1. Daphnia - Live Aquarium Foods

    Grow your baby fish like a PRO
    Live Daphnia are great live feed for your Fish or Shrimp Fry. Order online to start a never-ending supply of Live Daphnia! [ Click to order ]
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Microworms - Live Aquarium Foods

    Grow your baby fish like a PRO
    Microworms are a great live feed for your Fish or Shrimp Fry, easy to culture and considerably improve your fry mortality rate. Start your never-ending supply of Microworms today! [ Click to order ]
  3. Australian Blackworms - Live Fish Food

    Grow your baby fish like a PRO
    Live Australian Blackworms, Live Vinegar Eels. Visit us now to order online. Express Delivery. [ Click to order ]
    Dismiss Notice

Over 6,000 pit bulls in New York City animal shelters each y

Discussion in 'Dogs - Pit bull breeds specific' started by Walt, Apr 16, 2004.

  1. Walt

    Walt New Member

    Pit Bulls: What's in a Name?


    NEW YORK TIMES — Start spreading the news -- the notorious set of chompers otherwise known as a pit bull is being renamed the New Yorkie in an effort to improve its image.

    While already banned in parts of Colorado, Florida and Connecticut, the dog is just misunderstood, animal lovers contend. But a bloody history of aggression and attacks has branded the dog dangerous and deadly to some.

    In the city where a reputation can make or break you, the dogs are getting a fresh moniker.

    Ed Boks, director of New York City Animal Care and Control, told the New York Post he came up with the idea to change the breed's name after moving from Phoenix, Ariz., to New York City and realizing that the dogs' reputation was as erroneous as that of Big Apple citizens, who he said are "some of the most generous an open-hearted people I've ever met."

    Broadway baby Bernadette Peters , who owns a loveable pit bull, told the Post that she thinks the name change is a great idea. "'New Yorkie' fits their personality better."

    Over 6,000 pit bulls are dropped off at New York City animal shelters each year -- 90 percent of which end up being put to death, the Post reported.

    "Pit bulls need to have the same opportunities as any other breed of dog," said Richard Gentles, NYCACC deputy executive director. "They are very sociable animals. They are very trainable and they can make great companions to the right pet guardian. And that's what we kind of want to get across to everybody, that they can be just as good as any other kind of dog."

    For years advocates have said that bad owners, not the dogs, are to blame for the breed's malicious reputation.

    Indeed, Maxie Riveria, who runs a housing agency in the South Bronx, N.Y., has witnessed the brutal way in which the breed is sometimes raised: "I've watched these kids feeding jalapenos and crushed glass to their dogs. They hang them from a tree with a rope or a towel to toughen them up."

    Still, numerous headline-grabbing attacks haven't helped pit bulls' cause.

    In October 2003, doctors raced to save the mangled foot of a 7-year-old boy after a pit bull named "Murder" attacked him outside his family's Newark, N.J., apartment building, cops said.

    And just last month, seven pit bulls mauled an 82-year-old Florida woman to death after escaping from their owner's home in Citra, Fla.

    Also that month, three pit bulls attacked a couple, fatally mauling the 40-year-old woman in Kiowa, Colo. "As strong as she was, she just didn't have a chance," Kristi Van Etten, the woman's daughter, said.

    But pro-pit bull advocates point out that the breed is loyal, loveable and trainable. In fact, pit bulls perform slightly higher in behavioral tests than even golden retrievers, according to the American Temperament Test Society.

    Positive qualities of the pooch never make the news which Gentles said is detrimental to their adoption appeal and helps spread unwarranted fears.

    "Any time on the news you hear pit bulls you hear about a mauling, and that's what gets the attention," he said. "You don't hear the other stories about what great companion pets they make, and that they can be just as loving and sociable as any other breed of dog."

    Fox News' Amy Sims and Jamie Colby and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
     
  2. Jadapit

    Jadapit New Member

    Walt,
    Thanks so much for that post it was really good!! I live in Colorado. I live on the western slope and pit bulls are still legal to own here. Not in Denver though. A guy that is totally up in arms and is one of those people that thinks all pit bulls are mean, evil dogs wants them to be banned in the state of Colorado. I would put up a fight and do everything I could do, to NOT let that happen if it ever comes down to that. I pray that it never happens or I might just have to take my pit and move!! There is NO way I would ever give her up!!! :mrgreen:
     
  3. loves-da-pits

    loves-da-pits New Member

    Very informative article. There was a time when the Pit Bull and Bull Terriors were America's Sweetheart dogs. APBTs were on the cover of LIFE Magazine depicting "American Pride" during wartime. They've been on posters, been in movies and T.V. shows. Helen Keller loved dogs and her favorite was a Pit Bull. There is no reason why with possitive press and influential people speaking out why the Pit Bull can be seen as a wonderful family dog, therapy dog, companion dog. I guess if it means changing their name to "New Yorkie," so be it if it means 6000 Pit Bulls have a chance of finding homes in New York. But there are Pit bulls all over the U.S. and Europe that need the understanding of people. And to get people to become more understanding, We all need to start SPREADING THE NEWS! I have a feeling the tide is changing and Pit Bulls will be recognized for their nobility again. Then it will be another poor breed who's reputation's at stake. I'm old enough to remember when the Doberman was the dreaded dog, and before that, the German Shepard.
     
  4. Walt

    Walt New Member

    Its makes me sick to think about it. It seems people are alway's looking for some sort of banwaggon to jump on and the pittbull is on the list.

    Last year my car was broken into, I dont know who did it but I'm pretty sure it wasnt a pittbull.

    I just wish people would start putting focus where it belongs.
     
  5. loves-da-pits

    loves-da-pits New Member

    Unfortunately a lot of people are like sheep. They can be led into believing anything that is pesented to them. There's the possibility that the people who broke into your car owned a Pit Bull which drags the breed down into the muck with them. Criminals use and try to turn this breed into assault weapons. It's 10 to life when using a gun. It's a slap on the wrist and probation when using a dog. These are the type of people that we want to discourage from taking the Pit Bull and making into something that they're not. The more people that become educated into what a Pit bull is all about, and the more people who desire to have them as pets, the less desireable they will become to criminals. P.S. A law was presented to Arizona State Law Makers yesterday trying to make it a Class 6 Felony To steel a person's dog for dog fighting purposes. I hope it's signed in. It will make a difference how I vote in Nov.
     

Share This Page