By Boni
A guest writer for the DogsBite.org Blog.
I’m sure dear readers you thought I was going to say {insert vicious pit bull joke, here}. Nope, not today.
What we’re going to try and figure out, is what can pit bulls do, that another dog cannot do better?
Pit bulls, since their inception, have been bred to fight. A pit bull that doesn’t fight, is a failed pit bull. Now, before all our pit bull aficionado friends get their Black Sabbath or White Claw t-shirts in a wad, let me clarify. If you purchase a golden retriever and it has zero natural drive to chase a ball or a find a duck—it’s a failed retriever. It might be a friendly dog, it might be an excellent pet but it comes from a subpar line of retrievers and is unsuited to purpose. If you purchase a Jack Russell that has zero interest in chasing small rodents and doesn’t have the daily energy supply of a poodle after four espressos, it’s a failed Jack Russell. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to realize that such a game little dog has a deserved reputation as an ankle-biter and while not all JRTs do this, JRT fanciers won’t hop on Facebook screaming “doggy racism” when a skateboarder claims to have shredded ankles from the local neighbourhood’s dreaded terrier-ist. The tiny menace might be a crap housepet but it’s a great Terrier.
A failed line of dogs can make perfectly fine family dogs. Having lower instinctual drive makes for better companion dogs in most cases particularly when the drive is tamped down and more sociability bred in. The problem asserts itself when a dog from that line of companionable dogs exhibits its natural instincts with an owner who is completely unprepared to deal with it. A setter who wants to hunt, while annoying to the average family, isn’t likely to be dangerous on the loose no matter how many fences it climbs in search of squirrels to point at. Last I checked, no babies or seniors have ever been pointed to death.
Pit bulls are good at a few things other than fighting. One is weight-pull. While the world champions are Malamutes for obvious generational breeding reasons, pound-for-pound pit bulls can pull a lot of weight. Many, over two thousand pounds of weight, wheels on pavement. Yes, you read that right—two thousand pounds in pit bulls under 50lbs. (https://breedingbusiness.com/weight-pulling-dogs/) So, that 90lb woman with a pit bull on a harness and lead being jerked along thinks she has control over that 50lb pit bull? Absolutely not. Any physically capable dog over 50lbs can pull a 200lb person off their feet in six feet of torque on a harness. Easily. That’s simple physics. A pit bull at 1/10th of the strength of a trained pulling dog is still a pantload of hauling power even if they’re not trained to pull. Same with sled dog breeds. Dog trainers know this. They don’t muscle a large dog into heeling with a harness—they outsmart it with the understanding of physics, psychology and operant conditioning.
Dogs per pound are far stronger and more agile than humans. If they had opposable thumbs and a more advanced cortex, they’d be keeping us as pets.
Where does this lead us, pardon le pun, good readers?
We have a pit bull dog with an innate drive to treat other dogs as prey that excels at pulling tremendous weight. Meaning, we shouldn’t be surprised about pit bulls mauling other animals as prey and/or the people (including their owners) trying to block them from their prey, or the results of death or dreadful injury. We need to comprehend how many of them could be doing it but due to the fact that so many are failed pit bulls—it’s lucky that the attack statistics are as low as they are. While there are no definitive government statistics what the pit bull population in the USA, is—I think we can hazard a guess and say “far more than there will ever be facilities, for” just from the amount that land in shelters/pounds/rescues where the numbers vary from 20-50% of the cage space, roughly. While not the most popular family dog—they are likely the highest percentage of molaser dogs readily available to the public due to their cheap cost and over-representation in rescues/shelters/pounds.
What else are pit bulls good at?
Well, before we go there, let’s look at dog sports in general and what that means in terms of how companionable or serviceable a pit bull might be. To look at dog sports we need to look at a few factors. One is, “what is a natural fit” for a certain breed of dog or dog mixed with those breeds and two is, “How biddable does a dog need to be to compete in that sport at a high level of complexity?” and three is, “How much distraction is there, while the dog is performing its assigned tasks?” Then we can look at why pit bulls are often not useful for most dog sports or when they are capable, why they are often not top-notch candidates and what we might conclude from those observations.
One of the reasons certain breeds are not good at particular dog sports can be physical disadvantages and breeding traits. Let’s take dock diving. This is one of the most fun dog sports to watch for the average person. There’s no natural instinct for a dog to dive off a dock. Rottweilers aren’t good at dock diving not because they lack the drive to jump at or secure the target toy on command but simply because they are too chest heavy to leap 20+ feet off a dock and are poor swimmers. That’s can be a problem for many pit bulls as well. English bulldogs can outright drown without life-jackets. Huskies are agile enough for water sports but their natural Northern instincts makes them leery of being wet for long. Even when they are willing to swim their wet heavy coat slows them down making them poor contenders. Corgis, in life-jackets, dock diving. Cuteness level 1000. Winning potential, zero. TikTok celebrity status? Instant.
This doesn’t mean that all sorts of weird combinations of dog and sport don’t happen just for fun. They do. There’s always going to be someone with a stubby non-conformist energetic basset hound that’s just got to try agility and they have a blast at it. There are plenty of people who put sob story rescue dogs into all sorts of competitions for fun that never win anything but the audience’s hearts. I saw an owner win a round in an international talent contest while one of her dogs peed all over the stage right after the audience boo-hooed over her power point presentation about rescuing dogs that were destined to be butchered for food. Now there’s a failed training methodology with a winning sob story.
As long as the dog doesn’t munch the other dogs, the owner, the judge or the audience and holds its bodily contents during the trial—there’s nothing wrong with just competing for the fun of it with a dog eager to try. That, however says nothing about the general character of which types of dogs give commendable performances in which sports and what that says about the breed.
Let’s go through some dog sports together, shall we?
Herding. This includes sheepdog trials, herding and Treibball where a dog herds large balls on cue. Plenty of dogs don’t herd, they aren’t bred for it so they lock into prey drive and attack their targets or stand around baffled or barking. As proper herding trials take place outdoors, in some areas there can be high distractability from smelly grass, squirrels, birds etc. So, in fairness to pit bulls, let’s throw out all non-herding breeds with zero expectation on the actual herding trials and keep the game of Triebball.
There’s no reason a Westie or a pit bull can’t compete in Triebball and in fact, some pretty strange choices have competed although they don’t tend to win. Triebball is an event where dogs shove balls to a goal area on command. There’s video of a standard poodle I found hilarious because the poodle figured out how to shove the balls through the back of the penning area by careening the ball off the back wall and having discovered this, being a clever poodle and not a herding dog—proceeds to shove the next few balls through the back regardless of the handler frantically waving instructions. Triebball requires superior off-lead skills as well as strong biddability and attention span for details with a high tolerance for frustration while learning. Best Friends Animals Society claims to teach pit bulls Triebball as a training exercise (https://bestfriends.org/stories-blog-videos/latest-news/having-ball-treibball-dogs—note the dog in the photo is not offlead which is a must for Triebball) but there’s no video provided I found proving that her rescue pit bulls do so with any measurable success. This is a low-distraction sport with no other dogs, wildlife, prey, or numerous strange humans in the ring area.
One place where pit bulls can be top contenders is in flying disc competitions, aka frisbee catching. This is a low distraction sport without other animals around that requires short bursts of deep athletic focus. It plays into the pit bull’s strengths without triggering their drawbacks. While the most frequent winners are border collies, whippets and cattle dogs, Bootzilla the pit bull, a stunt dog, put on more than a respectable effort in this disc challenge.
Obedience and rally trial kennel club events require that the dogs be purebred by their standards unless stated otherwise. Any non-purebred cannot be titled although in some non-sanctioned matches they may win a ribbon, trophy or cash prize. This means ABPT can compete in most Kennel Club events, even some places where there is Breed Specific Legislation exceptions can be made for bully breeds provided the match provides legally compliant barriers since dogs are off-lead during some of the trials.
Yes, APBT can pass obedience trials with respectable scores to the top level of Companion Dog Excellent although it’s rare they are winners in outright competition. Obedience trials at all levels are designed for everything from a chihuahua to a Newfoundlander by adjusting the course for each size of dog. Obedience training, including for the ring, doesn’t necessarily translate into a dog that is friendly or biddable in common stressful circumstances as is borne out in numerous studies of obedience-trained dogs that bite including this one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610618/. That’s not just true of pit bull-types, it’s an all-too-frequent occurrence with GSDs and Rottweilers and other dogs that they show dog/human aggression outside the ring.
The more complex styles of performance training such as heelwork to music and Musical Canine Freestyle (aka “doggy dancing”) doesn’t seem to attract many pit bull owners or trainers. These exercises require long strings of commands chained together that need intense focus from both dog and handler. Most competitions do tend to be held in lower distraction environments without other dogs, present.
Included in some field and hunting trials as well as (warning: trigger alert for protection sport videos) Shutzhund, Mondioring and other protection-style trials is scent work. While this takes numerous forms, it comes down to a dog having the ability either on, or off-lead, following directions to find a scent then notifying the handler they found it, the person who smells like it or returning the item. Depending on the trial, while a pit bull may qualify, it’s hunting and retrieving dogs followed by herding breeds that do the best nosework. One or the other may excel depending on the circumstances of the specific type of trial. Pit bulls can do basic scent exercises as can brachycephalic breeds who do not scent well.
The challenge for pit bulls in protection work is two-fold. First, contrary to popular opinion it’s actually unnatural for them to latch onto a human being when they are not in drive. This holds true of many dogs. The problem for training comes in when a handler activates instinctual prey drive in a protective breed (including some rottweilers, Akitas, Kangals, etc. ) because in drive, once latched onto the trainer in the bite suit—some are too enthusiastic. That results in a struggle for the handler to compel the “out” or “return” commands.
There have been pit bulls who have passed protection type trials and handlers who like working with them but due to their less stellar performances they do not tend to be top contenders even in mixed breed trials. Also, we have to take into account that for such complex exercises, handlers have preferences of traits within a very specific breed. Winning handler/trainers are particular in the traits they desire in their demonstration dogs. Stellar public behaviour represents income. Also, as dogs learn from each other and having a lead dog to provide training assistance modelling to speed up the learning can be a valuable asset.
There are numerous pulling sports beside weight-pull such as canicross (pulling someone on skis), sledding, bikejoring (pulling a bike) and scootering. pit bulls aren’t exceptional at any of them simply because they burst with energy though often lack the stamina required. In some of the pulling sports other than weight, dogs work in teams. Pit bulls are risky in a team of dog-friendly dogs. In sledding, they lack the coat to withstand the cold. They tend to lack the calm temperament that make mastiffs, Newfoundland dogs or Bouviers good carting dogs. Carting dogs must maintain a steady task focus with tons of outside distractions such as cars, bikes, whizzing skateboards, running children, wandering cats and small yappy dogs.
There’s also flyball, with teams of dogs. This is a high distraction, energetic sport with teams of dogs barking and running past, handlers yelling encouragement to their dogs etc. It’s certainly high enough spurts of energy to burn down the excesses of a pit bull and there are videos of some pit bulls participating but I could not find teams with mixed breeds (some only allow one border collie per team, for example) that were high-level winning competitors with a pit bull on the team. If there are some, surely someone can add a video example in the comment section.
What’s our conclusion in all this? There is nothing that a pit bull can do that another dog cannot do better except fight or haul weights above their size to get to a target. Nothing.
No trainer can force a dog to be exceptional at doing something it is not naturally inclined to do. You can train a dog to perform certain tasks adequately (such as retrieving) but they will never be exceptional unless they have a natural talent for the task at hand. You can train a compliant beagle to heel with distractions but it’s first natural reaction will always be to sniff unless it’s a failed beagle. That cannot be trained out of it, just as fighting cannot be trained out of pit bulls. One day, no matter how well trained it is, when your game is off, that beagle will sniff.
Nobody can predict what day that beagle who learned to ignore distractions will sniff. Just as nobody can predict the day that that perfectly behaved pit bull will snap into drive and try to take out a poodle or its owner. The difference is that the beagle’s natural inclination won’t hurt anyone and a pit bull’s natural inclination can result in the maiming or death of another animal or, in the worst case, a human.
There are many dog sports and many enjoyable activities to participate in with a dog but there are no tasks that a pit bull excels at that cannot be enjoyed with another breed or mixed breed of dog with less risk for the average dog owner.
Consider what natural instincts you might enjoy when you are considering the dog that you will live with 24/7, for the next 15 or so, years. Many marriages don’t last that long, so choose wisely.
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CC BY-NC-ND June 25, 2021
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Thank you, Boni, for your time, expertise and effort to explain that an individual specimen of a fighting breed dog that appears to be behaviorally normal can be reasonably expected to unpredictably snap into its primary bred drive to kill or maim any other animal or any other person, and therefore, if this function is not desired when choosing a dog for any reason, breeds that were bred to fight to the death should not be chosen. Especially when non fight-to-death breeds can do everything else with much greater proficiency. Thank you for explaining that the primary bred drive can not be trained out.
Pit bull owners love the “high” of having a dangerous animal. To them it’s the same as walking down the street with a bengal tiger on your leash. It makes the owner feel “big” and important.
The purpose of a civilized society is to PREVENT low-life idiots, like pitbull owners, from doing stupid things like owning tigers or other dangerous animals as pets. They aren’t pets. They are dangerous animals. That’s why states and cities have laws against owning wild animals as pets. That’s why European nations have mostly outlawed pitbulls and other fighting breeds. They are not pets.
The only solution is to ban pit bulls completely, except for people who have special training and enclosures. Again, just treat them like other wild animals.
I agree. Anyone with a pit bull should have the same containment and insurance as a wild animal would require.
I witnessed a close call today. A woman with three small kids walked past a neighbor’s gate and their pit bull, a dog the homeowner admitted to me is vicious, slammed into the gate as they walked by. Sometimes the homeowner uses this gate. It’s only a matter of time before they don’t latch it quite right and the dog *somehow* gets out.
I’ve also met owners who get dogs, including pitbulls, for the *worst* reason–which is, they feel sorry for it. They buy the sob story without looking at the basic temperament of the dog.
These are the absolute worst dog owners IMO. They have zero understanding of what a dog is or what a caring relationship with a dog feels like. They have zero understanding of how stressful it will be, living with a dog that is utterly untrustworthy and they either don’t understand dog training, or they they lack the experience to implement anything useful they may have learned because their “pity mode” sets in (aka “I know my dog better than any trainer” mode or their “That’s just too mean to my pupperino mode) as they undo any progress the trainer might otherwise have made.
They also have zero understanding that while they might feel sorry for their he11 beast, the rest of the community is not beholden to grant their animal consideration for it’s often fictional, “tragic past”. They think every pitbull is a bait dog–which is utterly laughable because if it was, it would be dead already. Plus, bait dogs are usually some poor fluffy housepet because primo fighting pitbulls are expensive and nobody is risking their expensive pitbull against another large pitbull.
They’re in way over their heads and they just keep digging in deeper until tragedy strikes.
And it’s the rest of society that pays for it.
What are pit bulls good at? What they were BRED for. Bite-grip-shake.
It’s not controversial for people who don’t have a vested interest in avoiding reality.
I often see pit owners being understandably asked “why did you choose a pit bull?” Some of their responses?
“I wanted a sweet family dog.”
“I wanted a guard dog.”
“I wanted a jogging buddy.”
“I wanted a big dog so my kids couldn’t hurt it.”
“I wanted a dog to scare people.”
Notice how none of those are what pits were bred for. Aside from the last one, all of those things can be done by other, non-fighting breeds. Pits have NO purpose in society. All they were ever meant to do is kill, and that’s the only thing they do well.
These are excellent points! Meanwhile, AFF scours the entire nation looking for the 2 or 3 failed pit bulls with the temperament of a lab so they can take years teaching them to be service dogs to prove a point. There is no evidence they end up being stellar service dogs either.
Like the adorable corgi and the determined basset, I’ve seen a single golden retriever trained in schutzhund, though it was not very good and would never win a competition. There really is a good reason dogs are purpose bred for specific jobs. It just is silly to think that a purpose-bred fighting dog could be a reliable companion.
Very good article. I have two extremely silly, lovable dogs, a rat terrier and a chihuahua mix. I have no interest in dog sports competitions. I am not interested in working a dog. I do not need a dog for protection. I do not want a hunting dog. I just want four legged friends to love and take good care of. I am certain many dog owners share my feelings.
My dogs do not disappoint me in their companionship, but they also act true to their breeds. My rat terrier is not a “failed” rat terrier. She will terrorize and try to tree every squirrel we see on our walks in the park. I do, however, believe myself to be a “failed” rat terrier owner because I have no desire to take my rat terrier squirrel hunting or rat hunting for that matter. My chihuahua mix is not a “failed” chihuahua. She is inclined to protect her house 24-7 and barks her head off if someone walks up to it. I think her barking is obnoxious, so in certain situations, like the postal worker’s case, we use the barkx buddy. I consider myself, therefore, a “failed” chihuahua owner because I don’t want her being protective all the time. Am I causing my chihuahua mix stress by not allowing her to guard my house 24-7 as if it were a Mayan temple? Am I causing my rat terrier stress by not taking her on squirrel hunts or allowing her to break a few rats’ necks now and then? I don’t know the answer.
There are certainly breeds out there I could have chosen that are probably just as silly and lovable but not as inclined to hunt or protect. But I did not want other breeds. Humans, like me, choose dogs for very selfish reasons. I chose these dogs because of their small size and their look. So in that respect, I am no different from a person who might have chosen a pit bull because of the way it looks.
My rat terrier will always tree squirrels. My chihuahua mix will always bark her head off to protect her house. But innate behaviors like treeing squirrels and obnoxious barking are far different from the instinct to grip, bite, and shake until dead. I really don’t know what a dog like this is good for other than, well, killing. People who seek out pit bulls because they adore their pibble faces and just want to love and care for them are already failed pit bull owners. Just pray the pit bull is also “failed.”
Great article.
I would have went with Eminem in stead of Black Sabbath T shirts but that’s becase I actually like Black Sabbath : )
Pit worship seems to cross all boundaries so I am sure there are Sabbath fans with pits just like there are opera fans with pits.
As much as we would all like to think no one with our world view would advocate for a child slaughtering monster the fact is there are liberals, conservatives, anarchists, communists, neo nazis, free love hippies and every thing else and in between that all advocate for pits.
I don’t know how Best Friends was so successful convincing pepole that pits are the “underdog” worth fighting for but they have sold that lie to people of various backgrounds and beliefs. They really should be covered in marketing textbooks.
The secret to the success of Best Fiends? I’ll sum it up in two words:
Dog Worship
It’s widespread in our society.
And, yes, I misspelled the organization’s name on purpose.
You are absolutely right. I’ve been stunned to see the cross-section of humanity parading around pits and fighting for them on social media. All of the subcultures you’ve named, and countless in-between.
Throw enough money at a campaign and people will buy it–for awhile.
But whoa betide those caught in the backlash when people start questioning how those dollars were obtained and spent.
Just ask Jim Baker.
Great article Boni! I always read and enjoy your regular comments here on DogsBite… also to all other regulars, l appreciate all you folks have to say 😊 an incredibly intelligent bunch of people on this site, thanks guys
Thanks for the lovely feedback folks. And much kudos to Colleen that due to so many links…really had her editing work cut out for her on this one!
You know, I *wish* it was dog worship only. While I’m against dog worship over humanism–pitbull cultists are a whole other level of crazy.
Every day, at least a half a dozen times on North American social media, there’s traumatised dog owners bawling over the mangled bodies of their beloved dogs–dogs mangled and murdered by pitbulls. There’s another dozen stories of “Oh whoa is me, my pitbull bit my aunt, wife, ate my cat, destroyed my livestock, my poor pibble is fear-biting, reactionary etc etc,”
For anyone who follows all these stories it’s heart-wrenching.
Even many pitbull owners are locked into this con job where they think they can fix this animal, if only they love it enough. It’s like listening to an abused spouse justify living with their abuser.
Very few honest pitbull owners will tell them, “This is what a pitbull IS. THIS is how you will spend the rest of your time with this dog, as long as you live with it” and if an honest trainer/owner comes along and tells them the truth–they are textually battered or doxxed into silence.
The good news, if there is any–is how many of these stories are still getting out, even past the abuse that the documenters of these events, suffer compared to say, two years ago.
In the age of the internet, while it gives rise to the people spreading fallacious information–when the tide turns to the truth, that tide can be mighty indeed. And I think that tide is starting to arrive.
I think that is one thing that helps keep the pit cult going. It is a gold mine for
“disciples” of Cesar Millan (people who have seen one or 2 episodes and realize what a profitable con this can be or even worse, actual true believers).
You can charge owners a lot of money and just tell them they have to be the “pack leader”. If it doesn’t work you just tell them they aren’t doing it right.
I can not imagine having a carnivore in the house that my only hope of keeping it from mauling me and my family to death is me convincing it that I am a more dominant dog than it is. I can’t imagine spending so much time and energy trying to impress your dog. The tragic thing is IT DOESN’T WORK!
You could dress up in a dog costume and do every dominance display known to man and that won’t stop a pit from going pit. If anything all the macho dog posturing probably makes an attack more likley.
Never forget that one of Cesar’s “rehabbed” pits pit part of a man’s penis off becase the guy got too close to the dog after Cesar told him the dog would not bite.
That should have been the end of him and all of his followers but just like the nanny dog myth keeps going no matter how many children are mauled somehow people still think Cesar is someone they should listen to.
I fear big tech is going to clamp down on anything that goes against the “all how they are raised” and “pittys are the best dogs” myths. It has pretty well been established big tech can unperson anyone they want, hide any content they want and behave in an anticompetitive manner towards any potential competitors.
Many people who should have sounded the alarm (ACLU and others) have been silent becase so far they disagree with the people being deplatformed. At some point big tech will come for them and then it will be too late to do anything about it.
I’d be more inclined to blame “Pitbulls and Parolees” (I nearly wretched each hate-watched episode because the dog handling is so clearly incompetent) although Cesar did pitbulls no favours. He did however, tell numerous owners that they were in no position to keep their dogs as the dog was a threat. But per usual, a few of those idiot owners decided to *keep their dogs* even after he offered to keep them for life. And don’t get me started on Victoria-I-don’t-even-own-a-dog model on the sheer lunacy of “redirecting” an attacking dog with chicken livers.
Household management and proper will help some dogs understand that life is not their oyster or calm down a frightened dog. It’s labour intensive. What it can’t do, is stop a behaviour as self-rewarding for a pitbull as attacking and gripping. It’s also time-consuming and takes a fair bit of skill and education. That’s not your average pet owner.
I suspect some corporate social media access providers will come down on one side of the debate because they’re shilling for pitbulls and others, who have been the victims will lean towards BSL.
And much as there are a few people I had a chuckle at getting deplatformed, when social media sites have so many millions using them as the town square, allowing anything more than a basic TOS and legislating criminal charges for threats, doxxing, vengeance porn etc. I’m with you–it sets a dangerous future precedent where corporations are setting the limitations on public debate.
Since you chose to make this a political issue, the person de-platformed is the human equivalent of a Pibble. It is up to civilized society to decide what civilized is, and since our government could not deal with the situation, I am (for once) grateful for the business people who said…”not on my platform can you incite attacks on your own government when you have a temper tantrum.” If we don’t re-work presidential powers, this can happen again.
Hello Boni,
I, too, think that Pitbulls and Parolees is the worst show on TV. Tia and crew are so incompetent. Years ago I sent her an email questioning her handling of an incident, and also asked why so many of her dogs are intact. She lashed out at me, called me all kinds of names, taunted me, and was just as low and trashy as she appears on her show. My email was very polite and she blew up. She continued to email me for weeks. I never responded. I’m not on FB or I’m sure she would have had a field day.
I wish there was a way to see stats on the dogs that she places. I think it would be frightening.
I strongly feel that breeds are created for a purpose, and PB’s are very good at what they were bred for-KILLING. They should quietly fade away as a breed.
“Never forget that one of Cesar’s “rehabbed” pits pit part of a man’s penis off becase the guy got too close to the dog after Cesar told him the dog would not bite.”
Link?
And the real problem is, because pitbull owners are often the most irresponsible of owners, they don’t fix their pitbulls, they let their pitbulls run wild…..it is almost impossible to find a dog in an animal shelter that isn’t at least half pit-bull. I just checked my local no-kill shelter, and the only dogs that aren’t clearly pit-bulls, are ages 12+. So pitbulls–the dogs with skills that are a detriment to families and the vast majority of homeowners, are quickly becoming the only affordable option for people who want to adopt a dog.
I agree completely with the editorial here, I just fear it is advice that is to late for most areas of the US.
Sorry I got the wrong dog con man.
As far as “making this political” people have been getting deplatformed for years for all kinds of reasons.
A company saying “You will not use our platform to say things we don’t like” sounds a lot like they have assumed the role of editor and therefore should be responsible for what it posted on their page. Somehow they have immunity from that saying it would be impossible to police comments while they police comments for people who disagree with their pet projects.
Try talking about pit bulls honestly on facebook. You will have your posts deleted, possibly get suspended. Meanwhile the pro pit side will send vile threats to you and facebook will do nothing about them.
Wow! This was such an amazingly well-written article packed with learning and even-handed argumentation. I’m not a dog owner, because I have to travel quite a bit, but I grew up around dogs and horses and live on a farm, so I enjoy reading about animals. I spend so much time with humans that is so frustrating, it led me to research pit bulls. I learned so much from your writing. Pit bulls are the sociopaths and psychopaths of the animal world. I once lived for a year in an apartment above a pit bull. My natural instinct was to be afraid. I think this natural instinct has also been dampened in humans who are no longer raised to respect nature, and that is one of the reasons why humans decide that they can handle the superior fighting force that a pit bull represents. A pit bull is a force of nature that comes from God which I cannot hope to fathom. Bless your heart.