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gladwell } The PitBull Paradox

Friday, March 17, 2006  Terry

Malcolm Gladwell has more:

gladwell.com: The PitBull Paradox: I've heard now over and over again versions of what the reader above says--namely that what distinguishes the Pit Bull breed, above all else, is its stability and evenness of temperament. This is, in fact, why so many bad actors have, in recent years, made the Pit Bull their dog of choice. If you are going to abuse a dog, and encourage it to do socially hostile things, and leave it chained up and frustrated, the Pit Bull is a far better pet than, say, a Rottweiler or Doberman for the simple reason that a Pit Bull will accept an awful lot more maltreatment than other dogs, and will much more clearly telegraph its intentions in time of stress. In other words, what makes Pit Bulls over-represented in dog bite statistics is not just a product of the dark side of their character (their ferocity and status as fighting dogs) but the good side of their character (their evenness of temperament.)

Judging by some of the letters in The New Yorker, people are going to believe whatever the hell they want about Pit Bulls and their temperament, but that won't change the fact that the real problem is with people, over and over and over again people who want badass dogs will have badass dogs, and the most popular dogs for badass people are pit bulls. What should we do about it? Any thoughts? I'm listening to “New Zealand Pines” by John Vanderslice from the album Pixel Revolt on .

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