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The Pit Bull Placebo:
The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression
By Karen Delise
![cover art for "The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression"](fatal_dog_attacks_files/PitBullPlaceboCover-s.jpg)
“Falsehood flies and the truth comes limping after,
so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late: the jest is over,
and the tale has had its effect.” - Jonathan Swift
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First it was the Bloodhound, sensationalized in the dramatizations of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Then it was the Doberman Pinscher, symbol of the
Nazi menace for a nation at war. Today, it is the Pit bull that is
vilified for the depravity of his master.
At perhaps no time in history has mankind been as ignorant of natural
canine behavior as we find ourselves at the beginning of the 21st century.
The human/dog bond—the most complex and profound inter-species
relationship in the history of mankind—has now been reduced to a simple
axiom: Breed of dog = degree of dangerousness.
Today, police chase down fleeing Pit bulls in the street, firing dozens
of wild shots in response to media-fed rumors of supernatural Pit bull
abilities. Politicians coach and nurture this fear with their own brand of
rhetoric used to assist in the passing of quick and ineffective
legislation created to pacify communities ignorant of the real cause for
dog attacks. Hundreds of animal shelters throughout the country kill all
unclaimed Pit bull-looking dogs, as they are deemed "unadoptable" solely
on their physical appearance.
In a society unparalleled in its access to information and ability to
control our natural environment, we now claim that we are unable to master
our dogs. Unwilling to assume responsibility for the control and care of
our canine companions, we instead hang entire breeds of dogs in effigy for
the sins of their owners. Society now accepts this “solution to the dog
bite problem” because we have been placated by a Pit Bull Placebo.
Like the pharmacologically inactive sugar pill dispensed to pacify a
patient who supposes it to be medicine, eradication of the Pit bull is
heralded as the cure for severe dog attacks. However, a placebo is
administered solely to appease a person's mental duress. In the present
day climate of fear and misinformation about Pit bulls and dog attacks,
eradication of the Pit bull is the placebo administered to ease the
public's mental anxiety. This, of course, does not address the underlying
causes of why dogs attack and how they have been allowed access to their
victims.
The book, The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of
Canine Aggression, explores and reveals how our views and beliefs
about canine aggression have changed over the last 150 years and how our
perceptions about the nature and behavior of dogs has been influenced and
shaped by persons and organizations who often times disseminate
information about dog attacks which is tailored to further an agenda
unrelated to the improvement of the human/dog bond.
We have come to be in the midst of a social hysteria about Pit bulls
because we have abandoned centuries-old common sense and reasoning and
have been duped by inaccurate reporting from a media that thrives on
sensationalism and by politicians who traffic in rumors, myths and
pseudoscience in their efforts to pass legislation that demonizes dogs
while exonerating criminal and abusive owners.
Despite the intense media, political and public interest in dog
attacks, there is a disturbing scarcity of accurate information and
investigation done on the real causes and reasons for these incidents.
If we truly believe that the extremely rare cases of fatal dog attacks
merit extreme measures in the management of dogs—if our concern and shock
is genuine—then we must be equally genuine and sincere in seeking out and
addressing the real causes for these incidents.
Whether our goal is community safety, understanding canine behavior,
furtherance of humane treatment towards dogs, or the advancement of the
human-dog bond, it is critical that we examine all the details available
about dog attacks.
The Pit Bull Placebo examines actual cases of severe dog attacks
during the last 150 years—the circumstances, the individual dogs involved,
the victims, and our interpretations of these events—in an attempt to
offer a reasoned and balanced perspective on the behavior of dogs and the
critical role humans play in the management and treatment of our canine
companions.
Only by stepping back from the swirl of present-day hysteria
surrounding isolated cases of severe canine aggression and examining the
problem from a broader and more objective perspective can we hope to
understand and effectively address the human and canine behaviors which
have contributed to these incidents.
Information from this website is excerpted from the book: The Pit
Bull Placebo: The Myths, Media and Politics of Canine Aggression, and
is copy written by Karen Delise and Anubis Publishing.
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The Pit Bull Placebo:
The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine
Aggression
By Karen Delise
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ch. 1. The Function of Dogs in 19th Century
America
Ch. 2. Imagery and the Media in 19th Century
America: The Bloodhound
Ch. 3. Creating Dangerous Dogs:
The Newfoundland & the Northern Breeds
Ch. 4. How
Popularity and Function Influence Aggression
Ch. 5. The
Reporting of Dog Attacks in Early 20th Century Media
Ch. 6.
The Use and Misuse of Courage: The Bulldog
Ch. 7. The
Media Re-Shapes an Image: The German Shepherd
Ch. 8. The
Myth of the Super-Predator: The Doberman Pinscher
Ch. 9.
Setting Dogs Up for Failure: The New Guard Dogs
Ch. 10.
The Media Attacks a Breed: The Pit Bull
Ch. 11.
Pseudoscience and Hysteria Triumph
Ch. 12. Fighting Dogs:
Branded with the Sins of Their Masters
Ch. 13. Sensationalism
Replaces Common Sense
Ch. 14. The Real Causes of Dog
Attacks
Ch. 15. The Pit Bull Placebo: Conclusions on Canine
Aggression
Appendix A - Dog Attacks Reported in Northeastern
Newspapers, 1864 – 1899
Appendix B - Dog Attacks Reported in U.S.
Newspapers, 1960 – 1975
Appendix C - Denver, Colorado – “Evidence” Used
to Ban Pit Bulls
Appendix D – Denver, Colorado – An Ineffective and
Uninformed Approach to Dog Attacks
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Fatal Dog Attacks:
The Stories Behind the Statistics
By Karen Delise
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![cover art for "Fatal Dog Attacks: The Stories Behind the Statistics"](fatal_dog_attacks_files/fataldogattackscover-s.jpg)
"There is nothing to fear except the persistent
refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the
causes of happenings." --Dorothy Thompson, (1894 -
1961)
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Today’s media is filled with sensational headlines of dog attacks.
Routinely quoted in these newspaper accounts are dated statistics from the
Centers for Disease Control. The last CDC study released documented which
breeds of dogs caused the most human fatalities from 1979 through 1998.
While the CDC did an admirable job of studying fatal dog attacks, and went
to great lengths to point out that irresponsible owners were the cause of
most of these incidents, the media and lawmakers continue to use CDC
statistics to substantiate claims that certain breeds of dogs are
inherently more "vicious" than other breeds.
After reviewing over 431 cases of fatal dog attacks it is apparent
there is no single factor that translates in a lethal encounter between a
person and a dog(s). A fatal dog attack is always the culmination of past
and present events that include: inherited and learned behaviors,
genetics, breeding, socialization, function of the dog, physical condition
and size of the dog, reproductive status of dog, popularity of breed,
individual temperament, environmental stresses, owner responsibility,
victim behavior, victim size and physical condition, timing and
misfortune. While many circumstances may contribute to a fatal dog attack,
the following three factors appear to play a critical role in the display
of canine aggression towards humans;
- Function of the dog - (Includes: dogs acquired for fighting,
guarding/protection or image enhancement)
- Owner responsibility - (Includes: dogs allowed to roam loose,
chained dogs, dogs and/or children left unsupervised, dogs permitted or
encouraged to behave aggressively, animal neglect and/or abuse)
- Reproductive status of dog - (Includes: unaltered males dogs,
bitches with puppies, children coming between male dog and female dog in
estrus)
It is necessary to emphasize that a fatal dog attack is an
exceptionally rare event, yet many communities and cities believe that the
solution to prevent severe and fatal dog attacks is to label, restrict or
ban certain breeds of dogs as potentially dangerous. If the breed of dog
was the primary or sole determining factor in a fatal dog attack, it would
necessarily stand to reason that since there are literally millions of
Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and German Shepherd Dogs in the United States,
there would have to be countless more than an approximate 20-25 human
fatalities per year. Since only an infinitesimal number of any breed is
implicated in a human fatality, it is not only unreasonable to
characterize this as a specific breed behavior by which judge an entire
population of dogs, it also does little to prevent fatal or severe dog
attacks as the real causes and events that contribute to a fatal attack
are masked by the issue of breed and not seriously addressed.
From 1965 - 2001, there have been at least 36 different breeds/types of
dog that have been involved in a fatal attack in the United States. (This
number rises to at least 52 breeds/types when surveying fatal attacks
worldwide). We are increasingly becoming a society that has less and less
tolerance and understanding of natural canine behaviors. Breed specific
behaviors that have been respected and selected for over the centuries are
now often viewed as unnatural or dangerous. Dogs have throughout the
centuries served as protectors and guardians of our property, possessions
and families. Dogs have also been used for thousands of years to track,
chase and hunt both large and small animals. These natural and
selected-for canine behaviors seem to now eliciting fear, shock and a
sense of distrust among many people.
There seems to be an ever growing expectation of a "behaviorally
homogenized" dog - "Benji" in the shape of a Rottweiler. Breeds of dogs
with greater protection instincts or an elevated prey-drive are often
unfairly viewed as "aggressive or dangerous". No breed of dog is
inherently vicious, as all breeds of dogs were created and are maintained
exclusively to serve and co-exist with humans. The problem exists not
within the breed of dog, but rather within the owners that fail to
control, supervise, maintain and properly train the breed of dog they
choose to keep.
Any dog, regardless of breed, is only as dangerous as his/her owner
allows it to be.
This study was conducted not to determine which breeds of dogs caused
fatalities, but rather to examine the circumstances and events that
precipitated an attack. Knowing how many Pit Bulls or Rottweilers caused a
human fatality has little applicable value, only when examining each case
individually can we hope to gain insight into the HUMAN and CANINE
behaviors that contributed to these tragic events. Only when we become
more knowledgeable, humane and responsible in our treatment of dogs can we
hope to prevent future tragedies.