# Are pit bulls more dangerous than other dogs?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pit-bulls-more-dangerous-than-other-dogs/647728>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 19, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pit-bulls-more-dangerous-than-other-dogs/647728 "2013-01-19T17:44:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 20

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-pit-bulls-more-dangerous-than-other-dogs/647728/20 "2013-01-20T01:22:01Z")

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> [@chiroptera](#):
>
> It is true that pit/bully breed/pit mixes are often incorrectly identified as “pit bulls” when they might not be pit bulls at all, or a mix where the other breed/s in the mix predominate.  
> [See how well you do with identifying the pit bull in this chart](http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html).

Pit bulls have become the victim of the current wave of dog-hating hysteria, especially in the media. Any dog that has a short snout gets labeled as a pit bull now.

How well did y’all do with identifying the pit bull in that chart that **chiroptera** linked? For the answers, see these charts:  
[Journalists Guide to Pit Bull Identification](http://i43.tinypic.com/2nuinow.png)  
[Journalists Guide to Dog Breed Identification](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/crysania4/1469517/185868/185868_640.jpg)

When I go out walking in the neighborhood or parks or hiking in the hills, I always stop to pet every dog I meet, and that seems to include a fair number of pit bulls. I haven’t gotten eaten alive yet. Not even once. Pit bulls, in particular, seem to be quite high on the gregarious people-friendly scale. Some of them want to knock everyone down and slobber in their faces, but that’s not the same as being vicious.

> [@chiroptera](#):
>
> Eliminating a certain breed of dog will not result in fewer human deaths (although it will most certainly result in more slaughter of dogs by humans, but that is par for the course.) People killed by pit bulls in the USA annually: about two. TWO. Pit bulls killed by people in the USA annually; [about 2.5 million](http://www.realpitbull.com/perspective.html). **People killed by falling branches, their parents or guardians, falling coconuts, car accidents, lightning, swimming pools, five gallon buckets…in the hundreds every year, each**. And of course deer are responsible for more deaths than dogs of all breeds, every year, by the hundreds.

And guns. Lots and lots of people killed by lots and lots of guns. Pit bulls with guns.

According to [this recent article](http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/rescued-pit-bull-puppies-leash-life-video-000507772.html) (video included of pit bulls that got rescued),

> [@](#):
>
> It’s not easy being a pit bull in Southern California. In fact, it can be downright awful. Two hundred pit bulls are euthanized every day in Los Angeles County alone.

And people need to be afraid of pit bulls?

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