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Posted on Fri, Jul.
22, 2005
Pit bulls need love, too
Group seeks homes — and
a better image — for the denigrated dogs
By LISA GUTIERREZ The Kansas City Star
Melissa Zarda and her fellow dog lovers have a
problem.
They’ve rescued dogs, some of them diseased,
chewed-up or beaten. Now they need to find them
safe, loving homes. There’s Polly Pocket, a
petite blonde with a red nose and hazel eyes.
Polly Pocket needs a “forever family,” as do
Donor, who has metrosexual tendencies and likes
to have his chest hair blow-dried, and Pink, a
white-faced goofball.
Here’s the problem: They’re all pit bulls.
Would you play kissy-face with one? Zarda and
about 30 other volunteers of Missouri Pit Bull
Rescue hope that you will and that you’ll fall
in love with one and take one home. You’re
invited to a Petsmart in Olathe on Sunday for
free pit bull kisses.
At one adoption, “there would be some people who
would come up and be in love with the dog. Then
we’d tell them, ‘It’s a pit bull,’ and all of a
sudden they’re startled and back up,” Zarda
said. “Those are the ones that bum us out the
most.
“But then we see a lot of people who come up and
tell us ‘These are good dogs. They get a bum
rap.’ They don’t see a breed. They just see a
dog.”
Zarda and her compatriots have the thankless
task of being FOPBs — Friends of Pit Bulls. It’s
a lonely cause. Most people won’t go near a pit
bull, let alone touch one, let alone take one
home. Some people cross the street when they see
a pit bull coming their way.
Some whisper “baby killer.”
While cities are banning them as pets, people
like Zarda are trying to get them adopted.
That makes FOPBs a breed unto themselves. They
can’t even disclose where they keep their
rescued dogs — most come from Kansas City’s
animal shelter — because they’re afraid bad guys
will steal them and use them in fights. That’s
how some of these dogs nearly lost their lives
in the first place.
Just try being a pit bull advocate, especially
in the aftermath of a fatal attack like the one
last month in San Francisco when a pit bull, a
family pet, killed its 12-year-old owner.
Try getting media attention for adoption events.
When Zarda tried to list one on the community
calendar of a Kansas City TV station, she was
turned down because it wasn’t an “appropriate”
listing.
Or try promoting a breed that’s banned in
Denver, Miami, Cincinnati and an increasing
number of U.S. cities. Denver made headlines
this week over news that has pit bull owners up
in arms. The city banned the breed in 1989 after
two fatal attacks and in April won a court
challenge that left it in place.
The ban is one of toughest in the nation, and
since May, Denver has impounded 380 pit bulls
and destroyed at least 260, according to
published reports. Now owners are scrambling to
hide their dogs or send them elsewhere to live.
This week The Associated Press reported that the
American Canine Foundation calculated rates of
human dog-bite fatalities by breed and found
that pit bulls bite at a lower rate than many
other dogs.
In the Kansas City area, several communities on
the Kansas side have banned pit bulls. Overland
Park’s ordinance considers the pit bull a
“dangerous animal,” along with venomous snakes
and wolves.
“Can you imagine?” Zarda said last week as she
watched a volunteer cradle a rescued dog in her
lap like an oversized baby.
“This guy a month ago was probably on a chain in
some thug’s back yard. And this is all he
wanted,” Zarda said as Chimichanga the pit bull
slobbered all over the woman’s face.
The pit bull is a true underdog. Even the name
works against it.
Pit — dark, fiery, hellish.
Bull — strong, mean, aggressive.
PIT BULL. As in these headlines:
“Woman loses ear in pit bull attack.”
“Mother recounts daughter’s pit bull attack.”
“Bloody, deadly pit bull attack.”
“4-year-old critical after pit bull attack.”
“The word ‘pit bull’ is such a stigma,” said
rescue volunteer Jennifer Aday, a fund-raising
consultant who lives in Independence. “When you
hear that word there is an instant image, good
dogs gone bad.”
That wasn’t always the case.
The pit bull is said to be a cross between a
bulldog and a terrier. The bulldog was bred for
bull baiting, an English sport in which a bull
was tethered in place and dogs were let loose to
attack it.
Henry VIII was a fan of the sport, during which
the bulldogs were often disemboweled or thrown
into the crowd. It was cruel for both bull and
dog, and public outcry forced the English
government to ban the sport in 1835.
But that just pushed the fighting underground.
And instead of dog-on-bull, it became
dog-on-dog. To create a lighter, more muscular
fighter, breeders crossed the bulldog with the
English black-and-tan terrier, resulting in the
“bull and terrier” that eventually found its way
to America in the mid-1800s.
The British loved the new breed — fierce in the
ring but not aggressive toward humans, which
made it easy to train. It was so good around
children that it became known as the “nanny
dog.” Americans embraced it, too, and even gave
it new names. Pit bull was one.
The dog traveled west with the pioneers — Laura
Ingalls Wilder had a pit bull — and by the early
20th century it was one of the country’s
favorite dogs. It was a star, the mascot for RCA
and Buster Brown Shoes. Theodore Roosevelt had
one. A postage stamp of Helen Keller showed her
with her pit bull at her feet.
Fans petitioned the American Kennel Club to
recognize it so it could compete in dog shows.
In 1936 the AKC agreed to register the breed
under the name Staffordshire Terrier, later
revising it to American Staffordshire Terrier.
Now the term “pit bull” is used loosely, often
also describing the American Pit Bull Terrier
and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Some say it has become the pit bull’s “turn” to
fall from grace.
In the 1970s the Doberman was considered the
spawn of Satan; in the ’90s rottweilers were the
bad dog. Advocates and even some animal control
officers blame irresponsible breeders and
equally irresponsible owners for the pit bull’s
bad rap.
It’s tougher refuting the statistics. In 2000,
when researchers for the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention examined data on deadly
dog attacks between 1979 and 1998, they found
that at least 25 breeds had been involved.
But pit bull-type dogs and rottweilers were
involved in more than half of the deaths for
which officials could identify the breed.
“That report will haunt me for the rest of my
friggin’ life,” said Marcy Setter, an FOPB.
The computer consultant and pit bull owner in
Michigan runs a Web site called
www.understand-a-bull.com
, devoted to all the latest news about the
breed.
“I think on a daily basis, people see them as
mean and human-aggressive dogs,” Setter said.
“Our goal would be to get them back to the image
of the 1900s when they represented the country
in World War I posters.”
Their two biggest obstacles in their uphill
public relations campaign: the media — FOPBs
don’t like the media much — and breed-specific
legislation that bans pit bulls in a growing
number of cities across the country. Ban
proponents say that the laws keep their
communities safe.
But not everyone agrees. The 2000 report from
the CDC, conducted with the Humane Society of
the United States and the American Veterinary
Medical Association, found that laws banning
specific dog breeds are ineffective.
Any breed of dog can be trained to be aggressive
and to attack, the report said, and eliminating
certain breeds will only make irresponsible
owners find a new breed to train.
Many factors go into biting risk, including the
health of the dog and how it is raised,
researchers said, adding that the research
doesn’t exist that shows one dog is more likely
to kill than others.
The report’s recommendation: Look at the people
responsible for the bites and attacks.
Strengthen leash laws. Teach responsible dog
ownership.
Rob McGraw would second that.
McGraw, vice president of sales and marketing
for New Theatre Restaurant, and his family in
Overland Park are the proud owners of a pit bull
named Lollipop.
They adopted her from the Missouri Pit Bull
Rescue folks, not knowing at the time about
their town’s pit bull restrictions.
They found out the hard way earlier this year
when they took her for a walk not far from their
house and an animal control officer stopped them
and asked to see their dangerous animal permit.
“I said, ‘You know, I don’t have a dangerous
animal permit because I don’t have a dangerous
animal,’ ” McGraw said.
It took two letters from vets and several phone
calls to get the city to agree that Lollipop is
predominately Boston terrier.
So now, in the eyes of the law, the dog with the
wiggly butt who loves children is not a
dangerous animal after all.
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Meet a pit bull
Missouri Pit Bull Rescue will host an adoption
from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at Petsmart, 15255 W.
119th St., in Olathe. For information call the
store at (913) 393-4111.
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To learn more
Ű Missouri Pit Bull Rescue:
www.mprgroup.net
Ű Pit Bull Rescue Central, or PBRC: a virtual
shelter and resource for owners and caretakers
of American Pit Bull Terriers, American
Staffordshire Terriers and pit bull mixes.
www.pbrc.net
Ű Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Report on a 20-year span of dog attacks in the
United States. .pdf
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Adoption rules
The Missouri Pit Bull Rescue group will not
place just any pit bull up for adoption, nor
will it adopt a dog out to just anyone. Here’s
what to expect:
Ű The group chooses dogs based on a first
impression in the cage. It looks for outgoing
dogs with friendly demeanors and personalities
and good looks.
Ű The group will not place a dog that has shown
signs of aggression toward people.
Ű Before they are adopted, the dogs spend time
in either foster homes or local boarding
facilities, where they are socialized and
exercised daily.
Ű A certain amount of aggression toward other
dogs is expected in all terriers, and pit bulls
in particular can become dog-aggressive as they
mature. Though the group tries to place pit
bulls that appear to get along with other dogs,
it cannot guarantee that the dog will stay that
way. Because of that, pit bulls are not the best
choice to share a home with another dog, unless
they will always be supervised or separated when
necessary.
Ű MPR will not place pit bulls in homes with
multiple dogs and will not make same-sex
placements. Owners should never leave the dogs
unsupervised and should monitor roughhousing.
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Can I have a pit bull?
Ű Kansas City, Mo.: yes
Ű Independence: yes
Ű Kansas City, Kan.: banned
Ű Leawood: banned
Ű Shawnee: banned
Ű Overland Park: Must be registered as a
dangerous animal, with other restrictions.
Ű Other cities: Check your city’s
ordinances
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