Pit Bull Incorrect Breed Identification Study

Breed identification is used in dog adoption, lost and found, and regulation. In animal shelters, staff members usually assign breed according to what relinquishing owners report their dogs to be or based on appearance alone since most dogs arrive without a known pedigree.¹

Today, there is a negative public perception of pit bulls and labeling a dog as a pit bull can have a negative impact on its adoptability. Sometimes these negative impressions have resulted in bans on owning pit bulls in hopes of guarding public safety.

To date, there is no universally accepted definition of a pit bull, nor is there a universally accepted method of breed identification.² Kimberly R. Olson¹, BS; Julie K. Levy¹, DVM, PhD, DACVIM; Bo Norby², CMV, MPVM, PhD ¹Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, University of Florida; ²Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Michigan State University Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 4 staff members at 4 different shelters each recorded the suspected primary breed of 30 dogs, for a total of 16 observers and 120 dogs.

In this study, the terms American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, and pit bull were included in the study definition of pit bull-type breeds. Blood was collected from each dog for DNA breed signature.

Dogs were coded as “pit bull” if American Staffordshire terrier or Staffordshire bull terrier were identified to comprise at least 25% of the breed signature.

Agreement among individual shelter staff members regarding identification of pit bulls was determined with the kappa statistic.

 The sensitivity and specificity of each staff member’s identification of pit bulls with DNA breed signature as a gold standard was calculated.

Results: 

1. 120 total dogs: 25 “true” pit bulls by DNA analysis + 95 “non-pit bulls”

2. Shelter staff identified 55 out of the 120 dogs to be pit bull type breeds

3. Only 36% of these dogs actually were true pit bulls by DNA analysis.

4. Shelter staff missed identifying 5 (20%) of the 25 true pit bulls.

5. Only 8 (32%) of the 25 pit bulls were identified as a pit bull by all staff.

6. Accuracy in breed assignment varied among individuals, with sensitivity for pit bull-type breed identification ranging from 33% to 75% and specificity ranging from 52% to 100%.

7. The shelter staff agreement had a kappa value that was poor to fair (0.093-0.324).

Conclusions:

1. DNA analysis failed to confirm pit bull-type breeds in the pedigree in more than half of the dogs identified as pit bulls by shelter staff at the time of the study.

2. One in 5 dogs genetically identified as pit bulls were missed by shelter staff

3. One in 2 dogs labeled pit bulls by shelter staff lacked DNA breed signatures for pit bull terrier-type breeds.

4. Lack of consistency among shelter staff in breed assignment suggests that visual identification of pit bulls is unreliable.

5. Focusing on other attributes of dogs such as personality, behavior, and history instead of breed may help predict safety of individual dogs towards people and other animals.³

6. Public safety may be better preserved by recognition and mitigation of risk factors for dog attacks and on identification and management of individual dangerous dogs,rather than on exclusion of particular breeds.

4,5 References: 1. Voith VL, Ingram E, Mitsouras K, et al. Comparison of adoption agency breed identification and DNA breed identification of dogs. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 2009;12:253-262. 2. Delise K. The Pit Bull Placebo: The media, myths, and politics of canine aggression.

http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/uploaded_files/publications/230603563_Pit%2 0Bull%20Placebo.pdf.

Accessed July 22, 2011. 3. Bradley J. Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions. Baltimore. Animals and Society Institute. 2006. 4. Schuller CM, DeBess EE, Lapidus, JA, et. al. Canine and human factors related to dog bite injuries. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 2008; 232:542-546 5. Berkey J. Dog breed specific legislation: The cost to people, pets and veterinarians, and the damage to the human-animal bond in Proceedings, Annual AVMA Convention 2009; 1-5. Acknowledgements:

The authors would like to thank the Merial Summer Scholars Research and the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Programs at the University of Florida. Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program is underwritten by a grant from Maddie’s Fund®, The Pet Rescue Foundation (www.maddiesfund.org), helping to fund the creation of a no-kill nation.

We thank the four animal shelters that participated in this study, Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services, the Jacksonville Humane Society, Marion County Animal Services, and Tallahassee Animal Services. Finally we thank Michael Crandall, Sylvia Tucker, Niora Fabian, and Jaime Willson for their hard work and making this study possible.

http://www.maddiesfund.org/Documents/Resource%20Library/Incorrect%20Breed%20Identification%20Study%20Poster.pdf

Breed Specific Legislation - How it effects American Pit Bull Terrier owners

Breed specific legislation or BSL for short, is on the rise around the world. BSL targets specific breeds of canine and either (A)restricts them severely or (B) completely bans them from areas.

Countries like Germany, Australia, England, and France have bans on the American Pit Bull Terrier and the ones that were already living in the country are restricted.

Usually the law states the dogs must be muzzled and on a very short 12 inch leash when out in public.
BSL is very much alive in the United States and the APBT is the number one target for such laws. Ohio has banned them from many of their cities and muzzling along with a short leash are required in many restricted areas of the state.

Expensive insurance is also required in many of the cities were BSL as been accepted. Sometimes it can be as high as $200,000 per dog. Hundreds of cities, towns, and states are implementing BSL. As time goes by supporter's for this ridiculous band-aid approach are getting the laws passed with ease.
The number one restricted breed in the world is the American Pit Bull Terrier or any cross thereof. Meaning, even if your dog is suspected of having APBT in it's blood it can fall under the power of these laws. BSL is nothing more than breed profiling and as of yet it has not worked to curb the amount of serious dog attacks it was put in place to stop. Matter of fact, the only thing it has done is make life hell for oridnary law abiding dog lover's.

Why breed specific legislation will never work

BSL is a flawed concept from the moment it is conceived. In most cases the dogs are targeted leaving the owner, which is the responsible, rational thinking party, out of it. Some impose fines along with their laws but are often not enforced to the maximum so the owner gets away with a slap on the wrist.
Dogs are not the problem and BSL does not reconize this. People are the problem and until we find a way to punish people for their neglectful actions which allow dogs to bite and terrorize the public we will never stop the problem. First problem is, take one breed away, these people will find another breed to replace it. Since the APBT bans the Rottweiler is now on the rise as the most popular breed. Now these dogs are taking heat from the general public and the BSL supporters. Again they are restricting the dogs and not the people.
BSL can be compared to gender profiling or racial profiling. Simply because a dog appears to be a dog on the restricted list it is treated as one. What if you were driving down the road and the police took you to jail, sentenced you, and placed you on death row just for looking like a certain ethnic group? BSL does exactly that to dogs. So why is it then that more BSL laws are implemented daily? God forbid a person have to take responsibility for their irresponsible actions and BSL supports these people by not placing very harsh punishments on them.

We have to fight!

Fighting BSL is the only way to keep all breeds safe. Soon BSL will encompass any dog that can bite (which is all of them) so where does that leave the dog lover?
Supporter's of BSL will argue that it works, but there is very little evidence of this as many laws are drawn up to encompass several breeds and their crosses. Even experts of the American Pit Bull Terrier have a hard time identifying a mix from a purebred. Sometimes it is obvious, but in most cases it's not that easy. Experts are needed to enforce the BSL law and testify in court that an offending dog is the breed restricted. Results can be manipulated to fit the agenda. For example, you can poke a dog in the face until it growls or snaps at you. Now the dog is deemed vicious. Fair? Not at all.
In short BSL has nothing to offer the public but confusion and loss. BSL will not and will never be a practicable means of regulating vicious dogs and severe attacks. Until the law makers see this fact of life we will be faced with more BSL laws.
A very good site about BSL which includes area's where BSL is imposed can be found by going to the following web site:http://www.Understand-A-Bull.com

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http://www.nokillnow.com/BSLhowEffectsPitbulls.html

My Pit Bull Turned Me Into A Criminal

• Zachary EhrenFreelance Writer/Founder and Editorial Director, The Traveling Yeti

It is time for me to make a confession to the people of my hometown in Lakewood, Ohio. In the summer of 2014, I brought illegal contraband into the confines of the city. Like a bootlegger during prohibition, I drove into the little suburb of Cleveland during the cover of night with my booty hidden in tow. No, it wasn’t 10 cases of the finest hooch this side of the Appalachia; it was a 50-pound pit bull named Calliope.

I wasn’t always a criminal. Mom and dad raised me with the same values as any good Midwestern parent does. This ranged from the stay-out-of-jail basics, to finding things to do that weren’t in front of the television, to being open and accepting of all walks of life. The latter wasn’t difficult. Despite its tiny 6.69 square mileage, Lakewood packs a big city’s amount ethnicities, culture, and lifestyles. Growing up there exposed me to all of them. Nobody paid any mind if you were a homosexual, a “grip the gun and flag” conservative, a “let’s stay PC, bro” liberal, a political refugee, a Muslim, an immigrant, a Jehovah’s Witness, a junky, or a jock. I grew up with all of them and we all cried the same tears at the end of each Browns game.

However, in 2008, the openness of the city I had grown accustomed to had changed. Piggybacking off of Ohio’s dangerous and vicious dog ordinance, which deemed that all pit bulls were vicious from birth, Lakewood passed a ban on these types of dogs altogether. Even though Ohio has since removed specific breeds from the ordinance and now just focuses on each individual dog’s behavior, Lakewood’s ban is still holding strong. After the ban was put in place, people could no longer adopt dogs that were deemed to be pits. Lakewood’s council members claimed this was an attempt to make the city safer, when in reality it prevented good dogs from being able to find homes, forced respectable citizens to move, and created criminals out of ordinary people by forcing them to keep their family pet under the city’s radar.

I didn’t agree with the legislation but I also didn’t dwell on it. I was finishing up college and planning a move to California after graduating. Dogs and the consequences of breed specific legislation were not on my mind. A couple of years later, I settled in San Francisco, met a pretty lady named Malli and moved in with her.

After several years in SF, Malli and I decided to move to New York City and were in the planning stages for the move. A dog simply wasn’t something we were in the market for with a 3000-mile move across the country on the horizon. However, my coworker who fosters rescue dogs brought a brown and white mixed-breed pup named Calliope into the office to say hello. As I walked in, she was obediently lying on the ground basking in all of the attention of the girls in the office as they surrounded her saying “you’re so cute!” in various forms of baby talk. Something happened when I stood there admiring her docile demeanor as she coolly looked up at me with her heart-shaped nose and doey brown eyes.

“Okay...okay” I thought to myself, “from this point forward, I will never allow any harm to come to this creature.”

After Malli and I signed the papers making us Calliope’s legal guardians, I had unknowingly joined a coveted group of dog owners. I was now a pit bull person. It was at that point I had learned pit bulls aren’t actually a breed; it is simply an umbrella term of many different breeds that fit within certain characteristics. Being a rescue dog, we didn’t know what exactly she was, but I knew that her large, dimpled smile, short fur, and big, blocky head, would be associated with pit bulls. I was perfectly comfortable with that.

Similar to purchasing a car then noticing the same model every time one passes, I began to take note of all the pitties I walked by. I found myself reading about the controversy and misconceptions about these dogs. I learned that 1000 - 3000 pit bulls are put down every day, and that breed specific legislation not only prevents families from adopting these animals in need, it also instills the mindset that these animals are inherently aggressive. This leads to a reluctance to adopt, thus adding to the death count.

I also read about the stories of devotion these dogs have to their people and their patient demeanor with children. I saw these characteristics in Calliope as she instantly latched onto Malli and I and greeted children in the park with licks to their faces. I soon felt connected with the proud owners who are trying to end the discrimination that their furry companions constantly face.

Pit bulls were just another type of pooch before I adopted Calliope. Shortly after, I was a few paw prints away from protesting whichever team would sign Michael Vick.

Since Calliope would be categorized as an “aggressive breed”, most airlines make it difficult to fly with her. So, my new family and I decided to drive across the country making a pit stop (pun so very intended) in my old stomping grounds of Lakewood.

As the entire country rolled by during the drive, our girl sat gracefully in the back seat as the only world she even knew fell further away.

The night we entered unfriendly territory, we all were weary-eyed and antsy from being in the car since Des Moines. We passed the Rocky River corp limit on 90-E and hit Lakewood’s perimeter at roughly 10 pm on May 24th, 2014. Calliope stood up and licked her chops with excitement when we slowed down getting off the freeway since she learned that the slowing of the car meant that she could soon stretch her legs. I didn’t have the heart to break it to her that she was now illegal contraband and could be taken away by the faceless brutes of animal control.

To avoid drawing attention, I drove inconspicuously to a safe house where we could keep her - my parents’ place.

With respect to keeping this a full confession, I should admit that I had plenty of co-conspirators after we arrived. On top of my aforementioned parents, there was my niece, Madison (feel free to let me know if I should provide contact information for her arrest). Our trip to Ohio coincided with her fourth birthday party and she was excited to celebrate it with her new “puppy cousin.”

As soon as Madison and Calliope met, they were like two pups in a playpen. Calliope greeted her with some doggy kisses to her face while Madison giggled. The two youngsters were inseparable thereafter. This made it easy for Malli and I to leave Calliope in Ohio while we went to New York to lock down an apartment. We decided to leave Calliope with my niece at my sister’s house so the new BFFs could spend some more quality time together while we got our lives situated out east. We planned to come back a month later pick her up.

Yes, residents of Lakewood, you read that correctly. My vicious K-9, that only attacks by exuberantly licking faces and blowing farts powerful enough to clear a room, crashed your peaceful little suburb for an entire month. During this time, Calliope was running around with her big pittie smile on her face while on playdates with the neighbors’ dogs and spent her naps cuddling with a toddler, all of whom were operating outside of the confines of the law. She was taken for walks by the houses that rest the melting pot of families, the schools that educate through diversity, and among the local government that seemingly embraces all walks of life - while hypocritically not accepting hers.

You now have my full confession and am happy to receive my punishment. 

Lakewood, Ohio has currently deemed a 4-year-old with cystic fibrosis as a criminal and may take her dog away. Sign the petition to allow her to keep this member of her family.

Follow Zachary Ehren on Twitter:www.twitter.com/@zacharyehren

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zachary-ehren/my-pit-bull-turned-me-int_1_b_9084116.html