Is That Dog a Pit Bull? A Cross-Country Comparison of Perceptions of Shelter Workers Regarding Breed Identification

Abstract

Bull breeds are commonly kept as companion animals, but the pit bull terrier is restricted by breed-specific legislation (BSL) in parts of the United States and throughout the United Kingdom. Shelter workers must decide which breed(s) a dog is. This decision may influence the dog's fate, particularly in places with BSL. In this study, shelter workers in the United States and United Kingdom were shown pictures of 20 dogs and were asked what breed each dog was, how they determined each dog's breed, whether each dog was a pit bull, and what they expected the fate of each dog to be. There was much variation in responses both between and within the United States and United Kingdom. UK participants frequently labeled dogs commonly considered by U.S. participants to be pit bulls as Staffordshire bull terriers. UK participants were more likely to say their shelters would euthanize dogs deemed to be pit bulls. Most participants noted using dogs' physical features to determine breed, and 41% affected by BSL indicated they would knowingly mislabel a dog of a restricted breed, presumably to increase the dog's adoption chances.

Dog bites in a U.S. county: age, body part and breed in paediatric dog bites

“…Pit bulls have been historically bred for dog fighting , thereby contributing towards a lower threshold for aggressive tendencies. Beyond this, other dogs with a similar appearance, including mixed breeds and boxers, may be falsely classified in animal reporting data .…”

“Type” as Central to Perceptions of Breed Differences in Behavior of Domestic Dog

“…This is unsurprising, as it has been argued that the term pit bull has been demonized in public understanding, and maintains a high media profile in dog attack reports. In contrast, even experienced dog observers find it difficult to differentiate between similar breeds based on morphology alone (Voith, Ingram, Mitsouras, & Irizarry, 2009;Hoffman et al, 2014), and reports of pit bull attacks have been inflated due to reporters being unable to tell pit bulls apart from other bull breeds (see Delise, 2007;Patronek et al, 2013).…”

“…The public are unreliable in their identification of supposedly dangerous dogs (Delise, 2007). Visual dog breed identification is difficult even for experienced observers (Voith et al, 2013), with a lack of consensus even amongst experienced dog handlers such as shelter staff about what constitutes a pit bull terrier (Hoffman, Harrison, Wolff, & Westgarth, 2014).…”

Registrations of Assistance Dogs in California for Identification Tags: 1999–2012

“…According to Hart and Hart [ 36 ], the small breeds such as Chihuahua and the terriers are rated as having lower trainability and excessive barking, traits that seem less adequate for assistance dogs. Furthermore, the Pit Bull type was commonly registered, even though there are some areas of the U.S. where Pit Bulls are banned or restricted due to being considered a dangerous breed; of course they are often kept as companion dogs in the U.S. [ 37 ]. When the animal control facilities issue ID tags there are no restrictions for breeds, so one expects registrations of the popular breeds.…”