In Defense of Pitbulls: Uncomfortable Truths
We can’t appreciate the great qualities of pitbulls without acknowledging the reality
Pitbulls are dogs. This is an obvious fact, but it’s also shorthand for something far more significant.
Like all dogs, pitbulls can be dangerous.
With their heavy, muscular bodies, these breeds are incredibly powerful: in fact, they frequently win weight-pulling competitions, where they may drag over 2,000 pounds a short distance while being hooked up to a carefully engineered and padded harness. Their stocky bodies are perfectly suited for such dazzling feats, and it’s also an excellent form of enrichment; after all, a tired dog is a happy dog.
One can guess that a dog that can pull a truck can do some serious damage to a decidedly smaller and more fragile human, and they do so regularly. In fact, pitbulls have consistently ranked as having the most damaging dog bite, well ahead of the dubious category of “mixed breed.” Time reports that though pitbulls make up only 6% of the general dog population, they resulted in 68% of all dog attacks and 52% of dog-related deaths since 1982.
It’s important to note that “pitbull” is a catch-all term for multiple breeds, including the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire…
