I don’t know but won’t be surprised if, when the whole history of folo is known, today’s edition will still shine as the Best Saddy Animals Ever . . .
Okay, I’m possibly the only foloer who’d never heard of Michael Vick before he was revealed as a dog-torturer and -murderer last year (to this day I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup). When that awful story broke, I followed it mostly via headlines, not interested in him and not wanting to think more than I had to about what he’d done. I assumed the dogs rescued from his kennel all had to be put down.
Well, no. Of the nearly 50 pit bulls found in Vick’s fighting-dog pack, one — that’s ONE — turned out to be so psychologically-ruined she had to be destroyed.
The rehabilitation of the others is the work of a couple of Oakland, CA, commercial artists named Tim Racer and Donna Reynolds, who consider the American pit bull terrier the country’s most misunderstood breed. In 1999, they founded Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls, BAD RAP, to counter the pit bull’s scary image. Here‘s an illustrated LAT story about them (h/t al-Scooter).
It’s a fine read, but as always, pictures beat out words, and we’re in big luck in that department. A site called The Daily Puppy (h/t riddenword) has three photo-galleries with voiceovers by Reynolds, showing-and-telling
Meeting the Vick Dogs: Reynolds, Racer, and their colleagues are introduced to and initially evaluate the victims’ conditions;
The Doggy Underground Railroad: two intrepid folks drive thirteen pit bulls from Virginia to California, dodging jurisdictions where the breed is banned; and finally
Certified AWWWW Material: where these much-happier-fellas are now (enjoying life with normal families, answering to boss cats an’ like that). Look at those grins!
A Daily Puppy commenter said, “I’m blown away by the extremes of what people do. Thank goodness we’re not all bad and that some are angels.”
Robert Durell/Los Angeles Times
Amen.
There is risk in owning a pit bull. In MS, by statute, a pit bull is considered “vicious” for civil case purposes, without having to bite anyone first. In other words, there is no first “free bite” with a pit bull. So, if you own one, and it bites/attacks/injures someone else, you are going to be liable in court. The only exception to this strict liability would be if the victim was an adult trespasser.
Can these dogs be safely owned by an educated dog owner who knows how to handle them and train them? Yes. Do most of the owners of these dogs have this capability? No. I would say only a few do.
The pits I occasionally run into — loose and roaming about — are very aggresive and dangerous. Most often they have either been trained to be fighters, or are unwanted offspring of fighters (culls —most often females). IF one roams onto my property, I would not give it the benefit of the doubt before taking appropriate action to protect myself and family, especially kids and my own pets.
Wonderful story; wonderful people. I did get distracted by the beautiful leonberger puppy, “Bella”, featured in the sidebar. Coinkadink: there was a woman in Atlanta, Samantha something, who years ago had a website devoted to the training, performance and general exploits of her leonberger service dog, Fergus (she suffered from fibromyalgia). Really delightful stories she posted there; she had a deep and broad understanding of canine behavior. In one listserv comment she speculated that her next service dog might be a well bred american staffordshire terrier because of their high intelligence, desire to please and incredible strength packed into a relatively small mass. I’ll admit to being just a little terrified of them myself.
Ah! Found a new site for Fergus & Samantha. There’s a photo of Fergus taking a receipt from a photocopier and handing it to a customer and one of him holding an egg in his mouth (without eating it). http://workplaydogs.com/fergus.htm