An Unlikely Rescue for Pit Bulls

[RealPitBull]

www.newsweek.com/id/105634

[emilys]

so Mary, what do you think about all this "wow these fighting dogs are so dog friendly" articles?

The AP story is wonderful, and there are many similarly tearjerking stories (just do a news.google.com search for "Vick dogs") especially those featuring "Hector"(who was the dog Diane Jessup got briefly) and "Lucas"

We all know it's not impossible... though it does seem highly unlikely that ALL the Vick dogs are dog-social. (Best Friends is only showing a very few of the 20 that they got; the couple of outgoing ones like Lucas, and one or 2 sadly still shut down and fearful ones.)

Still, I'm wondering if this is good for pit bull rescue in the long run... is the expectation going to be built that pit bulls can only be rescued... or deserve to be rescued?

I think it's fabulous that the Vick dogs got saved, particularly in light of HSUS/PETA, the scumbags.

But there's a dangerous double edge sword here.

[RealPitBull]

I agree with the double edge sword thing. I have no problem stating that I believe Pit Bulls are a dog aggressive breed, PERIOD. This appears to be an attitude that is slowly but surely losing popularity, even among people who should know better. So where's this gonna lead us? I am also worried because my initial faith that these dogs would be handled/placed by extremely competent people has dwindled. So what if one of these dogs ends up attacking another dog, or a cat or some other animal? Not because they are "fighting" dogs but because they are Pit Bulls, or really just dogs in general.

I want the public to have the opportunity to see that Pit Bulls, and fighting dogs in particular, are not monsters. But I am nervous about too fluffy a picture being painted. I guess we'll have to see how this pans out. I'm very curious...and hopefully cautious in my optimism.