Pit bulls, Dog Fights, & bad rumors
The truth about the #1 most dangerous dog breed (or is it?)
Pit bulls and a positive opinion:
Pit Bull. Two simple words, but so very charged, the reaction to which varies wildly. There are their fearful detractors, those who would have them demonized, having fallen prey to the dogs’ misrepresentation in the media. And then there are their champions, who are struggling to change the tide of public opinion. “Pit Bull” is, in fact, a loose term for many distinct “bully” breed dogs, such as the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. There is a general misunderstanding of the nature of dogs that fall into the Pit Bull camp, one that can be blamed largely on the sad fact that any aggressive attack is often inaccurately blamed on the scapegoated Pit Bull with little concern as to the offender’s actual breed. According to testing by The National Canine Temperament Testing Association, the Golden Retriever, Poodle, Border Collie, English Setter, and numerous other breeds are considered more likely to become aggressive than the breeds commonly referred to as Pit Bulls. While the average score of the 231 breeds tested was a mere 82.4 percent, Pit Bulls scored a 86.5 percent (the higher the score the better).
In truth, bully breeds are goofy, loyal, lovey dogs, by and large fantastic with children. In the UK, they were known as “nanny” dogs, and many Victorian illustrations of family life portray a sweet Pit Bull-type dog overseeing his chubby, beribboned charges.
Yes, this personable package comes wrapped in a powerhouse of a body, one that historically was bred for the cruel blood sport of dog fighting, but these dogs are anything but mean by nature. Sure, some, if left unchecked, have more of a tendency toward dog-aggression than, say, the average affable Labrador Retriever does, but if ever there was a testament to the underlying sweet nature of these dogs, it is seen in the rehabilitation stories of the Pit Bulls seized from Bad Newz Kennels, the Virginia dogfighting ring that was run by NFL quarterback Michael Vick.
Subject to some of the worst humanity has to offer, these were dogs that were caged or chained alone in the woods, tortured, and forced to fight, the torn-apart losers of the battles callously dumped in mass graves, the females tethered to rape tables. And yet, thanks to public outcry and an unprecedented ruling by the judge overseeing the Vick case, nearly $1 million was put aside for the rescue and rehabilitation of these dogs. With the help of a great many caring individuals and organizations who were unwilling to see them put down after having suffered only abuse at the hands of humans, these former dog-ring fighters have now been adopted into homes with other dogs, and are volunteering in elder-care facilities and schools to help children learn to read.
Hector, one of the Bad Newz victims, bears deep scars on his chest. He was adopted by Roo Yori, best known as the guardian of Wallace the Pit Bill, a national flying-disc champ (see the Summer 2010 issue of Modern Dog for photos of Wallace and his high-flying Frisbee grabs). Hector is now ensconced in the Yori household, where he happily shares a home with Yori, his wife, Clara, and Wallace, as well as a Rat Terrier named Scooby, Angus, a black Lab mix, and Mindy Lou, a toy Australian Shepherd. What better testament to the forgiving nature of these animals? As Jim Gorant, author of The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption (Gotham, 2010) has noted, “Generalizations and preconceptions are as unhelpful and counterproductive for Pit Bulls as they are for people.”
There is much work to do, though, to change public opinion. Many, many dogs falling into the Pit Bull camp, lumped together under this one inaccurate label, are crowding shelters, their numbers vast, the available homes few. Moved by the plight of these dogs, Brooklyn-based photographer Bethany Obrecht turned her lens to some of these animals, who hopefully faced her camera.
Sadly, most of the dogs Obrecht photographed didn’t make it, victims of an overburdened shelter system and an uninformed public. We’re hoping we can change that with a positive public relations campaign taking aim at their misrepresentation and drawing attention to the plight of legion Pit Bull-type dogs in desperate need of a home. Adopt a sweet, goofy, grinning Pit Bull today. We’re willing to bet you won’t regret it.
By Rose Frosek - Modern Dog Magazine
A pit bull, but doesn't she look SWEET?!
Picture this: the dog in the image provoked into vicious fighting in self defense in downtown Houston. Can you picture her killing anything?! I sure can't.
Beautiful dog.
Th face of a killer --- I don't think so.
Belle the rescue
This is my rescue pit bull. She has never attacked anyone in her two years of existence, and has only been aggressive to people threatening me.
A word against Pit bulls
By The Journal Staff at Lynn Massachusetts Newspaper
Now that yet another resident of the this city has been mauled by a pit bull, I wonder, what purpose exactly do pit bull terriers serve for the owners?
More importantly, what service do they serve for us, the residents of his city?
The answer in both cases is nothing.
Pit bulls by their nature are ferocious animals.
They are attack dogs – and they often attack.
They love violence and mayhem.
They enjoy mauling people they do not know.
They are strong, so strong, that when attacking police, the police tend to shoot first and ask questions later.
They do no-one any good and wherever they live, there is the potential for disaster.
Such was the case last week when a pit bull tried to maul a 76 year old Eastern Avenue resident.
In fact, the pit bull did maul her, and in such a way, that she was taken to the hospital bleeding profusely and was stitched up by doctors.
The pit-bull was put down, as it should have been.
In fact, it should have been put down before it had the chance to maul the 76 year old Eastern Avenue woman.
By our count, this is the 12th incidence of pit bull mauling of a local person in the past three years. This is just a guess approximation.
Pit bulls living in this city have mauled grandmothers, children, infants, men and women, just about anyone they feel like mauling.
How many innocent residents must be mauled by pit bulls in this city before they are outlawed?
Of course, I’ve been told by pet lovers and those who claim to know that pit-bulls are loving animals, that most pit bulls are gentle by nature and that they would never hurt a soul.
Sorry.
I don’t buy into that, and those mauled by pit bulls in this city certainly won’t buy into it, either.
In this city where so much of what we do is regulated by rules and regulations, perhaps it would be a good idea to out-law pit bulls for the public good.
How many more maulings of innocents by pit bulls are necessary before the city does the right thing to protect its residents?