THE PIT BULL AND THE SANDWICH

The home owner was a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and a short, neatly trimmed white beard . With his golden tan he was quite attractive, reminding me a bit of Kenny Rogers. He had been waiting for me and walked out the door to greet me, a small child was at his side. She was eating a sandwich so I assumed I had interrupted lunch.

He smiled hopefully at me as he was obviously worried. The past month, his light bill had shot up by $300. He really hoped I had a simple answer. I went through some of the standard questions as we stood in the front yard.

Eventually I told him that I wanted to verify his meter reading and to check the disk speed. That way I could tell if what was drawing the excessive amount of power was on right then. His account was flagged that he had a bad pit bull in the back yard so I asked him if it were safe to go back there.

"Riley is aggressive but he won't bother you as long as you are with me." he assured me. "Besides, I have him on a chain because my granddaughter is visiti---"

His sentence broke off and he suddenly looked quickly about him in alarm. His granddaughter who had come out the door with him was nowhere in sight. His face at first showed concerned but then clouded in fear and his panic radiated to me. "Lost child" fills your head when they disappear like that.

"Sandy," he called loudly but calmly. There was no answer.

"Sandy," he again called out, no longer pretending to be calm.

Seeing the gate to the back yard partially open, he ran towards the back yard. This did not look good. I hurried behind him with my pepper spray drawn and feeling a sick dread.

At first we didn't see her, then terror closed my throat. Riley was a really huge pit bull cross. Just his head between his ears was a good 7 inches across. I was guessing he was at least a 60+ pound dog. He was standing spraddle legged over the still body on the ground. His face was inches from her face. She had evidently wandered inside the circle of his chain and he had knocked her to the ground.

Not realizing we were there, the child looked right into his face and with a three year old's petulance said,"This is MY sandwich." She was letting him know in no uncertain terms, she was not sharing.

Her assuming that the dog only wanted her sandwich saved her from what could have been an awful attack. Had she started screaming when he knocked her down, the predator/prey instinct would have taken over and he would have attacked, I have no doubt. I have seen supposedly gentle dogs do that very thing. A child's squeal is too much like wounded prey. It is instinctive and a pit bull, especially one used for hunting hogs, is bred for just such aggression.

The dog appeared to be deciding his next step when the Kenny Rogers look-a-like grabbed him by the collar. He spoke quietly but firmly to the dog as he pulled Riley away from the girl. The dog went with him but kept his eyes locked on the girl.

Calmly he told me to take Sandy out of the yard and lock the gate. She was still clutching her now gritty sandwich as I slowly picked her up. She was curious about me but thankfully oblivious of how close she had come to disaster. It took quite a while for me to stop shaking once we were safe.

Thankfully due to the little girls calmness, nothing happened that day. Riley was eventually sent to another home where there were no children.

I really want to state here that Pit Bulls often get a bad rap. Pit bull is a term commonly used to describe several breeds. The back yard Pit is usually only loosely related to the American Pit Bull Terrier or the Staffordshire Terrier.

Unfortunately the large net of fear covers them all.They can be and often are wonderful family dogs. I have rescued several that I would trust with an infant. I have also rescued some that are totally unpredictable and are down right scary.

Sadly backyard Pits are often bred for the very traits that make them unfit family pets. They are bred for the aggression needed to "catch" a large wild hog which takes them out of the "safe around children" category. They are bred for the aggression needed to fight another dog which takes them out of the "safe for society"category.

The Pit bred to fight other dogs are some of the most abused animals in the US. The fighters are torn to pieces in battle. If they lose and aren't all ready dead, they are destroyed. If rescued, they are considered unadoptable.

The training practices are barbaric. Often those nice "free to good home" dogs advertised in the paper, end up as brief sparing partners for the fighters. They have no chance. I can only ask that you never advertise "free to good home" for any animal unless you really check out the home it is going to. Putting a price on the dog is helpful in deterring the people looking for sparing partners for their fighters or the other sicko's that sell them to laboratories.

Those who participate in dog fighting deserve a pox on them that would make Job's days seem like a picnic. It is not the dogs, it is the people that train the dogs, fight the dogs and even those who stand around cheering, that are disgusting.

I have been seriously attacked by a Pit but that is for a future post. Even considering my attack, as a breed, I find them handsome animals and they do not frighten me. When properly bred and raised, they can be very sweet, loving creatures.

Guess that last sentence kind of applies all of us doesn't it?