Pit Bulls For Dummies: Dont Judge A Pit Bull By Its Breed

By RACHEL LOMBARDI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. __ Pit bulls Zac and Zoe lay in separate cages with their heads and bodies
pressed against the cold light yellow-colored blue specked floor, while the sound of barking
dogs and rattling cages echoed in the room.
A green sign taped on the outside of the door to the room reads: Please come in & visit our
adoptable dogs, Please do not feed dogs.
A young couple entered the room to take a look around. Dogs that were further away from
the couple barked and waged their tails; dogs closer to the couple were quiet and seemed
to be behaving themselves. Zac and Zoe were the first two cages in line. The couple looked
down at the pair of dogs and stared into their eyes for a moment. And seconds later, moved
on to spending more time saying hello to a small white Shih Tzu Mix named Monroe a few
cages down, past a few other pit bulls.
Zac and Zoe put their heads back on the floor and closed their eyes.
At the start of September, Providence Animal Control officers were on call picking up any
strays on the streets in an area of Providence due to a parvovirus outbreak. Parvovirus is a
highly contagious disease that rapidly divides cells and attacks white blood cells in a dogs
body, affecting the intestinal tract. For young dogs, the virus can lead to a damaged heart
and lifelong cardiac problems.
Two animal control officers found Zac and Zoe, brother and sister, in a suburban
neighborhood on a small narrow street with Cape Cod and Ranch-style homes in
Providence.
Providence Animal Control Officer Kevin Duffy said that apparently, Zac and Zoe had lived
on the streets for months before they were picked up and brought to the shelter; neighbors
fed the two pit bulls scraps of food when they saw the dogs wandering around.
The two pit bulls were found just a little over a mile away from Providence College. Animal
control picked up the dogs on Pumgansett Street by a small house with white peeling paint
surrounded by a black steel fence at the corner of June Street and Pumgansett Street. Trees
in front of the house covered it's only two windows on the sides of the door. Up the six red
brick front steps, there was a small American flag that stuck out of a black mailbox and a
wooden rocking chair in front of the white door.
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Pumgansett Street in Providence, R.I. on Nov. 12, 2015

A black metal sign with orange lettering next to a window on the front of the house read,
BEWARE OF THE DOG. Zac and Zoe didnt appear to act dangerous when animal control
arrived on the scene.
They were found at 8:25 p.m. on Sept. 1 near the home. Zac had brownish fur with streaks
of tan, a white chest and dark brown eyes and Zoe was black and brown with dark eyes.
Duffy said that the dogs were an easy catch.
Sometimes you get sweethearts like these two and other times youll need that, Duffy
said, as he pointed to a blue restraint pole with black grips and a steel cable loop at the end.
They young dogs were separated when they arrived at the
Providence Animal Shelter
at
200 Terminal Road in Providence, R.I. Each dog was placed in one of the 18 cages in a
private area in the shelter to be cleaned, tested and receive any necessary shots or
procedures. After months on the street together, Zac and Zoe didnt see each other for three
days. When Zac was taken outside on a leash for a walk for the first time since he came to
the shelter, he sat on his butt and didnt move. Zoe came outside and walked slowly on her
leash; when they saw each other they tackled one another and licked each others faces.

Ive never seen anything like it

before, said Kevin Duffy, who has
been an animal control officer for
Providence for nearly 11 years.
After seven days at the shelter in a
quarantine room, an animal that has
not been claimed by an owner and is
ready to be a candidate for adoption
is then moved to another room with
cages to be viewed and available for
adoption.
On Sept. 9, Zac and Zoe were up for
adoption. They were separated by a
metal wall, each dog with its own
six-by-four-foot rectangle chamber
with tan brick walls and hard floors and a small bowl for food, a small bowl for water
and a bone to chew.
Among the other 18 dogs up for adoption in the two rows of cages, 13 were pit bulls; and
according to Duffy, about 80 to 90 percent of the dogs that enter the shelter were pit bulls.
Pit bulls dominate shelter populations nationwide.
According to

People for the

Ethical
Treatment of Animals
(PETA) website,

pit bulls have become the number one breed

admitted to many animal sheltersand the number one breed represented in the
euthanasia rooms of those facilities.
They are over bred and have a bad reputation.
Every dog at a shelter has some sort of
challenge; however, for pit bulls no matter if they are bellicose or friendly they are
harder to place into homes. Their breed as a whole is misunderstood; they are associated
with dog bites, breed-specific laws, dogfighting, over breeding, criminals and violence.
Through the media they are rarely or not at all associated with love, hugs and a gentle
spirit.
There are too many strays in shelters, too little homes to put them in and pit bulls are
rarely a first choice adoption candidate.
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A young girl with long brown hair wearing a pink Aeropostale sweatshirt and pink sweats
stuck her index finger through Zoes cage. Zoe pressed her black nose against the cage and
licked her finger.
Zac and Zoe are not alone. There are millions of sweet lovable pit bulls in shelters in need
of a forever home, but their breed haunts their fate to have a home and responsible owner.
Do Friendly Pit Bulls Exist?
According to the media, not really.
There are pit bulls that wait and wait in shelters, while other dog breeds are swept up into
a new home. Its easy for a Labrador Retriever to find a home, but not a pit bull. A bad
reputation portrayed by media outlets make them unpopular.
In April 2015, a 2-month-old baby, Brayden Wilson, was mauled to death by his familys pit
bull in Dallas, Texas. The boy's father came back inside after turning on the sprinkler
system and found the dog attacking the baby in its bouncing seat. He dragged the
8-year-old pit bull outside and shot the dog. The baby was brought to the hospital and later
pronounced dead.
In another pit bull related story, an animal control officer in Birmingham, N.Y. said that he
has seen a correlation between pit bulls and drug activity in the city of Birmingham.
Pit bull stories involving violence and crime told to a public audience can be very effective
and dangerous in swaying how one perceives the breed. There are millions of stories that
exist involving loyal and sweet pit bulls. We just dont hear as many of them.
The world shares stories that expose pits bulls as monsters. Wide shoulders with locking
jaws and robust muscles. A generalized idea: Every pit bull is aggressive.
Most stories that receive high public attention are the cases where a pit bull harms
someone or does some kind of horrible thing. With a little digging, there are stories that
show pits doing some amazing things for humans.
In July 2013, Lefty, a white and brown pit bull, jumped in front of her owner for protection
against an intruder. She was shot and covered in blood when she arrived at the Atlantic
Animal Hospital in Accomac, Va. . The bullet tore through the muscles and bone of her
shoulder and her leg had to be amputated. Leftys owner lived.

In February 2013, a 10-year-old pit bull named Baby saved a family from a fire in Wellston,
Okla. As smoke filled the air of the house, Baby barked and woke up sisters, Rhonda and
Evelyn Westenberger, who were both asleep. Then, the pit bull ran inside the house to
rescue five other dogs. If it werent for Baby, the sisters would have been unaware of the
fire and would have been burned along with the house and everything inside it.
In Minneapolis, a young pit bull named TaterTot was on his fourth day as a foster dog when
he sensed that his foster moms 4-year-old son, Peyton, was in trouble. TaterTot barked
and cried in front of Paytons room until the boys mother, Christi Smith, was aware that
something was wrong. After Smith heard the dog, she found her son incoherent and barely
breathing. The doctors said that the boy had very low blood sugar levels. Since then,
TaterTot was not just a foster dog; he was a part of the family for saving Paytons life.
And to think, about a week earlier TaterTot was on death row at Minneapolis Animal Care
& Control. At the last minute, Ruff Start Rescue of Minnesota stepped in and pulled him
from the shelter. From there he was placed with Smith. Not only was TaterTot lucky to land
in Smiths foster home, but so was Payton. Some rewards TatorTot has received since
include the PETA Heroic Dog award in October 2013, the Minnesota Veterinary Medical
Association Hero Award in February 2014 and City of Brooklyn Park Mayor's Good Canine
Award in March 2014.
In July 2014, a pit bull in Indianapolis saved a deaf teenager from a house fire. Nick Lamb
was home alone with the pit bull named Ace and sleeping when the fire broke out. Lamb
didnt have his cochlear implants in. Ace licked the boys face until he was awake and the
boy was able to leave the house safely before the fire spread.
When Ohio resident and military veteran Terry McGlade had a seizure, his pit bull service
dog didnt hesitate to save his life. McGlade suffers from seizures and Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) since he was targeted by a roadside bomb while fighting in Afghanistan.
Major, the service dog, is trained to recognize when McGlade shows signs of his problem.
When McGlade fell to the ground, Major pulled McGlades phone out of his pocket and
stepped on the screen for a few seconds with his paws to hit a button setup to
automatically call 911. When the police arrived, Major was waiting in the front of the house
to lead help to his owner who was unconscious on the ground in the backyard.
Pit bull Lilly was alone in a Boston shelter before she was adopted in 2009. Three years
later, in 2012, Lilly saved her owners life. On a late May evening, Christine Spain fell
unconscious on the tracks of an oncoming freight train while walking Lilly. As the freight
train conductor rode through Shirley, Mass., he saw a person and dog on the tracks ahead
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and radioed in to stop the train. He knew it would be too late. Lilly pushed and pulled her
Christines body off the tracks. Christine survived, but Lilly wasnt able to get off in time
before the freight train reached them. Lilly suffered extreme injuries and later, lost her
right leg in surgery.
Thats just a handful of the stories out there about pit bulls doing
good things
, not evil.
Today, there are even certified pit bull therapy dogs.
Susan Parker, co-owner of
Dynamic
Dog Training
in Warwick, R.I., works mainly with bully breeds throughout Rhode Island as
well as some dogs from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and throughout New England, teaching
people how to train their dogs. Parker likes to create ambassadors by training dogs to be
pet therapy dogs.
Teddy was at the Smithfield Animal Shelter in Smithfield, R.I. before he met his parents,
Susan and Harry, at their shelter dog enrichment class in February 2015.
No one wanted him, but we saw something special in him, Parker said. His obedience
was off, but he had a solid temperament.
Susan and Harry adopted him in April 2015 and turned the year and a half shelter dog into
a therapy dog. Teddy is now the mascot of PVD Pups, which is the pet therapy program at
T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I that debuted in August 2015. The dogs greet travelers as
they walk through the terminal.
Origin Of Dogs and Pit Bulls
Dogs have been our friends for thousands of years. Evidence shows that the dog was the
first species of animal to be domesticated. The first domesticated dog family,
Canis
familiaris
, dates back to early human societies or the time of hunter-gatherers nearly
10,000 years ago in Europe. The dog emerged from the gray wolf or biological family,
Canidae. Hunters and gatherers hunted and killed wolves early on, but as time went on the
humans welcomed these animals at their settlements with scraps of food; it was through
these first interactions that the human and dog relationship was born. Some of the wolves
were trained and bred with other tamed wolves. (Serpell, 1995)
A controversy for years has been over whether the domestic dog came from wolves, jackal
or another unknown species. Naturalist Charles Darwin along with other theorists argued
that the dog came about as a mix between different species, not wolves independently.
However, according to the
Adam Boyko
Laboratory at Cornell University College of
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Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y., modern genetic data has shown that the domesticated
dog traces back earliest to the gray wolf.
Old hunting techniques involved axes and spears with sharp arrowheads, but a new
technique used the tamed wolves to track and kill food and to alert the settlers if there was
danger ahead. (Serpell, 1995) Dogs began to spread around the world after humans
realized how resourceful they were in a community. Dogs were no longer only food guides
at this point; they were friends.
The name pit bull is an umbrella term for the American Pit Bull Terrier, American
Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The American Pit Bull Terrier was the
first of its pit bull ancestry. Many pit bulls enthusiasts believe that the breed can be traced
back to the Molossian dog family, most associated with the Molossi tribe. The Molossi tribe
were a group of people who lived in ancient Greece who liked a dog that was strong,
muscular and fierce. They would use the Molossians to scare other tribes and use as a
bargaining tool.
Pit bulls were treated differently by humans than other dogs. Heres where the tears and
blood begins to drip not from humans from pit bulls.
Forced To Attack
When the Normans of France invaded England in 1066, they brought a new kind of
entertainment called baiting. Baiting is when dogs are forced to attack and throw their
bodies at another animal with the purpose of killing or harming the animal they are
attacking. Large groups of pit bulls were sent to arenas and coliseums to fight for sport in
Rome. Bulls were used as a target in earlier forms of baiting. Crowds would cheer when a
dog locked its jaws on a bulls nose and attempted to take the bull to the ground by
throwing its body in the air at the beast.
By the 16th century, basically every town in England had a baiting ring. Only two or three
dogs would play at a time and would stop when they were too tired or too injured.
Sometimes the game would go on for three or four hours. When the public grew tired of
watching the dogs fight the bulls, then they made the dogs fight bears, horses, bores and
other animals. The technique of baiting is still used today by those who train dogs for dog
fights a dog is forced to take down and kill another animal for practice before they are
ready to be placed in a ring to attack another pit bull.

Rebel
, a brown-furred pit bull of Dartmouth, Mass., still has scars from the years when he
was used as bait. He was born in Kentucky and grew up hogtied with his mouth taped shut,
while dogs attacked him to become better fighters. Rebel ran off and escaped, but he was a
mess when he was finally found wandering about. Chucks of flesh were ripped off his face,
his ears were infected and torn apart and he was extremely thin from having little or no
food and water.
He was brought to a pit bull rescue in New York and had his own reality television show. He
was able to show the world his scars, missing ears and strong spirit. He even met people
like Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres. He returned to Pack Ethic Rescue in Sprakers, N.Y. and
learned what it was like to be treated with care. Now, Rebel lives with his adoptive family
in Padanaram Village. The adult pit bull was lucky he escaped his job as a bait dog. Many
dogs used for bait dont usually live very long.
In 1835, the British parliament made baiting illegal, but that didnt stop the sport. Ratting
also became a new game of entertainment. The dogs were thrown into a pit with rats to see
which dog could kill the most rats in a certain period of time. The pit in pit bull came from
this sport.
Dog Fighting // Pit vs. Pit
Dog fighting eventually became a popular form of entertainment because it was easier to
hide from the police than baiting and ratting. After being trained to be violent, pit bulls
were thrown into rings to attack other pit bulls. They were the perfect breed of fighters
because they were generally loyal to humans and would withstand the pain to please their
owners. It was normal for the pit bulls to be served raw meat, blood and sit in a dark room
all day other than the hours they were with their trainers. Some trainers tied their dog to a
treadmill and forced the dog to run toward a living small animal in front of them, which the
dogs were allowed to kill in the end as a reward. In the ring, if a dog hesitated to kill their
opponent, then their handler might make the training more intense or just kill the dog.
English immigrants brought their dogs when they came to America. Throughout the 19th
century, dog fighting was common. As the immigrants moved west, the pit bull took on
other roles such as herders and protection for families, but many pits remained in the ring
and were used to breed future ring champions of the sport. By the 1930s and 1940s the
sport had become more of a hidden practice.The United Kennel Club no longer supported
the sport.

The United States Humane Society estimates that more than 40,000 people in America
today buy and sell fighting dogs and are involved in dog fighting. All types of people are
involved in dog fighting from professionals involved in the sport to those with less
experience who have discovered dog fighting on their own. Professional fighters travel
around the world, while those who are not as invested in the sport stay in a particular
region.
Spectators at rings range from criminals to public figures to the average person who
attends for their own pleasure. The bloody sport provides event goers with entertainment
and more importantly, an opportunity to gamble. Dog fighting, most popular in urban
areas, also is used as a means of drug trafficking.
Today, it is very hard to pinpoint areas where dog fighting occurs because many of these
places are purposely hidden from law enforcement underground, out in deserted areas or
blocked by tall fences. Even if the police and animal control officers are aware that there is
dog fighting taking place, there is a lot of planning that must occur before arriving on scene,
especially for large dog fighting busts. Law enforcement has trouble finding fighting dogs
because many of them are not registered and many dont live long anyway if they are put in
the ring enough times or chained up without food and water long enough.
We have seen

the blood shed by those attacked by a pit bull through the media, but have ignored the
blood and tears of the many dogs who were and are merely victims of the breed.
Why Do People Fight Dogs?
According to Clifton Flynns
Understanding Animal Abuse A Sociological Analysis,
David
Matza and Gresham Sykes came up with the theory of techniques of neutralization. These
are the reasons those involved in dogfighting say to themselves to rationalize their deviant
behavior. The techniques include denial of the victim, denial of responsibility, denial of
injury, appeal to higher loyalties, and condemnation of the condemners.
Denial of the victim means that offenders believe that the dogs deserve to be treated how
the offender treats them. If a dog loses a fight, then the dog deserves to be punished for
bringing shame to their trainer and for those that were betting large sums of money on
them to win in the ring. Denial of responsibility means that the offender claims that the
situation was out of their control or by accident. The attitude of the offender is that if a dog
wants to kill another dog in the ring, then thats fine; they were born to attack each other.
Denial of injury means that the offender claims that their training did not cause any harm
to the dog and that the dogs are the ones who are to blame for their injuries because they
9

rip each other apart in the ring. Appeal to a higher loyalties means that the offender has a
closer attachment to their smaller groups connected with the sport over society.
Condemnation of the condemners means that the offenders see their behavior as normal
and believe in continuing the game. Those involved in dog fighting many believe that those
against dog fighting are the actual animal abusers.
According to the ASPCA, dog fighting became a felony in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2008. In addition, attending a
dog fight in all states is illegal and anyone caught importing or exporting fighting dogs
could be fined thousands of dollars or receive jail time.
It is very easy to buy a fighting dog.

They could go for just a few hundred dollars. Fighting dogs are also used to guard drugs for
criminals.
Michael Vicks Bad Newz Kennels
Dog fighting and animal abuse was brought to the worlds attention when NFL star
quarterback
Michael Vick
, 21 years old at the time, and three others
Purnell Peace,
Quanis Phillips and Tony Taylor
were charged on a federal and state level for illegal dog
fighting. Vick helped operate Bad Newz Kennels, which was a facility that trained over 50
pit bulls, hosted dog fights, killed dogs and allowed gambling at high rates.
According to the
federal indictment
, at some point in or about early 2001, Taylor, Phillips
and Vick decided they would start sponsoring American Pit Bull Terriers in dog fighting
competitions. Taylor found the property at 1915 Moonlight Road in Smithfield, Va. in May
2001 and a month later, Vick paid nearly $34,000 for the place. After they bought the
property, they began to buy dogs in and out of Virginia and by the following year, Taylor,
Phillips, Peace and Vick had more than 20 dogs on the property and established the
business name, Bad Newz Kennel. They even had T-shirts and headbands to promote the
business.
The federal indictment says that there was a fence at the rear of the property to hide what
was going on from the public. Sheds were used to house training equipment, dogs and hold
fights. The dogs were tied to chains attached to car axles buried in the ground.
In February 2002, Vick and the others tested the dogs in short fighting matches. One dog
sponsored by Peace and Vick that did not perform well was shot shortly by Peace with a .22
caliber pistol. In the summer of 2002, the four men put the dogs in various dog fights to see
how well they fight. Peace, Phillips and Taylor shot more dogs and electrocuted others for
not performing well in the ring. The offenders hosted fights on their own turf and traveled
10

to different places to put their dogs in the ring against other fighting dogs, earning
thousands of dollars from gambling on their pit bulls. From 2004 to 2005, they hosted
about 10 fights on the property. Participants came from different places, some even from
New York, Texas and North Carolina.
In 2007, the offenders tested the dogs again. Eight dogs did poorly this time. The federal
indictment states that the dogs were killed by various methods including hanging,
drowning, and slamming at least one dogs body to the ground.
It was in that same year that Vick and his accomplices were caught by the police when
David Boddie, Vicks cousin, was arrested for drug charges and told police Vicks address.
On April 25, 2007, police found probable cause to receive a warrant to search the place
when they showed up at the property.
They found sheds, kennels, blood-stained fighting areas, chains, treadmills, break or
parting sticks used to open a dog's mouth during a fight, and a rape stand, which is a
device in which a female dog who is too aggressive to use for breeding is strapped down
with her head held in place by a restraint. There was also paperwork that documented
previous dog fights, drugs used to make the dogs stronger and last longer and about 54
injured dogs. In June 2007, six to eight dog carcausess were found after witnesses told
authories that there were dead dogs buried on the property.
Initially, Vick denied that he knew anything about what was found. Clinton Portis, football
running back of the Washington Redskins at the time,
defended Vicks actions and said that

the police were targeting Vick and not others involved in dog fighting cases.
Officials ruled at the start of July that dog fighting had taken place on Vicks property. On
July 17, 2007, Vick, at 27 years old, and his three co-conspirators were indicted by a federal
grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia and charged with violating federal law
conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a
dog in an animal fight venture. Nine days later, Vick pleaded not guilty. Nearly a month
later, Vick was suspended from the NFL and changed his plea to guilty to the charges. Vick
also pleaded guilty to funding the dog fighting and for using the dogs to gamble. Since they
were first-time offenders it was unlikely that they would receive jail time, but the case
prosecutor pushed that they should be given jail time for the cruel acts they committed.
Five months after the initial investigation, the state charged Vick for promoting dog fighting
and secondly, for engaging in the torture, killing and beating of animals. Peace, Phillips and
11

Taylor had similar charges against them. The court ordered Vick to pay about $1 million to
pay toward the pit bulls rescued from the property.
At the sentencing hearing on December 10, 2007, the judge gave Vick 23 months in federal
prison. After 18 months in prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, he spent the last few months of
his sentence at his home in Virginia under house arrest.
The dogs were taken to shelters where they were held as evidence until the trial was over.
People thought they were dangerous and could not live normal lives after being used for
dog fighting. Animal rights groups fought to show the public that the dogs deserved a
chance to live after the trial. According to Dorothy Hinshaw Patents Saving Audie
,
a book
about a dog named Audie and other dogs rescued from Vicks property, the court allowed
BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls) and the ASPCA to test all 49
dogs to see if they were safe to be in a home. The testers put the dogs in different
situations to see how they would react to children (using a fake life-size child doll), other
dogs and with other situations. After four months in their cages, all but one dog were ruled
as safe.
A few months later after the tests, the dog's left the shelters and were given homes. Many of
the dogs today have been adopted into homes and some are even therapy dogs in hospitals
or for children.
The NFL reinstated the quarterback at the end of July in 2009. Vick signed a one-year $1.6
million contract that same year to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. Later, he earned
millions more by staying on the team and for his promotion to starting quarterback.
Vick is back where he started. A professional football player making millions of dollars.
This is not true for many of the dogs from the Vick property who are still recovering and
scared from the fear they had to live through when they were trapped at Bad Newz
Kennels.
A Vicktory Dog // Handsome Dan
Handsome Dan was found tied by chain to a half-buried car axle on Michael Vicks property.
His teeth were worn down because he tried to escape by biting the chain. He was
considered one of the most victimized out of the dogs rescued from the dog fighting
operation. He was sent to a
national animal welfare organization
called Best Friends
Animal Society in Utah for treatment and recovery.
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After a year and a half with Best Friends, Handsome Dan made his way to Rhode Island.
Heather Gutshall, who is a dog trainer and behavior consultant of Outbound Hounds and
President and Executive Director of
Handsome Dans Rescue
for pit bull type dogs, fostered
the pit bull for six months with her husband, Mark, before adopting him on Jan. 1, 2010.
He was given little to no socialization, Gutshall said. Hes comfortable in our home, but
when hes outside of the home, he panics, trembles and urinates.
Handsome Dan was incorporated into the name of Heathers rescue group. The rescue
organization deals with and helps dogs of abuse and neglect, including victims of dog
fighting, as well as dogs who are not good candidates for adoption due to medical or
behavioral issues.
Gutshall said that Handsome Dan has no human directed aggression. He lives with his two
human siblings along with his two adoptive parents. In April 2010, Handsome Dan became
the first Vicktory dog to live with an infant. He welcomed his new human baby sister,
Josephine, to the family. When she took a nap, he would curl up next to her crib and not
make any movement or sound.
He will always be a fearful dog, Gutshall said.
#367 // Tillie
In August 2013, 367 dogs were seized in the second-largest dogfighting raid in the United
States.
According to
The Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS) website, after a
three-year investigation initiated by the Auburn Police, 13 search warrants were executed
Friday morning, Aug. 23, throughout Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas. Ten were
arrested and indicted on felony charges for dogfighting. In addition to the dogs, HSUSs
website says that firearms, drugs and more than $500,000 in cash from dog fighting
gambling activities were found as well as remains of dead animals. HSUS, ASPCA, FBI and
local law enforcement seized the living dogs and transported them to shelter locations.
HSUSs website says that one veterinarian said that many of the dogs were emaciated with
wounds from fighting when they found the dogs. Many sat in heavy chains in the hot heat
without food and fresh water. The only shelter to protect them were makeshift houses
made from plastic, rusty metal and rotting wood.
Heather Gutshall, president of Handsome Dans Rescue, was deployed to a temporary
shelter where some dogs rescued from the bust were being held. She shared her first
account of a pit bull named Tillie one of the hundreds of rescued pit bulls on the
Handsome Dans Rescue website.
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I froze, dead in my tracks. She was lying on a raised bed. Her tan body old and tired and I
could see golf ball sized tumors running the length of her mammary chain. She struggled to
stand, and slowly walked toward me stopping at the gate to her kennel. Her front legs were
bowed out; chain broke slowly over years under the weight of her heavy chain. Her face
was wise and kind. She was quite, slow and searching for acceptance. I knelt down to her. I
stroked her face and side through the chain link. I am not sure how long we stayed like that,
in complete silence, holding soft eye contact, she wrote.
Between Handsome Dans Rescue and
Jasmines House
rescue group, they planned to send
25 volunteers to the temporary shelter to work with the dogs. When Heather returned a
month later to see Tillie, Tillie gained weight and was happier. But once again, Heather had
to leave Tillie behind.
Tillie was admitted to the vet hospital because her uterus was infected and it needed to be
removed along with mammary tumors. Heather was relieved and shocked when the results
came in showing that Tillie did not have cancer.
Months went by as Heather waited for Tillie to be released and could come to her new
home in Rhode Island. She sent care packages and even ordered an identification tag for
Tillies collar with the words, Tillie #367 Survivor engraved on it with her phone number.
I wore that tag on a chain around my neck until Tillie could wear it around hers, Gutshall
wrote.
Vicktory dog Handsome Dan was told that he was getting a new foster dog sister soon. On
January 13, 2014, Heather received a call from the shelter where Tillie was being held.
Tillie was released and could finally go home to her family in Rhode Island.
Tillie and a few other dogs from the bust were transported to their foster homes with
Handsome Dans Rescue and Jasmines House.
Shes a medical disaster, Gutshall said. She has lymphoma now and shes on chemo.
Tillies legs are bowed and she has trouble walking. Her legs broke under the weight of a
heavy collar and chain that choked her for years tied to the buried car axle. She has a
broken sternum, a broken tail and is battling heartworms. The only thing holding her up is
her loving home.
Rhode Island Law Gives Dog Fighting Survivors A Second Chance
On Oct. 20, 2015, R.I. Governor Gina Raimondo signed a bill that says that any dog in Rhode
Island lawfully seized from dog fighting, baiting or was used for the purpose to attack
humans or other animals will be given to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
14

Animals (SPCA). At SPCA, the dogs will receive treatment before they are sent to an
organization that will take care of them or an adopter.
The dogs will get a chance to be assessed on a case-to-case basis. Dogs -- many of which are
pits -- that come out of dog fighting cases are immediately labeled as vicious and are
unwanted or euthanized.
According to Susan Parker, co-owner of
Dynamic Dog Training
in Warwick, R.I., there is no
correlation with dog fighting and dog aggression toward humans, that's a myth.
Now, Rhode Island dog fighting survivors have a chance to prove that many that have been
rescued out from dog fighting have the potential to be a regular loving family dog. They get
a chance to be like Handsome Dan - a dog without heavy chains, blood and suffering. A
future family is possible.
Whats A Breeder?
There are two types of breeders: good ones and bad ones.
There are breeders that make their dogs see a vet and give them a proper diet and shelter.
Patti Strand, who is the national director and primary spokesperson for the National
Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA), is one of these responsible breeders. She has been
breeding Dalmatians since 1969. These dogs are given a lot of special attention and are
bred knowing that they will have a fair chance at living a full life under the care of humans.
I provide them with proper shelter and food, Strand said.
Then, there are backyard breeders; they dont have any organization and just let the dogs
breed an excess amount of offspring, usually for profit or personal gain. The bad breeders
are the ones contributing to the growing number of pit bulls in shelter populations. Dogs
are breed and breed and there is no telling if they will be given the attention or resources
to make it in the world. These dogs are normally not registered. Also, many backyard
breeders do not take into account the physical and mental defects that dogs may have
when they are randomly breed.
They [backyard breeders] are not breeding quality dogs and people are having these dogs,
putting them up for sale and dont care where they go, Susan Parker, co-owner of
Dynamic
Dog Training
in Warwick, R.I. said. They are throw-away dogs; no one cares about them.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) says that mandatory spay and neuter laws vary from
state and local governments; however, they point out that these laws are ineffective
because they have shown that they reduce the number of animals at shelters and amount of
15

strays accidently breeding. A female stray dog can have multiple puppies with possible
diseases and defects if she does not have the proper shelter and food for the newborns. The
laws can be difficult to enforce due to irresponsible dog owners, and responsible owners
who do not want to alter their dog in that way or are breeding for dog showings can be
punished. AKC suggests that dog owners should be more educated about spaying and
neutering.
I would like to see a mandatory spay/neuter law in Rhode Island for all dogs not just pit
bulls, said Dennis Tabella, the director of the Defenders of Animals in Providence, R.I. We
have a mandatory law on having cats spayed/neutered, which was requested by Defenders
of Animals and was introduced by Representative Charlene Lima and for State Senator John
J. Tassoni.
Sent To The Shelters // Banning The Pits
In September 2015, landlord
Kara Montalbano, was looking for some new tenants to rent
out her three-bedroom home on the end of a dead end street in Providence, R.I.
Montalbano an art director for an advertising company and a volunteer with Handsome
Dan's Rescue for Pit Bull Type Dogs was moving in with her current boyfriend and didnt
want to sell her house yet.
She turned to craigslist to find a renter and purposely wrote up what she says was a very
sarcastic description. She was looking for someone who was a non-smoker and employed
with renters insurance, but more importantly, she preferred someone with a pit bull.
After The Huffington Post wrote up a story on her offer to pit bull owners and their dogs in
need of a place to stay, the phone calls came pouring in.
I wasnt going to give it [the home] to someone without a pit bull, Montalbano said.
To her, pit bull owners have a hard time finding a place to live that allows the breed.
Montalbano had issues in the past when she tried to find a home where she could live with
her pit bull. Its sometime tough finding a place that allows dogs, but put the word pit bull
in the mix and its a whole new level of a challenge.
I got laughed at every place I looked, she said. Home owners are worried about the
insurance, liability and damages or they just dont like pit bulls.
Karas current renters have a pit bull puppy.
16

There are more reasons why pit bull owners have trouble finding a home where they can
have their pit bull besides insurance, damage issues and people against the breed.
Lawmakers have proposed and enacted breed-specific laws (BSL) throughout the United
States to ban pit bulls in different areas. These laws were created after cases of dog
maulings involving pit bulls.
The theory underlying breed-specific lawsthat some breeds bite more often and cause
more damage than others, ergo laws targeting these breeds will decrease bite incidence
and severityhas not met with success in practice, reads the ASPCA website.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 100 diseases can be transmitted
from dog to human. These diseases include tapeworm larvae and rabies. According to the
American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF), some states require that dogs receive
vaccinations to fend off diseases such as rabies. Many strays or unregistered dogs dont get
these vaccinations until they are brought into a shelter. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) says that about 4.5 million people are bitten in the United States each
year and about one out of five individuals becomes infected. That adds up to 900,000
infected individuals a year through dog bites from stray and domestic dogs.
A majority of stories in the media about dog bites involve pit bulls. On Sept. 15, 2000, there
was a study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association called
Breeds of dogs involved in fatal human attacks in the United States between 1979 and
1998. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Humane Society of the United
States, and the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded after looking at reports
of dog bites that breed-specific laws were problematic. The study found that over the 20
year period that there were about 30 breeds involved in dog bites. Also, it can be difficult
identifying breeds by their physical appearance, which could result in accusations against a
certain breed for a specific attack.
All the major animal organizations and the Control Disease Center agree that it is very
difficult to properly identify what a pit bull really is. Many mixed American bulldogs,
Boxers, and mixed black Labradors have been labeled pit bulls, Dennis Tabella, the
director of the Defenders of Animals in Providence, R.I. said.

17

1. Alano Espanol 2. Alapaha Blue Blood

Bulldog 3. Cane Corso 4. American
Bulldog 5. Bull Terrier 6. Presa Canario
7. Staffordshire Bull Terrier 8. Bull
Mastiff 9. American Staffordshire
Terrier 10. Old English Bulldogge 11.
Jack Russel Terrier 12. Vizsla 13.
Catahoula Leopard 14. American Pit
Bull Terrier 15. Boxer 16. Great Dane
17. Dogue de Bordeaux 18. Thai
Ridgeback 19. Dogo Argentino 20.
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Dog aggression doesnt come with a
certain breed; it comes from a dog's
heredity, socialization, training, sex and
reproductive status. Other factors could
include breeding, whether or not the
dog was involved in dog fighting, abuse
or neglect and whether it lives in a bad
environment or nurturing environment.
Breed-specific laws could take away lovable and well-behaved pets from responsible pet
owners. Taking many non-violent pets out of good homes and placing them in shelters or
killing them when they are taken by an authority doesnt make much sense.
In 2004, the city of Pawtucket in Rhode Island banned pit bulls from their streets. Ten years
later, former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee signed into state law a bill that
prohibits breed specific legislation. On July 15, 2013, Rhode Island became the 16th state to
prohibit municipalities from banning any breed. Representative Thomas Palangia of the
State of Rhode Island General Assembly sponsored the law against banning ownership of
specific breeds.
The Valley Breeze
quoted Palangia at the time the law was passed: Years ago it was
German Shepherds that were bad dogs. Then it was Dobermans, then Rottweilers and
today it is pit bulls, said Rep. Thomas Palangio, of District 3 in Providence, sponsor of the
18

legislation. No specific breed of dog is intrinsically bad or vicious or dangerous. It is the

owners or handlers than can make a certain dog vicious, but entire breeds of dogs should
not be outlawed based on the way some of them are trained.
Sen. Frank Ciccone III, a Democrat serving District 7 in Providence and North Providence
agreed with Palangia. Members of Pawtucket's House of Representatives were angry when
they found out that there was a bill passed to put an end to bans against breeds, including
the citys 10-year-long ban on pit bulls. According to
The Valley Press
, House Rep. J. Patrick
O'Neill, of Pawtucket's House District 59 said that city had an epic problem with people
using pit bulls as weapons back in 2004 when leaders worked very carefully to craft an
ordinance disallowing pit bulls within city limits.
When the Pawtucket ban was passed by the Pawtucket City Council, many pit bull owners
had to move out of the city, or turned their dogs into the shelter, or had their dogs
destroyed, Dennis Tabella, the director of the Defenders of Animals in Providence, R.I. said.
Needless to say, many decent pit bull owners had to make serious decisions during that
ban.
A month later after the new 2013 bill local Pawtucket resident, Al Alix, was upset when the
city said that they would come and take his pit bull if he didnt get rid of it. City officials
believed that their ban on pit bulls still remained because the law was put into place before
the 2013 Rhode Island law against all bans. Later, officials were told that they that their
2004 ban on pit bulls can remain in effect as long as it is not enforced. Enforcing the ban
could result in a court challenge. Some of Alixs neighbors were complaining about his dog
being seen off the leash multiple times and the city took his dog.
A lawsuit was filed in October 2013 by Defenders of Animals of Providence on behalf of
Alix. Alix asked the court to see if Pawtucket could uphold their ban after the 2013 law
prohibiting bans against breeds. He filed the lawsuit after he was charged by police for
having a prohibited pit bull, a failure to muzzle the dog, having an uninsured dog, and
failure to post a sign in his yard saying that he had a pit bull. The city told people to give up
their dogs. Many were dogs that had no reason to be labeled as dangerous to the public.
Alix didnt want to give up his dog, Chubs, who he saw as a member of the family.
The judge ruled that the city could not dismiss the case in their favor, the Defenders of
Animals could not be involved in the lawsuit because they had nothing to do with the direct
issue and the city could not dismiss the case in favor of Al Alix.

19

The city and Al Alix said that they both would stand their ground. Alix believed that the
2004 city pit bull ban should not be in effect since there is a Rhode Island law against bans
against specific breeds. Pawtucket would continue to enforce their ban on pit bulls.
In November 2014, a Superior Court judge, Judge Brian Van Couyghen, ruled in favor of
local pit bull owner Al Alix: Pawtucket cant ban pit bulls. Days after the case was closed, a
parade of pit bulls and their owners walked the streets of Pawtucket to celebrate the win
against the 10-year-old ban on pit bulls. The purpose of the parade, organized by Pit Bulls
for PTSD, was to honor those who had their pit bulls taken from them or had to move out of
the city to a place where pit bulls were accepted.
It was also reported that there was no increase in pit bull bites since the ban was
overturned, Tabella said.
According to an article published in
The Valley Breeze
on Feb. 2, 2015, the city has not had
an increase in pit bull bites since last November when the case of Al Alix against the city of
Pawtucket put an end to the 2004 ban on pit bulls. At the time, only 10 incidents of dog
attacks had occurred involving multiple types of breeds.
In March 2015, the city of Pawtucket once again tried to get their ban on pit bulls back.
They proposed a bill to amend the current state law that prohibits banning breeds. The
change to the current law would make it so that any law made before July 15, 2013 would
still be intact.
A court date with a city of Pawtucket representative has not been set yet. More recently,
Rep. Carlos Tobon of the State of Rhode Island General Assembly proposed a bill to
completely get rid of the 2013 bill against bans on breeds in municipalities. No action has
taken place yet with this proposal.
Pawtucket claims that over the 10 years that pit bulls were banned that the number of dog
bites dropped increasingly. And the numbers show that there have been a decreased
amount of biting cases with pit bulls. From 2000-2003, there had been 71 reported dog
bites from pit bulls. In the 10 years during the ban, there were only 23 attacks in the city
involving the breed.
The city of Pawtucket claimed that the number of dog bites decreased, but they failed to
explain that dog bites in general were down not just pit bulls, Tabella said.

20

It might not be the pit bulls; it could be the crime rates. According to
citydata.com
,
Pawtucket crime statistics report an overall downward trend in crime based on data from
13 years with violent crime decreasing and property crime decreasing.
The whole [pitbull] family gets a bad reputation because they are involved in street
populations, Strand said. Many criminals use strays dogs, especially pit bulls, for
protection and to guard their drug stashes.
When pit bulls left the city, apparently the criminals left too. Pawtucket cracked down on
the crime, and sadly, the pit bulls were brought down with them. Strand explained that
criminals will move on to using other dogs to help them when their dog gets taken away.
When there arent any pit bulls to protect them, criminals move on to other breeds to use
or move to a different area.
Tabella brought up another good point. He said, Since the ban, the Pawtucket Animal
Shelter had an increase of pit bulls. Animal control claims that they were not destroying
these dogs, which means they were adopting them out to people that lived in other
cities/towns. If they believed these dogs were that dangerous, why were they adopting
them out?
The Pit Bull Debate Continues...
Its still unclear if a pit bull is naturally aggressive or if they learn how to act aggressive.
Many would argue that its in their genes and others would say that they are taught to act
mean. Some would even say that both reasons can lead to an aggressive pit bull.
Susan Parker, co-owner of
Dynamic Dog Training
in Warwick, R.I., says that its half and
half; genes and the environment both have an effect on a dogs behavior.
Good dogs that go into a bad environment can still be a good dog, Parker said. A bad dog
that goes in a bad environment are the ones in trouble.
She said that irresponsible owners that let their dogs do what they want give their animals
the idea that is it okay to be off the leash and aggressive. Owners must know their dogs
drive; in others words what upsets the dog or makes them act in an aggressive way. Its
important to redirect a dog's drive or distract them if there is a dog or someone in the area
that could trigger the dog.

21

Its bad ownershipnot bad dogsthat causes pit bulls to be aggressive, reads a quote
on the website for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
Defenders of Animals of Rhode Island believe that dogs can become aggressive because of
their environments alone.
We [Defenders of Animals] dont believe that dogs are born to be aggressive, and dont
believe that there has been any scientific proof that would show that, Tabella said.
We

believe that early training is crucial and that the training needs to be consistent, We have a
number of good dog trainers in Rhode Island.
According to the Pit Bull Awareness Coalition website,
there is no breed of dog born
aggressive. Every litter of puppies, any breed, whether pedigree or mutt, is born with one
puppy, that is the most dominant and one puppy, that is the most submissive. All other
puppies from the litter, can lean in unlimited degrees from one side to the other. Under the
right circumstances, either a submissive puppy or a dominant puppy may become
aggressive. Given equal amounts of stress or negative stimulation a dominant puppy may
become aggressive more quickly or even more aggressive, than a submissive puppy.
Occasionally, every breed will produce an aggressive dog.
The debate continues.
The Shelter Experience For Pits
The shelter system is very random. Some are high kill and some are no kill. Some have
funding and resources, while some do not have the money or materials or space available
to support and house a large amount of dogs. Some shelters even have stricter adoption
policies than other shelters. There are no definite shelter rules nationwide.
On Sept. 11, the
dogsofinstagram
Instagram account posted a picture of a brownish-gray
pitbull with hazel eyes, white paws, black nose and bright pink tongue.
The picture caption reads, 'Based off of Blue's amazing temperament and personality
alone, if he was any other breed we think he'd be snatched up from the shelter
immediately. If we called him a Golden Retriever or a Labradoodle or any other
well-received breed, Blue would probably not still be lingering at the shelter. Blue is
AMAZING with other dogs of all sizes, and he is as gentle as a butterfly with small children.
Blue is easygoing, he is a cuddler, and he is an all around rockstar of a dog. But because he
is an old pit bull, many people are, unfortunately, hesitant to adopt him. And it's simply
22

unfair for Blue. As his volunteers say, 'In short, Blue is kind of a perfect dog.' And now hes
sleeping on the hard, cold cement of the shelter floor. We think an A+ dog like Blue
deserves to know the comfort of a bed, the comfort of a home, and the love of a person or
family in his lifetime!'
Blue is just like Zac and Zoe. Lingering around for a home. The shelter experience isnt a fun
one for any dog. Zac and Zoe dont have the freedom to roam a wide space anymore. They
each have a sectioned off box among other boxes of earsplitting dog barks and growls. If the
dog is lucky they may have a toy or bone to play with in their cage, but most cages come
with the essential items, a bowl for water and a bowl for food.
For some pit bulls, they could be at a shelter for months before they find a home. The
Providence Animal Shelter does there best to find each dog a home and does not
necessarily need or want to euthanize any extra dogs that dont find a home immediately,
so Zac and Zoe were given time to have a chance. Many city shelters are high-kill shelters
that only have enough resources to give dogs a week or so to get adopted or they are
euthanized. For instance, there is a high-kill animal shelter in Bloomfield, Conn. that takes
in stray and abandoned dogs from the streets of the City of Hartford and only can give a dog
nine days in their facility before they are euthanized.
At the Cranston Animal Shelter in Cranston, R.I., there is an attempt to make the dogs
comfortable. Each cage has a cot or mattress, blanket, toys and food and water bowls. In the
middle of the aisle of cages there is a large speaker playing sounds of soothing acoustic
music, but the atmosphere is far from a fun one.
The temperature on the thermostat reads 55 degrees Celsius. Some dogs were barking
their brains out and some bowed their heads and tried to close their eyes. Each cage has a
small door in the back that leads out to a small fenced area for each dog. On one side of the
aisle of cages, the doors leading to the outside were open. The dogs with the dogs closed sat
at the front of their cages and watched the dogs on the other side run inside and outside in
their cages.

23

Each cage has a small white

square sign with a cage
number labeled in red. In cage
33, a grey six-year-old female
pit bull named Lady sat in the
outside section of her cage on a
blue fabric cot fit for one. She
watched a human play with
another dog in a closed in
fence portion outside. This
nd
marked her 52
day at the
shelter since she was found at
the Roger Williams Park in
Providence, R.I. and brought to
the Cranston Animal Shelter in
the middle of August. She has
been up for adoption since
Sept. 8.
Cell #33 at Cranston Animal Shelter on Oct. 3, 2015
On Oct. 3, a family with four young children adopted a 4-month-old Yorkshire Terrier from
the Cranston Animal Shelter. A shelter volunteer held the dog up and the puppy licked one
of children's noses. None of the pit bulls at the shelter were adopted that day.
Zac and Zoes Fate
Zac and Zoe were lucky they were picked up by Providence Animal Control. There are
enough resources at the shelter to avoid euthanization.
What we want to do is give them all a home, Providence Animal Control Officer Kevin
Duffy said. We dont euthanize them if we dont have to.
The only reason a dog would be euthanized is if it is too old, badly injured, too vicious or if
its quality of life is too poor.

24

A sign reads, Ive Been Adopted. Zac and Zoe were adopted on Oct. 1, after nearly three
weeks waiting in two cells side by side divided by a metal wall.
Now, they get to spend the rest of their lives in the same home, Duffy said.
Zac and Zoe got lucky. They were at the shelter for three weeks and came out with a chance
to be in a home.
Another pit bull at the shelter has been waiting for
more than three months. In another cage at the
Providence Animal Shelter, an 11-month-old grey pit
bull with a red collar named Elana,
ran from wall to
wall
in her cell. She threw her face against the wall
every time she reached a side. Her pink tongue hung
out of her mouth and she panted heavily. Elana was
abandoned by her owner and found on New York
Avenue in Providence, R.I. on July 21. She has been
available for adoption since July 30.
Elana has already suffered from the months of
confinement. She is bouncing off the walls and needs
a home, but with all the constant pit trash talk from the media and public, the pup might
not get the chance.

25

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