16.5.1. Breed Identification

At https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/LiteratureReviews/Pages/The-Role-of-Breed-in-Dog-Bite-Risk-and-Prevention.aspx, the American Veterinary Medical Association states,

“Pit Bull types
Owners of dogs that are identified by the community as ‘pit bull type’ may experience a strong breed stigma,⁴⁴ however controlled studies have not identified this breed group as disproportionately dangerous. The pit bull type is particularly ambiguous as a “breed” encompassing a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified.⁴⁵ Visual determination of dog breed is known to be unreliable.⁴⁶ As discussed witnesses may be predisposed to assume that a dog that bites is a ‘pit bull’.

The incidence of ‘pit bull-type’ dogs’ involvement in severe or fatal attacks may be associated with prevalence of at-risk dogs in neighborhoods with lots of young children. Owners of stigmatized breeds are more likely to have involvement in criminal and/or violent acts⁴⁷, so apparent ‘breed correlations’ may be due to patterns in owner behavior.”

At https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/dog-bite-prevention, an American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals posting on their Internet website regarding “Pit Bulls” states.

“There’s a great deal of confusion associated with the label “Pit Bull.”

and

“Because of the vagueness of the “Pit Bull” label, many people may have trouble recognizing a Pit Bull when they see one.”

and

“Second, correct breed identification by bystanders, pet owners, police, medical and animal control personnel is unreliable. It becomes virtually impossible with mixed breeds. Just because a dog looks like a Labrador-shepherd mix does not mean she is. A mixed-breed dog’s genes often include more than just two pure breeds, and, thanks to their genetic diversity, mixed breeds may not even look like their parents. It’s convenient for us to identify dogs by the breed (or two breeds) we think they most look like, but the label in no way accurately describes their ancestry. A case in point is the so-called “Pit Bull.” This term is loosely used to describe four breeds of dog: the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the bull Terrier. Because these breeds, and mixes of these breeds, are hard for people to identify, any short-haired, medium-sized dog with a wider-than-average jaw who’s involved in an aggressive incident can be labeled a “Pit Bull.” It’s not uncommon for newspaper stories about aggressive “Pit Bulls” to be accompanied by photos of Boxers, Bullmastiffs and even Boston Terriers.”

and

“A Pit Bull bite is also far more likely to draw media attention. Many dogs of other breeds bite people, but these incidents almost always go unreported. They’re just not exciting enough fodder for television and print.”

and

“It is truly a shame that the media continues to portray such a warped image of this beautiful, loyal and affectionate breed.”

Note: as at January 2, 2017, the preceding link will take you to the ASPCA’s website, but you will not be able to view the web pages unless you “Sign Up”.

A Special Report by the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention at https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Documents/javma_000915_fatalattacks.pdf with data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Public Health Service, issued with the assistance of The Humane Society of the United States and the American Veterinary Medical Association on breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States over a 20 year period states,

“identification of a dog’s breed may be subjective (even experts may disagree on the breed of a particular dog), dog bites related to fatalities may be differentially ascribed to breeds with a reputation for aggression.”

and

“since 1975, dogs belonging to more than 30 breeds have been responsible for fatal attacks on people, including Dachshunds, a Yorkshire Terrier, and a Labrador Retriever.”

The study also mentioned one fatal attack by a Cocker Spaniel. The report concluded that relying on media coverage of dog-bite-related fatalities presents a biased view of the dogs involved.

Research including DNA analysis by Dr. Victoria Voith, PhD, DVM, DACVB Professor, Animal Behavior, Western University) and others has proven that

“dogs commonly identified as “Pit Bulls” are quite often a mix of multiple breeds, so breed identification by appearance alone is now considered to be inaccurate and misleading.”

A report in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science published in Proceedings of Annual American Veterinary Medical Association Convention, July 11-14, 2009 in Seattle, Washington indicates

“….low agreement between the identification of breeds of dogs by adoption agencies and DNA identification. The dogs in this study were of unknown parentage and had been acquired from adoption agencies. In only a quarter of these dogs was at least one of the breeds proposed by the adoption agencies also detected as a predominant breed by DNA analysis.

The discrepancy between breed identifications based on opinion and DNA analysis, as well as concerns about reliability of data collected based on media reports, draws into question the validity and enforcement of public and private policies pertaining to dog breeds.

Owners of Pit Bull type dogs deal with a strong breed stigma, however controlled studies have not identified this breed group as disproportionately dangerous. The Pit Bull type is particularly ambiguous as a “breed” encompassing a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified. Visual determination of dog breed is known to not always be reliable. And witnesses may be predisposed to assume that a vicious dog is of this type.”

A study by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: 2000-2009 states,

“reliable verification of the breed of dog was only possible in 18% of incidents.”

and in this study

“Some terms, such as “Husky”, “Pit Bull”, or “Retriever” refer to multiple breeds of a single bloodline.”

At http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2014.895904#, an article in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science entitled “Is That Dog a Pit Bull? A Cross-Country Comparison of Perceptions of Shelter Workers Regarding Breed Identification” by Christy L. Hoffman of the Department of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of Canisius College, Natalie Harrison of the School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences of the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, London Wolff of the Department of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of Canisius College and Carri Westgarth Harrison of the School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences of the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom and Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Institute of Infection and Global Health, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom found the following.

416 U.S. participants and 54 UK participants who self-identified themselves as shelter staff or volunteers who have a role in assigning breed names to dogs who enter their shelters, pounds or rescue organizations in either the United States or the United Kingdom participated.

The participants were shown twenty photos of dogs and were asked to identify the primary breed of each. Those photos can be found as follows and at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2014.895904#

The number and percentage of participants from each country who identified the dogs pictured as “Pit Bull” dogs is below each photograph. This information can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/downloadTable?id=T0002&doi=10.1080%2F10888705.2014.895904&downloadType=PDF

In the following chart, UK = United Kingdom and US = United States.

The first number following the “UK” or “US” is the number of participants who identified the dog pictured as a “Pit Bull” – the second number is the percent of the participants who identified the dog pictured as a “Pit Bull”.

Following the numbers is the name of the breed assigned to the dog in the photograph in the UK or US.  This information can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showPopup?citid=citart1&id=T0001&doi=10.1080/10888705.2014.895904

Put your cursor inside the frame and scroll down
and sideways to view all of the information.

At http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2014.895904#, it is stated that,

“In our study, some of the largest differences between UK and U.S. participants’ responses to whether each photographed dog was a Pit Bull were for the two dogs who more than 90% of UK participants considered to be Staffordshire bull terriers (Dogs 11 and 17). A high percentage of UK participants did not consider those two dogs to be Pit Bulls, whereas a high percentage of U.S. participants did consider them to be Pit Bulls. This is likely because in the United Kingdom, the Staffordshire bull terrier breed is perceived as separate from the Pit Bull and is not banned under the Dangerous Dog Act.

The results of this study do support the hypothesis that there is a lack of consensus across the United States and between the United States and United Kingdom about what a “Pit Bull-type” dog is, but the study did have some limitations.

Given the speed at which news reports travel, the use of the Pit Bull label in one locale may impact perceptions of Pit Bulls in other places, even globally

The likelihood of a dog being euthanized in a U.S. or UK shelter only differed for the two dogs who the highest percentage of UK participants classified as Pit Bulls. Even so, only a small number of UK participants indicated that these two dogs would be euthanized if they entered their shelters, and that percentage was nowhere near the percentage of UK participants who considered the dogs to be Pit Bulls.

Participants tended to identify dogs as belonging to specific breeds or breed combinations, and they used a vast array of features to determine a dog’s breed. Perhaps not surprisingly given the nature of breed standards, most participants referenced a dog’s physical features when justifying breed assignment. Others referenced breed standards or concluded a dog was a particular breed because dogs similar to the one pictured had gone through their shelter and had been labeled that breed by other staff members.

Some individuals based decisions on supposed cosmetic changes, such as docked tails and cropped ears, was surprising because such changes are not genetic.

Cosmetic alterations that participants perceived to have been made to some of the dogs pictured, such as cropped ears and docked tails, influenced breed assignment.”

The study that follows in the next section contains the results of the study done by Dr. Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, and Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida.

While I do not solicit and/or accept donations or anything of value, Dr. Levy’s work can use the donations. Consequently, Dr. Levy and I would appreciate donations to help fund projects such as the one that follows and is located at  file:///D:/E%20Drive/My%20Documents/My%20Documents/2000-01-01PitBulls/EvidenceBreedIdentificationDNA%20and%20Survey%20Results%20%20What%20Kind%20of%20Dog%20is%20That%20%20%C2%BB%20Maddie’s(sup)%C2%AE(_sup)%20Shelter%20Medicine%20Program%20%C2%BB%20College%20of%20Veterinary%20Medicine%20%C2%BB%20University%20of%20Florida.htm#top.

Donations to Dr. Levy’s projects can be made at https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=014789#gf_27

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