Save Them All Animal Rescue

Pitbulls....What you don't know but you SHOULD!

To start, Pit Bull is not a breed of dog, it’s a term typically used to group 3 breeds

of dog, the American Pit Bull Terrier (ABPT), American Staffordshire Terrier

(AMSTAFF) and the Staffordshire Terrier (STAFFIE).

The Pit Bull is probably the most misunderstood and abused dog in the United

States. People see them and cross the street out of fear and try to

ban them from their cities. Why? Simply stated, lack of education

on the breeds. The public only sees negative stories in the news.

Pit Bulls are wonderful dogs in the hands of responsible owners just

like any other breed. As with any dog, there will always be

irresponsible owners and poorly bred dogs. That does NOT mean

that all of these dogs are evil! The majority of domestic violence

in the US is caused by men, are all men considered evil and dangerous, No.

Then why would all Pit Bulls be dangerous because of a few bad owners?

For hundreds of years Pit Bulls were bred to fight dogs, certain traits were bred

into the bloodlines for that purpose, such as a high pain tolerance, high prey

drive, etc. However a quality that was never bred into pit bulls was human

aggression. Human “aggressive” dogs were undesirable as these dogs required

extensive handling prior to and during their fights AND most of these dogs were

also family pets so no human “aggression” was ever tolerated. Dogs that

exhibited human “aggression” were typically killed, meaning that only human

friendly lines were perpetuated and desired.

It has been said that a Pit Bull never met a stranger. They love and adore

humans. They want so much to be apart of your family and spend time with you

watching TV, walking, driving, etc. I have seen severely abused and neglected

pit bulls, who see you coming and they can’t wait to be petted and loved. Even

after the abuse, they want nothing more than to be with a family of their own!

As with any breed there are exceptions to the normal temperament and

behavior.

Pit Bull Stories you rarely hear about on the News

The Number 1 United States Customs Dog is an American Pit Bull Terrier

named Popsicle. How did he get that name? He was found during a

drug bust in a freezer where he had been left to die after being used as a

bait dog for dog fighters.

• One of the top rated Search and Rescue dogs is Dakota, an American Pit

Bull Terrier. Dakota is owned by Kris Crawford, who has 2 other pit bulls

that are certified SAR dogs! Dakota is so good at what she does, NASA

hand picked Kris and Dakota to assist in the recovery of the Astronauts

after last winters tragic crash. They are also certified Hospital Therapy

dogs. These dogs bring happy reunions and sometimes closure to many

families. If you were to tell these families how evil and bad these dogs are

I’m sure they would look at you like you were crazy! (Animal Planet

recently aired a “Pet Story” edition on Kris Crawford).

• RCA, a white APBT is certified as a hearing dog in Alaska.

• Buddy the APBT (referred to by owners as their 56lb Chihuahua) saved 2

retired sisters from a house fire.

• Private First Class Duke is a US Marine stationed in Japan

• Norton, who saved his human moms life after she had gone into

anaphylactic shock from a spider bite by awaking his dad and taking him

to his unconcious wife. Norton was rescued from a fight ring, went to the

master bedroom and kept pushing her husband until he awoke and

followed Norton to his wife.

• Petunia the Pit Bull visits schools and assists in teaching kids about

Responsible pet ownership.

• Spikes is a service dog for a quadriplegic who couldn’t function without

Spikes help!

• Taylor is a 4yr old APBT , San Diego Narcotics Officer. He is also a rescued

pit bull!

• Dixie is a 50 pound APBT who never hesitated in the face of danger. She

protected her family’s children by pushing them out of the way and

putting herself between them and a deadly Cottonmouth about to strike.

She took 2 bites to the face. Those bites would have killed them.

Blueberry, a young APBT, saved her owners life by pouncing on 2 armed

attackers as they were shooting.

Gabby brought much needed help to a neighbor who had fallen off a 12

ft. ladder. Once she was able to wake him up by licking his face and

barking, she went for help.

• Weela, who was outside watching one of the kids in her family, suddenly

body slammed 11 yr old Gary and sent him flying. Lori (mom) saw the

whole thing and was surprised since Weela had always played so well

with the kids. Surprised that was, until she saw the big rattle snake sink it’s

fangs into Weela’s face! Then she understood Weela had been saving

Gary’s life!

• A few years later, Weela saved the lives of 30 people, 29 Dogs, 13 horses

and 1 cat. Heavy rains caused a damn to break on the Tijuana River.

Weela would pull 30 to 50lbs of food across the river to feed stranded

animals when it was needed during their month of being stranded on the

island. She always took the lead on the rescue missions detecting

quicksand, steep drop offs and mud bogs saving the rescue teams from

injury. On a trip back from delivering food to the animals, Weela

prevented a group of 30 people from crossing the river at a dangerously

fast flowing section. She ran back and forth by the shoreline barking and

Urban Legends

Question: Are pit bulls good with children?

Answer: Properly raised and socialized dogs are great with children! They are

able to stand the rough and tumble play of a toddler. As with other big dogs,

pit bulls can accidentally knock kids over during play, etc so they should

always be supervised. Dogs of any breed should never be left alone with

children.

Question: Are pit bulls inherently dangerous to people?

Answer: No! Pit bulls are no more inherently dangerous to people than

other dog breeds. People often assume that pit bulls are human aggressive

because they were bred to fight animals. This is simply not true! If that were

Question: Why do we hear so many negative pit bull stories in the Media and

are they true?

Answer: There are a few things that contribute to the negative stories on the

news. As often the case, negative stories always seem to get National

coverage, where the positive stories only make the local news. The Media is

not always very responsible with their stories! I have seen news reports of a

dog attack by another breed and, yet the media had a picture of a pit bull

on the TV while reporting this story. I’ve read many stories where the

reporter obviously hadn’t done any research, when I asked about their

statistics they choose not to reply.

Every 10 years or so a new breed of dog is victimized by irresponsible owners,

breeders, bad media coverage, and now it’s the pit bull’s turn. In the 70’s it

was the German Shepherd, the 80’s was the Doberman’s turn, the 90’s

Rottweilers and pit bulls had all the bad press, and now it’s the pit bull’s time

to suffer again. And, unfortunately, in a few years it will be another breed that

will be in the spotlight.

Life with a Pit Bull