Ask Annie (March 18, 2013)

Dear Annie,

This is Harry and he is looking for a forever home.

I have heard that pit bulls cannot feel pain. Is this true?

Dear Dog Lover,
It makes me say "ouch" each and every time I hear this myth being perpetuated, so I am REALLY glad that you have asked this question so I can write about it.
Just let me say, yes, all dogs feel pain. The lie rumor that they don't feel pain is a terrible urban legend started by dog fighters to justify their money-making activity of dog fighting. Seems like they are trying to convince people that if fighting doesn’t hurt the dogs, how can it be cruel? The myth grows more “believable” by fearful people who want to believe in the Hollywood monster myth of the unstoppable pit bull.

I have also seen interviews on television with humans people that train their dogs (usually pit bulls) to fight, and they say that they are doing it for the benefit of the dog, because it is what’s in “them,” it is what “they” are born to do. They say they are honoring the breed by teaching them to fight. These are the very people who say that pit bulls feel no pain. They are full of “it.”

When I tell you that pit bulls do feel pain, I am not telling you what I have heard, I am telling you what I have felt. Before I got my forever family, I lived in a bad place and I got burned. Really bad. It left a scar on my back down by my tail. I'e never seen the scar that it left, but my momma calls it my beauty spot (that is how I know it is still there). I felt it when it happened, though, and I remember the fear and I remember the pain. I remember the people and the place. My doctor (her name is Dr. Brown) is a super-good veterinarian, and she told my mom that the giant scar on my back was from a very bad burn that mostly all healed, but the scar that is left is where the burn was really bad, and it will always be there.

My mom started to get really suspicious the day my dad was drinking from a soda can while I was standing near him. I got really upset when I saw the can and I cried out and laid down on the floor and tucked my head and closed my eyes because I was so scared. My reaction sent my mom onto what my dad calls one of her Google searches, and it took a couple of days, but she figured out that because really stupid people who smoke crack use soda cans for pipes, and where I used to live was full of crack (and cracked up people), she figured out that it might be possible that I reacted like I did because some cracked up person dropped a soda can filled with fire on me and that’s how I got burned. My mom and dad figured out that I was scared of the soda can because it made me remember really, really bad pain.

I don’t mind soda cans that much anymore. My dad drinks Diet Coke all the time, and you can’t live in my house without seeing soda cans going into the recycle bin every single day, so that’s why I don’t mind it anymore. Plus no one in my house smokes anything, and I like it that way. But, it took me a really long time to get used to soda cans.

Do pit bulls (dogs) feel pain? Yes, we do. The pain of being neglected, forced to fight, being a victim of torture, greed and ignorance. We are all dogs. Pit bulls don’t belong in a category of “other” when it comes to being a dog.
But even more important than telling you that yes, oh yes, pit bulls feel pain, there is something I want to share with you about what dogs -- all dogs -- do NOT feel. We do not know how to feel contempt. We do have emotions -- we feel love, excitement, suspicion, joy, fear, contentment and distress. But we do not feel contempt, according to Dr. Stanley Coren, a Ph.D that knows a lot about dogs. We just don't get developed enough to feel hate.

Dogs are smart, but we are not as smart as humans. We are as smart as a 2-3 year old child. We feel love but we don’t know how to feel contempt. We never learn contempt – our brain never develops that far. So, what does a 2-year-old child do to a parent who beats them, neglects them or otherwise abuses them? They try to be a better child. They try harder to please. They feel confused. They fail to thrive. What do dogs do when we are mistreated? We feel sad. We shut down sometimes. We feel shy and confused. We feel distressed. But we continue to love our human. We depend on them for life support. They are the center of our universe. We wag our tail when they come near, hoping they will be nice this time. We keep coming back for more, because we are wired to love and be loved.

I love all the people that helped me get where I am today, and my brother and sister, too. We are shelter dogs that got a second chance. We are dogs, not a breed. We are lovers, not fighters (if we get to choose). We feel pain, but we really prefer to love and to be loved. That is what we are made of. Some dogs/humans don’t crumble as easily as others, but that doesn’t mean we don’t feel pain. Trust me on this one.

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