Meet Annie. She
found her forever home through HSWC and as you can see, she is a dog that is
commonly referred to as a “pit bull.”
Through her life experiences, she has become a very wise and savvy young
girl, while maintaining a very compassionate perspective for all breeds of
shelter dogs and the difficulties they face. As you can imagine, when she accepted our invitation to
moderate a weekly advice column on our new blog site, we were delighted.
Since Annie is a member of one of the “pit bull” breeds, and
many of the dogs that come to our Shelter looking for a new home are also
pitties, the focus of this column is going to be Pit Bull Education. However, no question will be tossed
out, and we welcome you to join this ongoing discussion on any appropriate
topic.
So without further adieu, we introduce our weekly Monday
column known as “Ask Annie.” We
invite you to submit your own questions as a comment following each week’s
post, and we will try and get to your questions as soon as possible.
Today’s question is about the “pit bull” breed.
QUESTION: What
is a pit bull?
ANNIE: There is
a lot of confusion about the label “pit bull,” and many people do not realize
the term does not describe a single breed of dog. Depending on whom you are talking to, the term can refer to
just a couple of breeds, or to as many as five, as well as any combination of
these breeds. The most narrow (and
accurate) definition of the term “pit bull” refers to just 2 breeds – the
American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) and the American Staffordshire Terrier
(AmStaff), and even between these two breeds there are marked differences in
appearance. Because of head shape
and body type, the Bull Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the
American Bulldog are occasionally included in this breed group.
Many breeds are commonly mistaken for pit bulls, including
the Boxer, the Presa Canario, the Cane Corso, the Dogo Argentino, the Tosa Inu,
the Bull Mastiff, the Dogue de Bordeaux, the Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog and the
Olde English Bulldogge.
Many people also ask why this information is important. Well, for one thing, it keeps people
from understanding me and other dogs in my breed. It really hurts my feelings when people say that a “pit
bull” caused harm to a member of their family, because it really might not have
been a true “pit bull” at all. All
dogs are capable of inflicting injury if we are not properly treated or trained
or socialized, but because of the frequent false labeling and prejudice against
dogs that are commonly referred to as “pit bulls,” my mom and dad actually have
neighbors that won’t visit us anymore since they adopted me, and when some
people see me walking in town with my mom, they turn around and walk in the
other direction. It’s OK because
my mom tells me that I am beautiful and sweet and my dad lets me sleep in his
lap when he’s watching TV at night and he holds me tight, so those people don’t
bother me, but I am constantly concerned about the other members of my breed
that haven’t yet found such a safe landing.
It’s because of people asking questions like this one, and
the readers of this blog (the humans I refer to a “truth seekers”) and the
volunteers at Shelters, and the humans who give their time to programs like our
Good Buddy Program that the tide is turning for the dogs referred to as “pit
bulls.”
Here’s something for you to try: Do you think you can identify the real “pit bull” out of
this group of photographs? Good
luck!
Thank you for your question. It was a very good one.
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