Media mis-reporting of breeds

No real surprise here, but apparently the media has mis-reported the breed in a couple of dog attacks in Calgary.

There were two fairly significant attcks in Calgary in the past week -- both of them were initially reported to be by 'pit bulls'.

However, upon further review, neither of the attacks were.

In one attack last week, the dog was officially determined Director of Bylaw Services Bill Bruce to be a nine-month old Presa Canario, and not a 'pit bull'.

In another attack last week, it was initially reported that a 'pit bull' had bitten a 2 year old boy -- and that dog was re-identified as a Pointer/Boxer mix.

It is not at all uncommon for victims, witnesses and the media to mis-identify the breeds of dogs involved in attacks.  In most cases it seems that dogs are mis-identified as the more common, generic dog breed -- "shepherd mix" or "pit bull mix".  These media reports are very influential in making citizens believe that certain types of dogs are more aggressive than others -- even if in reality the dogs are often mixes of other breeds or completely different breeds altogether.

This easily highlights why media reports are bad ways to determine "aggressive breeds" and building legislation based on these reports is frought with problems.  And it's interesting that Calgary, a city that has become a role model in minimizing dog attacks in the city its size, is correctly identifying dogs (and being sure the media updates their reports), and focusing on actual causes of the attacks -- not the breeds involved.

It seems so obvious....I just don't understand why everyone doesn't do it this way.

Comments

[Barb]

Adding to the problem is the phenomenon that so many people have become so indoctrinated by the media that "pit bulls" ARE dangerous dogs, and are THE MOST dangerous dogs that if they witness a dog attack or are the victim of one they will automatically assume the dog must be a "pit bull" and will report it as such - because any dog who attacks must necessarily be a "pit bull".

This is separate from the people who intentionally mis-identify dogs involved in attacks as pit bulls in a deliberate effort to attract more media attention. That happens sometimes too.

[Caveat]

What kills me is that they even try to ID dogs by breed. A mutt is a mutt, after all. The practice shows such a basic misunderstanding of what dog breeds are and aren't that it's like trumpeting your ignorance from the rooftops. "Look at me, everybody! I'm a complete dunce when it comes to dogs!".

Of course, it all stems from the CDC and their 'breeds of dogs' papers. The lazy twits in media and elsewhere misconstrued the point of the research (if there even was a point to the approach) and latched on to the whole 'breed' thing as if it were a contributing factor rather than an observation - and a very flawed one at that.

It's remarkable how such stupidity, combined with ignorance, can still thrive in the 21st century.

[TEH]

The breed thing is nonsense. None of the articles actually look at the possible causes and reasons behind any given incident. Yet anything that happens....it is a "pitbull". That fatality in MI, before the breeds were mentioned, comments showed people as judge, jury and executioner for the bull breeds, they had "ASS-ummed" those were the dogs. One person commented, why had they not heard about this....well....maybe because the dogs were NOT pitbulls, they were identified as Aussie and cattle dog mixes.....End of story. No more about it.

Consider what is currently happening with the swine flu "epidemic", people are almost in a panic. And it is almost out of proportion. Yet, CDC and other health officials are calling for calm, keep things in perspective, etc, Look at your possible risk, what can one do to minimize before running out to get vaccines, respirators, etc.
ie.....what is the preventive. Where is that when it comes to a dog attack?? Where is the discussion of keeping a perspective? Of evaluating your potential risk? Of looking at the all too human factors which might have led up to a serious dog bite injury. It is not there. Period.

TEH

[Liz]

I just wanted to say thank you for your blog. It's probably extremely time-consuming for you but it's a great resource for me. Thanks!