog, for that matter) goes after a squirrel due to its high prey drive, this should never give rise to a suspicion that it's only a matter of time before the same dog goes after a human.

Myth-Busting Monday!

I promise to start with some adequately researched and referenced myths soon, but this morning's adventure was too funny not to mention.

Myth: Pit bulls will devour any small animal that crosses their path

Truth: This morning as I'm taking Bruce out before work, a little fluffy bunny hops its way into our yard. My first reaction? Uh oh, I'm about to be pulled across this yard on a bunny chase in heels - yikes! But to my surprise, Bruce just sat there with his head cocked and confused and watched Mr. Cottontail. Just as I thought he was going to take off in the inevitable attempt to kill, he started to cry and ran to the front door.

I can't call this myth totally busted, but apparently this little pittie is more afraid of bunnies than they are of him.

Myth-Busting Monday!

As the main goal of this lil' blog o' mine is to debunk some of the mean myths about pit bulls, I've decided to dedicated Mondays to Myth-Busting.

MYTH: Pit bulls will eat your babies

TRUTH: Every piece of valuable, researched literature (meaning things other than reports based on "somebody told me" rather than actual facts, and random comments on message boards) that I can find starts with the same basic premise: American Pit Bull Terriers are some of the nicest, smartest dogs who love people and are good with children. Only when raised by unfit owners do pit bulls show aggression to humans.

Bruce has never met any babies, but he does play very nicely with a 7 year old and a 2 year old in our neighborhood. And if this picture is worth anything, I call this myth officially busted:

I don't know where this picture came from but would love to give credit - if it's yours, let me know!