David Letterman Says Pit Bulls Will Kill You

David Letterman on Pit Bulls.
What stupid comments kept coming from his mouth. "Taste blood", what a dork. How stupid can 1 person be?
Thank goodness his guest knew what she was talking about, cause he sure didn't. PB's are very sweet dogs. Idiots like Michael Vick and like make them vicious, fueled by dumb talk show hosts comments.

These people piss me off...but a man who can't control who his own libido for any reason wouldn't understand how an animal can't control itself either.

On the note of celebrities bashing the breed...Jude Joe Brown..not much of a celebrity but unfortunately someone who has much to say about the breed...every single time he has a case involving a dog attack by a pitbull...he throws statistics up on a screen and then proceeds to refer to the breed as "crazy" and similar other adjectives which piss me off.

It's ironic that I am now the owner of a Pit Mix because I had to scuffle, down and dirty, with several Pits not on leashes coming after my dogs..... before ever getting my own...each time, I never harmed the dogs and never got pissed at the animal....now as for the owners...hmmmm....If my tongue could cause serious physical damage it would have....

Judge Joe Brown needs to get a clue....as with Leno and Letterman.

It's so true! My dog is very, very, pittie looking but people have a hard time believing she is one. Why? Because I'm a small, conservative, middle-class woman who lives in an urban condo who dresses her dog in cute little rain jackets when it's wet outside. People in my building are always surprised when I reveal that my well-behaved, smiling dog is a pit bull. Because pit bulls only belong to meth dealers and wear spiked collars, right? It's hard dealing with the pit bull stigma, but it's so worth it to know you're changing minds and fighting ignorance just by talking your dog for a walk. :D

P.S. I want to meet Zeus!

I am pretty sure that David Letterman's "jokes" about pit bulls were meant to be just jokes. I didn't think it was funny because I have an adopted pit bull who has his Canine Good Citizen certificate and is a therapy dog. I am a dog trainer, specifically working with shelter dogs with some behavior issues, and those that have been badly abused and neglected. The most abused dog in the U.S. is The American Pit Bull Terrier, but thanks to unbiased people who are willing to help these poor dogs that have been manipulated and hurt by ill-educated, irresponsible people, many of them can find a home where they will not be starved, hit, chained, or fought. The problem lies within the human breed, not the Pit Bull breed. Do you know what it's like to see a pit bull who has been beaten his whole life but still wags his tail when a person approaches? The truth about pit bulls is that they are a loyal and courageous breed and at one time were the face of America for strength and patriotism. For the deeds of some pit bulls, the breed in entirety should not be blamed. I've been bit by a cocker spaniel and a golden retriever. I've been licked to death by many pit bulls.

It appears that Letterman could have been joking. Regardless, his candor-for-the-sake-of-humor does not help the stereotype. And I doubt anyone is thinking "if Letterman said it, it must be true."

This enraged me. My American Pit Bull Terrier is my certified therapy dog and is my service dog. I fight to protect the dogs. People don't need protection from pit bulls, pit bulls need protection from people.

Lindsay, I am a pit bull advocate based in Vancouver, BC and am always looking for stories like yours. I'd love to hear more about your dog! Can you email me at hugabull at gmail dot com, or let me know how I can get in touch with you?

I can understand how someone would have reservations about the breed based on media reports, but it usually takes meeting just one to change your mind. :) I could write an entire essay on what's wrong with media reports about pit bulls, but it usually boils down to the following:
1) The wrong people attracted to the breed, abusing them, neglecting them, and cultivating aggression.
2) The word "pit bull" being used as a synonym for "aggressive dog". A boxer, mastiff, or bulldog that attacks - any dog with big muscles - is always called a pit bull in the media.
3) The "family dog suddenly snaps!" story is common in media, but very rare in reality. If you read further you usually find that this "family dog" was kept on a chain 24/7 and never socialized. Most dog attacks are caused by male, intact dogs kept as yard or chain dogs, untrained, usually running loose. Let's just say that no dog who's attacked as never taken a basic obedience course...

The best source of media vs. pit bull information is the "Pit Bull Placebo". Check it out if you have a few minutes. It really cuts through the crap! http://www.fataldogattacks.com/

As for Letterman, I'm not as offended as I was by Chris Rock's comments. Letterman was being flippant and uninformed, but it's how late-night talk shows talk about a lot of things. And taking a photo of an adorable puppy and writing "I want to kill" was just ridiculous.

Not the brightest moment, but not the worst either. I do hope that Letterman's negative comments (joking or not) were offset by the thought of another celebrity choosing this wonderful breed. There are a lot of them: http://www.cesarsway.com/node/967

Great info, thanks April!

It's interesting that you say meeting a pit bull usually changes a persons mind about them. This happened earlier this week with Zeus. A friend (who was terrified of pit bulls), took me out for dinner and afterward I asked him if he'd like to meet Zeus. He reluctantly agreed, and after a 1/2 hour of lap sitting and face licking, my friend was loving Zeus! :)

There's also lots of good dog bite research to be found on the National Canine Research Council's website too.

For those of you that use Amazon, The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression can be found there as well.

Pit Bulls are wonderful family pets, who have a terrible reputation, and frankly I wouldn't believe stories on any major media outlet about them suddenly "snapping" and killing people. That doesn't sound like anything a domesticated animal would do. People who take tiger cubs and raise them in their home and then have them attack when they're older - yeah. But not Pit Bulls. (Also - take notice that when I pluralized "Pit Bulls" I refrained from using an apostrophe. The main reason I'm posting is because every time "Pit Bull" was meant to be pluralized in this article, it was actually made singular possessive.)

Thank you for your comment Angie.

I've corrected my grammatical errors, thank you for pointing them out. :)

I actually don't take offense to how he handled himself there. Dave is just one of hundreds of thousands that feels this way about Pit Bulls.

I am not educated in Pit Bulls, so I cannot speak to their breed. I will say, though, that the media coverage on Pit Bulls would make me scared to have one as a family pet. Not the stories of horrible people who buy them to have dog fights. I mean the stories all over the internet about family dogs, Pit Bulls, that were wonderful family pets until the day they snapped out of the blue and tried to kill them or their child.

It is scary, even to me, and I am an absolute animal lover and advocate.