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Health & Fitness

Pit Bulls Make Wonderful Family Pets

Pit Bulls, once known as the Nanny Dog, are suffering a bad rap.

Try googling "Bad Rap" and you'll be directed to sites on pit bulls, the dog breed known for any mix of the American Staffordshire Terrier or the American Bull Terrier by the American Kennel Club. Pit Bull is simply the nickname referring to these dogs, a breed that used to be associated with the American ideal as a family dog. The name is now associated with fear—an injustice, in my opinion.

The American Pit Bull was brought from England over a century ago. The breed was known as the "Nanny Dog" because it was reliable and gentle breed children. Think Spanky and Our Gang in The Little Rascals, a 1955 TV show in which the pit bull followed around young children in their day to day escapades. Any of you people reading this have old family photos with a Pit Bull in it? I do. How did things go so terribly wrong for them? If mistreated—left alone without water, food, love, and essentially everything needed for domestication, any dog will exhibit behavior problems.

Because of their muscular stature and ability to obey their master, the breed has been cruelly used in the illegal practice of dog fighting in the last 150 years, making them the victims of an unspeakable crime. Used for human entertainment, dog fighting is illegal in fifty states in the U.S. Do we not have enough entertainment in our lives without leaving innocent dogs alone? Most dogs rescued from these fight ring situations are killed because of ignorance about rehabilitation. That is until recently.

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These days, the term dog fighting is synonymous with the name Michael Vick, an American football player who was part of an illegal and horrendously cruel dog fighting operation. He went to prison for two years, was released and ordered to work with the humane society to help clear the bad rap that Pit Bulls have accumulated from people like him. The public attention to the Vick case has shed light on the injustice of not trying to rehabilitate the dogs. Laws are changing all over the country for Pit Bulls but we still have a long way to go. Most of the Vick Dogs, as they are now known, have been successfully placed with families and have moved on to a better life. Their ability to bounce back from hell is one of forgiveness that we could all learn from.

According to the American Temperament Testing Society (ATTS) Pit Bulls pass temperament tests with flying colors, something that cannot be said for all breeds. When tested on unprovoked aggression, ability to recover from panic and emotional stability, the pit bull tested higher than Beagles or Bernese Mountain Dogs, two breeds thought to be excellent family pets. I was bitten by a beagle when I was five and have always been cautious of them even though they are used in children's movies as the epitome of sweetness. My point is that any dog can bite if provoked and this does not mean that the bitee is the one who’s doing the provoking. Owners are to blame for dog bites, not the breed.

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Do Pit Bulls have locking jaws? No. Do they have a predisposition to aggressively attack? Apparently not? Are they good with children? Absolutely. http://www.badrap.org/monster-myths

The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan not only cherishes his family pit bulls but rehabilitates any breed with behavioral problems and a need to get back on track. If you have a fear of Pit Bulls I challenge you to watch an episode when his beloved dog Daddy was still alive and welcomed all dogs into his pack at the rehabilitation center. Then tell me that these are blood thirsty dogs. Or tune into the Animal Planet Show "Pit Bulls and Parolees", a heart wrenching reality show about a brave woman in Northern California who's devoted her life to rescuing Pitties as well as helping men on parole who can't get jobs anywhere else. Both groups fight the bad rap stigma associated with their kind and while watching the show, it’s difficult to tell who is rehabilitating who.

Like humans, dogs aren't all gentle and submissive but our upbringing dictates our behavior. Pit Bulls, formerly termed ‘heroes’ in the World Wars for bravery and loyalty have been under attack as a breed for the last twenty-five years. That’s why in Washington State, stray dogs with the Pit Bull look qualify for a government sponsored program for free spaying and neutering. That's why Petfinder is full of dogs with Pit Bull origins and that's why many home owners refuse to rent to families with a Pit Bull. That's why some states have laws for Pittie owners such as outdoor kennel regulations and the need for liability insurance that exceeds anything needed for any other type of dog, including the high bite breeds.

I know this is a controversial subject and I have friends who have dog bite stories and their fear of whatever breed that bit them but if you know of a responsible dog owner with a pittie, try giving the dog a chance to prove how loving they are.

I have two dogs, both rescued from shelters that specialize in placing Pit Bulls. We didn't set out to find a Pit but because of unjustified laws against them, owners are forced to abandon their pets to shelters. Although we aren't sure of our dogs' breeds they sleep in the bed with my children, bounce on the trampoline with the neighborhood kids, and both are happiest when kids are in the house. They've been raised with oodles of love and are more subdued than our former border collie/black lab mix who recently passed away from old age (a scallywag and lots of work). If and when we do the DNA test sold at pet stores to determine the breed of our dogs, I, for one, will be supremely disappointed to find out that neither of them are the Nanny Dog, the breed who tested better than half of other dog breeds for temperament. Regardless of their geneology we'll still love them, even if they turn out to be part Golden Retriever or Labradoodle.  

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