Cardinal Chirp: American Pit Bull Terrier: The Quest to Save a Breed - my.hsj.org

 

Featured photo is Star from Happy Pit Bull, http://www.happypitbull.com/ - Sunday, October 16, 2011 By Hannah GearhartAdvertising

If you were to walk down the toy aisle in a store, what would you see? On the far end of a shelf, a set of plush dogs would sit, their large, bright eyes pleading. Sifting through the pile, you would find tiny Chihuahuas, fluffy Pomeranians, lovable Beagles, and the “gentle giants” – German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers. If you stopped to really think about it, what wouldn’t you find? Would you find the happy pit bull with its tongue sticking out of its mouth in an eager greeting? Of course you wouldn’t, but have you ever stopped to wonder why one of the world’s best breeds has no plush representation?

The term “pit bull” is only relative – there is no such breed as a pit bull. Formally, the term refers to the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier, but it may also extend to the American Bull Dog and Bull Terrier. Informally, however, anything from a Boxer to a Rottweiler may be labeled a pit bull, as very few people can actually make distinctions between what is a pit and what is not. Although it may not seem like a big deal, mislabeling these breeds can actually be fatal – especially for real pit bulls.

Many people know pit bulls as those dogs in the news that are at the center of dog-fighting rings or are always attacking weak, defenseless children. However, a vast majority of people do not know – or care not to acknowledge – much more about the breeds that encompass pit bull status. For instance, it is a little-known fact that the American Pit Bull Terrier was the nation’s mascot during World Wars I and II, and one of the most famous of military dogs, Sergeant Stubby, was a Bull Terrier mix that singlehandedly apprehended a German spy and warned his unit of impending poison gas and artillery attacks. Additionally, many pit bull breeds have been used as police, therapy, search and rescue, service, and companion dogs for years. Pit bull breeds have also been media stars, including Petey from The Little Rascals and Hercules from the upcoming Animal Planet movie Santa’s Dog.

Despite all these examples of positive pit bulls, however, there still remains an unfounded and unnecessary prejudice against these breeds. Today, very few people will even consider adopting a pit bull breed, and these animals are left to die alone in shelters. In fact, the negative pit bull image has spread so much that even the upstanding members of the pit bull community are finding it hard just to survive. All across our country, states and communities are passing breed-specific legislation – more often than not aimed only at pit bulls – which outlaw the ownership of “pit bull-type dogs.” Here in our own state of Ohio, the Ohio Revised Code 955 states that all vicious dogs – defined as those who have previously attacked and seriously injured another dog or person, or those belonging to any pit bull breed – “must be confined on the owner's property by means of a locked fenced yard, a locked dog pen that has a top, or some other locked enclosure that has a top,” and owners must have at least $100,000 in liability insurance coverage. In addition to this, many cities, from Cincinnati to Mansfield, ban pit bulls altogether, while other cities limit the number of pit bulls a person or rescue can own.

If pit bulls make such wonderful dogs, then why do so many fear them, and why have they been banned in so many places? Perhaps the greatest reason that pit bulls have such a fearsome reputation is the fact that so many misconceptions about them exist. It is commonplace for one to list pit bulls’ “locking jaws” as a reason why they are dangerous. However, functionally, there is absolutely no existing difference between the jaws of a pit bull and the jaws of any other dog breed. In fact, studies by Dr. Brady Barr have shown that not only do pit bulls not have functionally unique jaws, but they also lack a greater jaw pressure than other dogs; under the studies, American Pit Bull Terriers were found to have a lower pressure per square inch (PSI) than both German Shepherds and Rottweilers.

In case this does not suffice to show that pit bull breeds are not any more vicious or powerful than any other dog breed, statistics compiled by the American Temperament Test Society, Inc. further show the volatility potential in any breed. The statistics, which can be found at http://www.atts.org/, are determined through tests in several categories: Behavior Toward Strangers; Reaction to Auditory, Visual, or Tactile Stimuli; and Self Protective or Aggressive Behaviors. According to the website, the test “focuses on and measures different aspects of temperament such as stability, shyness, aggressiveness, and friendliness as well as the dog’s instinct for protectiveness towards its handler and/or self-preservation in the face of a threat,” and any given dog will fail the test if he or she exhibits unprovoked aggression, panic without recovery, strong avoidance, or any combination of the three. With this said, it should be noted that the average passing rate of all 30,876 dogs tested between 2010 and 2011 was 83%. Pit bull breeds, however, far outshined this mark, with APBTs receiving an 86.4% and Staffordshire Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers earning 89.7% and 84.2%, respectively. Referring back to our example of dogs featured in plush toys, the APBT surpasses each one on the test, with the exception of Labrador Retrievers, who scored 92.4%. Although some of these breeds’ scores are arguably comparable, it should be noted that APBTs did, indeed, outscore German Shepherds (84.4%), Beagles (80.6%), Golden Retrievers (84.9%), Chihuahuas (71.1%), and Pomeranians (75.8%). Other notable breeds underscoring pits were some of America’s favorite breeds – Collies (79.9%), Yorkshire Terriers (82.5%), Portuguese Water Dogs (77.8%), Saint Bernards (83.7%), and Shetland Sheepdogs (68.1%) – creating a surprising feat for the notoriously “aggressive” pit bull breeds.

In light of all this evidence in favor of the companionability of pit bulls, there are still other issues with which we must deal in order to break through the typical pit bull stereotype. Firstly, we must look to the owners of pit bulls, many of which have created and continue to create the image of the pit bull as unruly, savage, and volatile. Pit bulls, like any other dog, look to their owners for guidance; if sufficient guidance is not provided, then, obviously, these dogs will not be functional members of society. Innately, pits bulls are highly intelligent dogs that will train easily, but they are also playful, energetic, and strong. If proper outlets are not provided for the dogs, or if they are not trained adequately, they, just as in the case of any other poorly trained or inadequately supervised dog, will find their own outlets. For this reason alone, it is very important that owners of pit bulls – as well as owners of any other dog breed – ensure that they give their dogs the proper attention and training that they deserve, lest pit bulls further be labeled with undesirable characteristics.

Secondly, although pit bulls were bred as fighting dogs, it should be noted that they are not generally aggressive towards humans unless they were trained as such or were, at some time in their life, abused by humans. However, many pit bulls will show some level of aggression toward other dogs, especially if they are either unneutered or untrained. As stated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (http://www.aspca.org/), aggression can occur on several levels, and one should not assume that there are only two options – either the dog shows dog aggression, or it does not. In reality, there are several different levels of aggression that should be considered; as defined by the ASPCA, these levels are as follows: Not dog aggressive at all; Tolerant (the dog usually shows no dog aggression, except in extreme circumstances); Minor Intolerance (the dog will not show aggression toward most other dogs, but it may in some cases be intolerant); Intolerant (the dog will not get along with most dogs, but there may be some exceptions, such as dogs with which they were raised); and Very Aggressive (the dog does not get along with most or all other dogs). As provided by the ASPCA, it is very important that owners understand how tolerant their dog is of others so that they can “manage their dog appropriately when around other animals.” Perhaps the best advice to combat the issue of intolerance, though, is provided by Pit Bull Rescue Central (http://www.pbrc.net/), who urges, “Never trust a dog not to fight. Dogs of any breed can exhibit intolerance toward other dogs.” While it is certainly true that any breed can be inclined to fighting, we should always remember that it is not commonly believed that any breed will fight; thus, it is very important for owners of pit bulls to prevent their dog from fighting – after all, even if a pit bull is only responding to an attack by another dog, it will be viewed as the guilty party.

Our previous two topics, the misconceptions of pit bulls and poor ownership, combine to give source to the third, and potentially most dangerous, reason why pit bulls receive a bad reputation: media coverage. If you were to do a news search for the term “pit bull” you would find an overwhelming amount of news stories detailing the horror stories where people – often children – were “mauled” by pit bulls or where pit bulls are menacing neighborhoods. However, it would take pages of sifting to find the stories of pit bull heroes who have saved their owners or neighborhood children, and rarely ever would you find the stories of owners who have been sentenced for abusing their pit bulls. In essence, these last two cases are equally as likely in theory, so what causes the huge discrepancy in what is and what isn’t reported? The simple answer is that reporters want to create a piece that people will want to read and respond to – and, in this case, reporting pit bull attacks definitely generates a lot of attention for them. Although many may claim that they just wish to educate the public, they themselves are not very educated on pit bull breeds, as they simply label all of these dogs as “pit bulls.” If you were to change your news search to the term “Staffordshire Bull Terrier,” you would meet any entirely different sight. At this moment, you would be bombarded with news stories of two current reports – one, of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who was found dead in a suitcase, and the other, where a Staffordshire Bull Terrier was tied up and spray painted. As you’ll note, these terms did not show up under your search for “pit bull,” even though Staffordshire Bull Terriers are a pit bull breed. For several reasons, reporters neglect to label pit bulls by their specific breeds, and one of the most prominent reasons is that by labeling dogs individually, they would alter the statistics of pit bull attacks – there are three universal pit bull breeds, two sometimes pit bull breeds, and dozens of breeds that are often mistakenly categorized as pit bulls; therefore, if one were to break these into their individual components, each breed would have a significantly lower fatality attack rate. Yes, pit bulls do commit a high percentage of fatal attacks, but so would Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Labradors if we lumped them into a group with dozens of other breeds.

There is a more concrete reason why reporters do not state a specific breed, however – oftentimes, they simply do not know if the dog is a pit bull. As was mentioned above, there are dozens of breeds of dogs that we classify as pit bulls that are only mildly – if at all – related to the three primary pit bull breeds. So often, Rottweilers, Boxers, Bull Mastiffs, Presa Canarios, and countless other dogs are mistaken for pits when they absolutely aren’t. The fact is, just as humans often have trouble distinguishing the characteristics of people they have met only once or twice, they often lack the ability to choose an APBT from a Boxer. Perhaps the best example of this is the “Find the Pit Bull” online quiz hosted on Understand-a-Bull’s website (http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Findthebull/findpitbull_v3.html), which asks players to distinguish between twenty-six different breeds to find the one true APBT. Admittedly, most of us can’t find the ABPT for several tries, so how can we trust ourselves to indentify a dog we glimpsed in the fleeting of a few seconds as we watched in hysterics as someone we cared about was being attacked? In reality, we as humans are not the best judges and we have been incredibly biased by media portrayals of pit bulls, and these misinterpretations can lead to great breeds being destroyed.

As can be seen, there are very basic parts of our beliefs about pit bulls that, when it comes to the facts, just don’t add up properly. However, there is one last point that we’ve yet to cover – how we, as pit bull owners, reporters, and people in general, can help to combat the myths against pit bulls. To begin with pit bull owners, there is a great quote by Joe Stahlkuppe that sums up the sentiment perfectly – “An insecure person who wants only an aggressive dog to bolster some personal human inadequacy should never become an owner of one of these dogs. An uncaring or negligent person should not buy an AmStaff or an APBT (or any other dog for that matter).” If you own a pit bull, make sure that they are positive representations of what these great breeds can be, and ensure that they have proper attention and training.

The most basic part of reporting should help the media ensure that they do not unnecessarily contribute to the negative portrayal of these breeds – get the facts straight. Do not automatically assume that any dog attack is the result of pit bulls, and do not take someone’s word for it that the attacker was a pit bull, unless they have adequate proof. Most importantly, report both positive and negative pit bull stories – every breed has its positive qualities, and pit bull breeds should not be an exception in the media.

Finally, for the general public, leave your minds open, and judge each dog as an individual rather than solely based on its breed. Each and every breed, from the Chihuahua to the Golden Retriever to the American Pit Bull Terrier, has the potential to be vicious, but with adequate training, dogs of any breed can become the most loyal, lovely animals anyone has ever seen. If in the position to report an attack, be absolutely sure of a dog’s breed before you classify it as a “pit bull” – or any other breed, for that matter. Lastly, if you take only one thing away from all of this information, let it be a sense of responsibility that we each have to the pit bull – that we ensure that these “bully breeds” are not forgotten and left to dog fighters, animal abusers, and the ignorant among policy makers who would destroy the breeds in a heartbeat; without us, these breeds would be left to suffer at their hands, and the term “pit bull” would no longer be just relative – it would be obsolete.

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