[Esand]

I think that a lot of people who intentionally own pitbulls, by which I mean people who buy the dogs from breeders (mostly BYB) rather than rescuing a stray or shelter dog, do so for the exact reasons that Pit Bulls have such a bad reputation.

I think that that same desire for a 'tough' 'macho' dog that lead these owners to choose a pit bull also leads them to, probably inadvertently, raising the kind of dog that earns pit bulls that reputation.

This all based on feelings, I have no hard data.

 

[Esand]

Danes die young due to serious cancers being widespread and a hereditary heart issue. Any breed that has a deadly issue will have a short lifespan. Flatcoats also are said to have short lifespan due to cancer. They are not an XL breed.
I wouldn't call 10-12 (of mastiff) that bad for a giant size dog. Boxers are the same and they are med-large.

My Cane Corso is almost 9yrs old so I hope that's not going to hold true. She has a good genetic history so I'm hopeful.

Average is just that, an average, lots of individual dogs live longer, and many die earlier. Hopefully you'll have your dog around for a good while longer.

The statistics are crystal clear though, larger dogs live shorter lives.

 

[Esand]

I thought of this thread yesterday because I saw the worlds most ridiculous sight in chinatown.

There was a guy standing talking to someone with his pitibull laying down next to him.

The poor dog was covered in a huge harness made out of what appeared to be seatbelt webbing, infact it looked like he was wearing a race car seat belt. He also had a studded collar with huge spikes and his leash was a piece of rope that looked like it had previously been used to secure a cargo ship to the dock. The tight cropped ears just rounded out the picture