Pit Bull: Punish the Deed Not the Breed

There's been a lot of news coverage and bad buzz about the breed of pit bull recently. Some states, like California, have even gone as far as to ban the breed. Naturally, this has upset pit bull owners nationwide. I've received e-mails and read articles all stating the same idea "punish the deed, not the breed."

When I moved into my brother's house a few weeks ago, I too joined the ranks of pit bull owners. Gretta the pit bull has proven to be the sweetest dog anyone could ask for. The only time I've ever seen Gretta get defensive is when she feels like either I or my daughter needed protection. What more could you ask for in a dog? The most I fear of this dog Gretta is that she may actually succeed in licking me to death one day.

Gretta's the only pit bull I've lived with, but I've known more than I could count on two hands. And they've all been sweet dogs, great with people, great with kids and even great with other dogs. That's more than I can say for most of the mutts I've picked up from the pound or even the black labs I've had.

A dog's behavior has more to do with how the dog was raised rather than its breed. The sad fact is that a lot of dogs are breed and raised to be mean, vicious dogs. I've never met a friendly Chiwawa, why hasn't anyone banned them?

My brother got Gretta by responding to an ad in the newspaper. He called the number and went to a house to pick out his new puppy. He drove up to the house, it was in a bad area and the house itself looked pretty sketchy. The windows of the house had been spray painted black and there was a 6ft chain link fence surrounding the house. After meeting the other dogs in the house it was quite clear what the purpose of these animals was. They seemed to be poorly treated and they were obviously trained to attack.

My brother's dog Gretta had been breed for violence, but she's been raised in a loving home. It's amazing how quickly you can undo inbreed violence, huh? Mean dogs are not specific to any breed; there are mean Labs, mean Terriers, snappy Dobermans, and vicious Rockwilders as well. So please, punish the deed not the breed!