According to one estimate at least, there are over a million pit bull dogs in this country, presumably most of them being kept either as pets or as guard dogs.
Now that seems to me one hefty statistic - a million pit bull dogs. Too damn hefty, considering that every time I turn around I'm hearing about one of them on the news.
Now I'm a man of the world. I've been around. I've listened to Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey - I've lived! I've heard all the most common opinions, both pro and con, about keep pit bull dogs as pets, and a few uncommon ones as well.
But there are tragedies occurring, you see. Terrible tragedies involving the deaths of young children, children like yours and mine, little guys who can no more defend themselves against the attacks of an aggressive cocker spaniel, nevermind a raging pit bull.
Blame the Owner
Here my stance is the usual one belonging to a pit bull owner and defender - and if you don't know it, I'll sum it up for you: Blame the owner, not the dog!
But there are such terrible things occurring. And with each incident, we pit bull owners are perhaps spared for a time. Our own anger spares us - anger over the disgusting hype, the wholesale and often near-cannibalistic relishment that the media no longer even tries to hide. But later, when our anger has subsided and we have no choice but to focus in on some real tragedy that has occurred, the real tragedy that is and will remain long after a scavenging media has had its field day - then what has happened is enough to wound clear through to the heart of every pit bull owner who is competent, feeling, and intelligent in his relationship to the pit bull dog.
And it is at this point where it seems to me there are several and perhaps a good deal more questions to be asked and answered.
Certain things to be got at!
Oprah, Phil, they would lay it all out for us - the problem and all the vast diversity of opinion as to how to solve it - encapsulated in their respective one-hour time slots. Impressively, considering the time limitation and certain physical limitations on the speed at which any given human being is capable of speaking, Oprah came out smelling like a rose, her show almost rising to the level of petty bickering, mostly between her guests and the audience. Alas, Phil's performance fell just short of tacky.
Talk Show Solutions
Some of the guests, one of our elected officials in particular, showed themselves utterly lacking a sense of the ridiculous - wanting to outlaw all pit bulls and their look-alikes (they haven't yet quite figured out what a "real" pit bull is), banish them forever.
One neat trick for discovering just how ridiculous someone else's bright idea really is, is to remove that idea from the realm of the "possibly legislatable" and to plop it down in the realm of the purely personal, one man on the street meeting another man on the street - and then testing the idea right there on the spot.
The law says that I am responsible for the actions of my dog. It is a good law, and perhaps the only thing wrong with it is that it ought to be made stricter, be more strictly enforced.
Testing that law in the personal realm:
I am walking my dog without a lead. So is Tom across the street, except his dog is leashed, as it should be. My dog tears across the street, jumps on Tom's dog, and sets the unwilling pooch to yowling.
Now if a gun were to magically materialize in Tom's hand and if in one fell swoop he were to send my dog straight to perdition - I really can't see as I'd have much gripe! Tom was saving his dog from mine - my dog which had no business whatsoever standing there, unabashed, with Tom's dog in its mouth! I am contrite. I was wrong, responsible for what happened. Instinctively, I know it.
So the law is a good one. It passes the test of a genuine and personal interaction between men.
Now to give the same test to that other view, the one still in the works, the one presently in the "possible legislatable" realm:
Again I am walking my dog down the street, this time leashed. And now, sans his dog, here comes Tom in a huff. He puts his hand on my dog's leash and makes this declaration:
"I take it as my right to make a citizen's arrest of your dog!"
To which declaration my own right and proper response might go something like this:
"Take your hand off my leash or I'll make you part of the sidewalk!"
I did nothing wrong, you see. Nor my dog. And being totally innocent of any wrongdoing, my sense of justice is positively outraged at the prospect of so unjust and bullying a view actually being written into law.
So the new laws some are proposing do not pass the test of a one-on-one, genuinely human personal interactions. Those proposing such laws lack a sense of the ridiculous. Those who would enforce them would have to put their sense of fair play on hold - gestapo-like - almost as dangerous, every bit as ridiculous.
And so we've dealt easily enough with the view generally belonging to those who don't - and wouldn't under any circumstances - keep a pit bull in the house. To this extent we've agreed with them: a yes to stiffer penalties for irresponsible dog owners of all breeds. But where they start frothing at the mouth (non-pit bull owners, not the dogs) and pounding the podium for the extermination of a whole breed of dogs, we hope we've made them see the fine figure they cut - that particular stiff-legged style of marching having achieved a certain fashionableness in the early 40s, but being more than just a little ridiculous in this present place and time.
And Phil, Oprah, had a full helping of the pro-bulldog view available as well, an audience with a generous smattering of pit bull owners and defenders - appropriately cleaning house!
Summarily, the undesirables who definitely should not own pit bulls were checked off the list. Generally, this list consists of--criminals, immature macho types, unscrupulous breeders, dog fighters and from that list we are able to deduce all the wrong reasons for owning a pit bull dog.
Oprah, Phil, you did your best to lay it all out for us. We've heard the would-be legislators who would outlaw all pit bull dogs, and we've answered them. And we've heard them from the pit bull fanciers themselves, heard how they bring the blame right straight home to where it belongs--right on the backs of those criminal types and other assorted and irresponsible dolts who own pit bulls for all the wrong reasons.
And then, just when it seemed we had fixed the blame right where it belonged--on the clods, the criminals, the irresponsible dolts--somewhere out of nowhere comes the voice of some woman in real distress on the phone with Oprah, telling of how her pit bull dog, raised lovingly as a pet and never having shown any signs whatsoever of aggression against people--one day, right under the eyes of the babysitter, killed some young child!
It was not the woman's own child that was killed, rather a child belonging to her best friend, but a child nevertheless. And then the haltingly tearful voice of that woman, choking back tears, made permanent in our memory, returning again and again to haunt us.
What Defense?
How defend the pit bull dog after that? That woman's dog was raised with love - never mistreated, never fought, never allowed to run loose. The dog had always shown itself to be safe and dependable...until!
How defend the pit bull now? This time no falling back on our favorite argument - placing the blame on all those mindlessly irresponsible dolts who would own pit bulls for all the wrong reasons.
Oh, how well we know - how sure we are that we know - all the wrong reasons for keeping a pit bull dog for our own. But still and all, the voice of that woman returning again and again in our thoughts. And we know that there are certain things that we have somehow missed - those certain things that we have not yet got at.
Perhaps it's just that we're so damned busy harping on all the wrong reasons for owning a pit bull, that we have fallen into a smug, sure silence as regards all the right reasons for keeping one!
So sure and smug, so many pit bull owners who believe they know so perfectly well all the right and wrong reasons for owning the breed. Loudly and proudly they proclaim their preferences for a dog that was bred for one particular and specific purpose - fighting - and then they turn right around and just as loudly proclaim that to own the dog for that purpose is the wrongest of reasons for having him.
Let us all drive to work in our Stradivariuses - and heap scorn upon the old violin maker for having suggested that we bow our transportation rather than ride piggyback on it!
Now the point I'm making here has nothing whatsoever to do with whether dogfighting is or is not a right reason for keeping a pit bull dog. My point is that, originally, to fight was the primary if not the sole reason for the very early development of the pit bull dog. And yet that one thing that distinguishes him from all other breeds of dogs is the one thing that so many of these pit bull owner/defenders refuse to give full and careful consideration to, would offhandedly and without a second thought simply pooh pooh out of existence.
Quite rightfully, these folks point out to us all the finer qualities belonging to the breed - his intelligence, loyalty, protectiveness, etc. - qualities belonging in varying degrees to all breeds of dogs, including the Heinz's 57 varieties.
And so the question arises: why do these fanciers choose the pit bull dog in the first place - all these good folks so utterly and unswervingly against dogfighting - when any number of other breeds would fill the bill just as well or better? How is it that so great a number of these steadfast pit bull owners/defenders so often and quite deliberately fail to acknowledge fully that one singularly distinguishing attribute that is the very essence of the pit bull dog - that he is a fighter!
In short, why is it that so many pit bull fanciers so proudly and so smugly, so readily, ride so heavily upon the pit bull's back - and yet turn a deaf ear to his music?
For, make no mistake of it, that is exactly what they are doing when they hold forth this popularly held view:
The pit bull, raised properly, is no different from any other kind of dog. A loving environment produces a gentle, loving dog - a hateful environment, a dangerous animal. The true nature of the pit bull is heroic, yes, but only a loving hand can bring forth with 100% dependability the love in his heart. A pit bull, like any other breed of dog, is purely a reflection of his environment.
All of which prettiness is in actuality a seriously dangerous half truth...which you hear from the butcher, the baker - and since I don't know any candlestick makers, I'll mention that you hear it from a good many veterinarians as well.
Pits as Pets
As near as I can tell, it is a view that has its origins in our Christian-Judeo upbringing, our democratic way of life that says, given a bit of luck and American sunshine, anyone can become president (and hence, any dog a poopsy-doodle). So stems the pit bull fancier's sometimes less than totally objective eagerness to champion the underdog. And if besides being woefully misunderstood, he is a truly heroic underdog as well, so much the better.
Love Conquer All?
Unfortunately, in the case of the pit bull, the democratic view and all its insistence upon social equality among canines is only half the tune, a melody with half the notes missing. However appropriate it might be elsewhere, you can't tack some marmy-smarmy, love-conquer-all philosophy onto the pit bull dog and then expect the image reflected back at you to be more real than the mirror itself. It simply doesn't work that way. You can make a Christian out of a Hun, but you can't make a pit bull dog into a poodle. It's all just silly anthropomorphism. The pit bull has his own inborn Word to answer to, and you can't put yours over on him.
In a word, the pit bull, always and ever after, is himself. A good part of him always was and always will remain unknown to us, a mystery. But he is a powerful and formidable animal, planted four square - that we do know! And the moment you start looking at him and seeing only the pure reflected light of the everlastingly sweet and ever-loving you, then you have made a dangerous mistake. And it can be a fatal one!
And further, whatever the antidogfighting pit bull fanciers out there might think of the dogfighter, it's nevertheless quite likely that the dogfighter's understanding of the pit bull dog is going to be truer than theirs. For where it comes to the fighting dog - which is exactly what the pit bull is - the dogfighter as likely as not knows all the notes, not just every other one. And where so many pit-bull-as-pet fanciers hear only the loving, lilting strains of the pit bull's sweetly fluting upper register, and then the clarion call of the heroic in him - the dogfighter hears the tympani as well, the rolling thunder in his soul - and then that blinding flash of lightning when the cymbals crash.
And when that particular symphony is going full tilt, the pit bull fancier had damn well better know what he's about!
And now, just when it would seem this staunch pit bull owner/defender has deserted the camp entirely, we come back around to our original question: ought the pit bull ever be kept as a pet? - ought he even be allowed to be kept as a pet?
Well, I haven't deserted the camp. I believe the pit bull makes a wonderful pet. Only...he's not for everyone. There are far too many pit bull dogs around - and far too many pit bull owners, the majority of which, I fear, haven't even the "horrid" dogfighter's understanding of just how much dog they have at the ends of their leads.
The pit bull makes a fine, spirited companion for, say, a single man. And by a single man I definitely do not mean the sort who sees in the pit bull none other than a fellow thug! The single man I'm speaking about is one who has reached the age of maturity, isn't a fool, and sees in the pit bull something other than some proving ground for all his most cherished "politicorligio" beliefs - in short, someone who feels a genuine and forthright kinship with the breed, and yet allows the pit bull his "otherness".
And, as first-time pit bull owner, it helps to be someone who learns fast.
My first pit bull of some 20 years ago decided one day to go out for a little stroll on his own...while I was away at work. His path of least resistance, unfortunately, was through the front window. The closed front window! Single at the time and living in a small one-window house, fast learner as I was - I boarded up that window with two-by-fours. Now wasn't I the clever one?
A Different Animal
Not hardly. Pit bull number one, Aries, tore away the two-by-fours, went through the newly replaced window glass, and had his stroll anyway.
And this is an eight-month-old puppy!
Well, by then I really had learned something. That pit bull was like no dog I had ever known. And having been close with a good many pit bull dogs - and having learned a good many more lessons from them over the years - I'll have my say about what I think of them as pets.
Pits As Pets? Do We Really Know The Music?
Pit bulls, like dogs of any other breed, are individuals. And with the pit bull especially, it is everything to be able to judge the individual beforehand as to his suitability for being kept as a family pet. This you cannot do when you got out and purchase a pup. Taking your pup home to your family by this usual method is taking potluck - and if you truly know and respect the breed, you are a fool for taking potluck where your family is concerned.
As a breeder of these dogs, I have over the years had close interaction with over 150 of them - and I would consider perhaps only one in 20 of them suitable candidates for family pets. And among these candidates, few as they are, they are females all.
Preferred
The numbers I give are a conservative estimate, but best to err on the side of safety.
Why females? I find them to be more intelligent and far more sensitive and responsible to what their owners require of them.
Curiously enough, the males of this breed, moreso than the males of most other breeds, seem to be the most popular as pets. Probably that's because those qualities that we seek in the pit bull, his strength and heroism, are qualities we most often think as being male. However, when considering the male pit bull for a pet, it should be noted that it is his very maleness - that fairly constant drive to sow the wild oat, that sense of competitiveness with other males - that puts the "edge" on him and makes him so all-fired and ready to go.
At any rate, and whatever the reasons, be warned - where incidents have occurred, the overwhelming majority of pit bulls involved have been males!
No, I haven't deserted the camp at all. To the contrary, I highly recommend the keeping of pit bull dogs as pets - but only to those who have educated themselves to the point where they can come to a fully competent decision on the matter...and still want one! And in recommending the pit bull's pet-worthiness in the manner in which I have, I can only pray that my most heartfelt wish will be fulfilled - that my recommendation will result in the ranks in the would-be pit bull fanciers being considerably thinned out!
Years ago, back in the good old days when there were few pit bull dogs in circulation, the dogs and their owners came together by a natural process. In a very real sense, the pit bull chose the man as much as the other way around. And pit bull incidents such as we have nowadays were all but unheard of.
Today, however, while it is certainly still possible for the process of "natural selection" to go on, more often it is the influence of the media that joins man and pit bull dog in the rocky sort of relationship they enjoy today.
Playing it to the hilt, the media first tended to portray the pit bull as unwilling victim in the dogfighting game - and so didn't we all just hug him unto ourselves for the underdog that he was! Everybody and their Aunt Lizzie wanted a pit bull for their own.
Well, with so many newly democratized and duly reformed ex-pugs running around, some of them were bound to get into trouble. And so, almost before you could say "pit bull mania" the press had done a complete about face where the pit bull was concerned and set about making a "vicious animal" out of him - and inadvertently succeeded in popularizing him even further.
And so, no long his own dog, the pit bull had to make yet another transformation, from ex-pug in sheep's clothing to drug and crack dealer's best pal.
"Oh, for a marijuana patch to guard!"
And so it continues, pit bull as mobster and moll, a bloodlusting dispenser of death even, diabolical.
While, in stubborn and yet oh-so-sweetly gentle reaction against "those who own poor woefully misunderstood pit bulls for all the wrong reasons" - daddy runs for the camera and calls for wifey to go fetch baby.
Click. And there, made permanent in celluloid, the image of pit bull gazing into camera - but not quite himself somehow, less proud, somewhat dismayed by it all, brow furrowed...but yet alert, as if he were listening for something - and little baby bunting sitting upon his back looking darling.
So many pit bull dogs.
And knowing the dogs as I do, how many of them, I wonder, are strangers in their owners' home. Oh, the puppy is easily enough known. He yaps, he romps, plays tug of war with kiddie, and licks the cat. And then the young dog gaining in maturity, well enough behaved, obedience trained even - proof of the pudding of what the right sort of upbringing hath wrought.
But then I wonder, as time goes on and the young dog approaches maturity, really coming into his own. I wonder about that particular moment when the pit bull grows still and silent, that pause in his soul, and all that he is and ever whispers down through the ages to him, as it has, in varying degrees of intensity, from time immemorial.
That sudden stillness in his soul, is is a momentous pause, silently heralding the pit bull's coming of age. Is is his moment. And if, at that precise instant he should turn and look at his man or his mistress, searching for a light of recognition in his or her eyes, would he find it? Would the dog's owner recognize it, understand it, acknowledge it, deal with it? Or would he or she merely pooh pooh it out of existence, an unacceptable hitch in the desired pattern?
Imagine. A million pit bull dogs. A sheer million of 'em! Each and every one of them in some way looking to us.
And how many of us really know the music?
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