Pitbulls account for half of dog fatalities

Monday, April 18th, 2016

Only the worst kind of racist — a dog-racist — would suggest that pitbulls account for half of dog fatalities:

According to a report by Merritt Clifton (via Rosalind Arden), pitbulls accounted for 295 of 593 human fatalities due to dogs between 1982-2014, although only making up 6.7% of dogs. But that’s still the second most popular breed, behind only labrador mixes. My observation from walking down the sidewalk is that pitbulls are much more prevalent today in Los Angeles than a half century ago, when they were only vaguely heard of.

In contrast, labradors and lab mixes account for 11.5% of dogs, and only 4 human deaths.

German shepherds, an aggressive/protective breed, are in-between with 15 fatalities and 3.7% of dogs.

Pitbulls, which aren’t particularly big, aren’t the most dangerous dog per capita. The perro de presa canario, a 100+ pound beast, killed 18 people despite being only 0.02% of dogs for sale or adoption. Both are in the molosser class.

Also, wolfish dogs, such as akita, huskies, and wolf-hybrids are pretty scary, as are chows, a wolfish-molosser cross.

Rottweilers are about as dangerous per capita as pit bulls. Dobermans, however, which were notorious when I was a child as WWII guard dogs, have gotten less dangerous: my recollection is that Doberman owners have been breeding for safety while rottweiler owners have been breeding their dogs to be scary.

Comments

  1. Slovenian Guest says:

    And it gets better: almost all pit bull owners have a police record or are police known, at least around here.

  2. Redan says:

    Big city cops call pits and rots ghetto elk.

  3. Grasspunk says:

    Round here the dogs have to be registered with the Gendarmes, along with Chows and several other breeds.

  4. Grasspunk says:

    Heh, no, but I’ll keep my eyes open. If they showed up at my place they’d likely get stomped by the herd.

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