Interview with Mary Harwelik - Aggresive Dog Training Specialist.

I am a certified dog trainer through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers. I have worked with all breeds as a hobby trainer since 1984 and as a professional trainer since the mid-90's.  My speciality in the field is aggression. In 1997 I founded The Real Pit Bull, Inc a 501c3 nonprofit organization that educates on the American Pit Bull Terrier, ethical and responsible guardianship of dogs and serves as an advocate for the Pit Bull breed. I am the current Executive Director of this organization.

Dog attacks are never random, and all breeds bite/attack.  As a trainer, I have seen a wide variety of breeds and mixes with varying forms of aggression that baffle their caretakers.  Some dogs may seem "normal" the majority of the time, but will "randomly" agress.  Please note that I say "dogs" and not "Pit Bulls" because the behavior you see reported in the news media is by no means Pit Bull-specific. It is dog-specific behavior.

There are many reasons for aggressive behavior in dogs, not the least of which can be health-related issues (thyroid problems and seizures, for instance, the latter of which can cause very bizarre, seemingly-random and severe aggressive outbursts). Typically, aggression is fear and defense-based behavior that has been learned through contact with the environment. Dogs that have not had the proper early socialization and training will end up with all sorts of behavioral issues, very commonly aggression.

When a human, either through neglect or innocent lack of education, sets a dog up to fail by not teaching a dog the skills it needs to survive in a stressful human environment and placing a dog in situations it cannot psychologically navigate successfully, or when a human does not properly contain or monitor a dog, the outcome is often aggression and tragic injuries to humans.

I have never come across a case of an aggressive dog that attacked "out of no where".  Even when the caretaker insists the dog has "always been fine", after spending time interviewing the parties involved, a pattern always emerges: signs were there, they simply were missed. 

Why do pit bulls constitute the majority of fatal dog attacks and mauling cases?

It should be noted that Centers for Disease Control no longer monitor breeds involved in attacks (they ceased doing so in the 1990s).  They found this method of statistical record keeping to be unsucessful and insignificant.  Various polls and statistics from other sources are only as good as the data collection methodology.  I would ignore any "breed bite statistics" unless there has been a sound, scientific collection of said statistics that involved proof of breed for dogs labeled as "pit bulls" (and there are none that exist to my knowledge). In regards to breed bite statistics, the term "pit bull" does not refer to any breed, but refers to dogs that simply look a certain way.  How anyone could consider such so-called "breed statistics" relevent when they do not even refer to a specific breed is a mystery to me. 

Are there any misconceptions that could skew those statistics?

Breed bite statistics are based on human eyewitness.  Humans are notoriously bad at identifying dog breeds. My blue brindle, long-tailed American Staffordshire Terrier  (which would be considered a "Pit Bull") is consistently identified as a Boxer by the general public.  Boxers do not come in blue brindle, and they are a docked breed (they do not have tails). My dog is still often confused with a breed that looks nothing like it.  Purebred Pit Bulls come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors.  Purebred versions of these dogs are difficult to identify if you are not familiar with the breed. Additionally, many, many Pit Bulls and Pit Bull mixes come from sources such as shelters or rescues where there is no proof of breed, registration, or lineage - in other words, it cannot be proven what breed the dog is even if it has been labeled a "Pit Bull".  Add to this that there are many breeds that look very similar to Pit Bulls and a wide variety of mixed breed dogs of completely unknown ancestry that may or may not have any relation to Pit Bulls, and you can see why breed statistics based on nothing but eyewitness testimony are silly and unscientific. 

What can we do as a society or as dog owners to prevent further attacks?

Education about what it means to be a responsible dog guardian is essential. Dogs need socialization, training, and to be properly contained. Enforcement of containment and leash laws would be a huge step in increasing public safety. In many areas, leash and containment laws are not enforced.  Loose dogs are a public safety concern, regardless of breed.   When leash and containment laws are not even enforced, how is it the logical next step to ban a "breed"?  Why should innocent, responsible dog guardians suffer when it is the few who refuse to adhere to the simplest of laws who cause the problems?