AS SOME PIT BULLS make local headlines, others quietly serve as family pets, therapy dogs, search-and-rescue partners -- even teachers.
For example, Petunia visits area classrooms with the Greenbelt-based Partnership for Animal Welfare's Responsible Pet Owner (RPO) program. "Petunia waited while 40 children petted her," said Towson parent Karen Sindall. "I've never seen a more warm, loving and patient dog."
Yet Petunia is a pit bull, a name applied to several breeds originally bred for strength, agility, dog-fighting and -- worth noting -- absence of aggression toward humans, because handlers had to work closely with the dogs. Today, bull breeds score high on temperament tests, and the majority are family pets.
A dog breed is not responsible for attacks. Its owners are.
Many problem owners have dogs for reasons tied to machismo and money. Sewell Price, the assistant supervisor of the Animal Control Division, Baltimore County Health Department, notes, "Some of these animals spend 365 days a year on chains heavy enough to hold the Titanic." Researchers have confirmed the link between chaining and attacks.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) estimates that 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs annually. Bites are inflicted by a range of breeds, according to studies by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Those that bite generally are male, not neutered and chained. Clearly, we must change the focus from breed to behavior, including owner behavior.
"Any animal treated the way some of these dogs are will display unstable, aggressive behavior," said Baltimore-area animal behaviorist Kathy Graninger. Some aggressive dogs are being mated by backyard breeders.
Some jurisdictions hopped on the breed-ban bandwagon, but many bans have been repealed because of problems with breed identification snafus and ineffectiveness. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, (ASPCA), AVMA and the National Animal Control Association oppose breed-specific legislation.
After Prince George's County's pit bull law took effect in 1997, dogs based on breed were confiscated. Yet after the breed's population dropped, the bites attributed to pit bulls remained level, according to county health department statistics.
"Every day we receive calls, the majority just because the dogs are illegal, not because they are threatening anyone," said Rodney Taylor, the director of Prince George's animal management division.
