{"id":31615,"date":"2022-10-21T01:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T01:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=31615"},"modified":"2022-10-22T17:04:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T17:04:54","slug":"pit-bulls-went-from-americas-best-friend-to-public-enemy-now-theyre-slowly-coming-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/pit-bulls-went-from-americas-best-friend-to-public-enemy-now-theyre-slowly-coming-full-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Pit bulls went from America\u2019s best friend to public enemy \u2013 now they\u2019re slowly coming full\u00a0circle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colin Dayan<\/a>, Vanderbilt University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As recently as 50 years ago, the pit bull was America\u2019s favorite dog. Pit bulls were everywhere. They were popular in advertising and used to promote the joys of pet-and-human friendship. Nipper on the RCA Victor label<\/a>, Pete the Pup<\/a> in the \u201cOur Gang\u201d comedy short films, and the flag-wrapped dog on a classic World War I poster<\/a> all were pit bulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With National Pit Bull Awareness Day<\/a> celebrated on Oct. 26, it\u2019s a fitting time to ask how these dogs came to be seen as a dangerous threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting around 1990, multiple features of American life converged to inspire widespread bans that made pit bulls outlaws, called \u201cfour-legged guns<\/a>\u201d or \u201clethal weapons<\/a>.\u201d The drivers included some dog attacks, excessive parental caution, fearful insurance companies and a tie to the sport of dog fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a professor of humanities and law<\/a>, I have studied the legal history of slaves, vagrants, criminals, terror suspects and others deemed threats to civilized society. For my books \u201cThe Law is a White Dog<\/a>\u201d and \u201cWith Dogs at the Edge of Life<\/a>,\u201d I explored human-dog relationships and how laws and regulations can deny equal protection to entire classes of beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
Stella, a pit bull owned by author Colin Dayan. Colin Dayan, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In my experience with these dogs \u2013 including nearly 12 years living with Stella, the daughter of champion fighting dogs \u2013 I have learned that pit bulls are not inherently dangerous. Like other dogs, they can become dangerous in certain situations, and at the hands of certain owners. But in my view, there is no defensible rationale for condemning not only all pit bulls, but any dog with a single pit bull gene, as some laws do<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see such action as canine profiling, which recalls another legal fiction: the taint or stain of blood<\/a> that ordained human degradation and race hatred in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Painting<\/a>
English artist Francis Barraud (1856-1924) painted his brother\u2019s dog Nipper listening to the horn of an early phonograph in 1898. Victor Talking Machine Co. began using the symbol in its trademark, His Master\u2019s Voice, in 1900. Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bred to fight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The pit bull is strong. Its jaw grip is almost impossible to break. Bred over centuries to bite and hold large animals<\/a> like bears and bulls around the face and head, it\u2019s known as a \u201cgame dog.\u201d Its bravery and strength won\u2019t allow it to give up<\/a>, no matter how long the struggle. It loves with the same strength; its loyalty remains the stuff of legend<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades pit bulls\u2019 tenacity encouraged the sport of dogfighting, with the dogs \u201cpitted\u201d against each other. Fights often went to the death, and winning animals earned huge sums for those who bet on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But betting on dogs is not a high-class sport. Dogs are not horses; they cost little to acquire and maintain. Pit bulls easily and quickly became associated with the poor, and especially with Black men<\/a>, in a narrative that connected pit bulls with gang violence and crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how prejudice works: The one-on-one lamination of the pit bull onto the African American male<\/a> reduced people to their accessories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A pit bull-type dog seized during a 2007 raid on an illegal dogfighting operation in East Cleveland, Ohio. Owen Humphreys \u2013 PA Images via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dogfighting was outlawed in all 50 states by 1976<\/a>, although illegal businesses persisted. Coverage of the practice spawned broad assertions<\/a> about the dogs that did the fighting. As breed bans proliferated, legal rulings proclaimed these dogs \u201cdangerous to the safety or health of the community\u201d and judged that \u201cpublic interests demand that the worthless shall be exterminated<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987 Sports Illustrated put a pit bull, teeth bared, on its cover, with the headline \u201cBeware of this Dog,\u201d which it characterized as born with \u201ca will to kill<\/a>.\u201d Time magazine published \u201cTime Bombs on Legs\u201d featuring this \u201cvicious hound of the Baskervilles\u201d that \u201cseized small children like rag dolls and mauled them to death in a frenzy of bloodletting<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presumed vicious<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If a dog has \u201cvicious propensities,\u201d the owner is assumed to share in this projected violence, both legally and generally in public perception. And once deemed \u201ccontraband,\u201d both property and people are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was evident in the much-publicized 2007 indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick<\/a> for running a dogfighting business called Bad Newz Kennels in Virginia. Even the Humane Society of the United States<\/a> and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals<\/a> \u2013 two of the nation\u2019s leading animal welfare advocacy groups \u2013 argued that the 47 pit bulls recovered from the facility should be killed because they posed a threat to people and other animals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not for the intervention of Best Friends Animal Society<\/a>, Vick\u2019s dogs would have been euthanized. As the film \u201cChampions<\/a>\u201d recounts, a court-appointed special master<\/a> determined each dog\u2019s fate. Ultimately, nearly all of the dogs were successfully placed in sanctuaries or adoptive homes<\/a>. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5GmJNTRhafI?wmode=transparent&start=0 This 2010 report describes the successful rehabilitation of dogs rescued from Michael Vick\u2019s Bad Newz dogfighting operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debating breed bans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pit bulls still suffer more than any other dogs from the fact that they are a type of dog, not a distinct breed. Once recognized by the American Kennel Club as an American Staffordshire terrier<\/a>, popularly known as an Amstaff, and registered with the United Kennel Club and the American Dog Breeders Association as an American pit bull terrier<\/a>, now any dog characterized as a \u201cpit bull type\u201d can be considered an outlaw<\/a> in many communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in its 2012 Tracey v. Solesky ruling<\/a>, the Maryland Court of Appeals modified the state\u2019s common law in cases involving dog injuries. Any dog containing pit bull genes was \u201cinherently dangerous\u201d as a matter of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This subjected owners and landlords to what the courts call \u201cstrict liability<\/a>.\u201d As the court declared: \u201cWhen an attack involves pit bulls, it is no longer necessary to prove that the particular pit bull or pit bulls are dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissenting from the ruling, Judge Clayton Greene recognized the absurdity of the majority opinion\u2019s \u201cunworkable rule\u201d: \u201cHow much \u2018pit bull,\u2019\u201d he asked, \u201cmust there be in a dog to bring it within the strict liability edict?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s equally unanswerable how to tell when a dog is a pit bull mix. From the shape of its head? Its stance? The way it looks at you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conundrums like these call into question statistics that show pit bulls to be more dangerous than other breeds<\/a>. These figures vary a great deal depending on their sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any statistics about pit bull attacks depend on the definition of a pit bull \u2013 yet it\u2019s really hard to get good dog bite data that accurately IDs the breed<\/a>. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4uEpEAD23Dc?wmode=transparent&start=0 Prince George\u2019s County, Md., is negotiating with advocates suing to revoke the county\u2019s pit bull ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decade, awareness has grown that breed-specific legislation does not make the public safer<\/a> but does penalize responsible owners and their dogs<\/a>. Currently 21 states prohibit local government from enforcing breed-specific legislation or naming specific breeds in dangerous dog laws<\/a>. Maryland passed a law reversing the Tracey ruling in 2014. Yet 15 states still allow local communities to enact breed-specific bans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pit bulls demand a great deal more from humans than some dogs, but alongside their bracing way of being in the world, we humans learn another way of thinking and loving. Compared with many other breeds, they offer a more demanding but always affecting communion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin Dayan<\/a>, Professor of English, Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities, and Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Dayan, Vanderbilt University As recently as 50 years ago, the pit bull was America\u2019s favorite dog. Pit bulls were everywhere. They were popular in advertising and used to promote the joys of pet-and-human friendship. Nipper on the RCA Victor label, Pete the Pup in the \u201cOur Gang\u201d comedy short films, and the flag-wrapped dog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":31616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1862,118],"tags":[501,4760,7240,3074,12781,4756,269,12782,3075,498,7372],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31615"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31622,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31615\/revisions\/31622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}