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Pit bulls are being freed from their bad reputations and returning as America's top dog

It's a great time to be a pit bull.

Photo by Justin Veenema on Unsplash

Pit bulls may finally be ditching their misinformed reputation.

Believe it or not, pit bulls used to be one of America's favorite dogs, a trusted family pet with a great temperament. People are often shocked to find out that the block-headed pups deemed as aggressive by society actually score really well on the temperament test, landing at 87.4%—only two tenths away from the score of golden retrievers. Yet for the past 50 years or so, they've been in a battle for their lives due to bad press and misinformation. But it looks like their luck is turning around.

Pit bulls have essentially been victims of a half-century-long smear campaign that they didn't sign up for. These extremely affectionate dogs are the product of cross-breeding bulldogs and terriers for the purpose of capturing and restraining livestock. Of course, eventually some not-so-nice humans decided this breed could serve as a money-making endeavor and began to breed them to fight and train them to be aggressive, though those traits are not inherent.

Basically pit bulls are much like any other dog—if you train it to be aggressive, it will do what it's trained to do. If you train it to give you its paw and sit pretty for a treat, it will.

Chocolate pit bull.

Photo Credit: Jacalyn Wetzel

The problem with the information circulating about pit bulls being aggressive is that many dogs who are not pit bulls are labeled as such due to their features, according to the American Pit Bull Foundation.

Recently there has been a counter campaign for the breed and it seems to be showing promise. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who has owned a pit bull, affectionately known by their owners as "pibbles," to say anything bad about the dogs. Aside from some chewed-up shoes and being bombarded with kisses while they snuggle in your lap like a Pomeranian, pit bull owners speak highly of the breed.

Nowadays, the breed has a lot more advocates, from organizations and shelters to soccer moms. Villalobos Rescue Center helped to catapult the dogs back into the spotlight, helping to change the narrative with the docuseries "Pit Bulls and Parolees." The show even documented the stricter laws and misunderstandings around the breed in California, which forced the rescue organization to flee to New Orleans to continue its work.

Photo by Katie Bernotsky on Unsplash

It's thanks to shows like "Pit Bulls and Parolees" as well as shelters and veterinarians combating the negative stereotype that more pit bulls are ending up in homes snuggling on couches than euthanized. Though some states still have strict laws on the books essentially banning the dogs, advocacy groups and pibble owners have been fighting back in court.

Breed discrimination certainly isn't new. Other breeds such as Dobermans, Rottweilers and German shepherds have all done time on the "bad dog" list due to bad press. But the discrimination against the pit bull seems to have taken an exceptionally long time to turn around.

These dogs deserve a chance just like any other dog. All dogs require responsible humans to train and care for them and an entire breed shouldn't get a bad reputation and possible death sentence because a few people decided to be irresponsible. National Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 29.

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Science confirms it: The more dogs in your neighborhood, the safer it'll be

It's a pretty significant drop in crime, too.

via Unsplash and Unsplash

The dog lovers in your neighborhood.

Is there anything that dogs can’t improve? They make us healthier, happier and even more attractive. That’s right. If you have a photo with your dog in a dating profile, people are more likely to swipe right.

Now, a new study reported by Ohio State News shows that having more dogs in your neighborhood can make you safer by lowering the overall crime rate.

The study, conducted by sociologists at Ohio State, was recently published in the journal Social Forces.

According to researchers, dog-walking isn’t just about getting exercise—it makes us all security guards whether we know it or not.

“People walking their dogs are essentially patrolling their neighborhoods,” Nicolo Pinchak, lead author of the study, told Ohio State News. “They see when things are not right, and when there are suspect outsiders in the area. It can be a crime deterrent.”

via Pexels

The study reviewed 595 census block groups in the Columbus, Ohio, area. It also used data from the Adolescent Health and Development in Context study that rated the level of trust people have in their neighborhoods.

What’s unique about the study is that it compared neighborhoods that have high levels of trust, meaning the residents agree that people on the streets can be trusted. High-trust neighborhoods have lower levels of homicide, aggravated assaults and robberies. So it makes sense that people who live in these neighborhoods are probably more likely to say they trust the folks who live around them.

However, the study found that when comparing two high-trust neighborhoods, the ones with higher concentrations of dogs had “two-thirds the robbery rates” and about “half the homicides.” That’s a pretty substantial reduction in crime.

Pinchak says it’s all about having boots and paws on the ground.

"It's not enough for residents to just be taking walks in their neighborhood—there has to be trust among residents to foster deterrence and intervention norms. It's similarly not enough for residents to just trust one another—people have to actually be present to identify problems and intervene,” Pinchak told USA TODAY.

Further, regardless of a neighborhood's trust level, the study found that a higher concentration of dogs is related to fewer property crimes, such as robberies.

Having a dog isn’t just good for your neighborhood’s safety but your home, too. Over the years, multiple publications have interviewed burglars about the things that deter them from entering homes and having a loud dog was a major one.

via Pexels

Even if a small dog doesn’t isn’t physically intimidating, it can be incredibly effective at alerting people of an intruder.

The Guardian interviewed 12 burglars a few years ago and found that dogs, security cameras, heavy doors and a television being turned on made them less likely to invade a home.

Given the result of this study, realtors should take its results to heart and publish the concentration of dogs in a neighborhood in home listings. That way people will know that the neighborhood is safe and there are plenty of opportunities to give out belly rubs on the sidewalk.

From Your Site Articles

dogs

dogs and safety

Pit bulls are being freed from their bad reputations and returning as America's top dog

It's a great time to be a pit bull.

Science confirms it: The more dogs in your neighborhood, the safer it'll be

It's a pretty significant drop in crime, too.

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