My main focus is to address the comments that Diana wishes to begin a fight to ban the Pit Bull breed. As an owner, ex-breeder, and now rescue advocate of
the breed, I know that this is not the answer to the current Pit Bull problem.
I have been around the breed for many years and would like to see us join together and fight the real problem at hand, so that we may stop this type of needless tragedy before it starts.
First and foremost, the public and the media must understand that Pit Bulls are by nature not human-aggressive. They have been bred to be affectionate towards humans since the beginning of the breed's history. Too often today we judge an entire breed for an isolated incident, and Pit Bulls have unfortunately become the most sought after story of all.
A normal Pit Bull dog will never show any signs of human aggression. A normal Pit Bull is loving and trustworthy with all people, including strangers. A normal Pit Bull desires nothing more than human attention and love. He strives to please his owner. The Pit Bull breed as a whole ranks among the highest of ALL breeds in the temperament test. According to the American Canine Temperament Association the Pit Bull breed currently passes with a 95% passing rate on their strict temperament testing. The Pit Bull is listed 4th highest out of 122 breeds, ranking higher than popular family dogs such as the Labrador Retriever and the Golden Retriever! Not to mention that it wasn't that many years ago that the Pit Bull was the popular choice as a family pet.
The Pit Bull has been an American icon for years, it is only recently that they have had to fight for their rights, through no fault of their own. Pit Bulls are a part of our history and have been owned by people such as Theodore Roosevelt and Helen Keller. Who can forget the famous Pete from "Our Gang"? Pete was a Pit Bull!
Today Pit Bulls are still dedicating their services, by being Search and Rescue dogs, (Pit Bulls were used in the search for Laci Peterson), they are commonly chosen to be therapy dogs, visiting nursing homes, and ill children. These are
just normal Pit Bulls being themselves, not rare examples of the breed.
The dog involved in this attack is not a normal Pit Bull. It is a defective Pit Bull, and should have been humanely euthanized at the first sign of human-aggression.
Pit Bulls can not afford poor examples of the breed. A human-aggressive Pit Bull or any human-aggressive dog simply can not be tolerated.
The problem today is there are no laws to regulate dog ownership until it is too late. Pit Bulls have become the breed of choice for all types of people, and unfortunately this includes criminals, backyard breeders, and dog-fighters alike. Pit Bulls are now the most abused and over bred animal in America. The fact that there are currently more Pit Bulls in America than any other breed today, is a testament to the breed that the dogs still do not lead the bite list. These facts are the same for Kansas City.
Perfectly healthy and friendly Pit Bulls are put down in overwhelming numbers everyday in Kansas City and throughout America because the population has reached epidemic levels. Pit Bulls currently lead the list of all breeds commonly found in shelters. Yet, there are no laws to keep abused and neglected Pit Bulls from their irresponsible owners. Fought, abused, and poor examples of the breed that find their way into city shelters, can be reclaimed by their owners, only to be returned to their deplorable situations, and more than likely to be eventually read about in the media.
This is not the fault of the shelters or the dogs. The blame lies with the lax laws regulating and holding bad dog owners responsible for their actions.
Unfortunately, most Pit Bulls in the city are bred by backyard breeders, teenagers, or dog-fighters, with no education about the breed. They are then sold to other dog-fighters, irresponsible pet owners, criminals, etc. They then spend their lives being mistreated and abused. Either by being subjected to dog fighting, chained in yards, starved, beaten, or even worse. I encourage you to view the very real photos and true stories at:
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/sadreality.html
With statistics like this how can we possibly expect the breed to survive or to be good examples to society? Yet, still most Pit Bull dogs even after being subjected to this type of fate remain good canine citizens. We must enact laws that hold the OWNERS and not the dogs responsible. We must educate pet owners on the importance of spaying or neutering their pets. We must enact laws that require breeders to have a license, and regulate the amount of litters produced. We live in a society that requires you to have a license to catch a fish, but not to breed a dog? We live in a society that allows an animal that was bred, raised, trained, and controlled by humans to be punished for it's actions and yet not the human that created it? The dogs are not at fault here. It is the humans.
Still the most common solution that is presented to stop Pit Bull attacks is Breed Specific Legislation (BSL). I have to believe that this is because of the lack of knowledge and understanding of the true problem at hand. BSL in no way will stop the tragedies like what happened to Diana Van Heek. Back yard breeders and irresponsible dog owners, will continue to breed and abuse dogs. Only they will move on to a different breed. Next we could be reading about the American Bulldog or the Presa Canarios. BSL will do nothing to prevent this from happening. What will happen is we will continue to read about victims such as Diane, only the headline will feature a different breed.
BSL does nothing but deprive responsible pet owners from a very desired member of their family. It will only banish a breed that was never really the problem to begin with, and sadly the very cause of the problem will continue. For example consider this, with the current legislation requiring more stringent gun control laws, crime rates continue to soar. These types of laws have made it difficult for the law abiding citizens to purchase guns, but the criminals have absolutely no problem obtaining them. We all remember the Sniper attacks.. ...no problem getting guns for them.
Without addressing the true problem and enacting legislation that holds the criminals and irresponsible dog owners responsible we are only masking the true problem. We are creating a false sense of security, which is much more dangerous. The problem will only continue to grow worse.
So what is the solution? We need to enact laws that hold the owners of vicious dogs accountable. We need to focus on the bad owners and the individual bad dogs, not any breed as a whole. There is no breed of dog that is born vicious. You would hope that as a society we would have learned that discrimination has never gotten us anywhere. We must force stiffer penalties for all forms of animal cruelty and dog-fighting. It must be made mandatory that any dog or any breed of dog reclaimed from a shelter be spayed or neutered. We must stop allowing fought and abused dogs to be returned to their owners.
Any other action is simply a band-aid to a very serious problem. Until it is changed we will continue to read about Pit Bulls in a negative light. The breed
and the responsible dog owners will continue to suffer.
This is very sad, because a normal Pit Bull has so much to offer the world. They give themselves to you heart and soul, and want nothing more than to be by their owners side for the rest of their lives. Owning a Pit Bull for a responsible dog owner is the greatest gift they will ever receive, not to mention the greatest gift they could ever give...the Pit Bull.
I would really like to see the media take part in this action, and at the very least, report both sides of the story. I'd very much like to see a Pit Bull in the news with a positive headline. It is the job of the media to report and educate the public on the facts, yet the only stories ever printed or spoken about the Pit Bull are told as horror stories, without ever showing the pubic the true side of the vast majority of Pit Bulls. I'm tired of reading about the very select few poor examples of the breed.
I invite you to come and meet some normal Pit Bull dogs, and to see first hand what the true Pit Bull really is. I also invite you to take a look at the very real problems we on the rescue side, must face everyday. I am a volunteer for Missouri Pit Bull Rescue, and invite you to come and meet the dogs that have suffered from some of the worst forms of abuse and abandonment, and to watch as they greet you with smiles and tail wags. Their only thought being, "I sure hope they're going to play with me."
I truly hope through education and knowledge that we can begin to conquer the quest at hand, and begin standing up for the dogs. For they are the victims here, not the villains. Until we begin to hold the owners responsible for dog attacks on people, we are facing a loosing battle, and that is not only unfair to the dogs, but to the victims like Diana Van Heek as well.
I appreciate your time. I hope that you are now more aware of the true problem that we are facing, and are willing to accept my invitation to meet and see first hand, what a true Pit Bull really is.
Suzanne Mott
Missouri Pit Bull Rescue