Monica Norton
02-28-2005, 08:32 AM
BY AMY SACKS
DAILY NEWS WRITER
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/441-pitbull.JPGLuke Litell and Laura Herbert cuddle with pit bull Roxanne. She was stick thin and filthy when Roxanne was found cowering on an L train in Brooklyn just weeks after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Still, Luke Litell fell instantly in love with the mangy pit bull.
"She ran right between my legs and sat down, wagging her tail wildly and looking up at me with those big brown eyes," said Litell, 31, a music television producer, who lives in the West Village with fiancée Laura Herbert, 33.
Pit bulls are so widely feared, however, the couple thought twice before taking Roxanne home. But they soon found their new pooch to be "a lover, not a fighter," who sleeps on their bed all day and loves to cuddle.
Today, Roxanne is featured as Miss October in the 2005 Unexpected Pit Bull, a whimsical calendar that illustrates through photographs, "the real deal" between local pit bull lovers and their fiercely loyal animals.
The calendar project is the brainchild of Jyotshna Buyyala, 30, of Jersey City, whose goal is to shatter the negative image of the eager-to-please dogs.
Buyyala is donating all of the proceeds to the Liberty Humane Society of Jersey City, where she adopted her rescued pit bull, Savannah.
As the calendar's Miss April, Savannah, 5, posed for photographer Laura Moss alongside Buyyala and her siblings, who dressed in traditional Indian formal wear and jewels.
At the turn of the 20th century, the American pit bull terrier was the country's most popular pet. Petey, the movies Little Rascals' dog, was a pit.
It also is the dog of choice for celebrities who include Mel Brooks, Jon Stewart and Bernadette Peters, who got her two pit bulls from Animal Care & Control's Manhattan shelter.
But today, the pit bull is America's most controversial dog breed. Pit bulls in fact, are not a breed, but several registered breeds and crossbreeds, such as American pit bull terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers, which are registered with the American Kennel Cluband competed in the recent Westminster Dog Show.
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, founder of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts Veterinary Medical School, said it's the dogs' sense of loyalty that has, ironically, helped to weaken the breed.
Bred with high prey drive, when trained as fighting or attack dogs, pit bulls can, in fact, become aggressive - just like any other strong, dominant dog.
The way to break the cycle of violence, Dodman said, is to outlaw backyard breeders and punish people who use them for dog fighting. It has been reported that pit bull dog fights can garner thousands of dollars for their owners.
Carrie Leigh, who has rescued dozens of pit bulls in the Bronx, said many people get the dogs for the wrong reasons and then abandon them on the streets. Fighting dogs that fail to win are dumped, she said, while females, often bred for profit, are tossed away like garbage when they can no longer produce a litter.
The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs annually. Still, pit bulls consistently fall at the bottom of the list of dog bite incidents behind German shepherds, Cocker spaniels, chows and other popular breeds.
While pit bulls always make the list of most lethal dogs bites, the vast majority of them are gentle as a lamb. In fact, in a recent study by the American Temperament Test Society of 122 breeds, the pit bull achieved a passing rate of 84 %.
Sadly, in 2004, the city's Animal Care & Control shelters took in 6,002 stray, abandoned or abused pit bulls, and almost 5,000 of them were euthanized.
Once intimidated by pit bulls, Litell and Herbert are thrilled to have found Roxanne. Said Litell, "I doubt either of us could imagine our lives without her." To order the Unexpected Pit Bull calendar ($4.99), go to www.unexpectedpitbull.com. To inquire about adopting a pit bull - or other dog - from the AC&C, see www.nycacc.org.
DAILY NEWS WRITER
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/441-pitbull.JPGLuke Litell and Laura Herbert cuddle with pit bull Roxanne. She was stick thin and filthy when Roxanne was found cowering on an L train in Brooklyn just weeks after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Still, Luke Litell fell instantly in love with the mangy pit bull.
"She ran right between my legs and sat down, wagging her tail wildly and looking up at me with those big brown eyes," said Litell, 31, a music television producer, who lives in the West Village with fiancée Laura Herbert, 33.
Pit bulls are so widely feared, however, the couple thought twice before taking Roxanne home. But they soon found their new pooch to be "a lover, not a fighter," who sleeps on their bed all day and loves to cuddle.
Today, Roxanne is featured as Miss October in the 2005 Unexpected Pit Bull, a whimsical calendar that illustrates through photographs, "the real deal" between local pit bull lovers and their fiercely loyal animals.
The calendar project is the brainchild of Jyotshna Buyyala, 30, of Jersey City, whose goal is to shatter the negative image of the eager-to-please dogs.
Buyyala is donating all of the proceeds to the Liberty Humane Society of Jersey City, where she adopted her rescued pit bull, Savannah.
As the calendar's Miss April, Savannah, 5, posed for photographer Laura Moss alongside Buyyala and her siblings, who dressed in traditional Indian formal wear and jewels.
At the turn of the 20th century, the American pit bull terrier was the country's most popular pet. Petey, the movies Little Rascals' dog, was a pit.
It also is the dog of choice for celebrities who include Mel Brooks, Jon Stewart and Bernadette Peters, who got her two pit bulls from Animal Care & Control's Manhattan shelter.
But today, the pit bull is America's most controversial dog breed. Pit bulls in fact, are not a breed, but several registered breeds and crossbreeds, such as American pit bull terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers, which are registered with the American Kennel Cluband competed in the recent Westminster Dog Show.
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, founder of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts Veterinary Medical School, said it's the dogs' sense of loyalty that has, ironically, helped to weaken the breed.
Bred with high prey drive, when trained as fighting or attack dogs, pit bulls can, in fact, become aggressive - just like any other strong, dominant dog.
The way to break the cycle of violence, Dodman said, is to outlaw backyard breeders and punish people who use them for dog fighting. It has been reported that pit bull dog fights can garner thousands of dollars for their owners.
Carrie Leigh, who has rescued dozens of pit bulls in the Bronx, said many people get the dogs for the wrong reasons and then abandon them on the streets. Fighting dogs that fail to win are dumped, she said, while females, often bred for profit, are tossed away like garbage when they can no longer produce a litter.
The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs annually. Still, pit bulls consistently fall at the bottom of the list of dog bite incidents behind German shepherds, Cocker spaniels, chows and other popular breeds.
While pit bulls always make the list of most lethal dogs bites, the vast majority of them are gentle as a lamb. In fact, in a recent study by the American Temperament Test Society of 122 breeds, the pit bull achieved a passing rate of 84 %.
Sadly, in 2004, the city's Animal Care & Control shelters took in 6,002 stray, abandoned or abused pit bulls, and almost 5,000 of them were euthanized.
Once intimidated by pit bulls, Litell and Herbert are thrilled to have found Roxanne. Said Litell, "I doubt either of us could imagine our lives without her." To order the Unexpected Pit Bull calendar ($4.99), go to www.unexpectedpitbull.com. To inquire about adopting a pit bull - or other dog - from the AC&C, see www.nycacc.org.