During our conversation, someone brought up the topic of dog bites and talked about what she'd heard from the media about pit bulls. I decided to use this opportunity to debunk some of the claims put forth by so-called "experts."
We've all heard it before: pit bulls have a unique ability to clamp down with their front teeth and grind/chew with their back teeth, thanks to some special jaw structure that enables them to cause far more damage than other "normal" dogs.
Baloney!!
As Karen Delise wrote in The Pit Bull Placebo: The Myths, Media, and Politics Surrounding Canine Aggression: "The grinding/chewing jaw capability is just another of the many myths which surrounded the Bulldog a century ago, and which has carried over into the new Pit bull mythology. Neither Bulldogs, Pit bulls, nor any other breed of dog have a jaw structure that would allow for gripping with their front canine teeth and simultaneously grinding or chewing with their back molar teeth."
To demonstrate just how difficult this would be, I had the students try it themselves. It didn't take long to realize how silly this claim is!
Thank you to my friends at Peace for Puppies for organizing these visits -- and for everything you do for dogs and the people who love them!
