Doggie Racism

So yesterday after my unexpected Midland rant I was feeling restless so I decided to visit my favorite places... I had some delicious Tikka Masala for lunch, and walked over to Sleepy Hollow Bookshop to pick up some used treasures (I got The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which has been on my list for years!)  Listening to the iPod and walking in the cool spring sun was making me feel pretty good about life again.  I decided to take Sir Lance for a really long walk, as he had missed the last few days.

We ended up at a local park - I wasn't sure about dog rules, but there were no signs posted and pawprints in the dirt, so I figured it was okay.  Lance is still young and EXTREMELY friendly, so he sometimes jumps up on people... I am trying to get him used to being around people without attacking them with kisses, so I figured a park was a great place to do that.

Let me pause for a moment to talk about the Halti:

When we adopted Lance the foster recommended that we use this head harness to walk him.  It corrects dogs who pull at the leash by automatically turning them to the side.  Dogs wearing a  Halti or Gentle Leader can pant, lick, drink, pick up sticks, bark, and probably bite... this is NOT a muzzle, and it is NOT cruel.  Those are the two opinions that you receive, however, when walking your dog with it.  People either look at you in horror, as though you've brought a vicious beast into their midst, or talk about what a cruel owner you are to have trapped your dog's mouth like that.

Don't get me started on unsolicited advice, it was the topic du jour with a pregnant friend of mine a few weeks ago.

Now, because I am a responsible dog owner and not stupid, I would never release my dog in a park that is not fully fenced, or contains small children.  He, as I said, has not yet mastered the art of not jumping on people, and has in fact knocked down one of my friends' children (who was completely unharmed, except for a thoroughly licked face.)  I understand, however, that some people don't like dogs, or are afraid of them.  I was walking my dog in the park on his Halti, with a leash and his collar.  When we got near the playground (we never went onto it, but just the sidewalk next to it.) he began to try to dart over to the people (wagging tail, upright ears - he wanted pets and treats!), but I continued walking him past them.  It was overall a good learning experience for him.  A boy on the playground came over (he was about 10 years old) and asked if he could pet the dog.  I told him that he might jump up, but the boy had a boxer at home and was fine with it.  Lance had calmed down nicely and the boy was petting his ears... I was answering the usual "how old is he, what type of dog is he?" questions, and mentioned that he was part shepherd, part APBT (American Pit Bull Terrier).

I must have said the magic word, because suddenly an older man walks up to me and says "I have grandkids on this playground, you better take that pit bull away."

I explained to the man that I had him restrained while trying to pay attention to the boy that was still petting my dog.  (No matter how friendly your dog is, never trust him with a stranger to the point where you are no longer paying attention - the stranger could do something to your dog, or your dog could do something to the stranger.)  As I said, I am a responsible dog owner.

The man abruptly leans over my dog... Lance jumped up, of course (wagging tail and pit bull smile), and the man lurched back and said "It don't matter if you have him, he just almost got my finger!  Take that pit bull away!"  I said I understood his position (what else was I to say?  It was a public park!)  And kept my attention on the boy.  The man walked away a bit, grumbling "You better understand..." and the boy started to talk about how mean the man was.  I explained to him that some people hear a certain breed of dog and they get scared.  When I said this, the man came back to me and asked for my name.  He began threatening me, saying that he was going to call the city about a "Pitbull at the Playground."  (The headlines write themselves, don't they?)

Well, I didn't want to A) Make the boy who was petting my dog think that I had done anything wrong, or that there was anything wrong with "Pit Bulls."  B) Make this man think that he had scared me by threatening to call the city.  I am a taxpayer and homeowner and have just as much right to be at the park with my leashed dog as he does with his grandkids.  Or C)  Start a fight/frighten people with my dog.  So I again told the man that I understood him and that he was welcome to call the city if he liked, and continued with the boy for a few minutes until the man had left.  I then took my dog and continued on my walk, literally shaking with anger.

This lead me to an interesting and heartbreaking look into Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), Dog Fighting, Dog Attacks, and the much-maligned American Pit Bull Terrier and 30 or so other breeds that get lumped into the term "Pit Bull."

I can't thoroughly go into all of the sites I visited and the heartbreaking stories I read.  Family pets shot by police officers because they resemble a "pit bull."  People hiding their dogs from the light of day for fear they would be confiscated, which of course leads dogs to be dangerously unsocialized.  Dogs victimized and abused by well-known celebrities that were able to return and live triumphant lives, even when their abuser received a slap-on-the-wrist and returned to his celebrity status.  Families in Ohio (a death zone for Pit Bull-Type Dogs) forced to give their pets to an advertised no-kill shelter, only to find months later that they had given their dogs to a hoarder so they could starve and die in a filthy hellhole.  A backyard breeder and probable dog fighter keeping his animals chained to car axles in a little dirty lot, with a green sludge bucket for water and an old drum or shanty for shelter.  Feeding optional.

But I would like to address some concerns and myths about this breed, one of the most popular in America.  If you would like some good reading, follow the Bad Rap Blog, hosted by the people responsible for the triumphant rehabilitation of Michael Vick's fighting dogs, as well as countless other animals victimized by thier owners.

• Pit Bulls were bred to fight.  
• Pit Bull Type Dogs were originally used for all sorts of work, as they were a mix of many types of dogs.  They were used for farm and stock work, as they are very strong, bull and bear baiting, and, yes, fighting. 
• They are an unsafe breed of dog and will "turn on you."
• In general, dogs as a species do not "turn on you" or bite for no reason.  Often they give warning signs that are misinterpreted or ignored.  Most bites, particularly bite-related fatalities, are to small children who often do not know how to "read" a dog.  Never leave young children alone with any dog (A Pomeranian tragically killed a baby in this article), and teach your children at an early age to be respectful of animals and how to read dog warning signs.
• Pit Bulls have a locking jaw.
• Experts have examined the skull of pit bulls and have found no structural differences between that and any other breed of dog.  There is no locking mechanism.  Pit Bulls were specifically bred for a trait called "gameness..." the ability to plow through pain and discomfort to accomplish the task they set out to do.  This trait makes them exceptionally loyal and willing to put up with anything to please their owners, but has probably led to the locking jaw myth.
• Pit Bulls have more bite pressure than any other dog.
• Many tests, including one by Dr. Brady Barr of National Geographic, have been performed testing dog bite PSI (Pounds per Square Inch).  The average domestic dog ranks at about 230 PSI.  The highest an APBT scored was 235 PSI... a German Shepherd ranked in at 238 PSI, and a Rottweiler ranked in at a whopping 328 pounds PSI.
• Pit Bulls attack more often than any other breed.
• This is a big issue.  There is no doubt that some pit bulls attack people, have mauled or killed children, seniors, and occasionally adults.  However, actual statistics on dog bites are limited and subject to interpretation.  Many people do not go in to the hospital for minor dog bites, and the media loves to run wild with killer pit bull stories - not as much with vicious Dalmatians or roving bands of Chow Chows.
• Many people have difficulty identifying a true pit bull.  As I mentioned before, there are about 30 different breeds that are commonly mistaken for Pit Bulls, which ideally are about 40 pounds and truly are a medium-sized dog.  Often large dogs like Boxers, Mastiffs, Rottweilers, and even Labradors can be mistaken for Pit Bulls.  The name has sort of become synonymous with "big scary dog."  Also, a mixed dog can be mistaken for a certain breed when it actually is a different one - the only way to really tell is to run a blood test, which never happens.
• Pit Bulls are a very popular dog, particularly in urban areas, and are often associated with "Thug Culture."  Think of it this way - when 101 Dalmatians came out, there was a huge upswing in the demand for dalmatians.  This led to irresponsible breeding which led to an unsound temperament in many dalmatians today.  It also led to more families buying cute spotted puppies for their children at Christmas without thinking of the time and energy owning such a dog would take.  These dogs grew up and were unwanted, often restricted to backyards and unsocialized because their owners wanted a status symbol instead of a dog.  The same thing is happening today - people want pit bulls because of the stigma attached to them - they spend little to no time in caring for the dog, socializing it, or training it.  They parade it around with a wire basket muzzle and a studded collar, they buy inbred beasts with massive chests and heads, and they chain it up in the backyard or barricade it in the house with some alarming "beware of dog" signs because they think it makes them hard.  Then of course the dog gets out and there's a powerful untrained animal roaming the streets.  This is definitely a problem - even ONE dog attack is too many!  But it's not really the dog's fault, is it?
• It stands to reason, then, that when there are a lot of pit bull type dogs, there would be more attacks by them as opposed to, say, a shar-pe, which is relatively rare.  It also stands to reason that a larger or more powerful dog such as a PBTD, Rottweiler, or Doberman would recieve more calls or reports of attack than a vicious little terrier (of which there are plenty.)  Because the terrier can only do so much damage, the reports of attacks are much less.
• If a dog attacks animals, it will attack humans.
• Human aggression and animal aggression are two completely different things.  PBTDs are generally predispositioned to fight other animals (as are most terriers).  You should never leave your dog alone with a strange dog, or any animal for that matter.  That does not mean that you can't have more than one dog, or even a cat (my dog and cat get along just fine most of the time, although she still needs to show him who's boss every once in a while).  However, most PBTD's are extremely non-human aggressive (occasionally to exuberance, which can result in lap jumping or knocking small children over).  Often in pit fights the people are in the pit with their dogs.  They reach their hands right into the fight to pick up their animal and are not bitten.  Animals that would attack humans were thought of as a liability and were selected against.
• Breed-Specific Legislation is an effective way to keep people safe from dog attacks.
• As with much legislation, BSL is quite ineffective.  People who are likely to be responsible dog owners will shy away from the breed because of the massive fines and liabilities inherent in it, but unscrupulous people will continue to backyard breed, dog fight, what have you and just keep it more underground than it already is.  BSL implies that the fault lies with the breed of dog, and not with the owner, so irresponsible owners will continue to practice their bad habits on other breeds of dog, until any large dog physically capable of damage is illegal entirely.
• BSL is too vague and unpredictable to be effective.  What constitutes a Pit Bull?  The three breeds who commonly are considered Pit Bulls, or the nearly 30 other breeds that often look like or resemble a pit bull?  What percentage of mixed breed with Pit Bull is acceptable?  What if your Labrador or Rhodesian Ridgeback resembles a PBTD?  Would my dog be liable because his shepherd body is attached to a pit-ish face?
• BSL makes it difficult for service dogs (canine police, seeing eye dogs, search and rescue dogs, and therapy dogs), which are usually large or potentially dangerous breeds.  PBTD's make great therapy dogs.
• BSL not only makes it illegal or difficult to adopt or buy a PBTD, but it makes it illegal or difficult to own the ones that are already in the city.  Many family pets are killed or sent to other homes, where their well-being is not ensured.  This case in Ohio is incredibly heartbreaking, and photos are quite graphic.
• BSL encourages a witch-hunt mentality and provides ammunition for neighborhood feuds.

When I found out our dog was part Pit, I found this website VERY educational.  Dogs are not for everyone, and they require a lot of extra work.  Be sure you research your breed thoroughly before deciding on one that's right for you.  Pit Bull Type Dogs and other "dangerous" breeds make great pets, family members, and friends for the right owner... but when neglected, like any other dog, they can lead to heartbreak.

There's no quick-fix way to deal with this problem.  Western society does not view animals in a healthy way; to us they are commodities to be bought and sold, beaten, and stripped of dignity... or else they are equivalent or the same as humans, precious beings to be idolized and treated like spoiled children.  In order to stop the 80 or so deaths and more disfigurements every year from dog attacks, we need to re-think our views on family pets - their purposes, their rights, and their instincts.  We need better training and help for potential dog owners, and stronger enforcement and punishments for animal neglect and abuse.  We were put on this earth as its protector, its guardian.  And we are failing.