UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…

I have been a pit bull advocate for five years.  My advocacy is small and has a fairly short list of activities we sponsor or participate in on a monthly and an annual basis.  We do what we can when we can that usually involves, but is not limited to, monthly bully walks, a pit bull education booth at local events, networking for dogs that need out of a shelter or to be re-homed and public education in school classroom’s and groups.  I/we have always wanted to do much more but due to being so small and being limited on how much time and effort we can put into projects we have kept pretty much to the ‘short list’ with an eye to the future when we can grow and do more. 

Last year, near the end of the year, I had a personal setback in that someone who I had a great deal of respect for and was beginning a new and very exciting project with decided that they no longer wished to associate with me because of a few differences of opinion.  I was devastated emotionally by this no matter how much I tried and tried and tried not to care.  To be certain I had completely and totally lost any motivation or desire to continue being a pit bull advocate.  Intellectually I knew it was ridiculous to allow one person’s rejection of me as a whole based on my opinion on a few issues but in my heart of hearts affect me so deeply that I was done…I really had lost all interest in the pit bull advocating thing and was seriously considering handing the advocacy over to the other members so I could get on with my life.  My heart was just no longer in it and for the last six months I’ve been going through the motions only because I felt I had made a commitment to be a pit bull advocate and had to keep that commitment no matter what.  If nothing else I am NOT a quitter so I kept on doing what I needed to do but without any real enthusiasm or even a true desire to do this pit bull advocate thing.

Just when I was still considering if I wanted to be a pit bull advocate anymore completely unexpected I found a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to this ‘pit bull advocate gig’ and found it in the most unexpected place…a book.  To be more specific a book about the Michael Vick dogs, The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant, that today most of which have moved onward and upward to being certified Canine Good Citizens and for many of them therapy dogs that serve the community. 

I can’t put my finger on what exactly in the book has brought me this renewed sense of purpose or has relit my passion but most likely it was the FACT that a majority of the dogs taken from the Vick dog fighting operation had once been considered by the public as the worst of the worst and even highly respected organizations had recommended arbitrary euthanasia for every dog found at Bad Newz Kennels that day.  These dogs are living proof of the ‘true spirit’ of pit bull type dogs and I will be damned if I will allow someone else’s inability to work with someone who has differing views on a few issues hold me back from advocating for these dogs.  These dogs that were born into a hell created by humans, who were asked to go against their very instincts as a dog and who were nearly to the last dog rehabilitated to become therapy dogs and family dogs that lived in harmony with humans and animals alike have become my new inspiration.  If these dogs can move passed the past and can embrace healing in the way that they have then I most certainly can let it go and find a renewed passion and commitment to advocating for pit bulls and for the people who have them.

Everything happens for a reason they say, and I believe, so I can’t help but think that The Universe allowed me this brief downside to being a pit bull advocate so I could come back with a brand new sense of purpose and commitment to the cause that I had once felt so passionate about.

Thank you Universe for helping me see the way.

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG: I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘ The Lost Dogs ’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events tha...

THE LITTLE RED DOG

I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘The Lost Dogs’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events that led up to the bust and of course what has happened since.  I’m not that far into the book yet and am at the point where an expert animal forensics person from the ASPCA had been brought on board in an effort to corroborate the confessions and stories that had been told about the operation, and Vick’s involvement, from the others involved in the dog fighting operation by documenting what several dogs (9 or more) had endured when they were killed for not wanting to fight other dogs. 

This book is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to hear and even as tough as I am when it comes to things of this nature I found myself crying as I heard accounts of what the dogs, but one in particular, had endured at the hands of Vick and his crew.  The one in particular is referred to as ‘the little red dog’ in the book and has had what I suppose might be considered a starring role in the book from page one.

I don’t know how human beings can do what these men did to these dogs by forcing them to fight in the first place.  That alone seems a soulless thing for any human to do.  Just the forethought, logistics and implementation of planning that goes into a dog fighting operation seems to go, at least in my mind, against everything a human being should be.  But how these dogs that refused to fight were dispatched to be culled from their fighting stock goes far beyond anything I ever imagined a human could and would do to a dog; dogs that looked to their care takers for food, shelter, safety and most of all attention and affection.  Yes I understand that we humans are capable of incredibly heinous acts against one another and that is an issue that occupies my mind from time to time but when it comes to dogs or animals that depend on ‘us’ for their very lives there seems to be something, at least to me, that brings forth the strongest emotions.  Like the abuse and killing of innocent children, which is something that causes me emotional distress, the abuse and killing of these dogs weighs very heavy on my heart. 

I keep saying how tough I am emotionally and that is very true.  I find myself to have grown into a person who accepts what is and chooses to go forward from there never really allowing myself to get too affected emotionally by the situation at hand.  I have seen what unfettered emotions can do and I prefer not to put that kind of obstacle in front of me as I go through life trying to navigate as best I can the rigors of life.  Most especially since becoming an ‘official’ pit bull advocate I have relied on my emotional toughness to guide and help me not be dragged down by the situations I encounter that are often heart breaking. I keep my head up when some others are drowning in emotions knowing that if I can keep my head I can be a better helper, I can be more effective and I can make a bigger difference than if I allow myself to be heart broken.  But the little red dog is challenging me in this respect.  As I heard the account, as testified by one of the Bad Newz Kennels people and supported by forensic evidence, of the last hours of the little red dog’s life I wept and I am affected still.  It feels to me as if I just heard that my own dog had been forced to fight another dog and when refusing to fight that dog had been thrown down stairs and when it had not succumbed to one of their usual methods of dispatching a dog had repeatedly been slammed to the ground by Vick and one of his partners until it was dead.

I don’t know what to do with this except to see that little red dog as the best motivation to come along for a long time to continue advocating for these dogs.  In my five years of being a pit bull advocate I have not really gotten involved in the dog fighting aspect as I have had my hands full with housing breed discrimination, dogs needing out of shelters or rescued, helping those who can no longer keep their dogs find suitable and responsible new homes for them and educating the public about pit bulls and breed discrimination.  Dog fighting of course is a part of what we consider ‘the pit bull problem’ and I support anyone and everyone who works to put an end to dog fighting and to hold those who indulge in it accountable for their abuse, mishandling and killing of innocent dogs bred for their nefarious purposes.  I won’t be shifting my focus as a pit bull advocate to dog fighting as if I add any more to my plate I will take away from everything else that I do for these dogs but I will keep the little red dog in my mind as a dog that none of us could ever have helped but that many of us may be able to make sure never happens to other dogs.

In the end if you suspect dog fighting in your neighborhood, town or city please report it and if you donate to causes please find a trustworthy organization that focuses on and works to end dog fighting so that they may do more to help these dogs and hold those who fight them and who kill them when they will not fight accountable.

My being an advocate and the advocacy I co-founded has always been the ‘legacy’ of my half pit bull half Rottweiler dogs Zeus and Odin but from now on it’s also the legacy of the little red dog who’s short life existed in pain and who died so horrifically.  We must stand together calmly, logically, rationally and with resolve to help these dogs and the people who choose to have them responsibly.  We may feel emotionally overcome from time to time, as I am about the little red dog, but if we are to be successful and if we are to be effective we must strive to put our emotions on the back burner and approach this thing with our hearts and souls in a calm, rational, logical and effective way showing solidarity and resolve to change the way these dogs and all dogs are regarded in society today and in the future.  It’s in our hands and it will take more than tears of compassion and anger for those who would harm dogs in this way or in any way to get this done.  We can get it done but not as isolated groups but together as one group of people who will not stop until it is done.

In closing just please think about this.  If there are people who you have distanced yourself from for any reason who can help heal the rift.  If there are people you don’t agree with on some points who can help put your ego aside and do this for the dogs.  If there are people you just don’t like on a personal level understand that the dogs could care less about personal likes or dislikes and that it is the dogs we are here for and if we can’t work together for them overcoming our personal issues then we can’t help them.  And if we who are dedicating our lives to helping dogs can’t help them who will?

Breaking Animal News

A FEW GOOD POINTS FOR ANTI-PIT BULL CAMPAIGNERS

We all run into anti-pit bull people who stand fast on the claim, to them the fact, that pit bulls are solely bred for fighting and thus to be aggressive in nature.  While we ALL know and understand that is not the case and that those who choose to believe all negative press and propaganda on pit bulls don’t, or won’t, understand is that breeding or intention for a dog's behavior does not dictate a dog’s behavior all of the time or as some people believe most of the time.

First of all we need to remind these people that only a very, very small portion of dogs, compared to the total dogs being bred today, are being bred for fighting and/or gameness.  Meaning that dog fighters and their breeding stock make up only a very small portion of pit bull type dogs that are being bred today and that most people who breed pit bulls today do so to lessen or eliminate gameness, eliminate aggressive tendencies and to increase calm, agreeable and acceptable behaviors.  In other words they breed for desired positive temperament, not undesired negative.  This is done of course through what dogs are chosen to be included in the breeding stock.  That is by ethical, responsible, professional breeders.  Backyard breeders may or may not breed for temperament with as much attention given to their breeding stocks temperament but one would think logically that backyard breeders breeding stock is comprised of dogs that they can easily handle that don’t exhibit any serious negative behavior tendencies and are not aggressive.  Solely based on this ‘fact’ they, the anti-pit bull people, should be advised that what pit bull type dogs are being bred for today differs completely, in most cases, from what they were originally bred for or at least when the anti-pit bull people believe they were originally bred for.  So that means that if the anti-pit bull people truly believe that breeding and the characteristics and traits a dog is bred for is so strong in dogs then they MUST accept that A VAST MAJORITY of pit bulls today are being bred to be AND ARE reasonably calm, easily handled, friendly toward all living things and are easily capable of being loving family dogs.

It's always a good idea too to share with anti-pit bull people that even those dogs bred and trained to be aggressive are only bred and trained to be aggressive to other dogs and that in selecting their breeding stock the dog fighters purposefully breed out any signs of aggression toward humans whatsoever.  This is so the dog fighters can easily handle their dogs without worrying about injuries to themselves by dogs that are in a 'fighting state of mind'.

While we remind them of these simple facts in addition we need to ask them to tell us if they believe that every horse bred to be raced ends up being a winner or champion OR is even considered good enough stock to be trained for racing.  These people have to admit that for every horse that is specifically bred to race and to win there are likely hundreds bred with the very same intention that never make the cut because in spite of their ‘breeding’ or heritage they do not have what it takes to be a winner or even a good competitor in the sport of horse racing.  If they can’t admit that simple fact/analogy we need to at the very least give them the idea to ponder. 

 

I think this is a great analogy for the pit bull discussion regarding breed characteristics and how much of a part they play in an animal’s behavior or tendencies behavior-wise.  If someone can admit/accept that every horse bred to win races doesn’t have what it takes to be a winning race horse, or in some cases not even be trained to race, then logically every dog specifically bred to be a fighting dog will not have what it takes to be a fighting dog or even be considered worthy of training to be a fighting dog.  Concurrently we need to bring up the fact that most, if not all, dogs bred for fighting by dog fighters when proven not to have the desired gameness or stomach for fighting is usually used as a bait dog or is killed as unwanted breeding stock by the dog fighter…making these dogs that were specifically bred by the dog fighters to be ‘killers’ the innocent victims of human beings. 

As we all know, these dogs - pit bull type dogs, are typically much more victims of humans than the other way round and this is what we should be saying to the anti-pit bull people instead of how cute, sweet, cuddly and/or lovable pit bulls are as a rule.  They don’t understand our interpretation of what these dogs can be in the right hands however they should be able to understand how these dogs are much more victims of us than we are of them.

In the end we all know, we who have done the research and who have the personal experience with these dogs, that the anti-pit bull campaigners claim that because pit bulls were once bred to be aggressive (have high game/prey drive and tenacity) that means they are all aggressive today is completely unfounded and has no anecdotal, no statistical data and/or no scientific evidence to support those claims.  In other words these poor misled people are allowing the fears and lies of others to influence how they view dogs and most especially how they view pit bull type dogs.

LOVE TRAIN

Exercise, Discipline, Affection - Linn Boyke