KC DOG BLOG

Breed Differences in Canine Aggression

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about a mantra that I read a lot in news articles, from rescue sites, from commentors defending pit bulls on various websites, etc. The mantra, and if you've been around "pit bull" rescue people for very long at all you've heard it: "Pit Bulls aren't people aggressive, they're dog aggressive."

Is this true?  And if true, what is the severity of this truth?  And what implications (if any) are there?

Last year, three researchers, Deborah L. Duffy, Yuying Hsu and James A Serpell, got together and published a scientific paper on dog breeds and aggression. And when they looked at aggression, they looked at four different kinds of aggression: Aggression toward the dog's owners, aggression toward strangers, aggression toward other known dogs, and aggression toward unknown dogs.

The research paper also has a great intro that talks about the reason for the study to be to analyze a correlation between "breed" and "aggression" -- and why "traditional" approaches of doing this based on dog bite statistics are dramatically flawed.

The research is based on completed questionaires based on the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionaire (C-BARQ).  And while the researchers admit that as with many studies, there is some research bias involved as there is some sample bias and some bias that would go into the respondent's responses -- but I will say the overall results pass the sniff test of not being complete BS.  I wouldn't want to base all of my decision-making on the results, but I do think they provide an interesting look at how dog breed may or may not influence "aggression".

The study shows reports on 33 different breeds of dogs -- based on these breeds being the ones that they had a large enough sample size to provide accurate data.  All "pit bull" breeds were grouped into one "pit bull" category, so does not account for behavioral differences among the different breeds in the category.

Stranger Directed Aggression

A couple of breeds appeared really high in this category with Dachshunds and Chihuahuas leading the way. A few other breed, Australian Cattle Dogs, Australian Shepherds, Bichon Frise and Doberman Pinschers (in that order) also pretty consistently scored above average.

Greyhounds and Siberan Husky's were by far the least-aggressive in this category.

The mean score for "pit bulls" was below average on this type of aggression -- while the high end of their spectrum was above average (as it was for 22 of the 33 breeds) -- their overall scores were below average.  The closest comparison for "pit bulls' in this category are Great Danes and Soft Coated Wheaton Terriers -- with "pit bulls" scoring slighly lower than Boxers, Beagles and Poodles in this category.

Owner Directed Aggression

Most dogs showed no aggression toward owners, so the scale on this was significantly lower than others. However, there were 6 breeds here that were significantly higher than average in their aggression toward their owners: Dachsunds, Beagles, Chihuahuas, Cocker Spaniels, English Springer Spaniels and Jack Russell Terriers.

The four lowest breeds in this category were Rhodesian Ridgebacks, "pit bulls", Doberman Pinschers and Bernese Mountain Dogs. None of the dogs in these breeds scored above the all-breed average.

Dog Directed Aggression (unknown dogs)

The five highest breeds in this category (in order) are: Akitas, Dachsunds, Chihuahuas, Jack Russell Terriers and 'pit bulls'.  Other breeds that were above average include: Australian Cattle Dogs, Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, English Springer Spaniels, German Shepherds and Soft Coated Wheaton Terriers.

The lowest breeds in this category were Greyhounds, Whippets, Collies, and Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Twenty two of the 33 breeds were above, or statisitically possibly above, average in this category.

Dog Aggression toward known dogs

Because these are known dogs, these numbers were again much lower than the unknown dogs:

Again, in order, the top 7 breeds here: Chihuahua, Jack Russell Terrier, Dachsund, English Springer Spaniel, "pit Bull", Beagle, Border Collie.

The lowest in this category: Labrador Retrievers, Brittany Spaniels, Golden Retrievers, Portuguese Water Dogs, Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

The pit bull's closest comp here is probably either the English Springer Spaniel or the Beagle.

Thoughts

Again, I would caution anyone from using any of the information as an end-all-be-all report on aggression by breed. Not only is the study subject to sample and survey bias -- but it is also important to note that any results do not indicated a causal relationship between breed and aggression -- only that a correlation may exist.  I think this is an important point still with this study.

That said, I thought the results were interesting enough to share and I do encourage people who are interested to purchase the study at the link provided above (cost is $31.50 -- I cannot legally make the study available for you).

As it turns out, based on this study, it turns out that there is some truth to the old addage that "pit bulls aren't human aggressive but are dog aggressive". In fact, there are few breeds that performed bettter in friendliness toward people -- particularly the dog's owners (which should help people understand why so many people are attracted to these types of dogs as pets -- they tend to be extremely friendly and loyal). It should also be noted that test scores from the American Temperament Test Society echo this notion that 'pit bull' breeds do well in temperament tests involving people.

As for aggression toward other dogs, it does appear as if 'pit bulls' do tend to be a little more aggressive toward other dogs than what is average. But I think it's important to note that they are not some weird statistical outlier here -- that are infinitely more aggressive than other breeds of dogs -- and in fact scored below several breeds of dogs in this category.

A slight tendency toward aggression toward other dogs is NOT something that is unique to 'pit bulls'. In fact, many breeds scored similarly to them in this category -- including many breeds people would not generally associate with being "aggressive".  The reality here is that there is a wider difference among dogs within a breed category than there is among most different breeds.

Based solely on this information, there is no scientific evidence that would in any way justify legislation targeted at specific breeds of dogs (any breeds), particularly 'pit bulls'.

The more we dive into what actual science has to say about dogs, the more we begin to realize how flawed all Breed Specific thinking is. That it is 100% based on emotion (often driven by media hyperbole) and not off of rational, scientific thinking.

Meanwhile, my hope also is that when 'pit bull people' talk about their dogs, they realize that the "dog aggression" they talk about is not something that is "unique" to 'pit bulls' -- but something that is somewhat common among many breeds of dogs. And that there is often much more difference in temperaments within particular breeds than there is between breeds.

Colorado Dog Bite Study Results

Over the weekend, Colorado's Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs produced data from its year long survey on dog bites in Colorado.

First off, let's talk about the people who make up the Coalition for Living Safely with Dogs.

The group is made up of the following organizations:

All Breed Rescue Network

Animal Assistance Foundation

Colorado Association of Animal Control Officers

Colorado Association of Certified Veterinary Technicians

Colorado Federation of Animal Welfare Agencies

Colorado Veterinary Medical Association

Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society

Metro Denver Shelter Alliance

Summerlee Foundation

So we have Veterinarians, Vet Techs, Animal Control Officers, Rescue Groups and Animal Welfare Groups -- so one would believe this would be a fairly balanced group of folks that would actually be concerned with human safety when it comes to canines. So what they'd find out?

Well, for starters, they determined that most dogs don't bite. Approximately .3% of the dogs in the survey area (17 Colorado counties) were involved in bite incidents.  There were 2,060 bites that were recorded in the survey area, which included about 700,000 dogs. So one out of every 350 dogs bit someone.

Dogs are very safe.

Of the dogs that were responsible for bites, 129 different breeds were responsible. To put this in perspective, the AKC only fully recognizes 157 different breeds of dogs.  46 breeds bit more than 10 times.

62% of the dog bites were listed as moderate bites.  Only 13 bites (.6%) were considered "maulings". Most of the rest were minor bites.

Circumstances leading to dog bites:

1) Dogs Running at large

2) Humans getting in the way of dogs that ar fighting or playing

3) About half of all bites occured in the home when a dog was protecting property, food or toys.

So while most dogs are not likely to bite, most bites occur in the home -- which makes in VERY unlikely to be bitten by a dog that is not your own. And when that happens, it is most likely to be a dog that is running at large.

Children 14 and under (and particularly boys 9 and 10) were bitten twice as often as would be expected. Teaching children how to behave around dogs (and socializing dogs with children - particularly with possessoin aggressive actions) appears to be very important. The most common reasons children are bitten:

1) Left unsupervised

2) Child provoked dog

3) Play bite

Dogs between the ages of 1 and 4 were responsible for the most bites. These dogs are full grown, but still are bundles of energy, and may not be getting the proper exercise to release their high energy.

You can read more about their studyhere, here, and a news story here. (You can even get a gem of a comment from Kory Nelson in the comments section there).

As far as breeds go, here were the top breeds:

Labrador Retrievers: 13.3%

"Pit bulls": 8.4%

German Shepherds: 7.8%

Rottweilers: 3.9%

Chows: 3.5%

Labradors, "pit bulls', and German Shepherds are all widely acknowledged to be among the most popular types of dogs owned in most cities and locations.

Of the 13 maulings, no breed was responsible for more than 2.

The bottom line: 

Dogs are very safe. Circumstances, not breeds, appear to be the driving force behind why dogs bite. Most dog bites happen in the home, and often involve young children. Education to children about how to interact with dogs is extremely important, as well as teaching dog owners to properly exercise their dog, to correct possession-aggressive behavior and to monitor children around dogs.

The sooner we can begin talking about CIRCUMSTANCES, not breeds, and educate people on what really causes dog bites, the sooner we will be able to make a dent in the issue of dogs biting people.

Hat Tip, For the Pits.

It's academic

Caveat has the details on a fairly new academic paper out of Australia on the efficacy of breed specific legislation in Austrailia.

Here's the money quote from the abstract:

The evidence does not sustain the view that this is a uniquely dangerous breed, and breed-specific laws aimed to control it have not been demonstrated by authorities to be justified by its attack record.

The best part is, the whole academic paper is available free (you have to go to her place though for the link).

This joins academic research from Spain, Ohio State University, Sacramento and others that report that BSL is not warranted, and not effective.  This represents academic research from 3 contininents that show it not to work.

These studies join every organization of animal welfare experts in the country stating that BSL is not effective.  When cities make decisions about dog laws based on facts and research, and not just emotion, they universally decide against breed specific laws. 

A couple of years ago, one of our local cities was looking at potential dangerous dog legislation. One Public Safety Advisory Board member refused to meet with any of the constitutents because he wanted to do all of his own research on the subject. When we came back two weeks later, this was his statement:

"After spending  the last 2 weeks reading about this topic, you would pretty much have to be illiterate to think breed bans work.".

Agreed.