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In addition to the points I made below (pit bull isn't a breed, but an umbrella term for six different breeds, et al.), a few paragraphs under the portion you p

In addition to the points I made below (pit bull isn't a breed, but an umbrella term for six different breeds, et al.), a few paragraphs under the portion you pasted on wikipedia: Several studies determined that pit bull owners, and owners of other "vicious" or "high risk" breeds (most commonly identified as Akita, Chow Chow, Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler, and Wolf-mix), are more likely to have criminal convictions and are more likely to display antisocial behaviors. A 2006 study compared owners of "high risk" dogs to owners of "low risk" dogs. "High risk" dogs included “vicious” dogs by breed (e.g., pit bulls) or “vicious” actions (e.g., any dog that had bitten, attacked, or killed a person or other animal). The study determined that "high risk" dog owners had nearly 10 times as many criminal convictions then did "low risk" dog owners.[39] A 2009 study[40] and a followup 2012 study generally supported these findings.[41]

Retric 14y ago
I completely agree with what your saying. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a reasonable way to pre-screen dog owners as plenty of people in "high risk" groups are great pet owners and owning a dog can often have rather positive results. At the same time there are some truly horrible people out there. PS: I never really know what else to call pit bull it's not really a "group" and the definition is rather vague, but repeating pit bull all the time is rather repetitive. Any suggestions?
- douglasisshiny 14y ago
  It is unfortunate. You're right, logistically it's impossible to screen people. Technically you could do criminal background checks, but I don't know if animal rescues have the resources for that; or what the blow back would be. And even then, like you said, these people could be rehabilitated and just want a dog -- which in itself can be therapeutic. It's complex. I call all of the pit bull breeds pit bulls (or pits or pibbles) despite the definition being vague. It'd be a bit awkward to walk around in public and say, "check out that Staffordshire bull terrier." I just think lumping all the breeds into one group when citing bite statistics is misleading.

Retric 14y ago

I completely agree with what your saying. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a reasonable way to pre-screen dog owners as plenty of people in "high risk" groups are great pet owners and owning a dog can often have rather positive results. At the same time there are some truly horrible people out there. PS: I never really know what else to call pit bull it's not really a "group" and the definition is rather vague, but repeating pit bull all the time is rather repetitive. Any suggestions?

douglasisshiny 14y ago
It is unfortunate. You're right, logistically it's impossible to screen people. Technically you could do criminal background checks, but I don't know if animal rescues have the resources for that; or what the blow back would be. And even then, like you said, these people could be rehabilitated and just want a dog -- which in itself can be therapeutic. It's complex. I call all of the pit bull breeds pit bulls (or pits or pibbles) despite the definition being vague. It'd be a bit awkward to walk around in public and say, "check out that Staffordshire bull terrier." I just think lumping all the breeds into one group when citing bite statistics is misleading.