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Post by RealPitBull on Jun 20, 2013 17:09:39 GMT -5
cuz hey, we sure wouldn't want to tarnish the name of good "pit bull type dogs" with those nasty "breed traits", would we.
Ugh so sick of "breed advocacy". Ready to crawl into my cave now.
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Post by Kim Wolf on Jun 20, 2013 17:40:25 GMT -5
When I hear the phrase, "don't make assumptions about breed," I interpret it to mean something different -- or at least, I use that phrase to mean something different. In what context are you hearing this used?
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Post by RealPitBull on Jun 20, 2013 18:07:21 GMT -5
I'm hearing it used to praise up dogs without breed traits (i.e laid back, dog-friendly, non drivey, "couch potato" types. It just gets frustrating when the breed I love is having backs turned on it left and right by people who claim to be advocating for it.
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Post by RealPitBull on Jun 20, 2013 18:10:09 GMT -5
It's all about dumbing down the dogs and trying to steer clear of "scary" traits that make the breed what it is in order to convince people BSL is the wrong thing. As opposed to shooting down BSL because it's just sh*tty policy.
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Post by michele5611 on Jun 20, 2013 18:32:03 GMT -5
When I hear the phrase, "don't make assumptions about breed," I interpret it to mean something different -- or at least, I use that phrase to mean something different. In what context are you hearing this used? What does that mean to you? |
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Post by Kim Wolf on Jun 20, 2013 19:08:21 GMT -5
When I hear the phrase, "don't make assumptions about breed," I interpret it to mean something different -- or at least, I use that phrase to mean something different. In what context are you hearing this used? What does that mean to you? I use the phrase, "Don't make assumptions about breed" in 2 different contexts: (1) If you don't know what breed mix a dog is, don't assume you can guess just by looking at its appearance and piecing together body parts (e.g., "That's a beagle/chihuahua mix"). (2) Even if you do know a dog is a purebred <<insert breed>>, don't assume you know how he/she will behave in a given situation or environment based on breed alone. With purebred dogs, breed should be taken into account. But in making adoption/owner matches, breed alone is not enough. You have to look at the whole dog, the whole situation, and the whole human-canine relationship. I agree with Mary that when advocates promote the "good" pit bulls as the ones that love everything that breathes, just want to sit around, and are basically your generic easy dogs, it implies that pit bulls who aren't like that are somehow "bad." To me, this applies to any breed or mix, but the stakes are higher with pit bulls since they're the most commonly targeted dogs. As I'm sure you know, I'm not motivated by a desire to preserve breed traits (though I'm not opposed to it either -- it's just not my motivation). But I think we all agree that it's not helpful to throw some dogs under the bus just because they're exhibiting normal dog behaviors for the species, and in some cases, for the breed. |
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Post by RealPitBull on Jun 21, 2013 7:56:52 GMT -5
Thank you for clarifying how you see the phrase, Kim.
I can't speak for EVERYONE, but I CAN speak for RPB - every dog in our world has always been taken for who and what he/she is. It's not like we look at a dog and go, "OK, that's a Pit Bull. That means the dog is going to chase small animals, want to eat cats, fight other dogs, is going to be SUPER INSANELY FRIENDLY AND TOLERANT to all people, never ever growl or bite, be super athletic, and an all around great working dog with endless drive and a can-do attitude. BOOM! FINISHED! Place that dog!"
The reason we have such an extensive eval process is that we want to get to know the dog and make sure the dog is what we know and expect a Pit Bull to be (the MAIN thing is a dog that is bomb-proof with people. That's it!). And NO we don't want dog-aggressive Pit Bulls. We don't seek out dog-aggressive Pit Bulls because we think that's what the breed "should" be. But we've been working with these dogs long enough to KNOW how they TEND to be, and we can make certain guesses about the likelihood of certain behaviors popping up down the road. So just because we have a nice dog in foster for 6 months that's gotten along with every dog great, doesn't mean we are going to place it in a same-sex household and give the adoptive home free reign to go hang out at the local dog park. That dog is going home with standard issue info about interdog aggression and dog-sensitivity in the breed.
People who do "random short-coated stocky dog rescue" under the guise of Pit Bull rescue and advocacy work can "not assume" all they want. But when they insist on using the term "pit bull" they are hurting those of us actually working with a real dog breed with predictable behavioral inclinations and are making our jobs harder. Those that are so averse to talking about breed specifics would really do well to quit the charade that they are working FOR some specific breed when they certainly are NOT.
Just stop using the term "pit bull" period. People can say they are a dog advocate opposed to BSL and placing dogs that are medium-sized with short hair and a stocky build - these could be Boxers, Labs, mastiff breeds, bull breeds, bull-and-terrier breeds, random mutts or who-knows-what-breed, mixes of any or all of the above. Just STOP USING THE TERM "PIT BULL".
Everything SPECIFIC about OUR dogs is derided and WE are told we are "wrong" and "hurting the dogs" by daring to educate about OUR breed. (We talk about generalities on our site - specifics about what normal, sound Pit Bulls are - AFF had a problem with that; I actually had a conference call with them over providing education about the breed. Come on, now. There is a balance between presenting alarmist dogman propaganda from the past and totally dropping any notion that there is anything specific about Pit Bulls at all.)
Meanwhile, people in the "don't assume/all dogs are individuals/never can tell if it's a Pit Bull/everything is a pit bull" camp are doing everything in their power to pretend Pit Bulls are some mythical creature with no predictable traits that NO one could possibly identify unless they had papers and a pedigree in their hand.
/end rant.
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Post by michele5611 on Jun 21, 2013 8:17:22 GMT -5
Appreciate the explanation Kim. As part of RPB I think it goes without saying that Mary and I are on the same page.
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I look forward to learning much here