I understand wanting to give your love and your home to a dog. With so many breeds available, I can't understand opening your home to the potential problems of owning a pit bull.

Police in Edison have been looking for a loose pit bull that attacked and killed a Jack Russell Terrier near Middlesex Community College late Friday night. The mauled dog's owner said the pit bull pounced on her dog and wouldn't let go until a stranger came to help and hit the pit bull with a shovel.

Add this story to the huge pile of vicious fatal attacks that pit bull owners insist is media unfairness. Yet facts are facts. Pit bulls do not bite more often than some other breeds. But they kill far more often than any other breed. Another interesting thing about pit bull owners; they want to acknowledge innate traits of the breed but only if they're positive. We will hear pit owners talk about the inherent intelligence of the breed for example. Yet when asked about the inherent tendency towards aggression, then it becomes "it's the owner, not the dog."

While pit owners refuse to admit it, I believe deep down many are drawn to this breed not in spite of the dangerous reputation but because of it. If you don't think a lot of pit bull owners got one due to wanting a badass dog, consider the list of the most common names these owners give their pits.

From the dog site Rover.com is a list of the most popular pit bull names from 2018. Look at the males.

Scotty

Blue / Blu

Zeus

Max

Rocky

Duke

Diesel

Charlie

Harley

Buddy

Zeus. Rocky. Duke. Diesel. Harley. These names invoke an image. Do these tough sounding names pop up any more often among pits than dog breeds in general? You bet they do. From the Rover.com article:

"Names related to strength show up more often among pit bulls, too (as well as all bully breeds), with Rocky, Diesel, Tank, Tyson, Zeus, and Athena ranking much higher in this dog group than in the general population of dogs."

I used to have a neighbor with a pit bull. They named her Grim. As in Grim Reaper. I mean, come on, could it be more obvious this guy was in love with the image?

You're entitled to own the dog you want. I'm not suggesting bans or breed specific legislation. I do hope people think long and hard about the violent history of the breed and the anatomical difference in this dog vs. others as far as the amount of physical damage it can do. Like it or not, I have a right to that cautious opinion, just as you have a right to own your badass dog and name it Tank.

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