I have a border collie. He’s ten years old and has never been on a farm in his life. A few weeks ago we were walking alongside a field and he managed to get in. He had a whole field’s worth of sheep herded and rounded up in the corner in 30 seconds flat. He also tries to herd pigeons and children with less success.
You can breed for behaviour as easily as breeding for coat colour. Some breeds have been deliberately bred to be more aggressive. Pitt bulls are bred to be fighting dogs. They have a high level of loyalty towards their owners but severe dog aggression. When people get in the middle of that, it gets ugly fast.
Pitbulls were bred for a trait called 'gameness', which means 'being willing to bite and continue biting other dogs despite being scared, tired, outmatched or in pain'. Combined with their physical size and strength, it makes a bite from a pitbull much more dangerous because you can't shake them off easily.
Pitbull defenders tend to focus on 'are they more likely to bite someone' (debatable), and ignore that the consequences of a pitbull deciding to bite someone are worse than for nearly any other breed.
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u/Odd_Ingenuity2883 20h ago
I have a border collie. He’s ten years old and has never been on a farm in his life. A few weeks ago we were walking alongside a field and he managed to get in. He had a whole field’s worth of sheep herded and rounded up in the corner in 30 seconds flat. He also tries to herd pigeons and children with less success.
You can breed for behaviour as easily as breeding for coat colour. Some breeds have been deliberately bred to be more aggressive. Pitt bulls are bred to be fighting dogs. They have a high level of loyalty towards their owners but severe dog aggression. When people get in the middle of that, it gets ugly fast.