"Take care with Pit Bulls"

And finally, for some Non-Anti-Pit-Bull Press!

Wonderful! I'm so glad to see an article in this Detroit Metro area that's not bashing pit bulls, supporting the banning of them, and feeding the fear and loathing of these innocent dogs.

(Please click on link for full view of article)

Sometimes, even the people who pretend to understand get to me. "It's all in how you raise them." "Not All Pit Bulls are bad," and "They're not aggressive at all!" Mind you now, when I talk about this, I'm going to consider American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers as "Pit Bulls." Not the other 32 or so breeds that are considered "Bully Breeds."

Pit bulls are like many other dog breeds. Tenacious, Resilient, High-Energy and Athletic, and Extremely Devoted. All of these things Combined make one incredible dog.

Tenacity and devotion to their owners is what makes them great at anything they put their mind to (or what their owners put their minds to.). That's what makes them either clever, award winning athletes or excellent in obedience or other competitions; or winners in the fight ring. Like I stated, whatever their owners put their minds to.

As far as those above-stated excuses go, there's truth and there's lack of depth in each statement.

"It's all in how you raise them." Well, because of the breeds' resilience, they're usually able to bounce back and flourish after living through all kinds of hell, whether it be physical or mental, neglect or abuse. With a little bit of positive encouragement in the right direction, they can usually come back as a well-rounded Pet.

Even when trained to be a "Vicious fighting dog," they can bounce back. Perhaps not living with other dogs (Although the Vick dogs proved otherwise-- Kudos to BadRap and the other organizations that stepped up to help!) There's no reason they can't be taught proper living skills.

Of course, there is the occasional dog that is just too battered and bruised, so to speak-- and has essentially given up all hope on Humans. There's also the occasional dog that simply has been trained to be aggressive, which is rarely the case. Normally these "Aggressive" dogs have never been taught proper manners and living skills, or have just been encouraged to think that aggressive behavior is a game, that their owners ("Parents") approve highly of. I'd like to think that most of these dogs have a chance to recover.

"Not All Pit Bulls are bad," I believe that NO Pit Bulls, or any dogs, are bad. Some simply haven't been set on the correct track. They're not "Born" Bad or good. They may have genetic tendencies, but good behavior despite that is an achievable goal for any dog-- given that the "Parent" is devoted enough.

"They're not aggressive at all!" When we talk about Aggression, we have to remember that there are many different types. Dog Aggression, Human Aggression, Prey drive can be considered as aggression, there's fear aggression, dominant aggression, Resource guarding (Food or toy aggression),so on and so forth.

Pit Bulls, due to their fighting backgrounds, may be genetically predisposed to be Dog Aggressive. This does NOT mean that all Pit Bulls are aggressive to other dogs, and this does not mean that they're unpredictable and dangerous. Like I stated above, good behavior despite aggression of any kind, is not an unattainable goal. Pit Bulls aren't the only ones, either. Dobermans, Terriers, Akitas, Chows, and many other breeds (Many times Working breeds) have tendencies to be Dog Aggressive when not properly socialized, as well.

Pit bulls are NOT genetically predisposed to be Human Aggressive, or any other type of aggressive. They do have a good prey drive, which I don't think should be lumped together with aggression at all. Prey drive is what drives dogs to pursue prey-- like a Beagle to a squirrel, or a Shepherd to a cat, Rhodesian Ridgeback to a lion, or a Rat Terrier to a Rat. That's what dogs do.

It's always important to remember that Human aggression is RARE in a "Pit Bull," and other types of "Aggression" have no effect on Humans what so ever! Many people believe that they go after our children and families because they were bred to kill other animals. Terriers don't eat our children, but they eat small animals? Ridgebacks kill lions, but not our fathers? Hounds kill squirrels, but not our babies? Wolfhounds hunt wolves, other canines, but we don't worry about them "turning on us"? Hmm.

More importantly, we have to remember that Aggression is NOT BREED SPECIFIC!

Regardless, I believe Pit Bulls are AWESOME family dogs, with normally sweet dispositions, even temperaments and devotion to family. It does take a strong hand, though, as they are one of those strong-willed breeds!

This brings me to the featured Adoptable Pet-- Our Very own, Baby Bruno!

Which brings me to my last point for today:

Butchie is back on his own 4 legs! He's survived his Parvo treatment, and I got word from the vet as of Thursday 9/26 that he can go home now :)

From Butch

Any opinions read in this blog are my own, and not the representative of my place of employment, place of rescue, or any other thing I choose to associate myself with.