What breed am I? It can be hard to tell

COULD YOU pick out a pit bull from a lineup? You might think so, but there's a good chance you'd be wrong. Even experts have problems when it comes to labeling a breed or mix. That's bad news for dogs who are misidentified, especially if they are in communities with breed-specific legislation - laws that ban certain types of dogs.

To test the accuracy of shelter dog identification, University of Florida researchers went to four shelters and asked a total of 16 shelter staff members with at least three years of experience, including four vets, to look at 120 dogs (30 at each shelter). Their task? Identify the dogs' breed or mix based on appearance. The researchers took blood samples from the dogs, developed DNA profiles for each animal, and compared the DNA findings against the staff's initial assessments.

The results, published in the November 2015 issue of the Veterinary Journal, found that dogs with DNA of breeds often considered to be pit bulls (such as American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers) were identified only 33 percent to 75 percent of the time. Dogs with no genetic evidence linking them to pit bull-type dogs were labeled as pit bulls from 0 to 48 percent of the time. Veterinarians were no better at identifying a dog's breed than other shelter staff.

Misidentification can seriously affect a dog's chances at adoption, or even end his life. That's because more than 700 communities, including Denver and Miami, have passed breed-specific legislation (BSL) aimed at restricting ownership of certain breeds.

The restrictions are based on assumptions that those breeds are inherently dangerous, that such dogs can be reliably identified, and that the restrictions will improve public safety, the study states. In most instances, the laws target "pit bulls," a term that can refer to several breeds - usually American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, bull terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers - as well as mixed breeds that have a particular appearance: blocky head and stocky body.

"Identification of dogs as pit bulls can trigger an array of negative consequences, from the loss of housing to being seized by animal control to the taking of the dog's life," says Julie Levy, DVM, Ph.D., the study's lead author and a professor of shelter medicine at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville. A dog labeled a pit bull may have fewer chances of adoption.

Niko's case is a good example of what can go wrong. He was seized in 2007 by animal control officers in Kansas City, Kan., who declared he was a pit bull, in violation of the city's ban. Niko spent eight months in a kennel before a DNA test showed what owners Mike and Amy Johnson had claimed all along: He was a boxer mix.

More than 15 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized the problem with visual identification of dogs. In its study published in the Sept. 15, 2000, issue of the Journal of the AVMA, the authors noted the difficulty of determining the breed of a particular dog.

"CDC continues to have concerns over the ability to accurately identify breeds of dogs and to effectively reduce dog bites through the use of breed-specific legislation," says CDC health communications specialist Courtney N. Lenard.

The conclusion? Public safety would be better served by reducing risk factors for dog bites by supervising children, recognizing canine body language, avoiding unfamiliar dogs in their territory, neutering dogs, and socializing puppies, Levy says.