Marty
06-25-2005, 06:15 PM
Santa Cruz, CA -- Isabelle wants a hug.
Wrinkles appear on her broad, black and white head while she waits for a sign from owner and pit bull advocate Christine Allen.
Eventually, the 55-pound dog is allowed on to the couch and Allen’s lap.
"They want to be touched all the time," Allen says of those belonging to Isabelle’s breed.
As South Bay representative for BAD RAP — Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls — Allen teaches pit bull owners about their dogs, and provides foster care for shelter dwellers she believes are adoptable but slated to be euthanized.
Pit bulls, the Corralitos resident says, "are athletic, loyal, goofy dogs."
Those who have seen the tenaciousness and force exhibited during an attack by one of the big-headed dogs, however, tend to use very different adjectives: aggressive, vicious, scary.
A series of Bay Area incidents involving pit bulls — including one this week in which a dog maimed an 8-year-old Santa Rosa girl and her mother, and another in which a dog killed a 12-year-old San Francisco boy — has done nothing to improve the reputation of the jowly, muscular dogs.
The recent attacks have prompted lawmakers to draft a proposed bill targeting pit bulls and their owners. Senate Bill 861, sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, would allow local governments to craft animal-control laws aimed at specific dog breeds.
State laws currently do not allow the singling out of specific dog breeds.
Allen says the bill does not address the root cause of the problem: uncontrolled breeding practices.
"The reason we’re seeing so many problem pit bulls," she says, "is because there are so many pit bulls."
"The mistaken notion is that it’s all in how you raise them," she says. "That is not the case."
A San Francisco task force appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom recently reported that 70 percent of unwanted dogs found in Bay Area shelters were pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
Mass breeding facilities, like one in the East Bay, turn out up to 200,000 pit bulls per year, Allen says, and "don’t spay/neuter, don’t care about temperament, and don’t do health testing."
The spay/neuter part is where most animal experts and advocates agree that solutions must start.
Santa Cruz County has had a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance in place for 12 years. Pit bulls can be spayed or neutered free of charge, says Lisa Carter of the Santa Cruz SPCA, "because of their sheer numbers in our shelters."
The policy not only cuts down on the number of unwanted animals, it makes the altered animals less aggressive. In 85 percent of dog attacks, Carter says, the attacking animal has not been spayed or neutered.
Richard Steffen, staff director for Speier, says wording of the proposed dog breed legislation is likely to be amended to more narrowly address breeding practices.
"We’ve talked to about 20 animal groups and some victims, and we’ve got studies and the whole thing," Steffen says. Through the process, he says he has learned that requiring specific breeds to be spayed/neutered would get the most leverage with most of the parties close to the issue.
"We’re trying to strike a happy medium," Steffen says.
The proposed bill is slated for a hearing Wednesday.
Santa Cruz is among only a few counties in the state that does not automatically euthanize pit bulls.
"They have a bad reputation because a lot of the people who choose that breed are bad owners," Carter says. "It’s a very sad situation."
Allen agrees there’s a sizable camp within the pit bull owner world attracted to pit bulls because of their bad reputation. Those owners, she says, tend to be irresponsible about selecting their dogs, handling their dogs, and "pimping them" — a practice that produces future generations of aggressive animals.
"Obviously, there are shady, awful pit bulls out there," she says — an admission that pains her because of her affection for nicer members of the breed. But, she says, "it is an aberration to have pit bulls going after people."
The original pit bulls were bred as fighting dogs, according to an SPCA primer on the breed. The bulldog-terrier mixes were deliberately fearless, with a high tolerance for pain. They tended to be aggressive toward other dogs but extremely tolerant and docile with humans.
Allen says she is careful with Isabelle, who she says plays nicely with dogs she knows, but is wary of unfamiliar dogs.
She doesn’t worry about the dog’s regard for people. Five months into a pregnancy, Allen says she is confident Isabelle will be a great companion for her baby.
In fact, Isabelle just passed the "Canine Good Citizen" test sponsored by the American Kennel Club.
"She loves to be picked up," Allen says of the 5-year-old adopted dog. "I dress her up, I paint her toenails. She doesn’t care; she loves the attention."
If it weren’t for a lab mix she also owns, Allen says she’d have to get an alarm system for her house.
"This dog would just make friends with any stranger," she says.
Contact Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@santacruzsentinel.com.
Wrinkles appear on her broad, black and white head while she waits for a sign from owner and pit bull advocate Christine Allen.
Eventually, the 55-pound dog is allowed on to the couch and Allen’s lap.
"They want to be touched all the time," Allen says of those belonging to Isabelle’s breed.
As South Bay representative for BAD RAP — Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls — Allen teaches pit bull owners about their dogs, and provides foster care for shelter dwellers she believes are adoptable but slated to be euthanized.
Pit bulls, the Corralitos resident says, "are athletic, loyal, goofy dogs."
Those who have seen the tenaciousness and force exhibited during an attack by one of the big-headed dogs, however, tend to use very different adjectives: aggressive, vicious, scary.
A series of Bay Area incidents involving pit bulls — including one this week in which a dog maimed an 8-year-old Santa Rosa girl and her mother, and another in which a dog killed a 12-year-old San Francisco boy — has done nothing to improve the reputation of the jowly, muscular dogs.
The recent attacks have prompted lawmakers to draft a proposed bill targeting pit bulls and their owners. Senate Bill 861, sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, would allow local governments to craft animal-control laws aimed at specific dog breeds.
State laws currently do not allow the singling out of specific dog breeds.
Allen says the bill does not address the root cause of the problem: uncontrolled breeding practices.
"The reason we’re seeing so many problem pit bulls," she says, "is because there are so many pit bulls."
"The mistaken notion is that it’s all in how you raise them," she says. "That is not the case."
A San Francisco task force appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom recently reported that 70 percent of unwanted dogs found in Bay Area shelters were pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
Mass breeding facilities, like one in the East Bay, turn out up to 200,000 pit bulls per year, Allen says, and "don’t spay/neuter, don’t care about temperament, and don’t do health testing."
The spay/neuter part is where most animal experts and advocates agree that solutions must start.
Santa Cruz County has had a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance in place for 12 years. Pit bulls can be spayed or neutered free of charge, says Lisa Carter of the Santa Cruz SPCA, "because of their sheer numbers in our shelters."
The policy not only cuts down on the number of unwanted animals, it makes the altered animals less aggressive. In 85 percent of dog attacks, Carter says, the attacking animal has not been spayed or neutered.
Richard Steffen, staff director for Speier, says wording of the proposed dog breed legislation is likely to be amended to more narrowly address breeding practices.
"We’ve talked to about 20 animal groups and some victims, and we’ve got studies and the whole thing," Steffen says. Through the process, he says he has learned that requiring specific breeds to be spayed/neutered would get the most leverage with most of the parties close to the issue.
"We’re trying to strike a happy medium," Steffen says.
The proposed bill is slated for a hearing Wednesday.
Santa Cruz is among only a few counties in the state that does not automatically euthanize pit bulls.
"They have a bad reputation because a lot of the people who choose that breed are bad owners," Carter says. "It’s a very sad situation."
Allen agrees there’s a sizable camp within the pit bull owner world attracted to pit bulls because of their bad reputation. Those owners, she says, tend to be irresponsible about selecting their dogs, handling their dogs, and "pimping them" — a practice that produces future generations of aggressive animals.
"Obviously, there are shady, awful pit bulls out there," she says — an admission that pains her because of her affection for nicer members of the breed. But, she says, "it is an aberration to have pit bulls going after people."
The original pit bulls were bred as fighting dogs, according to an SPCA primer on the breed. The bulldog-terrier mixes were deliberately fearless, with a high tolerance for pain. They tended to be aggressive toward other dogs but extremely tolerant and docile with humans.
Allen says she is careful with Isabelle, who she says plays nicely with dogs she knows, but is wary of unfamiliar dogs.
She doesn’t worry about the dog’s regard for people. Five months into a pregnancy, Allen says she is confident Isabelle will be a great companion for her baby.
In fact, Isabelle just passed the "Canine Good Citizen" test sponsored by the American Kennel Club.
"She loves to be picked up," Allen says of the 5-year-old adopted dog. "I dress her up, I paint her toenails. She doesn’t care; she loves the attention."
If it weren’t for a lab mix she also owns, Allen says she’d have to get an alarm system for her house.
"This dog would just make friends with any stranger," she says.
Contact Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@santacruzsentinel.com.