Monday, March 15, 2010
Pit bulls dogged by stereotypes
Nona Nelson, The Happy Wag
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"What kind of dog is he?" the woman asked as Stormy, our new puppy, was licking her little boy's hand in the crowded pedestrian mall in downtown Charlottesville.
It was a steamy day in July. Countless numbers of people whizzed by us with their carryout lunches; others walked by with their leashed dogs.
A variety of answers to this young mother's simple, soft-spoken question raced through my mind. Any of them could be true.
Our then-4-month-old, 15-pound puppy's gray color might mean he's some sort of Weimaraner mix; his soft, floppy ears look a little like a Lab; his curled tail means that spitz is a possible ingredient in his DNA soup.
Stormy started sniffing the toddler's tummy. The child was smiling.
The simplest answer was that our puppy is a mutt that we adopted from the pound. And that was not a lie.
But his square jaw, small, deep-set eyes and barrel chest, even at that young age, revealed his dominant heritage. And I don't like to misrepresent.
"He's a pit bull," I answered. The woman never replied. She just clutched her young son's hand and walked away.
I anticipated that reaction. As sweet as our pup was, he's a pit bull. And nice families don't have pit bulls.
The pound puppyMy husband and I were delighted when we first met Stormy at a fundraiser for the Roanoke Dog Park. He was a chubby, energetic blue-eyed pup with a name inspired by the color of his coat -- it looks like a summer storm cloud.
He was a Roanoke Valley SPCA foster pup, and his foster guardian brought him with her while she volunteered for a dog wash at the Crystal Spring Fire Station.
At 6 weeks old, he was undeniably adorable. And he was smart; I watched him get tangled in his leash, and he figured out how to get himself untangled.
But when his foster mom told us he was a pit bull, we were apprehensive.
It was hard to attach a stigma to something so cute, but nice families don't adopt pit bulls, do they?
After much discussion and a couple of weeks to think about it, we decided to add this pit bull pup to our family.
In the two years since Stormy has lived with us, we still find his breed's reputation hard to shake.
Bad reputationPit bulls are at the lowest rung of the dog world totem pole. They are the stereotypical breed of choice of dog fighters and drug dealers.
Lawmakers all over the country want to banish pit bulls from their borders. Even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a group that says it advocates animal welfare, endorses these bans.
According to PETA, only abusive, macho thugs have pit bulls; nice families do not adopt pit bulls.
But lawmakers and lobbyists don't know my Stormy, a dog who covers me with kisses every day when I come home from work, who keeps me company in the kitchen while I cook, who cuddles behind my knees when I stretch out on the sofa to watch television.
Strangers don't know he's a good dog. And that's too bad, because in 2009, pit bulls accounted for almost 30 percent of all the dogs taken into the Regional Center for Animal Control and Protection. Almost 70 percent of those dogs were euthanized.
According to Bill Watson, executive director at the RVSPCA, the ones lucky enough to be placed there often are passed over for adoption out of fear of their temperament and unknown past.
Overcoming the stigmaDuring the past two years, I think our once-wary neighbors have warmed up to Stormy.
While I am sure they are no more fans of his window-rattling baritone bark than we are, at least we all know when the Homestead Creamery truck or a stray calico has wandered into our cul-de-sac.
He's the neighborhood news terrier.
We didn't adopt Stormy to become pit bull advocates. We adopted him because he stole our hearts. We prepared to take on the challenge of raising our pushy little puppy: I read books and we hired a dog trainer to teach us how to channel his energy and control his naturally enthusiastic personality.
He plays well with others at the dog park, and he was adored by the staff at his former day care.
I give a lot of credit to our two greyhounds, Dexter and Coral, for helping to raise Stormy and for being good role models of low-key, docile dog behavior.
Pit bulls are not for everyone. They need discipline; they need to learn to channel their mental and physical energy in a positive way. They need a lot of love, patience and human interaction.
We're proof that nice families do adopt pit bulls. And maybe more than any other breed, pit bulls need to be adopted by nice families.
