Rescured (pit bull) Becomes Rescuer

Eric Peterson of Brookings is a rescuer times two. First, he rescued Eve, a 2-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier. Now, with a demanding training regimen behind them, he's ready to undertake some search-and-rescue missions - with a lot of help from his pawed pal and partner. Eve is now qualified in "tracking and trailing ." She and Peterson are part of the Brookings County Sheriff's Department K-9 Search and Rescue program. A scenario for her and Peterson might be a situation where a nursing-home resident suffering from dementia wanders off or a child wanders away from home and becomes lost. A "tracking dog" follows a subject's footsteps , being oriented to a mixture of human scent and ground disturbance where the subject walked; a "trailing dog" is oriented to the cells that people are always shedding, which would happen as the subject walked along the ground. Eve can find a subject using either or both methods. Other search dogs work with orientation driven by an airborne human scent. And, finally, some search dogs are trained to find human remains. Should the call for the services of Eve and Peterson come, they're ready to respond. Defending, rescuing dogs like Eve Peterson, manager of Powershop Gym in downtown Brookings, defends dogs like Eve, whom he got via "Pit Rescue of the Great Plains," based in Sioux Falls, for which he serves as board secretary and Web master. He likes to clarify the definition "pit bull" ; he calls it a "slang term." It's a more generic term that covers a wide variety of canine types with similar physical characteristics.

Here is a history of the Breed:

The ancestors of modern Pit Bulls come from the bulldogs and terriers of England. At one time, every county in England had its own breed of terrier. Many of these still exist; however, some have evolved into new ones. Such is the case for the English White and the Black and Tan terriers, whose descendants include the bull-and-terriers, the Fox Terrier, and the Manchester Terrier. Terriers served an important purpose in England by killing vermin that might otherwise ruin crops, damage property, or spread disease such as the Black Plague. The development of sports such as rat- or badger-baiting further added to the breeds’ importance.

Mastiff type dogs also have a long history in England; they are thought to have been brought by the Celts. It is also known that the Normans introduced the Alaunt. These dogs were used in battle and for guarding, but they also served utilitarian purposes, such as farm work. Specifically, these dogs accompanied farmers into the fields to assist with bringing bulls in for breeding, castration, or slaughter. The dogs, known generally as bulldogs, protected the farmer by subduing the bull if it attempted to gore him. Typically a dog would do this by biting the bull on the nose and holding on to the violently struggling bull despite injury. These traits permitted the development and rise of the bloody sports of bull-baiting and bear-baiting. In Elizabethan England, these spectacles were popular forms of entertainment, comparable to Shakespearean plays which often took place right next to the bear baiting pits in Southwark. However, in 1835, bull-baiting and bear-baiting were abolished by Parliament as cruel, and the custom died out over the following years.

Dog fighting, which could be carried out under clandestine measures, blossomed. Since Bulldogs proved too ponderous and uninterested in dog fighting, the Bulldogs were crossed with English White and Black and Tan Terriers. They were also bred to be intelligent and level-headed during fights and remain non-aggressive toward their handlers. Part of the standard for organized dog-fighting required that the match referee who is unacquainted with the dog be able to enter the ring, pick up a dog while it was engaged in a fight, and get the respective owner to carry it out of the ring without being bitten. Dogs that bit the referee were culled. The phrase ‘man eaters die’ was commonly known and reflects how aggression was not tolerated towards any person by any dog.

As a result, Victorian fighting dogs (Staffordshire Bull Terriers and, though less commonly used as fighters, English Bull Terriers) generally had stable temperaments and were commonly kept in the home by the gambling men who owned them.

During the mid-1800s, immigration to the United States from Ireland and England brought an influx of these dogs to America, mainly to Boston, where they were bred to be larger and stockier, working as farm dogs in the West as much as fighting dogs in the cities. The resulting breed, also called the American Pit Bull Terrier, became known as an “all-American” dog. Pit Bull-type dogs became popular as family pets for citizens who were not involved in dog-fighting or farming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull

I’ve got personal experience that throws the whole ‘bad rap’ out the window. You want to try honesty? No sarcasm. I hate bullshit.

Well, I don't know what your "personal experience" is but I do know mine. Over my 62 years I have known many different PBTs. I only had a bad experience with one...it had been neglected, abused and fought and a friend had rescued it. He called me for help in training. When I went over it was loose in his fenced backyard and, when it saw me, it came charging to attack. Luckily I had a stun gun in my back pocket. It never bothered me or anyone else again and, after about 4 months of training by my friend, myself and others became a loving pet.

The only other bad experience with a PBT was one related to me second-hand. It involved a member of my step-family before he came to join us. At the time he had an AmStaff that was devoted to his wife who was dying of cancer. One summer day, she was in her wheelchair trying to enjoy one of the days she had left on her porch with the dog by her side. A gardener was over clearing some weeds and everything was fine until he came up to the porch with the hoe in his hand. She tried to warn him not to come up with the hoe held high but he could not hear her frail voice and the dog perceived a threat. It cost him 238 stitches--mainly because he kept trying to protect himself with that hoe. When he dropped it because he was literally getting his arm chewed off, the dog quit attacking.

I don't blame the dog, he was being protective of a master and it sensed the master was very ill. The responsibility was then entirely with the master, who should have had the dog restrained.

Though I fully trusted all of my dogs when I had them, I muzzled them for walks in my neighborhood. I kept them penned outside in a spacious kennel and I kept them away when strangers (plumbers, carpet cleaners, Brownies selling cookies, etc.) were over but would let them out for all others they knew. I never had a problem.

Unfortunately, some kid in the neighborhood has recently scared my 5yr old by telling her all about "pit bulls." Every day she runs home screaming for help...hysterical...when the neighbor walks their pit bull on a leash.

Now, this is a child who's best friend (until last year when he passed away from old age) was an 80lb boxer and she had a healthy appreciation and respect for all dogs.

Right now, every dog she sees freaks her out.

All I know is that the power of persuasion mixed in with a bit of paranoia has not helped MY child any.

A small child running and screaming is more likely to be attacked by a dog (prey) than a calm, rational child.

“Do you really want dogs bred to fight in a pit licking girls hands?”

Do you really want dogs bred to kill game licking girl’s hands? Do you really want dogs bred to track/hold at bay game licking girl’s hands? I mean, these are true dogs of death, with bloody muzzles and a gleam in their eye as they hunt and kill fellow creatures, with nary a thought for the pain and suffering they cause. Was that hyperbolic enough?

Guess you don’t like most terrier or hound breeds...or any type of working dog, for that matter. Say, exactly which type of purse dog do you approve of, anyway? And who shall control the list?

What works best about your logic is it is the same as the gun banners. Do you really want an assault weapon created for the purpose of killing in homes with children?

PBT’s have an owner problem, like Lorcin and Raven pistols have an owner problem. Ban bad/irresponsible behavior, not dogs or guns.

How beautiful your dog was. And will be waiting for you, rainbow bridge or not (no matter what anyone says, I believe those animals we love will be in heaven with us).

The dog in the story is beautiful too.

My friend with the kennel in her home raised a pit bull from puppyhood, got him altered and he barks like a tenor. No joke. He was a love. I’d put my hands in his mouth and play with him and he was never ever aggressive. A friend of her son asked to have him, so they “bought” him (with the promise of bringing him back for a refund if they ever decided they didn’t want him) and he is now the happiest indoor dog in the world, probably. Sleeps on his own twin bed in the second bedroom. Is happy just to lay on the sofa and watch television and have his tummy scratched. Has never shown aggression. Or maybe has never needed to.

My own Golden/Lab/Collie/Ridgeback Mix shows more aggression to strangers than Petey the PB ever did.

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