Thursday, July 26, 2007

Best Pit Bull Related Quote of the Day:

"We don't racially profile out on the roads, nor do we do that with our dogs. We don't care what type of breed the dogs are."
- Steve Gardner WA State Patrol about the pit bulls that work as drug detection dogs in their canine unit.

Thank you Steve, and thank you LawDogs. See the LAW DOGS News Clip

Best Near-Perfect Interview of the Day: Larry King Live

Question from show viewer,
John in Glendale:
"Can a dog that has been trained to fight be rehabilitated to live a normal family life?"


Answer from dog trainer Tamara Gellar:
No. The answer is no. A complete normal life, absolutely not. There are degrees -- there are degrees of how much you can rehabilitate a dog like that, which obviously, you want to teach him qualities that he should have learned as a puppy, of love and trust and connecting and being socialized, like Barbara said.

Ahh. But of course, on THIS we have to disagree.....

BAD RAP: While some of the dogs are forever ruined by their fighting pasts; driven insane by the isolation, conditioning and abuse, others survive it with sanity intact. Some are happy to never fight again, and given the opportunity to succeed, do just that.

Many of the dogs from these situations are lousy fighters. Some turn tail, or freeze up and refuse to fight. Hence, the torture of dogs that embarrass their cruel owners.

Meet Nike (from photo above) who was very happy to live a completely normal life and never see another dog fight for the rest of his days.



Just as Issues Specialist for the HSUS Companion Animals program Adam Goldfarb states in this very nice article about pit bulls ..."It's important to remember that every animal is an individual."

So true. And, thanks for saying so, Adam.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see the HSUS saying things like this. I wish they had shared a pro-pit bull message like this when I saw them on the tv news.

Also Nike is so beautiful. It's amazing what a little love can do :)

Anonymous said...

You guys make me cry every time I read your posts - thanks for the great, great work you do, and I was so glad to see Nike made it so beautifully. Blessings my pit angels and your beloved rescues.

miika said...

I absolutely agree. Don't judge a book by the cover.....especially a cover that has been negatively enhanced by stereotypes.

Anderson Cooper 360 played videos of pits fighting and it tore my heart to watch the dogs who did not want to fight, screaming out in pain. And the fight was so barbaric, that I had to look away and leave the room.

I admit, I had a fear of pit bulls no thanks to the stereotypes, but I adopted a little stray mix (definitely some pit in her) and the love and joy she has brought to me and my home-families-friends is undeniable. She is now going on 9 years and I know our next addition will be a pit rescue :)

Anonymous said...

HSUS spinning could turn the earth on its axis.
They STILL recommend that pit bulls seized in dogfighting raids be uniformly killed, without question.
http://www.animalsheltering.org/resource_library/magazine_articles/may_jun_2000/placing_fighting_dogs.html

They want to have it both ways... seem to praise pit bulls while using them to raise money for their own activities, which include telling shelters to KILL pit bulls

Unknown said...

hey everyone im 12 and i have a pit and people think they are mean and they dont ever even give him a chance and my pit bull is the sweetess dog ever!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I have always want a pit bull but when the time came to getting one i always made up some reason why i can't. Until one day my best friend told me he's got a friend that has on ukc pr female for left. I went and saw here and couldn't leave without her. Kamm is now 9 months old and she is the nicest most fun loving for that gets along with anything and everyone. If you have a pit, next time you go to a pet store take them. I can't hardly get through the store because of the people that come up to us to express how pits get such a bad rap. These dogs use to be an american icon back in the early 1900's. What has happened?

Pitbull_Owner said...

I have a four year old pitbuull/booxer mix named Spud with more pit in him.He is a redish brindle , and he is so loveing.when your sad or crying he will get your attention*, by giving you kisses or poking you with his nose,and then make the funniest face to make you laugh and feel better. :P I love my spuddie.

Anonymous said...

I love my pitbulls. I have a 4 year old male, Buddy who is the sweetest dog you could ever want. I don't think a bad thought has ever went through his head. I also have a 1 1/2 year old female Dottie who is the most playful pup. They just had 7 puppies about a month ago and I love them all so much. I don't think we should base our opinions on these lovely animals by what we read in the papers or see in the news. I believe we need to look into how they are raised before we start raising eyebrows and pressing the death penalty. If we are going to discriminate this lovely breeds what about some of the other breeds out there?

Anonymous said...

Ive had many different breeds of dogs growing up from mini poodles to great danes, i was scared of pitbulls due to their rep. then i decided I needed to give them a chance they cant all be that bad right,my family got our first pitbull and we love him to death hes more gentle with our kids then a poodle,Hes our baby. We took the kids to the park the other day and took our pup with us hes 6months and 50Lbs. his names Tank now i realize thats a great name for him :) People actually would not let their kids around our kids nor around me due to us having a pitbull.Sad people like i used to be are so judgemental due to the name of their breed. Wish someone would call the news when their child gets bit by a chihuahua or german shepard see if the news shows up bet they wouldnt.IM A VERY HAPPY PITBULL OWNER.

Anonymous said...

i have 3 pitbulls. love them to death. I wouldn't say pitbulls are the best breed because all animals will love you no matter what. but its something about the pitbull love that is a bit different from the rest. it stands out more because loyalty is a skill that has been taught thru many generations, which eventually evolved into a characteristic and now its engraved in their breed. yes they are hard headed, lets be honest, is not really a bad thing though, that’s the reason we love them so much. if I ever feel sad or down for any reason they wont stop bugging me until i smile. and when i do they walk away knowing that their job is done. Or when they go to weight pulling competitions, giving up isn’t an option. so, like i said. maybe hard headed isn't necessarily a bad thing. :)
They take pride in everything they do. I think us humans should learn more from them. Instead of trying to get rid of them. Imagine a person with the characteristics of a pitbull, loyalty, pride, unconditional love, determination, respect, grateful. Seriously … lol who should we band? lol

Unknown said...

We got a 4 year old and raised him from a pup. Hes not only a clown that makes me laugh in the hardest of times, but he is a professional theft do to the fact he stoled our heart just being himself. If it wasn't for him the word friend wouldn't exists in my vocabulary. His name is Comrad he is a furry four legged long tail friend of mine. He is the best friend I have. So if you are every down on your luck and loney and is responsible enough I suggest you get a pit bull.