Troublemakers: What pit bulls can teach us about profiling

Before going to the Best Friends Animal Society hurricane relief animal shelter, I had only known one pit bull. He was a goofy, lovable dog, certainly not a dog to be feared. At Best Friends, I took care of dozens of pit bulls and pit bull mixes. All were similarly energetic, friendly, silly dogs who loved belly rubs and kisses. Because pit bulls have become more popular, there are more reports of pit bull attacks -- it is just a matter of numbers, not anything in particular to do with the breed.

The breed ban that is going on in cities all over the world is completely irrational, not based on any true assessment of dog behavior. (See previous post "Dogs are really not that dangerous"). In Denver, Colorado, the situation has gotten out of control with a local paper publishing the addresses of pit bull owners.

Hopefully, this article,"Troublemakers: What pit bulls can teach us about profiling," in The New Yorker by bestselling-author Malcolm Gladwell will get public officials thinking rationally, and get them to focus on dog owners and not dogs.

Photo: Sherry of Best Friends saying goodbye to pit bull going back to its owners

Comments

[me]

i love your website.

[Finn]

Hey - your site is great! I passed the Indian SPCA URL around to folks at work. Hopefully some people will donate. Thank you thank you thank you for referencing what's going on here in CO. It's scary and getting scarier. The city of Lafayette is now proposing BSL that would designate not only pits but rotts, danes, malamutes and about 20 other 'dogs of concern'. The proposal states that you can only have one 'dog of concern' or dog 'believed to be' a mix thereof in your house. Which means if you have a husky mix and a shepherd mix, you would have to get rid of one of your dogs. It's insanity.

Denver has consistenly been named one of those most dog friendly cities in the country. We may have a lot of dog parks but this is also one of the deadliest cities in the US for dogs.

Finn