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0 pointsmacintux5h ago0 comments

I took a few pit mixes out of the local humane society last summer for "Doggy Day Out", basically an opportunity for dogs who need new homes to get exposure to the community and get away from the kennel for a few hours, and they were universally friendly, sweet dogs.

There's some selection bias, obviously, but their reputation is definitely overblown.

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dmix5h ago

They are banned in Ontario, Canada for a good reason and banned in UK for the same reasons.

The only time my dog was ever randomly attacked was a pitbull and you quickly learn talking to other dog owners how common this is. Nothing clears out a dog park like a pit bull showing up.

Rendello1h ago

The ban isn't meaningfully enforced in much of the province [1], I see them a lot. I used to live in Ottawa, and their official site directly states "The City of Ottawa does not enforce the provincial ban on pit bulls" [2]. For those (legitimately) interested in a Canadian perspective on breed-specific legislation, there's a documentary by CBC's Fifth Estate on the subject [3].

1. https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/five-things-to-know-abou...

2. https://ottawa.ca/en/living-ottawa/animals-and-pets/dogs/dog...

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFa8HOdegZA

macintuxOP5h ago

I suspect the reasons are (generously) keeping them out of the hands of people who would treat them poorly and perpetuate the stereotypes, or (less generously) ignorance and fear.

crooked-v4h ago

There are plenty of statistical studies out there that pit bulls specifically cause both a significant plurality of dog bites and significantly worse injuries than other dog breeds.

For example:

https://blog.dogsbite.org/2016/10/table-retrospective-level-...

https://www.dogsbite.org/dog-bite-statistics-studies-level-1...

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givemeethekeys4h ago

Maybe Pitbulls are bi-polar more often than other dogs.

jlarocco4h ago

How they're raised makes a big difference, but natural instinct is natural instinct. It's just like how chihuahuas were bred to be small, but pit bulls were bred to fight other dogs.

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