Endangered Dog Breeds Assoc

This article appeared in the Courier Mail on January 27 th 1996
Because newspapers print in columns, it can be awkward to read on a Web Page.
Click here for a transcript, complete with reply from our C.E.O. Mr. Peter Whitman

Pit bulls: bred to be bad to the bone

By MATTHEW HORAN
Chopper is a loveable brindle dog with a big dopey grin and a tail that won’t stop wagging.
Two weeks ago, he would have crushed your hand without a thought if you went to pat him.
Chopper is a Pit Bull Terrier, the same breed of dog that mauled 76-year-old Toowoomba woman Barbara Stringer to death on December 27 last year.
But to look at chopper, who has undergone 2 weeks of intensive training and is now everyone’s best friend, you wonder how much of the talk of banning the breed is a knee-jerk reaction?
After Mrs.Stringers horrific death, local councils and state governments began an intense campaign to solve the dangerous dog problems in our cities.
If local councils have their way, dogs like Chopper will become an extinct breed, the Do Do of the dog world.
Are Pit Bulls that much more dangerous than attack dogs such as Rottweilers & German Shepherd, or is it a case of “no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners?
BOTH SAYS THE RSPCA. Paul Edwards.
Pit Bulls were breed from Staffordshire Bull Terriers & Bull Mastiffs - Not to guard, or hunt, but to viciously rip other dogs to death in pits while their bloodthirsty owners cheered.
“They can literally sever limbs,” the RSPCAs, Paul Edwards said.
Unlike German Shepherds, which lock their jaws, Pit Bulls move their back molars once they have bitten. Their lower jaw scissors back & forth to sever flesh from the bone.
They are not large dogs, but they have an enormous power-to-weight ratio. Their jaw strength is far greater than any other dog.
A Rottweiler will exert 800 pounds-per-square-inch jaw pressure and a Bull Terrier will exert 1200psi. A Pit Bull will exert more than 2000 psi.
You can have savage Labradors and savage Chihuahuas, but none of them has the potential to maim & kill that a pit bull does.
42% of all dog related deaths in the US are from Pit Bulls - & they constitute 1% of all dogs. 70% of those deaths were children.
A Rotty or Doberman are savage because they are
territorial - they will defend their space. A Pit Bull is not savage in that sense-just unpredictable.
But underlying this ferocity is an overwhelming loyalty to their owners. Dog breeders & Trainers claim

DON'T let that lolling grin fool you -- those pit bull jaws are the most sophisticated killing machine in the canine world. Dog trainer Keith Kirkpatrick is pictured here with Chopper Picture: PAUL WAGER

THE FACTS

A Pit Bull bite is three times worse than a Rottweilers.

A Rottweilers has 800psi (Pounds Per Squire Inch Jaw Pressure).

A Bull Terrier has 1200psi,

A pit bull’s bite force is 2000+ psi plus.

A Pit Bull does not lock its jaw as do other dogs, but it lower jaw scissors back and forth to rend flesh from the bone.

Pit Bulls are bred from Staffordshire Bull Terriers – Gaining their incredible musculature - and Bull Mastiffs Gaining a Cold-Hearted lack of emotion and Phenomenal resistance to pain.

they are one of the most loyal breeds of dogs.
Even as much as traditionally loyal dogs such as Border Collies.
“They are the most loyal & courageous dog imaginable for their owners,” Mr. Edwards said.
“But they are entirely unpredictable around strangers”
There are responsible people that own Pit Bulls – their dogs are just less likely to be dangerous than the grubs who blood their dogs & use them for fighting. People like that just use dogs as an extension of their egos.
Many of the irresponsible dog owners do not register
their Pit Bulls - and if they do they are registered similar to the one in the Toowoomba attack – as a “Labrador cross.”
Pit Bulls are not a registered

breed in Australia, although they are in the US as the American Pit Bull Terrier.
From the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, they have gained attributes of a muscular dog, with a large, strong mouth and furrows to drain the victim’s blood away from their eyes. From the Bull Mastiff they gained a cold heart, lack of emotion, with a high pain threshold.
Mr. Kirkpatrick.
Dog trainers tell horrific tales of how cruel owners in the south-east Queensland throw their dogs in above ground pools to fight to the death while thousands of dollars are bet.
After 3 kills, the dog is retired and put to stud at $3000 a time - It’s big money trainer Keith Kirkpatrick said.
But Mr. Kirkpatrick believes that bloodthirstiness can be trained out of a Pit Bull – to a degree.
“They are like a loaded gun. There are situations you need one, and as long as you’ve got the training and have the safety catch on you’re okay. But if a kid picks up the gun…” he said.
Chopper is a testament to his success. The 15 month old Pit Bull has been in intensive training at Mr. Kirkpatricks Cherokee farm in Manly for 2 weeks and has several weeks left.
“When he came in he was very animal aggressive and wanted to bite every other dog,” he said. “Now he is really calm – he’s been taught he doesn’t have to punch everyone in the face when he walks down the road.
Dogs and training are like kids – the ones that don’t go to school end up in Boggo Road.

He emphasised that Chopper’s owner had been doing all the right things to train the dog – just that the dog needed intensive training to try to overcome inborn traits.
“There are a lot of irresponsible owners, especially in the city,” he said.
“Pit Bulls are fantastic dogs if you use them for something like pig hunting. But if you’ve got a ten ton truck, you don’t use it to go to the corner shop.”
Mr. Kirkpatrick told of one Pit Bull used for pig hunting that was badly gored by a Boar.
It kept on at the pig until it (the pig) was dead, then it had its guts pushed back in and washed off with whisky and stitched up. It was back chasing pigs in 3 weeks.
No brain no pain.
Dog trainer Bruce Bonney believes most Pit Bulls are beyond redemption.
“We had a few 5-week-old puppies along to classes and when I went to shake its neck to chastise it, it turned around with such strength and tried to bite me’” he said. “
This was a little puppy, but it had such incredible strength and absolutely no fear.”
“The owners had done everything right, but in the end of the day they had to put it down.”
If a dog has that level of inbred aggression, it is only suitable for guard work, in close quarters behind a fence where no humans are allowed.
Keeping a Pit Bull is like taking a Lion from the zoo and putting it on a leash in the street.