Dogs Can't Speak Up For Themselves

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For the Dogs It’s All Pain, No Gain

Recently we wrote a blog about “pit bull” dog websites and the damage that well-intentioned advocates cause when they post outdated information about the dogs.

A prime example of this is the perpetuation of the old myth that “pit bull” dogs have a higher tolerance for pain than other dogs.

One advocacy website writes, “Sometimes presented as a negative trait, the fact that pitbulls have a high pain tolerance makes them exceptional family dogs. They easily (and happily) put up with the rough play of children without reacting.”

Tragically, the myth of high pain tolerance is also used on pro-BSL websites to justify why “pit bull” dogs are uniquely different, dangerous, and therefore need to be regulated. It’s even shown up in court as justification for bans via claims that their supposedly high tolerance for pain makes them uniquely dangerous in comparison to other dogs.

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Let’s set the record straight, shall we?

There is nothing unique about the neurological system of a “pit bull” dog. All dogs, regardless of breed label, experience pain.

How each individual dog responds to that pain will vary, but the response cannot be accurately predicted by physical appearance or breed.

Tufts Veterinary Medicine Magazine examined the issue of pain in their Winter 2013 issue. Here’s what the experts had to say:
“Pain medicine as a veterinary specialty is relatively new. As recently as a decade ago, most veterinarians assumed that animals didn’t feel pain, or at least experienced it differently than humans.

Now all evidence points to the contrary. Research has shown that animals and humans have similar neural pathways for the development, conduction and modulation of pain, making it pretty likely that our pets experience pain in much same the way we do.”
This tells us that all animals experience pain. All of them.

The perception of pain is unique to each individual: human or dog. Humans have the choice to be stoic and decline treatment for issues such as chronic pain, but our dogs can’t speak up for themselves. When we perpetuate the myth that “pit bull” dogs are different in the way they experience pain, we may wind up missing an opportunity to provide them with the care they need.

The article goes onto say that even in people, pain is often undertreated. “If we’re looking at practically half of the human population that’s in pain getting undertreated, I have to believe that over 95 percent of animals in [chronic] pain are not getting proper treatment,” says Michael Petty, president of the International Veterinary Academy.

While all dogs will express pain differently, this doctor is saying that an enormous amount of our pets are not getting relief! That is a lot of “stoic” animals or, more likely, a lot of owners that are either ignoring or not observing subtle symptoms of pain (for more on how pain may present in a dog’s body, please read the full article).

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