Parents for Dog Bite Awareness

Circa 1919. Michigan.

Here’s a peek into dog fighting history for you thanks to Silvana. She purchased a stack of antique cards and happened to find a pit bull card with a basic truth on it.

Yes, they knew. They knew what bloodsport dogs could do and what they were made to do back then. The nanny dog myth is modern gaslighting.

The Pitbull Origin

It takes a heavy dose of toxicity to openly claim that Bloodsport breeds were made to be nanny dogs. Their origin is easily confirmed by scientific and historic sources. A brief search provides plenty of citations on the origin of pit dogs, including major groups like the ASPCA.

Pro-pitbull lobbying groups and pitbull preservation groups also condemn the myth as harmful, reminding dog owners to never leave children with dogs unsupervised.

Other telephone versions of this myth include calling the dogs babysitters, human sibling replacements, nursemaids, and parental helpers. Some of the claims made by trolls on our Facebook page also involved creative stories about pitbulls babysitting children while the mom went grocery shopping 🛍️ or protecting children in the fields while Pre-Civil War slaves picked cotton. The versions are as endless as the dog delulu and suggest widespread parental negligence.

Their name itself tells us their genetic purpose the same as pointers point and retrievers retrieve. The bull part is from Olde English Bulldogs. They were used in a popular gambling game known as “bull baiting” where bulldogs were released to attack a chained bull to entertain the audience.

By 1835, England was tired of this bloody cruelty and banned bull baiting. Bloodsport breeders pivoted by mixing Bulldogs with Terriers to get more agility and speed. They then continued their games by pitting the dogs against each other or with rats and other small animals all in a pit. You could say pitbulls were pitted in the pits. 😐

No matter how shrill the pit mommies scream, it remains a historic fact that mauling in a pit is the origin of the “Pit-Bull.” As the New York Times says in an archived article from 1908, these new bull terriers were, “the greatest fighting machine, pound for pound, on four legs.” Another cultural reference is the detailed dog fight in the classic book, “White Fang,” where the “new and improved” dog enters the pit to win.

Despite the transparent and easily accessible history of bloodsport dogs, the nanny myth persists on social media, often reaching a fevered pitch that displays a lack of care for children and ironically, for the dogs themselves. This nanny dog myth is not really a myth so much as low quality gaslighting. The repeated lying everywhere serves two purposes. 1) it misleads anyone who is inexperienced or vulnerable to misinformation, putting their own families at risk. And 2) it distracts pet safety activists, wasting their time fighting over a myth. When this tactic is used, promptly but briefly addressing it is necessary. Focusing on how pit type dogs are the #1 canine killer of children and how pro-pitbull organizations condemn this myth are two short steps to take so you can ensure any new parents reading the debate are immediately given correct information on the topic. Even manipulative posts such as the one from Bad Rap can still plant a seed in the minds of those vulnerable to the nanny dog myth: