As has been pointed out several times now...
Breed IS a factor.
bad owners are ALSO a factor.
A dog's specific lineage is a minor factor, but as has been pointed out for many years by many industry professionals and studies, actual breed itself is not a factor.
Bad or irresponsible ownership, however, has clearly been the deciding element in most fatalities and the major factor in most attacks.
I know someone who has a pit bull type dog, and it seems really soft around humans (for now), but in the presence of other dogs it's just uncontrolable, it's like it just losses it's mind and goes for them, so they have no choice but to keep it muzzled in public unles they want a bloodbath.
I know several people who have pit bull type dogs too, which are all soppy as Labradors.... So what?
I also know several Labradors that are great around people but hate other dogs, and vice versa... So what?
Both cases are anecdotal and tell only the sort of upbringing the individual dog has had.
Some dogs are more sensitive and responsive than others, but this just further highlights how they then reflect the sort of raising and ownership they've had.
Not even remotely true - ask any dog groomer - different breeds have very different common triggers (and tolerances).
Now ask your dog groomers how they think any given dog would behave if you let it go completely untrained and ungoverned, put it in bed with you, treat it like a baby, refer to it as your "son" and let it do what it likes while "not giving a ****", to quote the dead XLB owner in question....
Any dog, given that degree of improper treatment, will behave very badly.
It's a major contributor... just look at the sheer disproportionate amount of attacks and deaths (on people and other dogs) caused by a very small subset of 'breeds'.
And how many of those were owned by responsible owners who did all the right things?
How many of the owners were negligent in their ownership?
You don't need to be a statistical analyst to work it out.
But you do need to have the wider picture to give them context.
Everyone's so quick to harp on about how XLBs are just status dogs owned by drug dealers and the lowest scum of society who just want to weaponise them, yet seem very reluctant to actually pull the trigger on driving responsibility and holding such people accountable for what they cause...
When was the last time a Labrador ate a childs face?
In which country?
Since you're citing US stats, there have been a couple of Labs this year who killed children, including one infant.
I'm not the one claiming Pugs and sausages dogs are just as likely to have done it and then not being able to back it up!
Prove me wrong then - Take any dog you like, mistreat it and then show me how well-behaved it is....... Go ahead, I'll wait.
Like WTF are you smoking man, can you really not see what people would obviously care more about there?
And that's where your problem is.
It's not the capacity of the dog to cause damage, it's the irresponsible ownership. Dogs have been doing this long before the XLB even existed. You and the rest of them only care because now a few more people than usual have died. There are still many thousands of attacks, as there have been for decades, because of irresponsible ownership.
If you actually did care, you'd address the problem instead of the symptom.
