There we go again. "Pit bulls".
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. -- Two dogs have been euthanized after attacking and killing a 60-year-old woman Monday night, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.
Susan Shawl was attacked by her son's dogs at her home in the 31900 block of Black Widow Drive in the Conifer area, the sheriff's office said. Two suspected terrier-pit bull mix dogs were involved in the attack.
The owner (the son) was also injured in the attacks as he tried to intervene. Unquestionably, a terrible set of events.
But let's get a few things straight. There is no such thing as a pit bull, much less a "terrier-pit bull mix".
This is a pit bull. Except that it's an American Staffordshire Terrier. Any dog with a more or less square head and boxy body tends to be referred to in media as a pit bull. This is erroneous. The closest thing to a pit bull is the hybrid - a cross between bulldog and terrier. This produced an animal with the strength and endurance of the former, together with the agility and speed of the latter. It also came with an unfortunate additional effect derived from the terrier: the tendency toward hyperactivity and their innate generally fearless attitude.
It is this hybrid combination that proves so problematic - and at times deadly - in an urban setting. What are referred to as pit bulls are actually bull-terriers, and they're actually quite useful on the open range, where the terrier's hyperactivity, speed, and agility, coupled with the bulldog's endurance and tenacity, make them effective tools for herding cattle as well as containing vermin.
Again, the issue is less with the bulldog than the terrier; terriers make excellent rat eliminators, for example: they latch on and shake the offending animal violently until it is well and truly dead. Coupled with the strength of a bulldog, this can be problematic in animal/human encounters, as we have once more unfortunately seen. The hyperactive nature of the terrier seems to dominate, and it doesn't take much to set them off.
Therein lies the problem. Bulldogs aren't generally an issue; they're pretty laid back unless working. Terriers, by contrast, tend to require firm supervision; they were bred to kill. Hybridizing the two gives a larger, stronger animal with a terrier mentality that is not, in general, compatible with an urban environment.
