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Pit bull “bite force” - 600, 1200, 1500, 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, 2400, 2500, or 2700
(pounds per square inch) ?

There is no better illustration of the media’s failure to check the facts before including them in a
story than their retailing of fantastic myths regarding the ability of some breeds (usually pit bulls or
Rottweilers) to bite with extraordinary force.

Over the past two decades, newspapers and television stations have published wildly divergent and
outrageously exaggerated numbers on pit bull bite force. Some, including the Los Angeles Times,
have even quoted different bite force numbers in different articles (1500, 1600, 2000), failing to
consult what they themselves had already published on the subject.

While bite force cannot be reliably determined in dogs, reputable professionals concur that dogs bite
with a force of 200-450 psi, depending on the size of the dog.

The totally unsubstantiated numbers reported of up to 2700 psi are preposterous. Nevertheless,
judges, lawmakers and physicians are often inclined to believe what is printed in a major
newspaper, like the Los Angeles Times or the Chicago Tribune; and so these absurd claims have
actually been entered into evidence in court cases used to justify town ordinances, and cited as
fact in medical journal articles. *

The statements below are direct quotations:

“[Bite force of the] Doberman 1450 lbs per square inch, Shepard [sic] 1600 lbs, Rotweiler
1800 lbs of pressure per square inch, Pit Bull 2200 lbs of pressure per square inch.” CBS42
News, Apr 28, 2008
“The ban’s purpose would be to prevent severe attacks from powerful dogs, such as pit bulls,
which can bite down at more than 600 pounds per square inch.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, Oct
20, 2007
“Pit bulls can be especially dangerous because their jaws can exert 2400 pounds of pressure
per bite.” Cape Cod Times, August 7, 2005
“A pit bull can exert as much as 1200 pounds per square inch of pressure with its jaws, while
that of a German shepherd is more like 200.” San Francisco Chronicle, June 11, 2005
“Pit bulls bite with a force of 2000 pounds per square inch — that’s twice the force of a
German shepherd or Doberman pinscher.” Washington Post , October 2, 2005
“A Rottweiler’s bite can exert up to 1800 pounds per square inch. A pit bull can exert up to
2700 pounds per square inch.” York Daily Record/York Sunday News, Feb 19, 2004
“A pit bull’s jaws are capable of exerting 2000 pounds of pressure per square inch.” Los
Angeles Times, July 1, 1987
“A 55-pound pit bull bites with the force of 1800 lbs. per square inch–twice the force of a
German Shepherd.” Miami Herald, August 10, 1987
“The pit bull generates 2500 pounds of pressure per square inch when they bite.” Chicago
Tribune, Aug 19, 1987
“A pit bull’s bite exerts an estimated 1500 pounds of pressure per square inch.” Los Angeles
Times, Feburary 18, 1986
“The pit bull probably is the strongest animal in the world. His powerful jaws have
about 1600 pounds per square inch crushing force.” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1982

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No fact checking | National Canine Research Council

***

There is no scientific evidence that the dogs identified as pit bulls bite differently than other dogs.

However, mythologizing about dogs and bite pressure has even infected the medical community.
Influenced, no doubt, by the kind of media blather you have just been reading, a recent issue of a
journal for surgical specialists published a claim about the bite pressure of pit bull dogs. However, it
turns out that their sources were other medical doctors, and public health workers. None of the
claims of these specialists, or of the specialists they cite in their footnotes, are substantiated by the
work of veterinarians, veterinary dentists, forensic dentists, or any animal professional. All claims
about the bite pressure of one kind of dog versus another kind of dog come to nothing, whether you
read them in a newspaper or a medical journal.

See letter sent by Donald Cleary of the NCRC to “Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery,” 2009:
Head and neck bites in children, in which a bite pressure of 1800 psi for “pit bulls” is cited:

Bite pressure myth repeated in medical journal

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