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Screw You Miami - There Are Some Pit Bulls You Can't Mess With

In an epic fail Miami-Dade County enforced their ban on pits and took away someone's service dog. And now they are faced with what should be a lawsuit that the plaintiff has an easy win.

It's a fail for enforcing legislation that has no practical effect. It's a fail for police hammering on the door and trying to seize a dog that wasn't even on the premises. Because the victim (yes, the owner was a victim of a senseless act of home intrusion by police that had no valid reason to be there.)

It's a fail for trying to put municipal legislation ahead of Federal legislation.

This guy had a pit bull service dog trained to retrieve his emergency inhaler when the dog recognized his shortness of breath. There was a medical emergency, dog isn't there and the victim suffered major problems leading him to be put into a medically induced coma to save his life.

I read one comment that mentioned that this was some politician's way of avoiding the negative press of introducing legislation to reverse the ban. Let's make public officials look bad so they take the heat. I don't buy it. This is another example of BSL that just wastes tax payer money that could be better used to address ways to solve the problem. The dogs are not the problem. The asshole owners that don't spay and neuter, tether and neglect and maltreat the dogs are the problem.

A properly socialized pit bull is a great dog.

Justice for Puppy Doe

On August 31st a pit bull mix nicknamed Puppy Doe was found abandoned in a Massachusetts park, maybe left for dead even though it wasn't dead. The dog had been tortured so severely (I won't go into the gruesome details, Google it if you are interested) that the only humane thing to do was euthanize the poor animal.

No animal deserves the kind of horror P.D. suffered. But, quite simply if it wasn't a pit mix this sad story may not have ever come to be. Apparently the owner's landlord does not allow pit bulls. And this well meaning but ignorant chap put P.D. up for adoption on Craigslist. There is no accountability by Craigslist. You place the ad and whatever will be will be.

Contrast this with my pit that is pictured in my first post. I had to:

1) Get two references just to be allowed a meet and greet at a neutral site.
2) I had to tell my vet to release information about my previous dogs (which included another pit mix).
3) Home visitation.
4 Pay a substantial adoption fee.

As a responsible pet owner I passed these challenges easily. I had nothing to hide. I want a companion not something to abuse.

And what a great companion he is. So loyal and affectionate. He just happens to be a pit bull.

Dog Breed Specific Legislation

It doesn't work. Overwhelming evidence shows that the most important factors in a dog's behavior are: 1) Whether it has been spayed or neutered. 2) How it is treated on a day to day basis, specifically tethered in a yard often without proper care for the basics like food and water and shelter from conditions such as extreme heat. 3) Lack of socialization with humans and other animals in the formative years of the dogs youth. That's something I'm experiencing now. My first pit mix was abandoned as athree month old puppy. I brought him up right and he was wonderful. My current pittie has emotional baggage. Abused, neglected and eventually abandoned. We've made great strides in six months but there's a lot more work to do. Thank you asshole prior owners.

Pit Bull Rescue Shelters/Breed Specific Legislation.

There are a ton of shelters out there specifically aimed at rescuing pits. This is because the facts bear out that as a breed (or breeds) they have been unfairly targeted for decades. I'm proud to be a part of the growing movement to return these glorious canine companions back to the deserved status of a loving pet. When i got my first pit mix 17 years ago I freaked out. I thought he was a pure yellow lab. Three more months of growth the pit bull started to show. That's when I started to do research and become comfortable with the fact that my dog wasn't going to rip my throat out in the middle of the night simply because he was a pit. Living in Pennsylvania I'm proud to announce we are one of two states that doesn't allow insurance companies to deny a policy simply because of the breed of dog you own. Breed specific legislation ALWAYS includes pit bulls. And they are simply a colossal fucking waste of money. Money that could be used on spaying and neutering which has a positive effect. Money that could be spent on educating casual pit owners on how to properly socialize their animal. So when you read the misinformation on the lame dogsbite.org site do yourself a favor and Google "pits are great dogs" and read up on the facts.

Pity the Pit Bull

I've learned a lot about pit bulls in the past six months. It's a very polarizing topic where fans like myself are at odds with decades old misinformation that still persists into critical representation. I'll grant the critics a couple of things. First off the breed does have a characteristic that can be a problem for the casual pet owner. They are fiercely loyal. If you mess with me my dog is going to react. Trying to be respectful I walked my dog into the street as some idiot lady started yelling at him just because he was a pit bull. How dare you bring that creature into my neighborhood! Newsflash dumbass, he's reacting to you being a moron, not being aggressive because he's a pit bull. Second. Bad pet owners gravitate to pit bulls. The people that want a dog to guard the junkyard, protect the meth lab and make you look cool in front of your gangsta friends. Those dogs never get the proper attention that a Lab or Golden Retriever would get. Chained up in the yard. Lack of food and water. And even worse trained to be a part of the cruel and senseless sport of dog fighting. For this first post I will just start off with an overwhelming factual statistic. Michael Vick's dogs are the best thing to ever happen to the breed. Ordinarily the lawsuit would culminate in putting the euthanising the dogs. They served their purpose for the legal case. But as Vick was such a public figure a great cry came out from the pit bull lover community. Let's give these dogs a chance. 51 pit bulls were taken from Vick's compound. One was euthanised for extreme aggression. One was euthanised for medical reasons. THE OTHER 49 WERE REHABILITATED AND PLACED IN HOMES OR SANCTUARIES WHERE THEY LIVED OUT OR ARE STILL LIVING LIVES AS PERFECTLY GOOD DOGS THAT JUST HAPPEN TO BE A PIT BULL. These experts thought they would be lucky to save 5 of these dogs. 10%. I'll let you do the math. A properly socialized pit bull is not just another dog. It's a way above average dog. I'll never have another dog in my life other than a pit bull.