11 Interesting Pitbull Facts & Statistics in 2024: FAQ & Common Myths
Updated on
Click to Skip Ahead
Note: This article’s statistics come from third-party sources and do not represent the opinions of this website.
There are few animals as controversial as the Pit Bull Terrier. Some argue that they’re lovable yet misunderstood creatures and are victims of humanity rather than a menace to it.
Others claim that Pit Bulls are too dangerous to own, asserting that they’re lethal weapons on the end of a leash. They cite statistics that show that most fatal dog attacks are caused by Pit Bulls and that each one is nothing more than a ticking time bomb.
With these competing claims in mind, we decided to take a deep dive into the facts and stats about Pit Bulls. Are they truly a public health crisis deserving of special legislation to stop their ownership? Or are the fears surrounding these dogs completely overblown?
The truth, as it often does, lies somewhere in the middle, and you can keep reading to examine our up-to-date Pitbull facts and statistics.
The 11 Pit Bull Facts and Statistics
- The Pit Bull is not a breed but an umbrella term for various “bully breeds.”
- A genetic breed study of shelter animals showed that Pit Bulls are the most commonly found dogs.
- Approximately 20% of the dogs owned in the United States are Pit Bulls.
- Approximately 42.5% of the successful breed identifications in one study included dogs with American Staffordshire Terrier, Chihuahua, and Poodle DNA.
- Dogs labeled as Pit Bulls spend three times longer in shelters than those labeled as other breeds.
- One study found that Pit Bulls accounted for 38.5% of 1,116 dog bite-related injury reports.
- Over 42 breeds were found to have caused at least one dog bite-related fatality in the CDC study.
- Property Managers ban the Pit Bull and “bully” breeds more than other dogs.
- According to data from the American Temperament Test Society (ATTS), Pit Bulls pass temperament tests 87.6% of the time.
- Pit Bulls can be more aggressive toward other dogs.
- Estimates of the Pit Bull’s Bite Force range from 235 to 310 PSI.
Top Pitbull Facts and Statistics:
1. The Pit Bull is not a breed but an umbrella term for various “bully breeds.”
(American Humane Society)
It’s surprisingly difficult to define a Pit Bull. Several breeds are commonly grouped together under the umbrella of “Pit Bull,” including American Staffordshire Terriers, American Bully, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
The American Pit Bull Terrier is recognized by the United Kennel Club and American Dog Breeders Association but not by the AKC, which is generally considered the final word on dog breeds in America.
Generally, some use the term “Pit Bull” to refer to any medium-sized dog with a stocky body and boxy head. As a result, getting clear and accurate data that applies only to Pit Bulls is extremely difficult, if not impossible.
2. A genetic breed study of shelter animals Showed that Pit Bulls are the most commonly found dogs.
(National Library of Medicine)
Most shelter surveys and studies are based on determining the breed by appearance rather than genetics. It’s too expensive for every shelter to test their animals’ DNA, but identifying a dog by their physical features is difficult, especially with Pit Bulls.
In 2018, a genetic-breed study confirmed that the American Staffordshire Terrier was the most common breed in shelters, followed by the Chihuahua and Poodle.
3. Approximately 20% of the dogs owned in the United States are Pit Bulls.
(Forever Vets)
Since the term “Pit Bull” can refer to three or more breeds and multiple mixed breeds, it’s difficult to determine how many are in the United States.
However, bully breeds are popular with Americans, even though some landlords, businesses, and transportation services have banned them. Although Pit Bulls have a bad reputation, responsible owners can train them to become loyal, friendly companions.
4. Approximately 42.5% of the successful breed identifications in one study included dogs with American Staffordshire Terrier, Chihuahua, and Poodle DNA.
(National Library of Medicine)
Until shelter dogs were genetically tested, most researchers believed that purebred dogs comprised up to 50% of the population. However, the number is much lower, at 4.9%.
The American Staffordshire Terrier gene marker appeared in more mixed breeds and accounted for at least 42.5% of the population. When shelter employees label a dog as a Pit Bull, they’re often referring to a mixed breed, which makes determining the total number of purebred “bully” breeds difficult.
5. Dogs labeled as Pit Bulls spend three times longer in shelters than those labeled as other breeds.
(PLOS ONE)
When a dog is identified as a specific breed, it goes a long way toward determining their fate. As we’ve seen, identifying a dog by their appearance is problematic and yields inaccurate results.
According to one study, a dog’s attractiveness is the most popular reason they are adopted or rejected. However, adding the label “Pit Bull” to the dog dramatically affects the animal’s chances of being adopted.
Dogs that look like Pit Bulls but aren’t labeled as such stay in shelters for an average of 12 days. However, by adding the “Pit Bull” label, the same dog stays in the shelter for 42 days on average.
(AVMA, WJPS)
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) looked at data from 1981 to 1992. The numbers showed that Pit Bull-type dogs and Rottweilers accounted for most dog-related fatalities.
However, the data relied on eyewitness identification of the dogs responsible for the attacks without any DNA analysis. This implies that Pit Bulls are likely shouldering the blame for attacks performed by other breeds.
In another series of studies that tracked dog-bite statistics from 1980 to 2000, the Pit Bull was only named in 38.5% of the incidents, but once again, the dogs were identified by their appearance rather than genetics. Mixed breeds with Pit Bull and Labrador genes were the 2nd most common attackers in biting reports.
(AVMA)
While Pit Bulls and Rottweilers were the breeds most likely to be blamed for a fatal attack, there were dozens of breeds on the list. That clearly shows that virtually any dog can be dangerous.
Many of the breeds that made the list are far less common than Pit Bulls, like Akitas, Japanese Hunting Dogs, and Rhodesian Ridgebacks. This may suggest that at least part of the issue with the high numbers associated with Pit Bull-type dogs is the fact that they’re a much more popular breed.
8. Property Managers ban the Pit Bull and “bully” breeds more than other dogs.
(Rehab and Flip)
In the early 1970s, before Pit Bulls were common, Dober Pinschers received negative attention from the media for dog-biting incidents. Pit Bulls now share a similar reputation and are at the top of the list of breeds banned by landlords.
Regardless of a city’s breed restriction laws, landlords can reject applicants for several reasons. They can ban cats and dogs entirely or place restrictions on pets based on their breed and size. Some of the other breeds frequently banned by property managers include the Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler, Chow-Chow, Great Dane, Perro de Presa Canario, Akita, and Alaskan Malamute.
9. According to data from the American Temperament Test Society (ATTS), Pit Bulls pass temperament tests 87.6% of the time.
(ATTS)
The ATTS is a national non-profit organization that examines dogs to determine their temperament. To pass the test, the animal must not show panic, strong avoidance without recovery, or unprovoked aggression.
Pit Bulls pass the test 87.6% of the time, and what’s more astounding is that the American Bully passed the test 100% of the time. To put that in perspective, Golden Retrievers, a breed generally considered friendly and harmless, only pass the test 85.9% of the time.
Now, this data does not guarantee that a breed will be trustworthy. However, it strongly indicates that unprovoked aggression is not an innate issue with Pit Bulls.
10. Pit Bulls can be more aggressive toward other dogs.
(Research Gate)
The data mentioned above from the ATTS is largely designed to show how likely Pit Bulls are to be toward humans; clearly, they’re not the threat that many people perceive them to be.
However, a study performed in 2008 by the University of Pennsylvania’s School for Veterinary Medicine found that Pit Bull-type dogs showed “significantly decreased aggression to owners, but increased aggression to dogs.”
This aggression was especially pronounced toward dogs that were unknown to the Pit Bull. However, it didn’t extend to the owners of the strange dogs.
They weren’t the most aggressive breed in this metric, though. That distinction was shared by Chihuahuas and Dachshunds.
11. Estimates of the Pit Bull’s Bite Force range from 235 to 310 PSI.
(Rosenfeld Injury Lawyer, Lawsuit Information Center)
There is plenty of misinformation about the bite strength of Pit Bulls, but most of it isn’t based on research studies since few have been conducted. One of the most reputable studies did not determine each breed’s bite force but concluded that the dog’s size was more relevant than the breed.
Finding accurate bite-force statistics is challenging, and most of the online resources featuring them are from law firms. The estimates of a Pit Bull’s bite forces range from 235 to 310 PSI, but since many mixed breeds are misidentified as Pits, it’s unclear if they’re included in the statistics.
The Pit Bull has a powerful bite, but supposedly, some believe the Kangal has the deadliest bite, with a bite force of 743. Once again, however, we cannot rely on the figure since it’s not connected to a research study.
Why Do Pit Bulls Have Such a Mixed Reputation?
Pit Bull-type dogs were originally developed in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. They were used for blood sports like dog fighting, bullbaiting, and rat-baiting.
The U.K. banned all dog-related blood sports in 1911, but the dogs were still bred as companion animals. Attempts to eliminate those horrific activities haven’t been as successful, as dog fighting only became a felony in all 50 states in 2008.
The Pit Bull’s association with 19th-century dogfighting isn’t why they gained a bad reputation. Although the Pit Bull was a favorite pet of Teddy Roosevelt and fought alongside American Troops in World War I, the negative press in the 1980s and early 1990s turned the public against them.
Time magazine and Sports Illustrated, among others, published horrifying articles about the dangers of owning or encountering Pit Bulls. Their tough reputation was feared by average pet owners but admired by criminal groups who wanted fearless dogs to protect them and their property.
(Coastal.edu)
Pit Bulls and Breed-Specific Legislation
Due to the Pit Bull’s poor reputation, they’re often the targets of breed-specific legislation (BSL). Pit Bull lovers argue that the legislation is discriminatory, as it unfairly demonizes a breed and punishes responsible owners of those dogs, while proponents of BSL counter that it’s a common-sense solution to a legitimate public health issue.
Dogs of any breed can be aggressive, and factors other than breed (such as keeping a dog chained up) can affect the animal’s likelihood of attacking someone.
However, a far bigger issue is that most studies have shown that BSL doesn’t work. Not only does it fail to reduce the number of severe dog bites, but it also drives up costs to the community, primarily due to the need for re-training animal control officers, lawsuits over breed misidentification, and increased shelter population.
That’s not to say that nothing can be done, however. Enforcing existing animal control laws that punish bad characters and encouraging more owners to engage in training sessions may help.
(Research Gate, AKC)
Top 4 Common Pit Bull Myths
More so than just about any other breed, Pit Bulls are subject to several myths. Some are intended to unfairly demonize the dogs, while others give them undeserved credit.
1. Myth: Pit Bulls Have Locking Jaws.
This myth is designed to scare people about the severity of a Pit Bull attack; it strongly hints that if your Pit Bull bites someone, you will be unable to stop them from continuing to attack.
Physiologically speaking, a Pit Bull’s jaws work just like any other dog (and there are other dogs with stronger bites). Their jaws don’t lock, nor are they more likely to stay “locked on” to a bite victim than other breeds.
2. Myth: Pit Bulls Don’t Feel Pain When They Fight.
Sadly, this couldn’t be further from the truth. They feel as much pain as any other dog in the same situation.
However, fighting Pit Bulls were bred to be non-aggressive toward their owners, even during or immediately after about. This lack of aggressiveness may contribute to the belief that they didn’t feel pain during the fight.
3. Myth: Pit Bulls Were Once Considered Nanny Dogs.
This myth seems to be based on a single claim in 1971 from a woman named Lilian Rant, who was then the president of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of America. However, Rant’s quote — that many owners of Staffordshire Bull Terriers referred to them as “nursemaid dogs” — was clearly based in the present tense, not an indication of years of prior history.
The fact is that you should never leave a dog of any breed alone with a child, no matter how much you trust them. Even so, Pit Bulls are often highly tolerant of children, provided that they’re well-trained and socialized.
(World Animal Foundation)
4. Myth: Pit Bulls Attack Unprovoked.
This myth is commonly cited to prove that Pit Bulls are inherently untrustworthy and unpredictable. However, the temperament studies performed by the ATTS indicate that Pit Bulls aren’t prone to unprovoked aggression.
Also, most people are unfamiliar with canine behavior, so they have a poor understanding of what “provokes” a dog attack. In the overwhelming number of cases in which a Pit Bull attacks a human, there was a provocation by the victim.
While we’re not suggesting that Pit Bulls that have shown aggression toward humans should be tolerated, better education and awareness are needed to teach people how to behave around dogs of any breed safely.
(DePaul University)
Conclusion
It’s rare to find a middle-of-the-road opinion on Pit Bulls. One side believes them to be ruthless killers, while the other views them as sweet, misunderstood animals that are more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators of it.
However, Pit Bulls and “bully” breeds are neither devils nor saints—they’re just dogs, albeit ones that carry a vicious social stigma. Can they be loving, loyal family pets? Absolutely. Are they capable of violence if abused, neglected, or poorly trained? Yes, just like any other breed.
The debate around Pit Bulls isn’t likely to be solved anytime soon. Hopefully, we’ll eventually judge these dogs on their own merits, rather than the sensationalistic claims.
See Also:
- Are Pitbulls Smarter Than Other Dogs? (Origins & FAQs)
- How Fast Can a Pitbull Run? (Max Speed Comparison)
Featured Image Credit: Sophia Tr, Shutterstock
