Various breeds of dogs have been demonized since newspapers became more popular

A Brief History of Dog Prejudice, by Keith L. Kendrick

Various breeds of dogs have been demonized since newspapers became more popular after the Civil War. First it was the Blood Hounds of Uncle Tom's Cabin that struck fear into the hearts of people throughout America. This dog was portrayed throughout the country as a savage, bloodthirsty, man-killing beast in vaudeville productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin towards the latter part of the 19th century. It didn't help that Bloodhounds had been used to hunt down runaway slaves and escaped criminals.

Then the public gradually realized that Blood Hounds were actually just another breed of dog with qualities similar to other dogs of about the same size.

The next demonized dogs were the Northern breeds, the Malamutes and Huskies, who were assumed by many to be the equivalent of wolves. Because of the extreme deprivation often suffered by sled dogs in the early North, and often being let to roam free in packs, there were horrible fatal human incidents that the press gleefully fed the public. Can you imagine the horror of living in Canada's Northern Territories, leaving your small child outside for just a few minutes and when you go back your child is gone. Then after a short search you find a pack of Huskies ravenously eating something. You scare the dogs off--and find nothing but a few remains of flesh on the bones of your child? It certainly made for good newspaper press and sold lots of newspapers.

As time passed, the Northern breeds lost favor as demons in the press and were replaced by the demon German Shepherd of WWI. However there was a mitigating factor that held back this breed's demonization: The advent of movies and then the TV series of RIN TIN TIN. The German Shepherd image in the public's eye was altered from a vicious, savage, man-killing beast into the amazing helper and protector of RIN TIN TIN--a "SuperDog" for humans.

Yet the German Shepherd is actually just another breed of dog with qualities similar to other dogs of around the same size.

In the early 1900's an interesting development occurred: One of the most popular dogs in America gained a reputation in the press as an all-purpose family dog because of it’s reputation for protecting its family’s children. These dogs were even a main character in the famous short films and TV serial "Our Gang" (or "The Little Rascals"), and as well as the mascot for Buster Brown shoes and the dog featured next to an early phonograph in ads by RCA. But these dogs, with the unfortunate name of Pit Bull, were not ready for prime-time demonization.
Next on the list of demonized dogs were Dobermans and Rottweilers, due to their use in WWII and afterwords in various militaries and their frequent use as guard dogs. The problem with using dogs as guards to protect property is that a dog simply cannot distinguish between a bad person and a good person. They only distinguish people as familiar or as strangers, and when used for guard purposes their territorial protective nature is maxed out. If somehow a stranger enters the dog's territory and acts erratic, the dog is primed to attack. This situation is made even worse if the stranger is a child or elderly person who suddenly runs and starts flailing his or her arms and squealing like a chased animal.

As the 1950's fell into the '60's and '70's, two relevant growing developments were occurring in rural areas and inner-city ghettos: organized dog fighting, and a dramatic increase in inner-city gangs accompanied by their increasing violence and use of illegal drugs. And the dog usually used in fighting was the Pit Bull, but probably not for the reason you think.

But there are two interesting things about using Pit Bulls in dog fighting: First, why were Pit Bulls weighing between 50 and 70 pounds used instead of Dobermans, Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Mastiffs?

Because in the midst of a dogfight, men wouldn't be as able to control the larger and more powerful dogs! Secondly, throughout the history of breeding Pit Bulls for fighting, at any time in a dogfight if a dog ever bit a handler the dog would be put down and culled from the breeding population. Consequently Pit Bulls have been bred to actually be the least likely dog to bite humans.
However as gangs multiplied and Pit Bulls gained a reputation for fighting and also an undeserved reputation for extraordinary viciousness, they became the favorite dog for gangs to boast their intimidating image. Pit bulls were being seen on street corners wearing big spike collars with their ears cut off to make them look meaner, all to boost the “bad” image of their drug dealing masters. Such masters usually weren't too interested in having their dogs well socialized and trained. Unfortunately many such masters also severely neglected or even cruelly abused these dogs. Imagine any large breed dog, chained except for an occasional walk around the block, underfed, under socialized, and almost inevitably to be discarded like trash. Then people blame the whole breed of dog for not being friendly.
However in July of 1987 the public perception of Pit Bulls suddenly took a drastic turn to for the worst: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED did an extremely inflammatory cover story on Pit Bulls with a cover picture of a mean looking, snarling Pit Bull with the headline: "BEWARE OF THIS DOG." The same month, TIME magazine also did a similar story called "Time Bomb On Legs,” with this as the first paragraph: "Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare, its muzzle and hackles were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish, be conceived than that dark form and savage face."

So despite being known as the "nanny dog" in the early 1900's, as well as in the United States as a well regarded all purpose family dog good with children, because of such highly distorted journalism Pit Bulls immediately became the top demon dog. Two things resulted from this: Even more people likely to be involved in crime wanted to have Pit (and such people were more likely to be irresponsible and uncaring dog owners), and because then more people who owned Pits were bad owners, Pits got an even worse name.

Secondly, many cities started to enact "breed specific" dog bans which outlawed any dog that resembled a Pit Bull, and irrational and inflammatory political grandstanding in banning Pit Bulls further tarnished the breed's image. It is so bad in Denver, Colorado that people had to relocate their families to protect their beloved dogs and the police were literally knocking down peoples' doors to take their dogs away to be killed just because of their breed--regardless of their behavior. And if you even pass through Denver with a dog that faintly resembles a Pit Bull you risk being stopped and having your dog taken and killed. This was all ultimately because of the so-called sport of dog fighting, sensationalistic and distorted journalism, and an irrational disregard of facts about dogs and how to deal with them.

Yet if you were to ask the hundreds of thousands of responsible owners of Pit Bulls in the U.S.A. about their dogs, you would likely get almost universal agreement that they are great household pets--just like when they were called the "nanny dog" years ago before gangs, drug dealers, sensationalizing journalism and politicians took advantage of them.

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