Comments on: Kitchener-Waterloo pit bull committee meeting minutes 1997

By: Caveat

Caveat — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:58:57 +0000

There has been only one scientific study* done regarding bite strength in dogs – and it isn’t the Nat Geo ‘pop science’ piece, which is not to say that isn’t also valid. The study did not get past the pilot stage due to the difficulty in measuring bite force in a wide variety of dogs. The highest reading was 1394 Newtons (=313 pound force) for a Rottweiler, which is nowhere near the bizarre – and completely unsubstantiated as well as impossible – 2000 pounds per square inch bite pressure often attribute to Rottweilers and ‘pit bulls’ by self-styled experts such as the ridiculous Stanley Coren. I still await his scientific reference for this oft-repeated myth. To date, he has been unable to supply it – he thinks he heard it at a meeting but he can’t remember where it was or who made the statement.

The endorphin nonsense first appeared in an article in The Economist around 1991, the time when the DDA was coming in in the UK, which was reprinted in the Globe and Mail or the Star (can’t remember). The article was written by a ‘staff writer’ who was unnamed and provided no scientific references at all. It was darned scary reading though, I still remember it.

Basically, most people are too lazy to dig for the facts. When they hear statements made in the mainstream media, especially by people who are supposed to be ethical, knowledgeable and reliable, they just take them at face value, no matter how absurd they are. It’s a sad fact of modern life – very few people are concerned enough to actually dig for the facts.

So, when that ticking time bomb and threat to public safety, Michael J Bryant, former AG of Ontario, stood up and told people that they consulted with the public, that he received 5,000 emails, blah blah blah and they were going ahead with the ban, people assumed there was public support. A quick trip though Hansard show this was not true but hey, reading Hansard is ‘hard’ and folk just want their ‘news’ in 5-second sound bytes.

Scary times indeed, just like all the other scary times throughout history.
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*MEASUREMENT OF BITE FORCE IN DOGS: A PILOT STUDY
Donna L. Lindner, DVM; Sandra Manfra Marretta, DVM; Gerald J. Pijanowski, DVM; Ann L. Johnson, DVM; Charles W. Smith, DVM

Summary: A force tranducer was developed to measure bite force in dogs. A total of 101 readings was obtained from 22 pet dogs ranging in size from 7 to 55 kg. Bite forces ranged from 13 to 1394 Newtons with a mean for all dogs of 256 Newtons and a median of 163 Newtons. Most measurements fell within the low end of the range, with 55% of the biting episodes less than 200 Newtons and 77% less than 400 Newtons. J Vet Dent 12(2):49-52, 1995

I go into a little more detail about bite force here:

http://caveat.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/7/23/2152355.html

By: Fayclis

Fayclis — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:24:39 +0000

It is time that politicans did their due diligence. The myths prepetulated on these dogs are nothing less than MADNESS.

A test done, by professionals on bite force, was done between a German Shepard, a Rotweiller and a Pit Bull type dog. After TWO tries the pit bull came in THIRD, behind the Rottie and the GSD. Here is a link to that test.
The results of the first test was a tie between the GS and the Pit. The Rottie won two of the two tests.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbwMs7cjK0Y
SOME people will spew out garbage and be believed no matter how WRONG they are. How terribly sad.

A average Rottie weighs in around 110 lbs and a average pit bull type dog from 55 to 65 lbs. University of Florida zoologist Kent Vliet, has been quoted as saying. “Bite force is linked to the size of the animal”.

When does common sense come into play instead of “crappy myths”?

I’m beginning to think that politicians need to have IQ tests done before running for office.

By: Karin

Karin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:44:28 +0000

Wow. Goes to show how much crap gets fed to the public by both the politicians and the media. I wonder if it would be useful or just a waste of time to try to find actual data on the L tyrosine and bite strength issues. The tail wagging during “attack” is pretty normal in a dog (of any breed or shape) that has habituated or been trained to human aggression. It is just a sign of arousal and dopamine release. Mice do it too. Ooooh scary mice.
The “super skull” idea is just too ridiculous and is obviously this officer’s excuse for being a poor shot. Not that this is unexpected. Handgun accuracy at a head-on target is notoriously difficult, no matter the shooter. No hunter, even with a long gun, would ever shoot at an animal’s head, its just to small a target and the room for non-fatal error is too great.

By: selwyn marock

selwyn marock — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:37:40 +0000

Lunacy at it’s best,when did that nice evenly tempered man Michael Bryant become an expert,I beleive he was incapable of even identifying a pit standing next to a golden retriever.I thought maybe the cyclist he murdered he mistook for a pitbull.

smarock@yahoo.com