German shepherds aren’t a close second at all, they aren’t even second. At least if you’re looking at deaths. Rottweiler’s are second there and aren’t responsible for even a quarter of the number of deaths as pitbulls. Either way second place isn’t even close. But maybe I misunderstood you and you’re saying that german shepherds are similarly intimidating, which would be fair enough.
Discussion
It sounds like you’ve looked up some statistics, I was sharing my experiences. I used to work in a field where I would visit peoples homes when they weren’t home, but often their dogs were there. I’m a big fan of dogs, but some of these dogs weren’t a fan of me being there. Usually confidence and a stern voice was enough to turn the defensive dog around, but not so with Pit Bulls (never) and German Shepards (Seldom). Unfortunately sometimes it took physical intervention to avoid being attacked, I carried an axe handle for this purpose. Pit Bulls are a force to be reckoned with for sure, but in my experience German Shepards are also very brave and persistent. Rottweilers were more easily convinced to stand down in my experiences with them.
I don't think this is necessarily fair. People expect guard dogs to provide protection from unknown intruders. I wont ask why you were entering peoples homes when they weren't there but if this was for a legitimate reason they either should have been there to control their dog or had their dog housed elsewhere while you had to visit.
Statistics will always trump empiricals. The one unfortunate problem is that where pitbulls have been banned, they often get renamed or mixed with other dogs to allow people to continue to have access to extremely violent dogs e.g.:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/american-bully-xl-dogs-should-be-banned/
They could write the law in such a way that it accounts for any dog with that lineage if they wanted to.
The issue is that the um.. groups that like pit bulls tend to be very irresponsible, and are often violent themselves.
Anyway, there are videos out there of pit bulls literally tearing ppl apart and eating their faces. They need to be exterminated imo.
"PITBULL owners could be here" he thought, "I've never been in this neighbourhood before. There could be PITBULL owners anywhere."
I was a contractor and frequently delivered heavy equipment to job sites when the dog owners weren’t there. In the course of doing so, I encountered many defensive dogs and learned quickly that showing no fear and asserting myself was effective in most cases at dissuading an attack. This is just not the case with pit bulls. I wonder if owner liability up to and including murder charges would be a step in the right direction. Sure, you’re free to have whatever animal you want as a pet, but if it eats your kid, it’s the death penalty for you. Unfortunately it’s impossible to mitigate stupidity with regulation.
I don't know if we you could get support for murder charges in passive situations (manslaughter should certainly be a consideration) but certainly in the situations where people have sicked their pitbulls on people that should be 1st degree murder with death penalty.
It really depends on the circumstances of the case, but anyway, pit bulls should just be exterminated.
Well, I think pit bulls can certainly be a menace to society. I think generally regulation should focus on consequences for decisions rather than regulation of decisions themselves.
When this is affecting the owners of the pitbulls I can understand this, but there are so many examples of these dogs going crazy in public and attacking both people and other animals that it's a difficult position to take.
That’s like saying we should only punish crack addicts that commit crimes rather than the act of smoking or selling crack. I mean sure, I’m sure there are “mostly peaceful” crack addicts but let’s get real.
Well, I do actually think we should only punish crack addicts who commit crimes. There are likely people who can use crack with discretion in a functional way, just like every other potentially addictive substance. Society needs to stop protecting individuals from their own choices. Committing suicide is functionally illegal in our society. If you don’t own your own life force, what DO you actually own or control? Are you comfortable being a slave to your society?
people want a way to protect their household at least until tge police shows up.
the state wants you completely vulnerable. they killed all the pet dogs in North Korea for the same reason.
Yes, that's the reason the Koreans killed the dogs...
Come on.... You think they ordered killings of their pet dogs because they lacked the food ?
Where on earth would I have gotten that idea?