The Breed of Peace

Reposted from Social Media:

By Robyn Eshelby-Theart.
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I'm a qualified dog behaviourist. Not only that, but I spend my entire life working with dogs. It's literally my 24/7/365 as, beyond being a behaviourist, I have a doggy daycare and boarding facility. My job is dogs.
Tonight I will share something with you. And for the sake of all innocent animals, I hope that you read it.
PIT BULLS ARE NOT PACK DOGS.
PIT BULLS ARE NOT MULTI-PET-HOME DOGS.

 
Now before everyone launches into the "I know a nice pit bull who nurses kittens and walks around with a duckling on his shoulder" stories...
Everyone knows a nice pit bull.
If everyone here was to post their nice Pitbull story, within a minute or two people who truly understand the breed would refer 100+ pit bulls currently sitting in rescue within 50km of Fourways, with profiles on social media, whose only crime was being true to their breed design. Hundreds of Pit bulls around the country, possibly thousands in fact, just in SA.

The pit bull’s breed design is dog-on-dog combat.
Dog-on-dog combat is quite literally the ONLY reason that pit bulls as a breed exist.
Pit bulls do not need to be trained to fight.
Pit bulls do not need to be abused to fight.
Pit bulls are not jealous.
Pit bulls do not need you to be the alpha.
Pit bulls cannot have their genetics loved out of them.
Pit bulls may only show their character after the age of 3. And sometimes, much later.
Pit bulls are not and never were nanny dogs.
Pit bulls were never intended to live in group environments.

Now...

Like any statistic, anomalies exist. The pit bull with the duckling on his shoulder is an anomaly and must be viewed as such. The anomaly is not the majority!

Thinking you can love the genetics out of a Pit bull is probably the most naive thing you can do. By thinking you can do this, you put other animals at risk. While your Pit bull’s life matters, so do the lives of their victims. Whether your own pet or someone else's - the irresponsible keeping of Pitbulls contributes to tens of thousands of other animal deaths every year.

If you truly love the breed you acknowledge their potential. You enjoy your social Pitbull while it is social - if it is social. You plan for the future that one day you may need to separate your house, yard and time, stop going to the park, to keep everyone safe. You advocate for responsible Pit bull ownership, not "raise them right".

Pit bulls are NOT unpredictable. In fact, they are highly predictable. HIGHLY.
I am not saying Pit bulls are not nice. I am saying that Pit bulls, like all breeds, were engineered for a purpose. And their purpose does not correlate with the lifestyle desired by the average dog owner.

All dogs bite. Anything with teeth, bites. But no other popular dog breed was specifically engineered by humans to fight other dogs to the death, and to be so impervious to pain while doing so, that they themselves will die fighting. Their jaws don't lock - THEY DON'T WANT TO LET GO. They have genetically reduced bite inhibition. Even if it is a single snap event, that single snap is enough to break a small dog or cat's spine. It's not their bite strength, it's the way they bite.

This nonsense needs to stop. We are already well on our way to mimicking the absolute rubbish that is going on in the USA. This is what is getting people and pets killed by Pits EVERY SINGLE DAY. Local shelters and rescues posting dogs as "Lab mixes" or "mixed breeds", the favourite "Staffie mix" or "Boxer mix". If people are going to own a Pit they should be prepared to own a Pit. Denying the Pit genetics is, ironically, killing Pits!

Haters gonna hate, but until you're the one picking up literal pieces of other dogs and cats, fielding the phone calls and messages about Pits "snapping" or "turning", then you are really not qualified to have an opinion on this, no matter how many nice anomalies you know or know of.

Stop the murder of Pits and other animals. Stop buying Pits, stop adopting Pits that you think you'll love the Pit out of. If you want to own a Pit bull then acknowledge it for what it is.

And if a dog professional tells you that they'll socialise your Pit, know that what will happen is SUPPRESSION. Your Pit will never be social, it will simply (temporarily) suppress it's instinct to fight. This is usually achieved through aversive methods. Suppression never lasts. All it does is get you to the point that you let your guard down, and then the tragedy occurs.

We need to stop this madness."
STOP THE MADNESS.