The American Pit Bull Terrier

    As I was watching Animal Cops Detroit on Animal Planet, I yet again saw another case of pit bulls being removed from their owner's property because of illegal dog fighting.  I watched in horror as they removed the dogs, and saw that some had huge pieces of skin torn from them, including ears and noses.  Some had their paws missing, and others were already dead.  Medicine was also found on the property, but not regular medicine like Tylenol or Benadryll.  These were medicines that the owners would inject into their dogs to make them stronger or more awake; some were just for experiments.  In fact, drugs such as merowana or heroin are also given to the dogs, but not even for any type of medical reasons at all: they're given to their dogs for fun.
   Keep in mind: a dog is not born as fighter; a dog is born and is trained to fight.  The cruel ways of training these poor animals to kill another animal are grotesque, brutal, and horrifying.  Some dogs are called bait dogs, where when a dog is too weak to fight, they'll tape the muzzle of the dog shut and throw it in the ring with a stronger dog and encourage it to kill the bait dog.  The dog whose muzzle had been taped shut has no possible way of fighting back.  Puppies and kittens are also used as bait.  The owners will sometimes have poles that are stuck in the ground with a larger pole coming out of the top horizontally.  On either side of the horizontal pole will be two chains.  On one chain, there will be a puppy or kitten in a cage.  The other, a pit bull, who's forced to chase the small animal in the cage.
    In a match, the object of the "sport" is that two dogs will fight against each other.  The winner lives, but the loser is killed by either being beaten, drowned, or shot.  But the winner of the match is not celebrating because it survived a brutal death.  It has to move on to another round to face another dog, and win or lose, the pit bull faces a horrible fate.
    The brutality of dog fighting is unreal, yet sadly, it exists.  A pit bull is trained to kill and fight; it is not naturally born aggressive.  Here are the facts laid out in front you: if we outlaw pit bulls, dog fighting will only grow more popular because the dog fighters will work harder to get the dogs.  There is absolutely no real reason to ban pit bulls.  People will say, "There are countless pit bull attacks reported!"  But that's not so.  In some cases, the dog was unable to be identified, but they still reported it as a pit bull.  There are so many attacks from other breeds, but they're just not reported. 
    Consider the facts and consider the pain that thousands of dogs have felt because of irresponsible owners.  This can be stopped, and yes, it will take time, but that doesn't mean it can't be ended.  It can only end if more people fight against it.  It has to be stopped.  A dog has to be saved.

Akeera, an American Pit Bull Terrier, was found in a tiny crate with no food or water and nothing but her own waste.  She did come out of this horrible ordeal, and is still full of love and kindness.  Akeera now has a loving family.

 
Another loving pit bull was seized from his home for 17 months by the Australian government. His owner had to pay $40,000 in court to bring him home. 

 
Check out this article by Nancy Perkins:
    Lucas isn't your typical brown-eyed bundle of puppy love. His massive muzzle is crisscrossed with jagged, now-healed cuts and his finely muscled body is pitted with old puncture wounds and bite marks.  "His face is so scarred, but he's such an amazing dog," coos Carissa Hendrick as Lucas enthusiastically wiggles into her arms, covering her face with sloppy kisses. "He knows he's in a safe place."
       Lucas, along with 21 other pit bulls, once belonged to ex-NFL quarterback Michael Vick and his now disbanded Bad Newz Kennels dog-fighting ring in Virginia. Lucas and his canine buddies are now living at Best Friends Animal Society, the nation's largest no-kill animal shelter, located just outside of Kanab in the red rock wonderland of Angel Canyon.  "A lot of the dogs came here really fearful, but they're starting to come around," said Hendrick, who works as a caregiver for the dogs placed with Best Friends. "I thought these dogs would be more of a challenge, but they're not at all what I expected." 
    Vick is serving a 23-month prison term for bankrolling the illegal operation and helping to kill dogs he considered to be under-performing. Three co-conspirators have also been sentenced in the high-profile case.
**In fact, only one of these dogs had to be euthanized because it was mentally affected by fighting.  All of the other dogs were able to be put up for adoption.
            
            Article obtained from http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695248131,00.html




These are just some of the hundreds (repeat hundreds) of situations of pit bull cruelty and pit bulls being saved.
Some cases involved pit bulls that were set on fire, had acid poured on them, and were even injected with drugs until they died.
Pit bulls are not the killers that the media wants you to believe.  Don't hate what you don't know.  Discrimination because of this breed is IGNORANCE.

Here are some interesting facts about pit bulls that you may not have known about.

• Pit bulls are in fact the least likely breed to attack anyone
• They are extremely loving and gentle and were the number one dog of America until pit bull fighting became popular
  
• The American Pit Bull Terrier scored 83.4% on its behavioral test while the collie (awww, Lassie) scored a mere 79%
• A golden retriever has a higher bite percentage and is more likely to bite than a pit bull
• Being aggressive to humans was never part of the pit bull's temperament and was bred out of them over 100 years ago
• Pit bulls only cover 21% of all dog attacks
• When a pit bull was being tested to see if it could be a rescue dog, it was the only dog out of three other breeds (lab, German shepherd, golden retriever) to complete the obstacle (finding a hidden boy past a barbed wire fence) without any human help - it in fact jumped through the barbed wire fence to rescue the boy and received 67 stitched afterwards
  

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