Pit Bulls and Children Don't Mix

Like uncovered outlets and loose batteries, pit bulls are a hazard for children. A photo of a pit bull momentarily not eating a child doesn't prove me wrong.

Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash

I’ve never been a big “dog person” although I wouldn’t say I have strongly negative feelings about dogs either. I feel about dogs much the way I feel about hedgehogs. They can be very cute. I quite like hedgehog motifs on kids’ cardigans, or embroidered dogs on some forest green corduroy pants. I do not particularly want to own a hedgehog or a dog. I also don’t wish peril upon them, and I think if anyone deliberately harms either animal, that’s bad.

But it wasn’t until I had my first child in 2020 that I noticed what really appears to be an epidemic of specifically unleashed pit bulls, roaming public parks with leash laws, and one time, even infiltrating a children’s play structure in a park with a “NO DOGS” sign, let alone a leash rule. At the time, I promptly freaked out and removed my child from the playground, while the other parents smirked and laughed at me for being so “paranoid.” Even my husband thought I was being silly, but I’ve since redpilled him on the fact that most dogs are fine, but pit bulls should be regarded as another entity entirely.

At this point, if I see a pit bull near children, I view it much the way I’d view a “domesticated” and well-fed tiger on a leash. In other words, if I had to wager if the tiger will maul/eat nearby children, I’d probably guess no, but the risk would still be too high for me to feel comfortable. If a pit bull is off a leash, I will drop whatever I’m doing no matter how inconvenient, and get my family the fuck away. Even if a pit bull is on a leash, I will cross the street. They are responsible for the majority (68%) of dog attack deaths, many of which are in young children. The scariest part for me is that these attacks are often completely random and unprovoked. Take, for example, two pit bulls who broke into a room where a one-year-old was sleeping, attacked the one-year-old, and then after the child’s babysitter was able to flee with the child to the bathroom, the pit bulls broke through that door too, ultimately killing the child.

Before any rabid pit bull haters start applauding me, I am not suggesting all pit bulls be euthanized. Plenty of people own things that are dangerous and given the relative rarity of dog attacks, dogs wouldn’t be the first dangerous thing that I’d ban. I would ban assault rifles before banning pit bulls, obviously. I also do not believe that 100% of pit bulls, or even 10% of them, will maim a child. But I will say this: pit bulls do not belong around small children or even in the same house or space as small children, and “this one pit bull I know never ate a child” is not a good argument. Anyone who is afraid of the dangers of pools, stoves, electrical outlets and button batteries should be afraid of pit bulls. People who want or have small children should not adopt them. Shelters should stop trying to “rehabilitate” the breed’s image. Shelters should not dishonestly label a pit bull as a “lab mix,” “husky mix” or “terrier mix” to make it more marketable to families or young people who want to have children, or to circumvent bans. Society should always prioritize the safety of children over the adoptability of a potentially dangerous animal.