Common Misconceptions

Pit Bulls have locking jaws.
NO! The pit bulls jaws are the same as any other breed of dog! Any Veterinarian can verify this is simply a myth. Pit Bulls have been bred to not let go, however, their jaws are not locked. Actually pit bulls do less damage because they bite and hold, where other dogs bite/release/bite that causes more bleeding and damage.

Pit Bulls are born to be mean.
Not True! Pit Bulls like all other breeds, are not born inherently mean or bad! They can, like any other breed, become mean through lack of training, abuse, neglect and irresponsible ownership and breeding.

There is no scientific proof that Pit Bulls, or any other breed of dog is dangerous. The Foundation's collective experience and research has found the American Pit Bull Terrier is a "terrier." All terriers have animal prey drive, but this does not make them dangerous or vicious. The Pit Bull type dog has to be trained to fight. Although in some cases the Pit Bull is known to be a fighting dog, it was not bred for fighting, but for bull baiting. The Pit Bull type dog comes from Europe and evolved from some Mastiff based breed such as with some Bulldog blood either in a pure form or to a variation of any of the many terrier and hound groups beginning with the now extinct Black and Tans Terriers and Olde English White Terriers. English and Irish immigrants imported the dogs. Unfortunately, it was discovered in the late 1800's that if trained, the dogs could be used in the inhumane sport of dog fighting. Due to federal laws passed in the 1970's prohibiting dog fighting fewer dogs are now trained for the illegal sport.

Pit Bulls have a 1600 PSI Jaw Pressure.
Wrong again, there is currently no device available for measuring dog bites for pressure for pit bulls or any other animal.

Will a pit bull that shows aggression towards a dog, go after people next?
No animal aggression and human aggression are 2 completely different things! There are many types of aggression in the canine world and they are all very different.

Pit Bulls attack more than any other breed.
No, the statistical data on dog bites and attacks are inaccurate. Many dog bites are never reported. There is nothing in place to track dog bites in the US accurately. There are 11+ breeds that are commonly wrongly identified as pit bulls, Those of us who have been involved with the breed for years have trouble identifying them 100% of the time, so, we certainly can’t expect inexperienced people to be able to properly ID a dog. That said, it leads us to believe that many of the bites that claim to be from pit bulls are in fact, inflicted by other breeds. Here are a couple of links to tests, you try to pick the pit bull!

http://members.aol.com/radogz/find.html

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html