The Beauty Within the Beast
The Reality of the Pit Bull Terrier
With the half flopped over ears, big brown eyes, and strong muscular build the Pit Bull Terrier is a noticeable dog. Hitting anywhere between 35 to 60 pounds, the Pit Bull Terrier stands at medium size, by breed standards, but despite its smaller build compared to other breeds, the Pit Bull Terrier has a name to be reckoned with.
In the 19th century, the American Pit Bull Terrier placed its paws on the soil of the United States coming overseas from England. Coming from England, Pit Bulls were notable family friendly dogs and take after their owner’s personality, even gaining the nickname of being a “nanny dog” and were “considered the perfect family pet, known to be especially good with children.”
Since the 19th century, the Pit Bulls notable friendly appearance and family oriented background has transitioned to a more frightening and alarming appearance in mainstream culture. How has the Pit Bull come from a loving and accepting place to one where they are neglected, discriminated, and heavily euthanized, despite being one of the most bred dogs in the United States, and how can we begin to change this?
The Pit Bull Terrier is admittedly not just one “breed” of dog. The Pit Bull Terrier, or just Pit Bull, is a mix of several different breeds including, Staffordshire Terriers, American Bullies, American Staffordshire Terriers, and American Pit Bull Terriers. Formal recognition for the Pit Bull Terrier, is not “Pit Bull dogs” or “The Pit Bull breed”, but is “Pit Bull type dogs”. Using this distinction encompasses all the distinguishable mixes of different breeds into the Pit Bull Terrier.
Across the United States, Pit Bulls are labeled and biased as “fighting dogs”, “aggressive”, and “hostile”. While Pit Bull type dogs are inclined to temperament issues, these only arise when the dog is not well cared for, like any other dog or breed.
These derogatory labels were not attached to the Pit Bull name until 1987 when Sports Illustrated released their July exposé. The exposé had a photograph depicting a vicious Pit Bull with its lips drawn back and teeth in full growl with the headline reading “Beware of this Dog”. Sports Illustrated meant for this campaign to provide insight to dog fighting across all breeds but with the placement of the Pit Bull depicted like that on the front cover, Pit Bulls became associated as vicious, and were fighting dogs, says Taylor Opie, owner of Ring Dog Rescue. Once this exposé was released to the public, the whole image of the Pit Bull changed, and still to this day the Pit Bull is fighting for its old title of a family friendly breed, says Opie.
Pit Bull type dogs are the most bred dog throughout the United States, stated by Save a Bull Rescue. In addition to that, Pit Bull type dogs are also more notably apparent in shelters. Which brings questions to why Pit Bulls are the most bred, but also the most apparent in shelters? “Pit Bull type dogs produce large litters, with anywhere from four to eleven puppies,” says Opie.
“Many people just have Pit Bulls for all the wrong reasons. A lot of these dogs are owned more as a status,” says Opie.
“There are people that have dogs that aren’t part of the family and are more like a resident and not necessarily a family member, where they’re living outside,” says Opie.
This factor contributes to the shelter epidemic for Pit Bulls.
Current rescue centers for Pit Bulls are heavily populated. “Ring Dog Rescue currently has 20 dogs, with that number fluctuating up to 40,” says Opie.
On the other hand, “York Dog Kennels is currently holding 29 dogs, which is way too many,” says Ginny York, owner of York Dog Kennels.
“That fluctuation happens for numerous reasons, including that some dogs are on adoption trail waiting to be adopted and some are in treatment from misuse of other owners,” says Opie.
In addition to rescue centers, dog shelters are heavily populated by Pit Bulls as well. Dog shelters are homes for many different dog breeds but one especially known to Pit Bulls.
On the adoptable dog pages for animals at the Richmond SPCA out of 16 dogs pictured, six were Pit Bull type, which is almost half of the adoptable dogs. In addition to those numbers, “They have approximately 50 dogs, with 80 percent of them being Pit Bull breeds,” says Carrie Jones, a representative for the Richmond SPCA.
“Pit Bulls, there are just a lot more of them so it’s harder to get them adopted,” says Jones.
“Some breeds are definitely more adoptable than others. So any of the small breed dogs get adopted very very quickly,” says Jones.
A radical change in our sheltering system is the implementation of a no time limit for animals staying at the shelter. This change brings a saving grace to the Pit Bull. Many would be euthanized because they do not get adopted fast enough. Although euthanasia is still an epidemic, this implementation brings heavy relief to those Pit Bulls still waiting for a loving home.
While shelters are implementing new rules of staying times for animals, euthanasia is still happening with the biggest population of euthanized dogs being Pit Bulls.
According to Save a Bull Rescue, “One million pits are euthanized a year or even more chilling, 2,800 per day.” Save a Bull Rescue also reports that “75 percent of municipal shelters euthanize Pit Bulls immediately upon intake, without them ever having a chance at adoption.”
The sad and disheartening truth about the euthanasia of Pit Bulls is, “There is a lot more of them and they are reproducing at an exponential rate. The euthanasia rate is higher because there is a higher number of them,” says Jones.
“As far as euthanasia, we go by the Asilomar Accord. So, an animal that would qualify for euthanasia would only qualify for serious health issues or aggression,” says Jones.
The Asilomar Accord is a set of standards that regulates the animals that come into shelters. The set of standards helps shelter workers decide whether or not an animal will be euthanized. The standards the shelter must follow include, how “healthy” the animal is on arrival, how “treatable” the animal is, and how “manageable” the animal is. Some animals will not pass the “healthy” category and will pass into the “unhealthy and untreatable” category.
The Asilomar Accords state in the document, “We acknowledge that the euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals is the sad responsibility of some animal welfare organizations that neither desired nor sought this task. We believe that the euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals is a community-wide problem requiring community-based solutions.”
“It’s not the dogs fault (about euthanasia), it’s the communities fault,” says Opie.
“These smaller shelters don’t have the community coming in and adopting animals so when they get six and number seven (more dogs) they have to figure out where to put it,” says Opie.
There are many ways the community can begin to change the grim outlook on life for Pit Bull type dogs. Whether it be through helpful ways to stop the euthanasia of Pit Bulls like spaying and neutering, or changing the mainstream discrimination of the Pit Bull, beginning in our own communities will lead to widespread acceptance.
One way is the continuation of spay and neutering Pit Bulls and the education behind it. “If you want to make an impact in your community, at a low cost spay and neuter clinic to fix a dog it will cost $55 to $65. So, what if the community and the people that had the money put $65 into a fund to fix the dogs in the lower income areas, which in turn would mean we would euthanize less animals because there would be less coming in (to the shelters),” says Opie.
“We’re just now starting to see the effect of spaying and neutering because there are a lot less animals coming in to the shelter. So if these animals are spayed and neutered before they leave it definitely impacts the animal population in that county,” says Jones.
Changing mainstream cultures views on the Pit Bull would also help these dogs have a better chance of adoption in these shelters. “We have drastically begun to change this, mostly in Virginia. Many years ago we put in a code section in Virginia Law, 3.2–6540, that alone says you cannot have breed specific legislation. You cannot say that one dog is more dangerous than the other,” says Opie.
“They all (Pit Bulls) have very diverse personalities, so they’re not all aggressive. There are a large number of Pit Bulls who are very friendly, loving, and they make great family pets. So as far as breed discrimination it is definitely not always true to form,” says Jones who continued, “We see all kinds of different Pit Bulls… we’ll see ones that are good with children, ones that aren’t good, so it’s just like any other breed of animal, they have a wide variety of personalities.”
Bringing Pit Bulls into the community and showing the population they are not a harmful or hostile dog breed will help the discrimination as well, says York. “We walk in parades, we go to schools to teach, we go places, and as people are seeing that these dogs aren’t bad, and we’ve gotten adoption of these dogs, our community around us has changed,” says Opie.
“Get them out into the public, do positive things with them. We started dog shows and a club to bring positive outlook on the breed,” says York who continued, “They are such a good breed even after everything they have gone through.”
Opie, York, and Jones all state that these changes, spay and neutering, changing mainstream culture, and bringing them into the community will help the discrimination and stigma of the Pit Bull.
“We’re seeing a change, it might not be as fast as everybody wants, but we are seeing a change,” says Opie.
