Why Breed Specific Legislation Bsl should be Repealed

So. What is a dangerous dog? The common sense definition is a poorly trained animal inclined to bite humans, other dogs, or livestock. Common sense does say that larger dogs are ‘more’ dangerous than small ones, given their bites are likelier to cause serious injury. However, statistics indicate that more people are bitten by small dogs, although those bites often go unreported.

According to proponents of ‘Breed Specific Legislation’ however, a dangerous dog is one that might, somewhere, have an ancestor used in dog fighting. The breed most commonly targeted is the American Pit Bull Terrier. This breed is banned in many countries throughout the world or, if allowed, placed under restrictions that include mandatory spay and neuter, muzzling and, in some cases, twelve inch leashes. A quick search of the internet will see a picture of the Pit Bull next to ‘number one most dangerous dog breed’…generally a chained, slavering animal that looks like it’s about to maul somebody any moment.

Statistically, they might have a case. Almost three quarters of dog bite related fatalities involve either ‘Pit Bulls’ or Rottweilers. However, let’s look at this a little more. First of all, there is the fact that many people can’t identify a specific dog breed. In fact, Pit Bulls have such a reputation for aggression that an aggressive dog tends to be seen as a Pit Bull by the very fact of being aggressive. Staffordshire Bull Terriers, a similar breed, are often confused with American Pit Bull Terrier and a lot of breed specific legislation attacks both.

However, all kinds of other mistakes are made…Bull Mastiffs and even Chows have mysteriously morphed into ‘Pit Bulls’ after attacking humans or livestock. And, of course, a lot of so-called ‘Pit Bulls’ are mutts that might look vaguely like an APBT. Not only do most dog bite studies rely on visual identification, but so does the determination of whether an animal counts as a ‘Pit Bull’. Owners of dogs found innocent are often stung for significant costs. American Pit Bull Terriers actually pass the American Temperament Test Evaluation, one measure of a dog’s suitability as a pet, in a similar percentage to other popular breeds such as Golden Retrievers. The media is also to blame, with attacks by so-called Pit Bulls reported far more than those by other breeds of dog.

The other issue that affects the Pit Bull’s reputation is the fact that Pit Bulls and mixes are still used for dog fighting. Obviously, an animal that has been trained to attack and kill other dogs is going to be a dangerous animal. In many cases, dogs rescued from fighting rings cannot be rehabilitated and have to be euthanized. These are disproportionately Pit Bulls, but should not be compared to well-bred Pit Bulls from lines bred to be family pets. The overall result of BSL is much loved family pets being killed if they stray…even if they are not Pit Bulls or remotely connected to them. It also denies people the right to own certain breeds of dog.

Pit bulls that are well bred and properly socialized make good pets, good service dogs…and very bad guard dogs. Additionally, breed specific restrictions occur at other levels. For example, apartment complexes may ban the ownership of certain breeds. New York City also has a ban on Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and Dobermans for residents of public housing. When introduced in 2009, it resulted in the mass dumping of large numbers of dogs (they also, at the same time, dropped the maximum weight for dogs from forty to twenty-five pounds, which also led to dogs ending up in shelters). As Pit Bulls are hard to place, Pit Bulls that end up in shelters are almost always euthanized.

So…how big is the Breed Specific Legislation problem? Most BSL covers Pit Bulls and similar types. However, many other breeds are included in one or more laws. Fairfield, Iowa, even bans all dogs over a hundred pounds…when was the last time you met or heard of a dangerous St. Bernard and male Labrador Retrievers can top this weight limit easily. Mastiffs and Bulldogs are also often targeted. In most cases, the grounds are even more tenuous than the statistics supporting the ‘danger’ of Pit Bulls. While eleven states actually have statues banning BSL, thirty-eight have some form of breed specific legislation at the state level. These laws cost hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payer money to enforce, and often prove hard to do so.

More and more, dog owners are using DNA testing as a defense, the expense of which would be considerable for jurisdictions. When governments have limited resources, it makes no sense to waste those resources enforcing these laws instead of targeting animal abuse and neglectful owners. There is no proof that breed specific legislation reduces dog bite incidents or makes anyone safer. All it does is make certain people feel safer…sadly, our society is very keen on ‘feeling’ safer these days.

Breed specific legislation needs to be repealed and the money spent on trying to enforce it spent on owner education, subsidized spay and neuter programs or simply saved for more important things than banning dogs because they look vaguely like they might be ‘Pit Bulls’.

Related Posts:

1. Why Breed Specific Legislation Bsl Doesn’t Reduce Dog Bite Incidents
2. Why Breed Specific Legislation is Bad
3. Breed specific legislation
4. The Problem with Breed Specific Legislation

http://www.second-opinion-doc.com/why-breed-specific-legislation-bsl-should-be-repealed.html

Most Dangerous Kinds of Dogs It’s not about the breed!

Karen B. London

, PhD

 | 

March 25, 2016

The least scary sleeping dogs ever Not a week goes by that I don’t get asked what I think are the most dangerous kinds of dogs. If what I do for a living comes up, this question often does, too. And when people say “kind” they are typically talking about breed. When I answer that the breed doesn’t have anything to do with it, people are usually skeptical, but there is consensus in the field of canine behavior about this. Recently, I read a blog post called “The Five Most Dangerous Types of Dogs in the World” that sheds light on what types of dogs are dangerous. It makes clear that we need to pay attention to individual dogs and specific circumstances rather than the dog’s breed. According to this post, the five most dangerous types of dogs are: Untrained dogs. If a dog has no boundaries, and has never been taught how to behave, he is more likely to injure someone, perhaps by accident. Fearful dogs. Dogs who are scared or nervous may panic and act aggressively in order to protect themselves. Being afraid is at the root of more canine aggression than any other factor. Unpredictable dogs. If a dog’s behavior is confusing and does not follow any obvious pattern, it’s easy to be taken off guard by their actions or inadvertently do something that upsets him. Tired or sick dogs. Just like people, dogs are not at their best when they don’t feel well and most would prefer not to be bothered. Dogs don’t have many ways to let us know they want to be left alone. They sometimes resort to a growl, snap or bite, especially if they’ve already tried to walk away and go off by themselves, and that didn’t get the message across. Unfamiliar dogs. Not all dogs consider everyone a friend immediately. Lots of dogs need time to warm up to new people and don’t like to be treated as a long lost friend within five seconds of being introduced.. Treating an unfamiliar dog like your best friend can be off-putting to some and lead to aggressive behavior. If you adore all dogs, it’s hard to remember that the feeling of love at first sight may not always be mutual. There are plenty of dogs in each of these categories that are not dangerous in the slightest, but it makes sense to consider these potential risk factors and act accordingly.

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Karen B. London, PhD, is a Bark columnist and a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist specializing in the evaluation and treatment of serious behavior problems in the domestic dog.

photo by Yukari/Flickr

http://thebark.com/content/most-dangerous-kinds-dogs#.Vw2AtwAskKY.facebook

Dog Cognition: How Do Dogs Perceive The World?

Dogs and humans share one of the strongest bonds between two different species on Earth. The connection has grown so deep, it’s literally become coded into our genes. And a wave of new research is shedding more light on these all-important dog-human relationships and what our furry friends are thinking. (Why so important? Just consider that 44 percent of American households have at least one dog.) What we’re finding out about how we influence each other, and our similarities, is nothing short of mind-blowing.

Dogs process and respond to things in ways that are similar, scientifically, to how a child behaves. Dog owners might know this intuitively, but new research is showing that the things we think we know might only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In partnership with Purina, we caught up with canine researchers to get their take on exactly what we’re finding out, and what they hope to learn in the future.

We know dogs, like kids, love our attention. Now we’re starting to realize just how big of an impact we can have on them.

Image credit: Nestlé Purina. From a November 2014 thermal-imaging study on how dogs respond to people.

One of the biggest trends in canine research is to use fMRI machines to study the dog brain and how it responds to stimuli, but it can take a year to teach them how to lie down in one of those machines, according to Ragen McGowan, Ph.D., an ethologist at Nestlé Purina who studies canine cognition. Last year, she led a study that used heat imaging to illustrate how, when a human is present, a dog will experience a physiological response. There’s increased blood flow to its eyes, ears and paw pads, indicating states of excitement that are hardwired into its physiology. In another study led by McGowan, researchers proved that a human petting a shelter dog for even 15 minutes will help to lower the dog’s heart rate and make it less anxious. We all know dogs have health benefits for humans; now we know more, scientifically, about our impact on them.

“Where the new area is headed is looking more at the positive states,” McGowan tells The Huffington Post. She describes how newer technologies are providing researchers with a window into the subjective experience of canines in a way that they never had before.

Some people see a dog eating grass or chewing on a rock and think it’s stupid. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Dogs, like kids, do things for a reason, even if it seems strange to adults. For starters, dogs experience the world a lot like kids do who are in the oral fixation stage -- they want to taste everything. Dogs also experience anxiety just like humans do, and they might try and cope with it, for example, by chewing on a rock (rather than, say, eating a tub of ice cream). It’s due in no small part to the fact that dogs have many of the same brain structures and hormones that humans do, a reality about which we’re only now beginning to find out.

“It all depends on the dog, but, just like people, dogs have their serious moments and their silly moments,” McGowan says. “[But] dogs explore the world with their mouths, they might just be exploring their world and learning more about [it],” by eating grass or chewing on a rock.

“There’s a physiological response going on,” adds Brian Zanghi, Ph.D., a research scientist. “There’s something driving them to do that.”

Sometimes we’ll make a happy face and our dog perks up. Maybe it’s because they know exactly what they’re looking at ...

Research now tells us that dogs will look us in the eye, track our eye movements (at the level of a 6-month-old child) and even distinguish between our emotional expressions. Scientists ran a study with pet dogs in which they trained them to distinguish between photos of happy and sad faces using treats, and then mixed up all the photos. They then had the dogs look at either a section of a happy face (e.g., the eyes) or a section of a sad face (e.g., the mouth) and found that dogs that learned to recognize the happy face would respond to it much more quickly than the dogs who were taught to recognize the sad face. Meaning, they were having an even greater response to happy faces.

“Dogs probably use their memories of real emotional human faces to accomplish the task,” the study’s authors explained.

Some people think that their dog looks guilty after peeing on the rug. It’s not, but the truth is even better.

The mind of an adult dog, researchers believe, is roughly equivalent to that of a child who's 2 to 2-and-half years old. So, although a dog won’t develop more complex emotions such as guilt, evidence does suggest that canines experience joy, fear, anger, disgust and love, in large part because they have many of those same brain structures and hormones as we do.

“The usual situation is where you come home and your dog starts slinking around … and you then find that he or she has left a smelly brown deposit on your kitchen floor,” writes Stanley Coren, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., the author of several books on canine cognition. “It is natural to conclude that the dog was acting in a way that shows that it is feeling guilty … . However, what you see is his [more basic] fear of punishment.”

There’s a lot for us still to learn.

“One of the challenges to people who work with animals is to figure out how to ask the animal the question,” Thomas Zentall, a professor of psychology and head of theComparative Cognition Laboratory at the University of Kentucky, tells The Huffington Post. “For humans, we ask them with words. We can't do that with animals. We have to give them a task that has the instructions built into it. That is very difficult to do.”

The use of non-invasive approaches like heat imaging and electroencephalograms (EEGs), along with more complicated studies like fMRI, is giving us a new window into the mind of a dog -- and we’re hungry to know more.

“It’s long been our impressions that pets have a rich emotional life, and that their experiences really affect them profoundly, similar to how humans are affected,” says McGowan, “and we’re just now starting to be able to back this up scientifically.”

Purina is committed to providing pet owners with the tools they need to promote their pet’s physical and mental health. The Purina Better With Pets Summitaddresses all the ways pets and people are better together, shining a spotlight on the emotional wellness of pets and the people who love them. Discover how to nourish your pet’s mind by providing even better nutrition, helping them achieve a sense ofpurpose, maintaining a healthy environment and learning to assess your pet’s mental state. Share your experiences and tell us how your life is #BetterWithPets.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/12/29/dog-cognition_n_8398810.html?ir=Australia

Baycox - medication for treatment of coxcidia . Of which symptoms are all to similar to the dreaded parvo .

Baycox - medication for treatment of coxcidia . 

Of which symptoms are all to similar to the dreaded parvo . And to which many vets come to conclusion of such. A must have specially when own young dogs, or pups

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Please guys , do some research of coxcidia , as has all the same symptoms and signs as parvo . And as soon as pup shows signs of weakness, off food , " not water as they tend to drink more" liquid type poo, can be Blk etc, blood clot type matter , as a automatic treatment I personally recommend Baycox a over the counter treatment , no script, consult needed, " oh bugger the vet misses out on $$ " and will cost you bout $7-10 at most. 

Recommend having a 20ml of Baycox on hand . Most who have been around dogs long time know how easily it is too treat, and how many time I personally know vets who have misdiagnosed it as parvo. Due to results coming back as beg to parvo, and they do the oh well all signs point to parvo.

Anyway I hope you who read this do some research and next time your at the vet with sick pup , at least bring up Coxcidia , and the fact you are aware of it may point them to treat your pup with $10 treatment instead of 1k plus .. 

I only post this as I personally dealt with Coxcidia and vets wrongly diagnosing pups . Cheer , and sorry if I seem to ramble on . Just hope it helps someone and they're dog

AB.

THE CULT OF RESPONSIBILITY

We must understand that as we bring dogs into our lives that we are responsible for them. We must feed them, provide medical care, enrich their lives, and make them a part of our family. It is up to us, as their guardians, to learn their quirks, understand their behavior, and provide guidance and training just as you would provide guidance for children.

It is irresponsibility that is often the cause of injury inflicted by a dog and lends itself to fueling the fear. It seems that the most rabid forms of irresponsibility include chaining, little to no socialization or integration into the family unit, and little to no training. Irresponsibility is not a new issue or the most recent hot topic the infiltrate the animal behavior world. But it is gaining ground within the realms of Breed Specific Legislation…and it is about time!

How many times have you read a media report about a dog bite and sat back an analyzed the situation? It has become habit for myself as I pour over stories of dogs who are chained, who are resident dogs, and who are poorly trained or are abused. The CDC states, “Each year, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites; half of these are children.” (CDC, 2008) I am willing to bet that the majority of these attacks could be prevented if proper training and socialization were introduced to the dog.

There is a video which was found on YouTube which depicts a man “playing” with a German Shepherd. The man antagonizes the dog to a point where he gets bit and blood is drawn but yet he continues to tease the dog. Is this called responsible? I will let you decide. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP8eysRL3gY

A recent news article in which two boys were attacked by a pit bull in Clinton, Maryland caught my eye and really drives home the concept of responsibility, rather the owner’s irresponsibility. The dog was being walked without a leash and attacked the boys who eventually jumped up on a car in their attempt to escape. You can view the story here: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/07/two-children-attacked-by-pit-bull-in-clinton-92052.html

There are many things wrong with this situation and it all falls upon the dog owner’s lap. First and foremost, the most obvious fault is that the dog was not on a lead. Taking your dog off of your premises without a leash is an example of ignorance, plain and simple. I would also be willing to bet that this dog was enticed to play rough, similar to the German Shepherd in the video. It makes me wonder why people set their dogs up for failure and it angers me even more when I see it. It is irresponsibility at this level that fuels the BSL fire, but the loser is often the dog because they pay the ultimate price.
We must realize that all dogs have the capability to bite and that is a fact that we must respect. At the end of the day we must take responsibility for our actions and invest time and effort to train and nurture our companions.

“Dog Bite: Fact Sheet.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 27 July 2013. .

who can identify pitbull bites?

Pitbull dogs are as "ferocious" as any other dogs. Generally, that's as ferocious as they were trained to be, or as the situation warrants if the dog thinks it's alone and in a fight to the death.

So I'm going to address the question of bite severity first, and then ferocious attacks second.

Bite severity:
When looking at the results of a dog attack, there's no casual way to tell the breed of the dog - whether it's a pit bull, a Cocker Spaniel (which BTW, usually ranks very high in bite records), a Chihuahua, or a German Shepherd, unless you're a trained investigator who is doing measurements of bite width, hair analysis, etc. For instance, some photos (all photos of separate incidences):

Dog bite from German Shepherds: 

Dog bite from Aussie Shep/Lab mix:

Dog bites from a Pit bull or mix: 

A boxer bite:  

Shiba Inu bites:

Springer spaniel:

Etc., ad nauseum (sometimes, literally). So from the sample above, I'd say GSDs (large dogs) are pretty mild, and Shiba Inus (small dogs) are dangerous, maiming dogs. But again, this is just a *small sample*, showing that you can't really judge a bite to a breed.

So let's talk about severity of attacks:

Again, let's pull up some recent data for fatal attacks (which to me qualifies under ferocious), which shows that the research "...identified a significant co-occurrence of multiple potentially preventable factors."

From that link:
The co-occurring factors are potentially preventable
 
Based on an analysis of all DBRFs known to have occurred over a ten-year period, the researchers identified a striking co-occurrence of multiple, controllable factors:

• • no able-bodied person being present to intervene (87.1%);
• • the victim having no familiar relationship with the dog(s) (85.2%);
• • the dog(s) owner failing to neuter/spay the dog(s)(84.4%);
• • a victim’s compromised ability, whether based on age or physical condition, to manage their interactions with the dog(s) (77.4%);
• • the owner keeping dog(s) as resident dog(s), rather than as family pet(s) (76.2%);
• • the owner’s prior mismanagement of the dog(s) (37.5%);
• • the owner’s abuse or neglect of dog(s) (21.1%).

Four or more of these factors were present in 80.5% of the cases.

And:
Breed was not one of the factors identified   The authors report that the breed of the dog or dogs could not be reliably identified in more than 80% of cases. News accounts disagreed with each other and/or with animal control reports in a significant number of incidents, casting doubt on the reliability of breed attributions and more generally for using media reports as a primary source of data for scientific studies. In only 45 (18%) of the cases in this study could these researchers make a valid determination that the animal was a member of a distinct, recognized breed. Twenty different breeds, along with two known mixes, were identified in connection with those 45 incidents - See more at: Dog Bite-Related Fatalities

There are other studies put out about dog bite statistics every year, but beware of studies, and always look at the data. Make sure any study you read has a method of correctly identifying a dog, not just anecdotal or assumption.

An older study regarding dog bite fatalities:  Page on cdc.gov

But a few things in closing:

a) A larger dog, with more weight behind it, will typically do more damage than a small one. That's just physics for you.
b) Overall, dog bite statistics are trending upwards. More people are getting bitten and getting medical treatment. 
c) With the increase in legislation, urban living, and dogs kept increasingly as pets versus working dogs, today's dog is likely to be less socialized, both with humans and other animals, then forty years ago.

Any dog can be ferocious. It's up to the owner to properly house them, raise them, train them, socialize them. If you have an owner that doesn't do any of those, you have the potential for a vicious dog.

by Teleri Beaty,

Do pit bulls get a bad rap? Experts weigh in. By Pamela Babcock

Doberman pinschers, rottweilers, and German shepherds topped lists of dogssome considered dangerous in the not-too-distant past.

These days, pit bulls often make headlines and it’s rarely good news. If it isn’t about an attack on a child or a shooting by police, it’s a tale of neglect or abuse. The heat of such reports has forged a frightening image of the pit bull as having a hair-trigger temper and a lock-jawed bite.

But pit bull advocates and some experts say the dogs get a bad rap. They say the dogs are not inherently aggressive, but in many cases suffer at the hands of irresponsible owners drawn to the dog's macho image who encourage aggressionfor fighting and protection.

Indeed, the ASPCA web site gives the breed an endorsement that could fit a golden retriever. It says, “A well-socialized and well-trained pit bull is one of the most delightful, intelligent, and gentle dogs imaginable.”

In general, pit bulls aren’t aggressive with people but are “less tolerant” of other dogs than many other breeds, says Pamela Reid, PhD, vice president of the ASPCA’s Animal Behavior Center in New York. They also have “great tenacity. They put their mind to something, and they do it. That’s what makes them great dogs for sports like weight pulling. They are very strong, athletic animals," Reid says.

Owning a pit bull should not be taken lightly. Some cities and towns have banned the breed. You also may face rising insurance rates or cancellation of your policy, difficulty renting, and the watchful eye of neighbors and passersby.

Origins and Nature

The American Pit Bull Terrier is technically the only true pit bull, although the American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier are often referred to as pit bulls. So are a handful of other breeds and mixed breeds.

Pit bulls were originally used for bull- and bear-baiting, and later were bred to fight dogs in an arena. They had “a fabulous reputation early on and were considered the ideal family pet because they were so good with people,” Reid says.

“Petey” from The Little Rascals was a pit bull. Helen Keller, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Fred Astaire all had the breed as family pets.

But the tide turned in the late 1990s, when pit bulls became popular among people who "weren’t focused on the positive attributes of the breed - they were looking for a strong, scary-looking dog," Reid says.

National Attention

The abuse of pit bulls drew national attention in 2007, when Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to running a dog-fighting operation. He spent nearly two years in federal prison.

Jim Gorant, a Sports Illustrated senior editor and author of The Lost Dogs, a book that documents Vick’s dogs and their path to redemption, says pit bulls are caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of incrimination and bad ownership.

“Every dog is an individual,” Gorant says. “Pit bulls are just dogs and if they are not raised properly and socialized and treated right, they can have behavior problems. But they aren’t any more problematic than any other breed by nature.”

Bites, Bans, and More

Opponents argue that pit bulls are more likely to attack. But the ASPCA, the American Veterinary Medical Association, and some other groups have recommend against breed-specific laws. They cite a study published in theJournal of the American Veterinary Association on Sept. 15, 2000. 

The study, which focused on fatal dog attacks, notes difficulties identifying various breeds (particularly mixed breeds) and in calculating a bite rate. The researchers noted that there isn’t consistent data on breed populations and bites, especially when the injury isn’t serious enough to require an ER visit.

Reid says many things can lead to a tendency toward aggression. That includes breeding dogs for protection, dog  fighting, social status, or financial gain. Abuse, neglect, chaining, tethering, and inadequate obedience training and supervision also make the list.

Myths About Pit Bulls

Here are three myths about pit bulls:

They have locking jaws. There’s nothing anatomically different about a pit bulls’ jaw - “they cannot lock,” Reid says. But like other terriers, “they are more likely than other breeds to grab a hold of something and to shake.” It doesn’t mean they won’t let go, but owners need to know how to break up a fight.

They can tolerate huge amounts of pain. “Pit bulls are incredibly wimpy in many respects - they don’t like to go in the cold and rain,” Reid says. But when aroused or agitated, they may be less responsive to pain.

They’re unpredictable. The popular notion is that pit bulls can be fine their entire lives and suddenly snap and turn on their owner. Reid says that’s no more likely to happen with pit bulls than it is with any other breed.

Considering a Pit Bull?

You’ll need to do more than the average dog owner to counteract negative perceptions. Socializing the dog with people and other animals is key. Here are some other tips:

• If your pit bull is friendly with other dogs, maintain that socialization by meeting up with friends or going to the dog park, if your dog doesn’t get too rowdy in such settings.
• Monitor your dog’s play and be prepared to distract your dog if she gets too intimidating. “The ones that are friendly with other dogs are sort of the life of the party, but they can play rough sometimes because they are so strong,” Reid says.
• If your dog isn’t friendly with other dogs, make sure he’s on a leash and there are no unleashed dogs around.
• When it comes to other pets, Reid says some pit bulls “are absolutely lovely with other animals - cats and bunnies,” but others are not. Take introductions slowly. “The more you know about the dog, the better off your are,” Reid says.

Responsible pet ownership includes spaying or neutering your pet. That will help decrease some undesirable behavior, such as male dominance aggression.

Looking Ahead

Awareness about pit bulls is growing and more are being adopted, says Stacey Coleman, executive director of the Animal Farm Foundation Inc., a Bangall, N.Y. pit bull advocacy group.

“It has gotten much better for the dogs,” Coleman says. “People have seen that these dogs are out there and deserve help right now.”

Of the 51 pit bulls seized from Vick’s kennels, about 17 have been adopted. About a dozen of those adopted dogs have passed their AKC Canine Good Citizen test and several have become therapy dogs.

Among them is Hector, a dog that is covered with physical scars but is "just great with other dogs, great with kids, and great with people,” Gorant says. Hector frequently visits hospitals, nursing homes, and schools.

If there’s an upside to the Vick case, Gorant hopes it helps sway public opinion because it helps people see pit bulls as victims. But he admits, there’s still “a long way to go.”

“On any given day, probably 10 people get bit by a dog,” Gorant says. “But it’s only news when it’s a pit bull.”

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/features/pit-bulls-safety