Mythbusting part 1

So lately I keep hearing from people, -and reading online- about all these totally outrageous "facts" about Bully breeds. The truth is these assumptions have no physical or scientific evidence to back them up. The sad part is, it's all about bad PR and the fact that people can't accept responsibility for our actions. When someone gets hurt, or a dog is attacked, it's easy to say "ooh it was the evil Pitbull" and not, "hey that owner needs to be held accountable". Pitbull's were once upon a time the most popular family dog breed in America. When trained right, treated well and given love they are the most loyal, reliable and steadfast dog you could ask for. They are great with kids and other dogs (I'm not guessing about this) they are adoring and affectionate, shameless cuddle fiends and they'll give their life for their family at a moments notice. I've owned two and worked with many and the only imbalances I have ever seen were man made.

In an effort to change the perception of these animals and raise awareness about the tragedy of dog fighting that is going on in our nation right now, we started www.NoDogFights.com. so I already have my soap box and i don't intend to turn this blog into an activist site. However, I would like to debunk some of the misunderstandings that people have about Pitbulls and similar breeds. So I've decided to start a series of mythbusting posts. The goal of each post will be to address one myth that has been propagated about these dogs.

The list of myths about Pitbulls is a mile long, so theres plenty to pick from, but if anyone out there has a question they would like answered, a "fact" you would like researched or mythbusted, or if you just want a good old fashion debate, feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to address you're topic.

On with the show. Probably the most common misconception about Pitbulls, and the one I hear the most from people is that Pitbulls have the most powerful and dangerous bite of all dog breeds measuring in excess of 5,000 PSI. These are just inflated urban legends. Scientific experiments have actually been conducted to quantify the bite strength of Pitbulls, alongside many other breeds of dogs. The most accurate measurement of bite force is obviously PSI (pounds per square inch) and the average PSI of a dog bite is around 320PSI. There are idiots all over the web (I know, it's shocking right?) asserting that it's a well known fact that Pitbulls deliver over 1200PSI (It's the TOP rated answer on yahoo answers. true story) In reality Pitbulls don't deliver nearly that power, in fact they don't even come close to having the strongest bite of any breed. Recently Dr. Brady Barr of National Geographic conducted a comparative test between a Pit Bull, a Rottweiler, and a German Shepherd. The Pit Bull had the lowest PSI rating of all three!

  
The highest pressure recorded from the Pit Bull was 235 lbs PSI.  The highest from the Sheppard was 238, and the highest from the Rott was 328. Dr. Barr states that as far as he knows, the PSI tested in the Rott is the highest on record for any domestic canine. What happened to the supposed 10,000 pounds PSI pressure that the breed supposedly has???  It's a myth, pure and simple. 

The bottom line here is simple. A Pit Bull's bite is exactly the same as any other larger breed dog. They're jaws don't lock and they don't turn on their owners. (But that's a topic for another post)

Here's the clip from the bite force experiment. Notice that these dogs are charging full speed into the PSI calculator too. This isn't just the force of a bite down, but the impact of the dog's momentum as well. 

So that's all for today. Hard evidence proving that a Pitbull's bite is no different from any other big dog. If you have some dog "facts" you would like me to research and debunk send em on over. And if you have a love for these amazing, misunderstoof animals, stop by Dog Fight Inc, get more information or get involved in the fight to return the APBT to the place it once held in the hearts of the American people.