I really love dogs. I worked as a vet tech and dog trainer for many years, and I’ve cared for and trained a lot of pit bulls. Some of the sweetest, happiest, most affectionate dogs I ever worked with were pit bulls. I know people who love theirs very much. And yet I would absolutely never bring one into my home, nor would I let my child play at a home with one. Pit bulls are uniquely powerful, fast, unpredictable, and dangerous. No amount of training turns a dog into a machine that will always obey. Dogs have minds of their own. The fact that a particular dog has never bitten anyone before means very little when every dog that bites someone has a first bite. And by the way, any dog that has bitten to the point of drawing blood WILL absolutely bite again. It's not a matter of if, but when. Pit bull defenders often say Chihuahuas or other small dogs are more aggressive or more likely to bite. There may be some truth to other breeds being more reactive, but it’s still a false equivalence. The frequency of aggressive behavior is not the same thing as the capacity to inflict catastrophic injury. A golden retriever may bite you, but a pit bull can kill a small child in seconds. Pit bulls are not ordinary dogs with an unfair reputation. They are extraordinarily strong, quick, determined animals, and when one decides to attack, stopping it can be nearly impossible. Love, responsible ownership, training, and a history of good behavior do not erase what the dog is physically capable of. People who love pit bulls have to stop pretending that theirs is uniquely special or safe. Pit bulls should not continue to be bred or kept as ordinary household pets. Ownership should require special licensing, serious training, secure containment, and mandatory sterilization so the breed can be humanely phased out.

Here's the issue with your argument. What metric determines what is and is not a pitbull? This is an umbrella term covering at least five to seven breeds, and then you've got mixed breeds as well that get lumped in based on how they look. We have two dogs that are American Staffordshire terrier crossed with other breeds. Our 80 lb boy is roughly 67% Am Staff with 22% German Shepherd and 11% boxer. Our 59 lb boy is about 54% Am Staff, 28% Frenchie, 15% Staffie, and the rest is random bulldog too dilute to pinpoint. We got them tested because our little boy looked just like our big boy as a puppy, just a different color, yet he is MUCH smaller now that he's fully grown. Our little boy can't even get into my car without help because he's too short, while our big boy leaps straight onto the back seat. Would you consider them "pitbulls" even though they're mutts of vastly different sizes and we actually can prove what they are? What's the cutoff point for determining they're pitbulls and declaring they shouldn't exist? I'm not trying to be contrarian, this is a genuine question. How much of one of the "pitbull" breeds needs to be in their DNA to declare that they're pitbulls as opposed to a mixed breed, and do ALL of the breeds under the "pitbull" umbrella count or just some of them?

@Madeittoofar @MsMollusk those are pits.

But what defines them as pits? The mere presence of Am Staff DNA? What if they were each only 20% Am Staff but still had the blocky head? Would they still qualify as pits even if they were only 1/5th of ONE of the MULTIPLE breeds under the pitbull umbrella? Do you not see the issue with just simply declaring what dog is and is not a pitbull without setting some sort of parameters?

@Madeittoofar @MsMollusk the problem is if you want a dog but not this “misconception” there are many breeds and mixes that don’t have the “guilty by association”look, risk or liability. get one of those next time so you don’t have to have these arguments. I bet you have a “don’t bully my breed” mug lol

I actually prefer Great Pyrenees. They are hands down the best dog breed, but our big boy was with an abusive neighbor who was keeping him crated 24/7 (he has a permanent bald spot on the top of his head from rubbing against the bars of the too-small crate) because they were trying to make him meaner. We had a Pyr when we agreed to take in the neighbors' "defective" dog, who our boy adored, becauseshe taught him the proper way to behave in a family. He became extremely depressed when she didn't come home from the vet one day, and our heartbroken daughter saw a puppy who looked just like our boy, only brown instead of fawn/red. While I adore our boys, I would have preferred another Pyr or a beagle. In my heart of hearts I'm a cat person, so no, I do not own a "don't bully my breed" mug. I just think anyone saying to ban every dog that has a certain look regardless of what breed they are is a moron.