Questions of Education

One of the most common phrases parroted over and over by pit bull fanatics is a one two punch of, "you're ignorant--get educated". Very rarely is such a comment quantified or qualified further. The only premise is a personal anecdote "MY pit bulls... so-on-and-so-forth". To this sweeping knee-jerk assumption-accusation I posit;

Please, bastions of pit bull knowledge, enlighten with superior tutelage, surely--thoroughly and academically--answering all of the following basic/necessary questions about the contentious aspects of pit bull zealotry against safety/awareness/BSL advocates (the accused "liars" or "uneducated"):

• What breeds were the stock from which the pitbull line was formed, and for what traits were these ancestral breeds sought? 

• Why did the AKC initially refuse acknowledgement of a pitbull breed standard in the early 1900s? 

• Why was the UKC formed and what was the criteria for recognizing a pitbull per breed standard during the UKCs earlier years? 

• Who is John P Colby and why is he considered the grandfather of pitbulls? 

• When people talk favorably about pitbull temperament, to which test are they referring and what aspects of temperament is that test designed to assess? 

• When did the rates of human and animal disfigurement and fatalities skyrocket and which breeds correlating popularity rise in tandem? 

• What brain structures are uniquely exaggerated in pitbulls? 

• During aggressive/violent activity, what endocrine response occurs uniquely to pitbulls and which neurochemicals are involved? 

• How is a serious and fatal dog mauling processed by authorities? 

• Which authorities are involved and what procedures are protocol? 

• Who among these identify breed and what are their credentials? 

• Why do pitbulls have idiopathic aggression? 

• Can you even identify and explain idiopathic aggression? 

• What physiological traits do pitbulls have that other breeds don't (superior clotting factor, for example) and for what purpose would these traits have evolved for? 

• What special interest groups fund and run the NCRC and what methods does it employ to issue "reports" in fatal dog incidents? 

• What is a break stick, and why is it important for pitbull owners to possess them and know how to employ them? 

• What is the "crate and rotate" protocol developed by and encouraged by pitbull breeders and fanciers? 

• Why is it sound practice for this particular breed? 

• When trotting out numbers to use as a testament to the 'failure' of BSL, which issue is being tabulated, and which is omitted--bite frequency, or bite severity/number of dog related disfigurements and/or fatalities? 

• What can account for the numerical disparity between the occurrence of severe dog mauling occurring in US jurisdictions and countries with pit bull bans and areas of the United States without them?

• What do trauma surgeons and staff (from around the country) report, in terms of severity, frequency, and patient outcomes, as specific to pit bull mauling victims?

• Compared to other breeds, what percentage of pit bull owners/their families are attacked by their own dogs?

• Compared to other breeds, what percentage of pit bull attacks are unprovoked?

• Compared to other breeds, what percentage of pit bull attacks are committed by dogs with no observable history of abuse or neglect?

• Compared to other breeds, what percentage of pit bull attacks are committed by life-long family dogs with no previous history of aggression?

• Compared to other breeds, what percentage of pit bull attacks are committed by spayed/neutered dogs?

• What is the trademark pitbull "bite" style and how does it differ from the normal "snap-and-release" defensive/fear/dominance biting of other dogs?

• What delineations are present in canine body language as it pertains to pit bulls?

• What are "tells" and how was this trait conditioned in or out according to the purpose breeding of the pit bull breed?

• How often are other-breed discipline/control/training/cease-attack measures effective for pit bulls; how much or little are these dogs affected by collars, leads, muzzles, containment devices, water-hosing, distracting, beating, tazing, stabbing, or even shooting?

• What is the typical duration of a pit bull attack and how starkly does that time period overshadow other breeds?

• Why do pit bulls attack and kill people, if allegedly for nourishment, but largely fail to feed on the body, even when left alone with it for a substantial amount of time?

• Why does pit bull advocacy demand pedigree papers to verify attacking breed (even when breeders, owners, animal control, even courts of law for litigious purposes, and/or practitioners of veterinary medicine collaborate on a positive breed ID consensus) but do not do so when it comes to free S&N procedures, 'hero' stories, etc.?

• Furthermore, why are ambiguous bulldogs such as Seargant Stubby and the dog from The Little Rascals co-opted for propaganda purposes but does that are easily and visibly identifiable as pitbulls--such as "Mickey" who tore off Kevin Vicente's face, or the six Florida pit bulls of the most recent fatal mauling (that killed their owner's preschooler)--go refuted, disputed, and under intensely unfounded and exorbitant speculation?

• What makes the self proclaimed "expert" personnel of the NCRC credible that disqualifies conflicting reports and studies conducted and issued by educated, qualified, licensed animal professionals/scientists? 

• When does the term "nanny dog" first historically appear, and which special interest group makes claims about it? 

• what does pitbull advocacy juggernaut BADRAP have to say about the "nanny dog" revisionism? 

• Why the disparity between BADRAP and individual pitbull advocates? 

• Who is right, and why? 

References, citations, and/or sources for every answer, please.