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The Pit Bull Problem: “The Pit Bull Guru” speaks
Jul 03, 2010
Editor’s note: Drayton Michaels (www.pitbullguru.com) posted this at our Facebook page about Joey Kulkin’s video of meeting “Menace.”
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A few words about your recent incident: It underscores the fact that the vast majority of dog bites are non lethal, on par with kitchen accidents or playground accidents. The CDC reports that 4 million dog bites are reported yearly to emergency room departments. On average 20 result in deaths, 200 or less require major surgery, the rest are level one bites, per the Dunbar bite scale. The thing to realize is that there are different levels of dog bites.
The question to ask the owner of the dog that bit you is “was this the first time a bite in this context took place”? – This particular context being a person entering the yard. Person greeting dog on leash out front may have a different association. And furthermore is this the first bite in general. If this was the first time this happened ok, lesson learned, and the goal should be to prevent it from ever happening again. If it is not the first incident, then it is negligent on the owner’s part and the dog should have been on leash and met you outside of the yard or been inside.
The next question to ask is “what has the owner been doing or not doing in the way of training methods and has there been any behavior modification to decrease the dog’s excitability/fear/apprehension of people coming into the backyard”? Has it been positive humane training or has it been force base? A quick lesson in how dogs learn and view the world – Dogs learn though association and consequences and when those associations are negative and consequences harmful or fearful, dogs develop a negative conditioned emotional response. (CER)The view of the world for dogs is safe – unsafe or neutral. This is how dogs are processing info all the time. When they get too much feedback that contexts are scary/fearful or they are squelched, “hey no ah argh argh or worse, choked, hit, shocked, pinned down etc…dogs start to view the world as potentially scary, factor in poor human mechanics and inadequate handling skills by the humans in charge and you can see how dogs can get into situations where they may bite or aggress.
As Pam Reid PhD says “learning for dogs is a change in behavior based on experience”. Or As Dr. Overall states “dogs are looking for information”. By and large humans are the ones who control experiences and information for dogs. Do not take this as passing judgments on the owner. I am asking questions in hopes to help that the dog does not bite again. Even in an overly excited way. Obviously the dog has good bite inhibition otherwise you would have been bitten worse. Considering dogs can land 20 bites in a matter of seconds if they are intent on hurting someone, I’d say the dog is so far ok, but again this is something that the owner should address in a legitimate behavior modification protocol. It could get worse, as behavior that is rehearsed becomes stronger.
Now about the post and the chosen words for your status…The term pit Bull is conflated, there is no escaping it. The words dog – bite – blood; are also conflated and when people read them they have an emotional reaction. To quote Jean Donaldson, “when it comes to pointy teeth it hits something primal in humans and we tend not to use logic”. The media has used Pit Bulls as a scapegoat for 30 years now. It is an easy way to get readers attention and become emotional. I would imagine that your decision to do this project has something to do with the fact that it will ensure people read and react to it. After all you want people to read you’re what your writing about. That makes sense.
I would ask that you be careful how you research this project. As I said I have been researching Pit Bulls for the past 6 years. I have spoken to some of the best people in dog behavior. Why? Because they understand dog behavior from a scientific stance not an opinion based on a few dogs they saw or may have owned. Opinions from people that have been injured are obviously very one sided. In addition I am a graduate of the Academy for Dog Trainers that was run out of the SFSPCA this too was part of my research and education to better understand dogs and help people understand them better as well.
The media likes to create fake debates by pitting science against non science based opinions and emotions. We see this with global warming. On one side we have science and on the other we have people that do not understand the science as it relates to dog behavior. That is not a debate, it is a fake debate. A real debate would have equal opponents using factual and scientific and mathematical evidence to support claims. Anecdotal opinions are not facts. Emotions & feelings are not facts. The math says it all – 300 million humans in the USA – 74 million registered dogs of all breeds – 20 deaths on average yearly by dog bites – 200 or less serious bites – Is that an epidemic by any stretch of the imagination?
I do not doubt your sincerity to deliver an accurate story, however be mindful that dogs are being killed for no reason solely based on the media’s lack of responsibility in reporting dog bite incidents. They never detail the reasons why the dog was in a position behaviorally speaking that led it to act the way it did.
Dogs do not possess the intellectual morality of humans. They are generally kind creatures and when they do maul or kill someone, usually small children and the elderly, they have been through one too many experiences that have led them to be overly fearful. It may have been intentional abuse or it may have been people getting faulty information about how to address their dogs behavior.
Dr. Dunbar, Dr. Dodman, Dr. Overall. Pam Reid PhD and any other respected dog behaviorist or legit trainer will tell you the human is the greatest variable in a dog’s training and behavior. I would also add that humans are also responsible for a dog breeds reputation by the words they choose to use in describing dog behavior.
The media has been the most culpable in this Pit Bull reputation by not getting the facts of fatal incidents. Unless people actually know about dog behavior I suggest they hold off on their opinions and feelings, be they the press, dog owners, or lay people. Because this loose tongued approach has caused BSL which in turn has cost millions of tax dollars and has been one of the reasons why millions of innocent dogs are killed every year. The other reason is irresponsible breeders and irresponsible/misinformed dog owners.
So please take this all into consideration as you go forward with your series. Those of us that are working to help dogs, enforce the sensible laws that exist are weary of the media because they have been the most negligent in the loose tongued approach. Every decision someone makes about a dog holds that dog’s life in the balance, it’s not always that intense but it is always that important.
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[...] Drayton Michaels (www.pitbullguru.com) has been working on a documentary on pit bulls since 2004. He made an interesting point during a long post on our Facebook wall: The media likes to create fake debates by pitting science against non science-based opinions and emotions. We see this with global warming. On one side we have science and on the other we have people that do not understand the science as it relates to dog behavior. That is not a debate, it is a fake debate. A real debate would have equal opponents using factual and scientific and mathematical evidence to support claims. Anecdotal opinions are not facts. Emotions & feelings are not facts. The math says it all – 300 million humans in the USA — 74 million registered dogs of all breeds — 20 deaths on average yearly by dog bites – 200 or less serious bites – Is that an epidemic by any stretch of the imagination? The full text of Michaels’ missive can be found HERE. [...]
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