How can you tell if a dog is a pit bull?

A Grandview woman is trying to keep her dog from being kicked out of the city, KSHB reports. She says the animal is a boxer mix, but an animal-control officer says pit-bull mix -- which means the dog is illegal under a 2-year-old ban. The owner doesn't want to do a DNA test because she says it's too expensive and unreliable. There's a hearing scheduled for Friday -- a decision could be due next week.

Comments

[Rhonda]

She should win on this. The dog's adoption papers trump the opinion of the officer.

["The G"]

I am interested to see how this turns out...I have a pointer/lab mix and his paperwork says so, but many people, including myself, have awknowledged that he does look a little pittish in the face. I am in the market for a new apartment and one of the ones I looked at said they want to see the dog and his paperwork, not just the paperwork so they can determine if he is a pointer/lab mix or not.

[Rhonda]

Admittedly sometimes the father is unknown. Workers at shelters just have to use their best guess.

[JC_in_KC]

Since when is DNA unreliable and if so we better start locking those so called inoccent inmates back up.

[CareBear]

So racial profiling on dogs is going to start now? If the papers from the place of purchase or a recognized veterinarian say what the breed is, it's irrefutable. To me, looks like a shep/x, I see nothing pit/x as in the enlarged jaw area.

["The G"]

I really doubt there is a lot of DNA difference that can be tracked to a breed

[John Boy]

This is typical of Grandview, where I live. City Hall is more concerned about the breed of a dog than bringing in new business. You can see that by the loss of the Rex X, hardly any place to shop, except Price Chopper. Forget getting A Target, or merchandise store. Lets get rid of the dogs.
And the aldermen wonder why people bad mouth Grandview. Believe me, I am moving as soon as my house sells. Grandview sucks. However, that is part of the problem in selling the house. How can I be honest in selling the house, when I feel like Grandview is the armpit of the world.

[Tom K]

This kind of thing, it seems like the animal control officer is the expert but never anyone who actually knows dogs.

This kind of thing chips away at human rights. One of our rights is, that when the government wants to remove property or take action against property, it should have to prove its case, and the pitbull nonsense is such that they could never prove a case if they had to live up to standards of evidence.

[solomon]

if your dog is not a 'papered' animal and pit bull mixes are the most common short haired looking mixes, who is to tell what a dog really is. Heck, most of the dogs in TV commerdials look like they have pi

[solomon]

pit bull in them

[DolphinGal]

Looks exactly like my dog. She's an Akita mix. With what??? Sometimes looks like a pit when she yawns. GV is being flippin' rediculous! How about you go solve some murders or bust crack houses instead! I think there are much bigger fish to fry in GV then getting a DNA test done on a dog. IDIOTS! IDIOTS! IDIOTS! If it has not created any problems, leave it the hell alone.

[abbyful]

I wonder if the animal-control officer would be able to pick the pitbull out of this line-up on his or her first try:
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html

[Mickey Mouse]

Wow, surprising. #7 was my first guess. How sad that some people don't see that it's a dog before it's a breed and that its "bad" behaviors are either taught by humans or not corrected by humans.

Good idea, so when instead of telling the vet people (for record purposes) that I have a pitt bull mix, I'll tell then I have a dogo argentino mix. That will save him! I can hear it now...
"animal control" I'm here to confiscate your pitt bull.
person: It's not a pitt bull, it's a dogo argintino.
animal control: a dogo what? Yeah, right

[Mickey Mouse]

It does not look like a pit! Give me a break, if anything the markings look more like a german sheperd. Mattie kinda looks like my dog, but I wouldn't tell you if I lived in Grandview. They would have to come and find him.

[Jeff]

I own a boxer and have had people grab there kids or dogs and move them away before we even got close to them. Also have had people and ask me about my pit. She is full breed boxer. ears aren't cropped and she is the cutest thing that wiggles her nub as fast as she can whenever someone is near her wanting to be petted. Animal control officers aren't usually as far as believe very knowledgable with breeds. They are hired to cage loose animals and drop them off at shelters. Just my opinion

[east side mike]

You can its a pit bull went it kills your little child

[Jeff]

East Side that is about the stupidest comment you can make. Are you truly saying that if a dog attacks a child it automaticaly becomes a pit bull. You can't be serious.

[abbyful]

About Jeff's comment "I own a boxer and have had people grab there kids or dogs and move them away before we even got close to them."

I completely believe this. A few years ago, my family trained a german shepherd to be a service dog for KSDS (Kansas Specialty Dog Service). Even with it's cape on that clearly stated "Service Dog in Training", parents would grab their kids avoid the dog. It was like the parting of the red sea whenever we were in a semi-crowded place.

I also know of a woman that has a standard-size POODLE, and someone asked her if it was a pitbull. How those two breeds can be confused, I have no idea.

[riley]

I have two labs and when they were puppies people kept asking us why we got pit bulls. I am very familar with breeds and it took me 5 clicks to guess the correct dog as a pit bull. Oh and the DNA tests to identify breed are not fool proof yet...think about all the mixed breeds who mate who have mixed breed etc. Its not all mapped out genetically yet for the DNA testing, from what I understand.

[dr no]

there is no question that dogs generally referred to as pit bulls come from a heritage of blood sport. they are strong and potentially aggressive especially toward other dogs. ironically they tend to love to please people. so in that regard they are not necessary great guard dogs. that said: it is the owner that ultimately shapes the behavior of a dog no matter what the breed. remember petey the pit bull who starred in the buster brown comedies and the little rascals movies? remember nipper the rca symbol? he was a pit mix. breed specific legislation is as inane as "zero tolerance" policies. what ever happened to common sense?

[Mickey Mouse]

To east side Mike...

So if my neighbor's mean and bad German Sheperd killed your little child, you'd claim it was a pitt bull? *rolling eyes* God, you're blind...and stupid!

[Wester]

If the dog has killed any other pets in the house, it might be a Pitt Bull. If it has attacked any of the neighborhood kids it might be a Pitt Bull. If it has in the past received an invitation to attend M. Vicks summer vacation camp, it might be a Pitt Bull. I love this I could go on for ever.

[B-ri]

DNA tests on breeds is actually pretty good. Could it be better, sure, but in this case it could work. But it is also quite expensive to have it done right the first time.

I wish people would realize that pits are great dogs. the only people who bad mouth them are people that have never owned one. All of the pit bull attacks in the metro city have been "fighting" pits. If you raise your pit like you would a lab you would be saying they are the greatist dogs in the world.

[ryan]

Pit Bulls can be really nice dogs. Its up to how they are raised how they turn out. They just have the potential to kill someone because they are very strong animals.

[Cheryl]

The DNA tests for breed ID are not developed enough to identify breeds accurately. There are over 400 breeds of dogs and the data bank on one of the commercial tests only has 38 breeds of dogs. Did anyone see that Fox 4 segment of "We try it before you buy it?" The test done on a purebred, papered Golden retreiver came back as such, but the test on the German Shepherd mix mutt, came back as POODLE. So much for the DNA test.

[Jeff]

It still kills me that out of the blue some animal control officer spots her dog and quickly labels it as a Pit Bull. Good thing I don't live in that city my boxer would get labeled as a Pit even though I have akc papers saying different. This is why I don't like the whole banning thing. Who enforces it. How is it enforced. What if it is a mix. what if it is a pit but has no fron leg, would it still be banned. (ok being sarcastic if you didn't get it.) To me even if it comes down to a pit mix the city should have to prove that this is a dangerous animal. There are experts to determine that. Easy tests are can you put your hand by its dish when they are eating. Ok i'm rambling now so i'll go now.

[D]

I think my sister is part pit-bull. That explains a lot.