Pit Bulls have been making headlines after the terrible fatal dog mauling of Darla Napora in Pacifica, CA last week, and unfortunately, the press around this tragedy has fueled the misguided hysteria and hatred that plagues Pit Bulls. Although the un-neutered dog that killed Darla has been referred to a as Pit Bull from the start, he apparently weighed 125 pounds. As Pittie parents know, this is almost unfathomable. Tulip barely tops 40 pounds, and it's difficult to imagine even the most massive male Pit weighing three times that. My hunch is that Darla's dog is being misidentified as a Pit Bull, when it's much more likely that he was some sort of Pit mix or perhaps a different breed/mix altogether.
Dogs who are responsible for human attacks are commonly identified as Pit Bulls even when they are not. There are a variety of dog breeds that can be easily confused with Pits, including Boxers, Bulldogs, and Bullmastiffs. This is just one reason why breed specific legislation ("BSL") and breed bans are ineffective and unjust.
To illustrate just how hard it can be to correctly pinpoint a Pittie, check out this line-up of 25 dogs and see if you can correctly determine which one is actually an American Pit Bull Terrier. I'll admit that it took me several guesses before I picked the right one!
Find The Pit Bull
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