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Out of all the physically attractive, cuddly breeds of dogs in the world, why would anyone choose an ugly, un-cuddly dog like a pit-bull? A dog selectively bred for generations to fight other dogs and bears? A dog which empties an off-leash area in record time, makes people shun their owners, and involves a huge liability risk?

In the press recently pit-bulls have now reached Victimhood status. “They are misunderstood, they only need the love of a good person (generally a woman) in order to become rehabilitated and reveal their essential goodness benefiting the individual rehabilitating them, and society in general,” is the essence of the media message.

It seems that a recurring archetype is behind this phenomenon, namely Beauty and The Beast. In Western literature, the Beauty and the Beast archetype is played out in a number of fairy tales: obviously La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), in Beatrice and Benedict in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, in Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and in Jane and Mr. Rochester in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

Each of these heroines represents a marginalized woman, not completely accepted by the society in which she lives, because of some culturally defined handicap, and therefore has no status within her milieu, resulting in diminished marriage potential. Violence is the trait the “beast-men” all have in common. The woman’s status is reversed when she tames the violence in the beast. She, thereby, scores off other women, by demonstrating that her sexual allure is greater than theirs. The “beast man” still strikes fear into everybody else, except the woman who has rehabilitated him. Mr. Darcy’s demeanor curbs the contemptuous behavior, directed towards Elizabeth, by the Bingley sisters, Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

The Beauty and the Beast archetype is being expressed by modern victimized women in the new fad of cheerleading for pit-bulls. Like Mr. Darcy, a pit-bull can be used to enhance one’s self-esteem, as a status symbol among women, and to intimidate the rest of society.”

Ellen Taft

http://www.capitolhilltimes.com/2012/08/beauty-and-the-pitbull/

Oh my, how foolish I have been, because what is stated above is obviously the reason for my love of the breed, it obviously has nothing to do with the fact that this breed is more loyal, loving, devoted, fun loving and affectionate than any other breed I’ve ever worked with.

Seriously?

These dogs are beautiful and the reason so many women love and advocate them is because they have seen all the good in the breed and are fed up with them being victimised just so that people can sell papers, looks ‘tough’ or have a scape goat that they can blame. It has nothing to do with the feeling of ‘taming a beast’ because these dogs aren’t ‘beasts’, if raised right from a puppy they retain their clown nature, if rehabiliated after being used for fighting or abused, it still is not ‘taming a beast’, it’s simply teaching them that they can trust us and that they do not need to be afraid, patching them up and building them up again to perfect health. So many of these dogs still love anyone they meet regardless of the fact that many have every right not to, have every right to show aggression.

Some peoples ignorance and plain stupidity annoys me. People who rescue, rehabilitate and advocate this breed do not do it for their image or for the thrill of ‘taming’ an animal, they do it because these dogs deserve to be given a second chance, because they do not deserve the hate and abuse that surrounds them, because they love this breed and know that if people just gave them a chance then they would too. We do it for the dogs, there is no other reason, we do not need any other reason.

They love us unconditionally, despite all our flaws and all that people have done against them, we are simply returning the favour.

I’m aware that I haven’t posted in a while, have had a lot of things going on in my home life and I only recently got back from South Africa but anyway, those are stories for another time.

I met a bloke in town today with a Staffie, the dog was gorgeous, a sweet little old thing that just wiggled at everyone and everything that went past her. She had some wounds on her muzzle that she acquired when she attacked by a feral cat that she had been trying to run up and say hello to. Seeing the way that people reacted to her made me realise just how much people rely on first impressions and how ingrained these impressions can become. I got some of the dirtiest looks ever when I took my 2 year old neice over to see the dog, she loves animal and had been shouting about how she wanted to go and see the ‘doggie’ as soon as she saw her. The Staffie loved it just as much as she did and promptly decided that my neice obviously needed a slobber bath which Keira was more than happy to recieve.

Despite the fact that she is a member of my family and has listened to my ramblings and rants about Bull Terriers, my sister-in-law is still unsure about the breeds but even she fell in love with this dog and was more than happy to come and say hello to her. We got talking to the owner and he told us about the abuse that he has recieved over the years that he has had her, but he also told us about the support he has recieved from other Bully lovers and the peoples whos minds have been changed by him and his canine companion.

There are a lot of people out there that think that people that like or own Bull Terrier breeds are only a minority but they are wrong, there are so many of us and you will find within our ‘community’ that there is a huge amount of support, whether it be fostering, re-homing or simply talking and being there for each other. We are all brought together by our love for these dog. They are beautiful animals, loving, caring, doting, determined, loyal, devoted, they are a symbol of loyalty and strength and you will often find that these traits are also shown by the people that love and care for them.

To a lot of people, a dog is just a dog, if that animal is taken away there are sadly a lot of people that would just go out and buy another one. There are so many people however that have owned dogs, not only of Bull Terrier breeds, that have been taken away wrongfully, and these people fight tooth and nail to get them back. They fight for these animals freedom, for their right to a fair justice system, for their lives, and these people are backed by hundreds or thousands even, of people who also want the same thing. People that have never met or spoken to each other, that do not live in the same country or continent even, people that may not even speak the same language. If so many people can come together to support one family, to free one animal, or to help it heal and find a home where it can recieve the love that it deserves, if our voices are loud enough to be heard all around the world for one cause, then why is it that it is somehow not loud enough for governments worldwide to hear? Why have they all not heard our pleas yet and ended BSL for good?

Because impressions still stand. These impressions that are fuelled by the media and uneducated people are the reasons why BSL still exists and why governments and the law still allows these injustices to occur. With all the differences we have all made however, with all the lives we have changed, saved, we can do this. It is a hard road, it always will be and there will be losses along the way, ones that will break our hearts and tear us apart, but if we all carry on fighting, I believe we can make that difference, and that one day we will be able to look down into those large, love filled eyes without feeling that niggling fear in the back of our minds of ‘will those eyes still look like that when they come to take her/him away’, ‘how hard will I have to fight to get her/him back?’, ‘how far or fast will I have to run to keep her/him by my side’, ‘what will I do if I lose him/her?’, ‘how will explain it to my children?’, ‘how do I tell them their best friend is never coming home?’.

Until that day comes we are going to have one hell of a fight, we already are, and it breaks my heart to think of all of the people that have already paid the cost, who have already lived through those questions and who have seen the answers, who have already had their hearts broken and their families ripped apart. Every single soul that has lost the fight and been taken away by BSL will be remembered and I’m sure will be there to celebrate with us when our breeds are finally safe and we can live without the fear of losing them.

Well I said that I would be back with more ridiculous Pitbull myths that I can correct and just basically rip apart, so here I am.
Now, let us begin.

• Fighting Pitbulls can never be trusted and are too dangerous to re-home or become a part of society.

Have you not heard of the Vicktory dogs? These dogs were…well abused is too light a word, I think tortured would suit it better, by Michael Vick. But thanks to people like Brandon Bond these dogs have been saved, given a second chance and most importantly re-homed and given the chance to show what amazing pets they can be, and they have.
These dogs had every right to hate people after what they went through, but none of them do, I’ve seen many dogs of many different breeds snap for less.
The sad reality is that in the dog fighting world, any dog that turns on it’s handler is killed or abandoned. If anything, most ex-fighting dogs have an extremely good temperament, they are so full of love, they just need someone to give it to and who will return it whole heartedly.

• Once they’ve bitten once you can guarantee that they will do it again.

Well no. What was the reason for the first bite? Around 99% of dog bites and attacks are fear based, there is only a very small percentage that are a form of dominant aggression and nearly all, somewhere along the line, could have been prevented if the right signals were picked up on.
The problem is that people automatically blame the dog and see the other parties involved as completely innocent.
If I were to ever get bitten by a dog, I know that it would almost certainly be in response to something I had done along with other factors in the situation.
I’m afraid to say that somewhere along the line, no matter how far in the past it may be and whether we are aware of it or not, a human would have been to blame for planting the initial seeds that caused the aforementioned bite or attack.
We created dogs to follow us, we gave them the traits that we desired and moulded them to bond to us from the moment their eyes open for the first time. The large variety of jobs and actions we can get these animals to do is proof of how attuned to us they are. We can make these dogs into whatever we want, search and rescue, therapy dog, or a fighter. To become these things they have to be trained and yes sometimes we do it wrong but that doesn’t mean that if they react badly and lash out once that they will automatically do it again.
My parents dog bit my sister when we were younger, it was get own fault as he was trying to eat something he wasn’t meant to and she was trying to get it off of him. That doesn’t mean that he’s automatically going to bite again, and incidentally he hasn’t and he’s now 10.
No breed has a natural disposition that would cause it to automatically cause it to attack again after am initial bite. It’s as simple as that.

• A Pitbulls brain doesn’t stop growing and as a result of the brain pressing against the skull, the dogs go insane and become extremely aggressive.

……….Well what can I say other than your stupidity hurts my brain? I mean really? Have you run out of ideas so your throwing a load of completely rubbish together in the spur of the moment?
Brain and skull wise there is no growth difference than any other breed. They have quite large and bulky heads, which are actually quite common in the Bull Terrier breeds and a very recognisable trait, they are also extremely intelligent and yes they do have fair sized brains, but they don’t constantly grow, even the mere idea is completely ridiculous.

• The breed is bred only for fighting.

No. That is the simple answer to that. Yes there are people that breed them just for that, with the breeding of any animal of any species you will always get those that do not do it for the right reasons, but there are many that do.
When it comes to the breeders of Pitbulls and other Bully breeds, many responsible breeders ensure that their pups are going only to good homes where they will be the much loved family pets they were intended to be.

• Pitbulls have the strongest bite force of all canines.

Well let’s look at this objectively.
- American Pitbull Terriers can have a bite force of 235 lbs
- Dutch Shepherds can have a bite force of 224-230 lbs
- German Shepherds can have a bite force of 238 lbs
- American Bulldogs can have a bite force of 305 lbs
- African Wild Dogs can have a bite force of 317 lbs
- Rottweilers can have a bite force of 328 lbs
- Wolves can have a bite force if up to 406 lbs
- Mastiffs can have a bite force of 556 lbs
- Turkish Kangals can have a bite force of up to 743 lbs

The last dog mentioned, a Kangal is thought to have the largest bite force and has been seen taking on lions in a fairly even fight. So for the aforementioned theory, no Pitbulls do not have the highest bite force of all canines.

• When Pitbulls attack they never give any warning.

All canines give warnings before attacking or snapping, you just have to be smart enough to see them or know what your looking for.
I worked with socialised wolves for a short period of time and I noticed that in terms of behaviour, the domestic dog really is like a diluted version of a wolf. Wolves rely heavily on behaviour and signals and as such are very expressive because all of their social bonds rely on it.
Dogs on the other hand can be much more subtle.
There are always exceptions to the rule and there are dogs, usually with neurological problems, that do attack without any warning, but this is not predisposed by the breed of dog.

• Pitbulls are incapable of feeling pain.

Really? Do you hears that Pitbull yelling when you kick it? See them cower away from the person that has been abusing it? Watched as it limped when it tried to walk?
All those are signs that these dogs clearly DO feel pain.
The amount of pain a dog can endure will differ with each individual, just as it does with humans but they certainly do feel pain and to be perfectly honest, your playing it dumb if you think otherwise.

Oh and just as a little side note to all of the sicko’s out there - Thinking that Pitbulls don’t feel pain doesn’t give you a credible excuse for what your doing!

Did you know that Bull Terrier breeds are thought to be the most highly abused of all the breeds in the entire world?
Kinda makes you sad doesn’t it? Especially when you see how much love they give to us willingly.
We really don’t deserve to be given hearts as pure as theirs.

Anyways, that’s me done on this post for today, catch you all later!

So…

I’m not entirely sure what to write here, I hate these first posts, once your started it’s fine, it’s just the getting started that is often the problem.

Well I might as well start as I mean to go on…by rambling on about random crap and opinions that no-one else really wants to listen to or actually cares about.

Well then…let’s begin.

My name is actually Niki, despite what my username on here says, well actually it’s Nikita but I can’t stand that name. I’m not entirely sure why, I’ve never really liked it. I guess part of it could be the fact that you physically can’t say my full name without sounding vaguely posh and trust me, I am far from that.

I would much rather have a name like Sitara Rose, although that doesn’t really make a lot of sense seen as technically that is another name that you cannot say without sounding posh as well, still it does seem like the better of the two options in my opinion.

“If Nothing Else, I Want To Be Remembered As The Girl Who Gave Her Life To And For Her Dogs” - I believe that that was what I wrote on my main page. To those who don’t know, which is pretty much anyone that hasn’t spoken to me for more than 5 seconds, I love dogs…well all canines really but mainly dogs, and out of all of those dog breeds, mainly Bull Terriers.

Pitbulls, Staffies, English Bully’s, I can’t help it, I love all of them. Hence the aforementioned quote, which I wrote myself by the way, just in case anyone was wondering, which I highly doubt. Anyway, my goal in life…well it’s not really a goal as such…well actually I suppose it is…Maybe I should reword that. What I am devoting my life to, is opening my own Bull Terrier rescue centre. I suppose you could class it as a goal really, it is just a goal that I will reach no matter the cost.

A lot of people have asked me why I love these dogs so much and I don’t really have a proper answer. Well I do, my first day at my work placement and I was asked to play in the field with a dog named Cadbury, so I agreed and the next thing I knew they were walking down the yard with a Pitbull that was wearing a muzzle that made him look like Hannibal Lecter. I was brought up being told that these dogs were dangerous so I naturally thought that I was going to die, but the time it took them to walk down the small path and leave me completely alone with him minus a muzzle, he had legged it across the field, found a football and lobbed it at my feet. When they came back 3/4 of an hour later, I was sprawled on the grass with him lying across me and I had fallen completely in love.

Every time I went there afterwards I made sure to work with all of the different Bull Terriers and I found that Cadbury wasn’t just a one off. These dogs weren’t the monsters that I had read about in the papers, they were beautiful, loving and compassionate animals that wanted nothing more than a kind word and a scratch behind the ear. The more time I spent with those dogs, the more I fell in love with them and their breed, and became the girl that you see today.

As sad and pathetic as it is, these dogs are my life, I would do and give anything for them and I can honestly say, that the only thing that I can see for definite in my future, is them. If I don’t have them, I don’t have anything and I honestly feel as if I would lose my purpose in life. Opening my rescue centre is all I want to do with my life, it’s all that I’m working towards and I want to change peoples hearts and minds and show everyone that the picture that the media paints, and the real one, are completely different.

I know that I am going to face a lot of opposition and I don’t expect to change the world, but if I can change the mind of just one person, get them to give these dogs a chance, then that will be good enough for me. In my centre I will be taking in dogs from all the Bull Terrier breeds and from all different backgrounds, including ex-fighters, I will rehabilitate them and where possible re-home them. Those that I cannot re-home, for whatever reason, will stay with me. The best dogs, both my own and those up for adoption, will be taken out into the community to try and dispell the myths, lies and hysteria that surround these so that I can show people that they are no different than any other breed. A dog is a dog is a dog, and it is only as good as you raise it to be.

There are people out there that have every right to dislike the breed personally, but that doesn’t mean that the whole breed should be slaughtered. The acts of a few should not condem the whole. If the entire breed of dog was bad or dangerous then don’t you think they would be banned world wide? And that there wouldn’t be hundreds of Pitbull that work as therapy dogs in the States?

The laws as they stand condemn all dogs of the Pitbull ‘type’, so basically anything that looks like a Bull Terrier. Even if you dog has no Bull Terrier of any kind in it whatsoever, it can be taken and destroyed. Puppies that haven’t even opened their eyes yet are deemed as dangerous and blood thirsty monsters and are slaughtered with the rest

No matter how you look at it, it is wrong, and the sooner they scrap the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and bring in some decent canine based legislation, the better. At the end of the day, a dog is only as good as you make it, and if you want to see the true monsters in the horror stories you read in the paper, then you want to take a look at the creature holding the other end of the leash, because that is the only monster that you will see there.

When they were creating the Bull Terrier breeds they were looking for a dog that they could fight at night, but take home to be a family pet during the day. When fighting a dog you are dealing with them in high levels of pain, fear and aggression, you can not fight a dog that will potentially turn on you at that time. When breeding, dogs that even so much as growled at their handler were often beaten to death and were certainly never bred from. As a result, they ended up with a breed with an impecible temperament, one that would never turn on humans but was aggressive towards their own kin and other animals.

These dogs don’t just see humans as someone who provides food and warmth, to a Bull Terrier you are their life. They love completely and unconditionally, forgive completely regardless of what you do to them, are completely devoted to their owner and will do anything to please them. They would lay down their life in a second for their family and the ones that they love. Unfortunately, the wrong people want them for these reasons, they have taken and manipulated these traits that 100 years ago had the Bull Terrier as the poster dog for America and the most trusted family pet in England, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier even bore the name of the ‘Nanny dog’ because of it’s love, devotion and gentleness with children. The dogs have not changed in this time, they remain the same in everything they do, it is society that has changed.

They gave their all, poured their heart and soul into serving us and we have repaid them by turning our backs and condemming them all. The slaughter and the bloodshed must end, and it must end soon before it is too late and we lose an ally and friend with the purest of hearts. These dogs should not be made to suffer for the sins of man.

People need to open their eyes to see what lies before them before the loss becomes greater than just one breed. Once the Bull Terriers are gone it will be the turn of the Rottweiler, then the Doberman, the Mastiffs, the Boxer, the Bulldogs, the German Shepherd, the Spaniel, the Labrador, the working dogs, the toy breeds. This will not stop until as a species, Canis Lupus Familiaris, the dog, is all but extinct. Destroying one breed that society claims is dangerous will not protect people or reduce the number of dog attacks and bites, the only thing that will change, will be the breed of dog villainized by the media. The only way to protect the public and reduce the number of dog bites is to crack down and bring in legislation that focusses on the owners, because whilst the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 stands and BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) is still in place, all you will find is empty hearts, broken families and tears shed for the one torn from the arms of their loved ones, prosecuted and murdered for a crime that they did not commit.

Anyway, that is my rant officially over! ^_^