http://www.dogsbite.org/dangerous-dog… “Don’t blame the dog” logic

Pit bull owners frequently blame the “environment” after a pit bull seriously injures a person. A participant in the Tufts study illustrates this clearly, “If you get some kid that has been beaten all his life, he’s going to go out and be aggressive towards people.”12 The intention is to assert that an aggressive pit bull must have been beaten or taught to attack by their owners instead of admitting to the genetic traits that define the breed (See: Why do people say that pit bulls “don’t let go?”)

Pit bull owners frequently direct blame onto victims after an attack too. While “blaming the victim” is a universal phenomenon, pit bull owners do so offensively. The instance involving Wendy Blevins, who DogsBite.org awarded 2008 Victims Advocate of the Year, is an excellent example. After Tina Agerson’s pit bull casually walked up to Wendy and her daughter and latched onto the child’s head, Wendy immediately straddled the attacking dog and pulled it off Charlotte.

As blood flew everywhere, Agerson stood by and watched. She later said that Wendy “blocked” her from getting her dog. In a subsequent blog post about the incident, a pit bull advocate left a comment asking why Wendy did not have insurance to cover her child’s medical bills, which surpassed $110,000 in 30 days. First, Wendy was insured; second, the commenter blamed the victim for being unable to pay these bills after “someone else’s dog” nearly killed her child.

In a separate incident, a victim with a history of seizures was blamed for the attack that led to her death. Kelli Chapman was sleeping in her bed when her two pet pit bulls killed her. It was quickly assumed that because she suffered from seizures, she must have had one and the pit bulls “naturally” reacted to it by killing her. Yet, we will never know if she suffered a seizure, and if she did, the order of events: Did a seizure cause the attack or did the attack cause a seizure?13

In nearly all instances of serious and fatal pit bull attacks, pit bull owners, and in some cases authorities, blame the attack on the environment or the actions of the victim. There is a refusal on their part to admit that a pit bull will attack unprovoked. Some of the most grievous examples include a child holding a stuffed animal and a child bumping into a pit bull. “Don’t Blame the Dog” believers say such actions sufficiently explain why the pit bull severely injured or killed the child.