Saving pit bulls - Owners working to overcome the breed's image say the dogs' behavior depends on their treatment
July 30, 2001

Kristine Crawford's dogs have been the target of threats, rocks and even poisoning. It is not the treatment search-and-rescue dogs typically expect, but Crawford's pets are not typical search dogs.

They're pit bull terriers.

Even dressed in their neon-orange vests, training or on the trail of a missing child or disoriented Alzheimer's patient, the three dogs have a hard time overcoming the public image of pit bulls as snarling monsters bent on attack.

The mauling of 10-year-old Shawn Jones by three pit bulls in Richmond last month has reinforced that stereotype.

"But there are hundreds of thousands of good pit bulls out there," said Crawford, a volunteer with the Alameda County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Unit. "These are loving dogs in homes with children."

There are also hundreds of American pit bull terriers in Bay Area animal shelters, facing almost certain death, the victims of both their bad reputation and irresponsible owners who breed or abuse their dogs to make them vicious.

Crawford, of Castro Valley, is among a number of Bay Area residents fighting to save pit bulls. Enthusiasts say the dogs are intelligent, athletic, loyal, affectionate, even clownish. But they are also undeniably strong and tenacious, making them a favorite of illegal dog fighters and others who want tough dogs -- and a danger in the wrong hands.

"Pit bulls in and of themselves are not bad dogs," said Glenn Howell, director of the Oakland Animal Shelter, which sees more pit bulls than any other breed. But "they are the dope dealer dog of choice. It's the breed used for fighting. They are so overbred. We see the largest amount of animal abuse with pit bulls and pit bull mixes."

Pit bulls were originally bred in Europe in the 1800s to bait bulls. When that practice was outlawed, handlers pitted the dogs -- with their muscular jaws and tenacious grip -- against each other. Many remain aggressive toward other animals today, but pit bulls were bred to be devoted and submissive to humans, so handlers could get the dogs out of ring without being bitten.

They were considered good family dogs -- the Little Rascals' "Petey" was a pit bull -- and brave mascots of U.S. troops in both world wars.

But in the 1980s, pit bulls replaced Dobermans and other large breeds as protection dogs and tough-guy status symbols, and some owners began to encourage aggressiveness toward humans. "We know that the word on the street is that in order to get your dog tough, you beat it, starve it, lock it in a closet, deprive it -- you technically drive the animal insane," said Donna Reynolds, an Oakland resident and member of BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls).

"It's a people problem, not a dog problem," said Dr. James Harris, a veterinarian in Montclair, an Oakland neighborhood, adding that any type of dog could be made vicious by mistreatment. The responsibly owned pit bulls Harris sees are "very gentle, trustworthy and great with kids." In fact, the American Temperment Test Society -- which examines dogs at their owners' request for traits including stability, aggressiveness and friendliness -- says of the pit bulls it has tested, 82.3 percent have passed. That's compared with 81.9 percent of golden retrievers.

Pit bull advocates agree that any vicious dogs -- like the ones that attacked Shawn -- should be euthanized.

But remarkably, they say, many abandoned pit bulls remain stable and affectionate despite their backgrounds. It is those dogs Bay Area pit bull rescuers are trying to save.

They face an uphill battle. Some area shelters won't take pit bulls, while others won't adopt them out. Even San Francisco's chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the nation's first "no-kill" shelter, won't accept pit bull strays, saying their genetics make it too risky.

Crawford's dog Dakota, now 4, completed 18 months of training to become a certified search dog and has joined searches including those for Xiana Fairchild.

"They're very athletic dogs with excellent endurance, and the same drive that makes them good fighters also means they will search until they drop," said Crawford, who started the nonprofit For Pits' Sake to promote the breed and educate people about dog-bite prevention.

Search teammates who admit they were at first skeptical, even fearful, have become converts. "I had heard all the horror stories and had two bad experiences with pit bulls," said team member Carolyn Vane, as Dakota sniffed out buried wisdom teeth at Mills College last week to hone her cadaver-finding skills. "But one day I went out to watch the dog, and I was amazed" by her search skills.

Other pit bull owners say they are amazed simply by their dogs' sweet nature. Pit bull owners say they must take extra care, stressing obedience training and avoiding places such as dog parks where their pets could get blamed for trouble they didn't start.

In December, Alexis Calo and Ricardo Martinez, two San Jose accountants, adopted B.B., who had spent the first two years of his life chained in a Bakersfield backyard with 40 other dogs. B.B., malnourished and scarred, was taken in by BAD RAP, which keeps pit bulls in foster care for at least two months to make sure they're safe to adopt. Most of the dogs come from area shelters, where they are scheduled to be euthanized. They are screened by nine BAD RAP members with pit bull experience, including a San Francisco animal care supervisor. Would-be owners also are screened, including a home inspection. Of the 74 dogs rescued in the past two years, only two have had to be euthanized, Reynolds said.

"I want my dogs to show people they are not big, mean, scary dogs," Calo said, "that all they want is to curl up under covers with you."