Basic Care Advice

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Pit Bull Informational Pages
by Diane Jessup 

It's simple. When law enforcement moves in to shut down suspected dog fighters or those breeding dogs for the purpose of fighting, the dogs are seized.

Too often, these dogs are "prejudged" (the root word for prejudice) as "vicious" because those making the decisions haven't a clue about American pit bull characteristics or temperament. To these folks, because a dog is bred to be aggressive to other animals, it must be aggressive to people. Somehow they never take into account that the vast majority of the world's dog breeds have been bred to hunt, chase and try to kill other animals. From the greyhound, to the beagle to the Irish wolfhound.

However, there have always been organizations which will not embrace prejudice as a way of thinking. They evaluate each animal as an individual - as it should be. And the truth is, that the American pit bull - like any other breed of dog - has individuals of varying temperament. An honest, educated and experienced evaluator can easily select those animals suitable for adoption. This will include animals with a bomb proof, friendly attitude toward humans and a controllable attitude toward other animals.

If each of us does our part, we - the American pit bull fanciers - can absorb these victims of greed and abuse into our ranks.

This is important for a variety of reasons. First, the lives of these dogs has value, and they deserve our help. Second, the wholesale destruction of ANY group of dogs is the road to "breed specific" legislation; a tactic being used by those whose seek to ban ownership of all dogs. PETA has clearly stated that their agenda is the banning of the ownership of ALL pets. The HSUS has now put in a place a "program" which encourages the wholesale mandatory sterilization of certain breeds... where it will end is pretty clear.

The third reason is personal for me. As a performance dog fancier, there is nothing so tragic as seeing performance bred dogs relegated to the purposeless, pointless, ownerless life of a "no kill sanctuary". The kind of person who could relegate a purpose bred dog to to this kind of soulless life does so because they have no ability to understand the heart of the bulldog - or any other dog bred to have a burning ache in its heart for a job. I want to save these victimized dogs from being victimized yet again by those who would use them for their own purposes just as surely as the dog fighters did.

I have made room for a couple bust dogs here. It is all I can do, with my circumstances. Will you help me help these dogs?

Its simple. These dogs need appropriate RESPONSIBLE homes. What is a responsible home? From the point of view of a law enforcement agency looking to release these dogs, it would include:

If you are interested in being put on a list which will be made available to agencies looking to place "bust dogs", please leave your information at my email address: LawDogsUSA@comcast.net

Due to time limitations, I will not be replying to those emails. Please leave your contact information and what type of dog you are interested in. Thank you.

Tools of the Trade

These breaking sticks show the sad story of lots and lots of use on struggling dogs. Dog fighters use these sticks to pry open the mouths of fighting dogs when they want to stop a fight or training roll.

"A Waste of Good Dogs"

To me, the saddest thing about dog fighting is not the fighting, nor the death of the dogs - it is their life that is sad... Look at those short chains, not enough room to play, run, or - anything. These dogs just sat, all day, in the woods, no one even lived on this property. They got fed once in a while, and that's it.

A dog's mind is a terrible thing to waste. Dog fighters have NO idea what a complex, intelligent and fantastic companion a dog can be when kept as a companion.