What is it with the media's infatuation with 'bad rap' breeds?

Every time I hear of a dog attack on the news, it's almost always a Pit or a Rottie as the vicious, man-eating animal..

I read an old article a couple years back about a teenage girl in a coma after being badly mauled by 2 Labradors. I saw nothing about that on the news.

Why does the stupid, one-sided media try to portray these breeds as monsters? Or is it one of those questions that can never be answered?

Grace, it's the same rationale that dictates that you hear all the sordid details of an alleged rape, murder or other violence, the complete life history of the accused and the family of the accused, and then, when it comes about that the wrong person was accused, it's buried on the back page of the newspaper. Only the sordid, sensationalized and salacious stories (how's that for alliteration?) are deemed newsworthy. It's sensational and easy to place the blame squarely on the dog, no questions asked, when it's a Pit or one of the other breeds the media loves to portray as nefarious killers, but if it's a Lab or one of the more typically common 'family pet' breeds, it might make too many people ask just what made the dog bite, depriving the media of a sexy, juicy story that no one will question.

I remember a few years ago in middle Tennessee a woman was fatally bitten by a Chow she had rescued from an extremely abusive owner. The dog was having a predictably difficult time acclimating to being in a new place and wouldn't eat or come out of it's doghouse for a couple of days - understandable under the circumstances. This well-meaning but foolish woman crawled into the dog's house to pull it out! Of course the dog bit her! Unfortunately, her artery was cut and she bled to death before anyone knew anything about it. Did the news ever mention the fact that it was her own fault for so foolishly invading a frightened animal's only safe place? Nope! It would have been a perfect chance to educate people about intelligent handling of animals, but it was a wasted opportunity.

I was heartened, though, by the coverage of another incident in middle Tennessee. It was heartbreaking, but the right people got the blame for once. A family from Florida was pulled over by the local authorities and everyone - parents and kids - were made to get out of the car. The entire incident was caught on the patrol car's video tape. You could hear the parents pleading with the officers to shut the car doors so that the family dog wouldn't get out. The officers were holding these people at gunpoint and laughed at them when they tearfully begged them to shut the car doors so their pet wouldn't run out of the car and be hit on the busy highway. Well, predictably, the dog, about a 35 o 40 pound Pit mix, bounced out of the car, tail wagging and grinning, and started looking around, but when he started to bounce toward one of the officers, the #@%$* shot him point blank with his rifle - twice! The big strong cop said he was afraid for his life because that vicious Pit Bull attacked him. Oh, the local news got hold of the tapes of the entire incident and saturated the airwaves with it, the national media got it and did the same, the name of the officer got out, he received all sorts of death threats from all over the country. AND THE ENTIRE STOP HAD BEEN COMPLETELY BOGUS!
I heard that a very reputable breeder here in Tennessee of very expensive dogs (forget which breed, it wasn't really the point, I guess) invited the family to come and pick out a puppy from her next litter.

The press talks more about pit attacks because they are more common. They also wanna get people excited and have afeeling that the article about a pit attack instead of a lab attack will be juicier.


You also have to think about it like this. Let just say(this ratio isnt accurate so dont critisize it.)

100 pit attacks a year. Then 2 lab attacks a year.

You will probably hear more about the pit attacks because their is more of them. So the new crew may not be biased.

Another thing is labs are not as powerful as pits so their attacks aren't as fatal. Labs are a lot less aggressive so there isnt as many lab attacks.

Excuse me?


Labradors are easily the nation's most common breed. With them being the most common breed, Labs are GOING to attack more often than Pits because there are MORE of them.

Take my neighborhood for example. There is a Chow/Pit X that lives right across the street from two labrador retrievers. Sometimes Gypsy (pit mix) runs with Beavis & Butthead (Dunno their real names)

Well, one day a 9-year-old on the street got attacked, and the whole neighborhood blamed Gypsy & a Rottweiler that also lives on that street.

The girl said that a black dog and a yellow dog jumped at her while she was riding her bike and knocked her down into the gravel while they chewed on her arm. Might I point out that the Chow/pit mix is brown and white.

If anything, IMO, Labs are more aggressive than pits. BUT, they don't have incredible jaw-power and they can't sever an arm with just one bite. Maybe you should look at the facts instead of just being prejudiced and set in your ways.

no i didnt say there is more labs than pits!!!! i said there are more pit atatcks!!! god~

dont be rude if u dont even know what i said

You look at the facts

I do know what you said.

Pit Bulls do NOT attack more than any other dog out there, like you seem to be saying. What I'M saying is that when they do attack they inflict a more serious wound, therefore getting on the news or in the paper.

Do you honestly think that people register a dog bite every time a Chihuahua bites them? 'course not. Little dogs probably bite three times as much as large dogs, but because they don't do DAMAGE, it doesn't matter. the same goes for breeds with weaker jaw muscles that can't HURT someone as badly as a pit or a rottie.

Pit attacks are not more common, I personally have only heard of Pit Bulls injuring someone, never seen a truly aggressive pit, and have a pretty hard time believing that Pit Bulls attack more than any other breed, so therefore they get on the news.

k~~ i misunderstood u~~ u dont need to be so harsh when u correct me~~

hey you two.....before getting into a tizzy.........I've heard lots about all kinds of breeds. Here it is the doberman and the Rottie that get the bad rap. We all know any dog can inflict damage. Not just picking on the pits. Some news stories just seem to pick up on certain breeds when there is a problem. You've all heard me say this.......and I stick to it........those little 2 or 3 pounders scare me the most!!!!!! Mean little suckers. I must say, tho...I came across a pit bull that was dropped off....I had great respect for that fellow and his powerful jaws...he was, tho......a sweetheart. Ya just never know.

Debi, i have to agree about the little tiny guys! The only dog bites I've endured have been from little dogs!

Facez of death, I don't mean to be harsh, but you really, REALLY need to take a good, long look at what you're saying, and then go research the breed that you're criticizing and being prejudiced against.

If, after lots and lots of reserach and after you learn the temperament of the breed, you still think they're all vicious man-eating machines, then you'll have reason to criticize and dislike the breed. Right now you obviously know nothing about pit bulls, and you are just taking in everything bad that you hear about pits and storing it as your idea of their temperament...

pitbulliest posted alot of good sites in your 'pit bull' thread, go look at them...

FOD. You shouldn't critisize a whole type of breed like that. Pit bulls can be very friendly if raised correctly.

Understand this, if nothing else: Every breed of dog will bite. Any dog that can take you off your feet is potentially lethal. When a dog bites, it has a reason. Every single time. We may not know the reason, we may not understand the reason, but there is a reason and the reason absolutely always has it's origin with a human being, whether it is the person who got bitten at that particular time or some person or persons in the dog's history, even if it is as far back as a breeder. I have dogs that are bred for very pronounced stranger aversion, but they still need a reason to bite. It is our responsibility to care for dogs in such a way that they do not feel compelled to bite. It is our responsibility when a dog bites. Period.

Facez of Death..again it seems like you are way too heavily influenced by the media yourself. First of all, the REAL fact is that there are no more pit bull attacks than lab attacks... the reason you think there are more pit bull attacks is because enforcement officials do not identify the breeds correctly 80% of the time. In fact, MANY MANY labs are mistaken as pit bull terriers...however...it is a lab that tore off that child's face, or shredded that little dog to pieces..but heck..since they have no clue about breed identification..then they decide its a pit bull.. yes..stupid..but true..
I was just at my local animal control office a few days ago since they pick up stray dogs..I was curious at what kinds they found lately...well as shocking as it may be, more than half the dogs were labelled as "pit bulls"..when in fact..I clearly recognized a couple to be husky mixes, some lab crosses, and a german shepherd... isn't it good to know that if one of these dogs attacks someone or does something wrong, its the pits that will get blamed yet again..because our ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICIALS (who mind you, should have more knowledge of dog breeds than anyone else), have no flippin clue about any breeds!

Second of all, pit bulls are not more aggressive than labs...at least when it comes to humans...in fact, I would say pit bulls are less aggressive than labs (except when it comes to other dogs..since they were bred for fighting..yes they are more DOG aggressive..but they are not generally HUMAN aggressive since they are bred to be extremely faithful and loyal towards humans)...keep in mind that the American Temperment Testing Society gave the pit bull a high grade of 84% while the sweet and loving Golden Retriever did 2% worse overall...hmmm surprised? WOoo..sooo vicious *rolls eyes*

Third of all, pit bull attacks are reported because of the severity of the bite. Lets face it, when a pit bites, and a Chihuahua bites...there IS a difference...so people tend to ignore the chihuahuas and the shitzus. Pits are raised by the wrong people...the ghetto trash, drug dealers, dog fighters..these people have no true knowledge of the breed, not to mention they never socialize their dogs, in turn turning them into aggressive monsters...so who's fault is that? DUH!...

There are specific reasons..although completely ignorant and stupid, that the pit bull gets the front page of the paper every time...although its usually not the pit bull thats responsible...and alot of the times its not even a pit bull to begin with..media still covers it, without bringing forth the background history of the dog (perhaps it was abused/left to starve to death/bated? we don't have a clue..because the media doesn't even bother to try and find this information!)...yup..so that's why you've got pits on the front cover..not because they're evil, dangerous, and mean dogs... for cryin out loud facez, get a clue! You've been on this forum long enough and you still haven't learned anything?

Amen to that.

What can I say?I am familiar with the so called pitt problems.It's the same here too...I can say that the only ones responsible for a dog's behavior (any breed) are THE OWNERS.
I was in the park one day and a female pitt came along.She was so cute and she was so friendly with all the dogs.For some reason she liked Amira so she (Sonya) came everytime and licked my dog and she just layed down on her back with her belly up.Amira doesn't like very much to be licked by other dogs.And as Sonya was bothering her,Amira growled at her and wanted to scare her off.But Sonya just stood there and recognized Amira's authority and she didn't attack her or something like that.I was surprised,because all the pitts that I'd seen untill then were all owned by some boys that were showing off and they "trained" their dogs EVERY SINGLE DAY in the park.Some of the dogs got into fights accidentaly and the owners were just laughing and you could see in their eyes that they were so proud of their dogs.I thought that they were (are) so stupid.
And another exemple of a dog being mistaken to a pitt: One day I was walking with my dog without a leash on (we were just going to buy a newspaper which it was near our home and anyway she doesn't leave my sight).When I heard, suddenly, a woman's voice that was yelling at me to grab my dog and to hold her.I was shocked because Amira was 5 metres away from her and she didn't seem to go towards that woman anyway.And then I said that my dog didn't bite,otherwise I would have put her the leash on.Then she screamed at me,actually asked me "What about that pitt bull?"...She was so confused because now she thought that every dog would bite and every dog was supposed to be a pitt bull...And that's a wrong concept!
I know that people all over the world tend to blame it on the pitt, but I've said it and I say it again.The only ones responsible for a dog's behavior are THE OWNERS.
And that cocludes my opinion
Hugs to all, Nicco

Yeah people are dumb..however if you ever see that pit bull's owner in the dog park again, tell them they better avoid dog parks..its the last place a pit bull should be. They are known to be dog AGGRESSIVE...and even if its been to the park 239402934 times and has loved all the other dogs, there may come a day when everyone least expects it..and that pit bull will attack another dog..you can never trust this breed not to fight with another pooch..its what they were bred for...

as for people freakin out about your dog..lol you know what I do? If I see people giving me really dirty looks when they see my dog and I, I just get down and give her a big wet kiss and a hug..lol that makes them even more ticked off cuz I'm rubbing in their face how my dog is a big ol sweetie and I could care less what anyone else thinks!

Dog Attacks

FALSE. Pit attacks are not anymore common than any other breed. The problem is that the look alike breeds get listed as pits. How many times have you heard of Boxers or Staffie Bulls attacking people? You just don't here it because they are called Pits. Even some of poorly bred Labs out there look just like drop eared pits.

Before you judge a breed you should read up on them. The Pit Bull was bred for fierce dog fighting true but do you realize that the dogs were required to put up with *strangers* prying them apart in the middle of a fight? Try breaking up a dog fight, it's dangerous and even the most well behaved dog will snap at a human hand, the pits were bred to have great judgement under the most stressful conditions. Dogs who did bite were shunned, no one wanted to pit their dogs against a dog that they could not inspect to ensure the fight was fare.

Because of this Pits have a high pain tolerance. There is a Pit in my 4-H club that will allow her two young masters to lay on her back without a care in the world. She'll just let out a little whimper if the kids step on her too hard.

Yes, there are the horrible dogs who maul children but you are missing the broader spectrum. Look into the past of these dogs. They'll either have horrible owners, no socilalizing, poor breeding or even all three.

5 years ago a Dachshund leapt into a crib and mauled her infant owner.

A Gordon Setter played patiently with a toddler before, without warning, the dog tore into the child almost killing her.

These are just SOME of the breeds known to attack. Others include Pomeranians, Cocker Spaniels, Great Danes, Saint Bernards, Goldens, Labs, Siberian Huskies, Poodles, and the list goes on. ANY dog can bite, I just wish we could bite the owners back

http://www.samthedogtrainer.com/Articles_Dog Bite Statistics.htm
http://www.drklein.net/_disc1/00000031.htm
http://www.fataldogattacks.com/

With only about 20 fatal dog attacks a year and hundreds of thousands of Pit Bulls registered by the United Kennel Club its impossible to say that Pits are vicious.

To say that all Pits are vicious is to say that all African Americans belong in jail. We all know both are nuts.

Great Post!

First of all, my boston terrier is way more aggressive than my pit bull. Not towards people of course...But Bula, my pit, will cower down to Dixie(my boston). And Bula is like 5 times bigger than her. I hate getting into the conversation about pits being the most aggressive dogs, because the people that I get into it with, are so hard headed and ignorant of the breed, that it is absolutely useless. When they set their mind to something, they don't even want to hear anything else to try to change their mind. Look at all these shows on Animal Planet. All the Animal Cops shows. On EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, they are busting pit bull fights, and bringing in pits that are cut up, and almost ripped to shreds, but a lot of these dogs, when they get away from other dogs, are just fine. The vets usually don't have problems with them. Every once in a while, they will find one that is too mean, they can't handle. People don't understand that a lot of pits are only aggressive towards other dogs, NOT HUMANS. I'll tell you this, I have been around Pits my WHOLE LIFE, and I have NEVER seen one that wasn't just a big teddy bear. The only pits that are mean to people are the ones with stupid owners. And yes, every once in a while the dogs will fight each other, only to decide who is going to be the boss, but that is with every breed. If you have two female dogs in one house, they are going to fight at least one to establish dominance. Two males will do the same thing. Bula and Dixie have even tried to fight, but Dixie won that one. I will say it again, My boston terrier is dominant over my pit bull. She's the boss. If Bula starts playing too rough, Dixie will let her know, and she'll quit. I don't care if you have two chihuahas, they will fight to see whos boss.

Like most things villified by the media, they misguide the (generally sheepish) viewing or reading masses into blaming the tool, not the idiot human handlers.

As a firearms safety instructor and advocate (who lived in Kalifornia) I experienced negative media bias DAILY. Some cracked-up dillrod plugs his neighbor with a stolen pistol? Sure happens all the time. Who do you blame? Not the idiot criminal but Taurus or Beretta!!! How do you solve the problem? Make perfectly law abiding citizens wait ten days to buy a stripped down "CA legal" weapon with unsafe "safety features.". Morons.

The Lethal Dog issue is 100% analagous. I was walking through a very small rural Catholic Church festival the other day with Josie the Wondermutt right after I got her. Knowing that it wouldn't be crowded, I thought it a good chance to see how she did around groups of people. I had her on a short lead and went by two hayseed cops and overheard them talking:

"Can that guy have his dog here?"
"Yeah, as long as it ain't a Pit Bull or a Rott."



Fools. Evidently they watch the same news between cartoons as FOD does.
When I had my purebred Rott, I would have been 100% confident to take her into a crowd and not even be concerned about her behavior as I was with my new mutt. I'm careful, I'm responsible, all of which are by products of literacy!

I do think that the salacious bashing of Bad Rap breeds is exacerbated by what a lot of us (doggies) and them (non doggies) see when we see the "bad" Pit or Rott owners. How many times have you seem some punk-a$$ dude strutting down the street with his OMGBADASSDAWG, MANG!!1! He looks mean (and stupid) so the non-dog owning layman will assume his choice in pets is the same, and blame the dog rather than the chucklehead owner.

OK...*whew*, I'm ranting now.

The media is a business, trust me they KNOW their audience better than their audience knows itself. They don't so much inform as they do pander. They use iconic imagery to generate enough emotion for Ms. Smith to sit through that Ex-Lax commercial to catch that juicy story about the EVIL Rottweiler who viciously mauled little Brittany down the street.

Don't get me wrong, I feel badly for lil' Brit, but my mind works differently than these alarmists. My first thought is: "Where in bloody heck was the dogs owner?" Not: "Those **** rottweilers."

When my friend in college died in a Mustang, I didn't shake my fist at the sky and say: "Why Lord? Why couldn't Henry Ford have been a baker?"

Are there bad dogs? Sure, we all know that, but I think most of us would agree that 98.37% of all dog problems are the owners faults.

When you have Bad Rap dogs that are potentialy lethal in the hands of people that couldn't succesfully pick their own nose, bad stuff is gonna happen. The vicious circle is that these nuckle draggers want a dog that showcases their perceived BADASSERY. It gives the breed, good breeders, and responsible owners all a bad rap, and it keeps those dogs from getting into the homes that they deserve.

Trust me, 'ole EXTREMEBLOODNINJA the Pit would MUCH rather be called Daisy, at home with the Gentrys and lounging fieldside at lil' Britney's soccer game than being cooped up in SPYDER'S flopshack and waiting in his '78 Nova during his meetings with his probation officer.

*This message has been approved by ButtGumbo*

Out.

LOVE that post! Especially the last paragraph.