Adapted from a recent online discussion.

Hi Carolyn:

I live on a street with a large number of young children (under age 6). One family recently bought a new puppy, and we were surprised to learn that it is a pit bull. Now several of us are worried about letting our children play freely on the street, since pit bulls are known as an aggressive breed that can attack without provocation. Any advice on what we can do?

Neighbors bought a pit bull

Yes: Inform yourselves about pit bulls. Heck, about dogs: Just about any dog can hurt a small child, badly.

Dogs don’t “attack without provocation” unless they have temperament problems, and those problems are quite visible in other circumstances. Otherwise, dogs who bite give all kinds of signs that they’re going to defend themselves or their people. Many people ignore/are ignorant of those signs and so they continue the behavior that provokes the dog — or, the owners don’t know anything about dogs and don’t train or handle them safely. Again, this is all dogs, not just pit bulls.

Unfortunately, pit bulls became a look-at-how-cool-I-am accessory and fell in disproportionate numbers into the hands of idiots, posers and thugs — people who have no business having pets, much less powerful dogs.

The pit bull is not the most dangerous breed out there. What is? Trick question: The most dangerous dog is one that has irresponsible owners and is big enough to kill.

Meanwhile, “cute” little dogs, like dachshunds and Jack Russells, are much more likely to bite the neighborhood 6-and-unders. Pits historically have been bred to be responsive to their humans, and they’re actually far less likely to bite if a kid, say, tugs an ear (it just makes the news if they do). Tugging not recommended, by the way, with any dog, which responsible parents teach their kids.

Ever see “Our Gang/Little Rascals”? The dog, Petey, is a pit. Pit bulls’ nickname in the past has been “the nanny” because they were known as great family dogs. Still are, by a dedicated population of defenders.

So. Do not fear this dog unless you have cause to fear the neighbors. Is the dog spayed or neutered, trained, never chained, walked/exercised regularly and otherwise supervised — all just as good for dogs as for neighbors? Are the neighborhood kids taught how to interact with dogs?

Hysteria is no way to protect children from anything. When you feel threatened by something, seek knowledge first, then seek a remedy, if you even need one after you have the facts.

Re: Pit bull bullies:

It took a conscious effort on my part to learn about pit bulls when a roommate decided to get not one but two! These dogs ended up being the kindest, most well-behaved dogs I’ve ever been around. My roommate also had a

3-year-old daughter.

“Neighbors” needs to teach her children about how to approach a dog and what a dog means by its body languages.

Anonymous

Absolutely. Abundant resources are a browser away. Type “dog stress signs.”

Anyone curious about pit bulls should also check out what became of the Michael Vick pit bulls. Educational and inspiring.

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