If there is such a racialized view toward pit bull ownership, be careful not continue it without blaming the dog. Certain breeds are harder than others to have as pets for sure, and unprepared owners exist in all demographic corners of society. But it’s usually not one or the other, and to be honest sometimes a dog, especially a traumatized rescue, really just cannot be handled by a person, regardless of the effort or time they put in. What do you do then, keep it anyway or back to the kill shelter? Especially in this hyperdrive no-hobby economy, we don’t just have a billion Cesar Milan protégés able to adopt every difficult dog. IDK just something that caught my attention.

This is not specific to pits, but when I think about large untrained dogs I think about their effect on other species. Dogs represent the third most destructive mammal behind rodents and cats, and one documented case showed that a single German shepherd in New Zealand killed over 500 endangered kiwis. They’re even driving out other predators like foxes, hunting in feral packs. We are going through what has been identified as a mass extinction event, fueled by climate change, industrial agriculture, and habitat destruction by invasive species.

So beyond dog bites, large dogs with high prey drives have to be considered in the greater context. It’s hard to grapple with because we love our pets - I have two large dogs, one a pit mix (and indoor cats). But I never let them off leash unless it’s a fully contained dog park that I can watch them constantly. I don’t know what I’ll do after they’re gone in terms of adopting more, but I’m still looking/hoping for good ways to help combat pet effects on biodiversity short of banning more destructive breeds… or dispatching feral dogs in the wild 😕