MI: pit bull therapy dog picked to serve as StubbyDog Superhero Squad ambassador

Chelsea pit bull therapy dog picked to serve as StubbyDog Superhero Squad ambassador

Published: Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By Amy Bell For The News-Herald



Peaches, the only pit bull therapy dog in southeast Michigan, is now a member of an elite squad aiming to re-educate people throughout the nation and dispel myths surrounding pit bulls.

Peaches and her owner, Emily Douglas, live in Chelsea and are now members of the inaugural StubbyDog Superhero Squad, a group of eight pit bulls and their owners who will serve as humane educators and breed ambassadors.

Peaches or “Peach” is a registered therapy dog and rescue dog. Also known as Princess Peaches, Piglet, Peachy Bear or Petite Peach, the 3-year-old dog was part of a litter rescued in Detroit in 2009.

StubbyDog, a Tampa, Fla.-based organization looking to change the conversation regarding pit bulls, announced Sept. 11 that Peaches and Douglas were chosen to be part of the squad.

“It’s a very nice opportunity to kind of take my partnership with my dog ... and really put it toward a focused effort to change public perception about dogs and pit bulls,” said Douglas, who left her doctorate program in teacher education to focus on advocating for dogs.

“This opportunity was exactly what I was hoping my therapy work with pit bulls would really lead to, an opportunity to combine humane education with an opportunity to advocate for pit bulls.”

To be selected, the animal must be a registered therapy dog, very active in the community and working in other capacities such as at schools and hospital and with the local community rescues and organizations, said Laura Petrolino, vice president of operations for the organization.

“Peaches and Emily really stood out because of their amazing charisma they had and the number of people, especially children, they had an effect on,” she said.

Peaches has spent quite a bit of time in the community volunteering once a week at the Ann Arbor Open School as part of the Reading Dogs program. She also spent the summer doing visits at the Humane Society of Huron Valley Camp Paws kids camp.

A few times a month, Douglas and Peaches visit the head pain and physical therapy units at the Chelsea Community Hospital and occasionally can be seen at the Chelsea District Library.

"She’s a very sweet dog," said Jan Shamraj, recreational therapist at Chelsea Community Hospital. "She seeks out each patient in the room and wants to interact with everyone."

As a member of the Superhero Squad, Peaches will continue her work in schools and hospitals, working in the community and hosting events for local animal rescues and organizations. She will also have a plush toy designed after her and be featured in a Superhero webisode.

Douglas hopes their work will change the public's perception by giving people a positive associations and a positive narrative to hold onto.

Douglas met Peaches through her work with The Buster Foundation, a rescue organization where she volunteered and fostered dogs.

Through the foundation, she fostered Peaches, along with the puppy’s two siblings that were part of a litter rescued when they were 10 days old.

In fall 2009, Douglas adopted Peaches, who now lives with her and three other rescued mixed breed dogs: Charlie, Hudson, Buster Brown and Peaches' best friend, a black cat named Mose.

Douglas became involved with StubbyDog after a long process of looking for an organization that shared her views on ways to change the portrayal of pit bulls in a professional, responsible manner and not by solely reacting.

StubbyDog’s approach is education and information based, which is the complete opposite of many other organizations that use scare tactics to try and engage the public, she said.

StubbyDog is looking to dispel several myths surrounding the pit bull, one of the most common being that “pit bulls” are an actual breed of dog.

The term “pit bull” refers to the physical characteristics of the dog, such as its short hair and square, box-like head, said Petrolino.

Dogs who appear to be “pit bulls” are of mixed breeds, some of which are the “bully” breeds like the American Bull Dog.

Peaches is at least 50 percent American Staffordshire terrier and at least 25 percent bulldog. She is what Douglas refers to as a petite pit or pocket pit because of her small frame.

Another common myth is that pit bulls have a locking jaw, said Petrolino.

“This is 100 percent anatomically incorrect,” she said. “A pit bull has a jaw structure just like every other large dog breed out there.”

Peaches and Douglas are currently part of a fundraiser put on by StubbyDog to raise money for the organization. For more information, visit Peaches and Emily | Stubbydog 's Fundraiser on CrowdRise.

Douglas also writes about their time together on her blog at The Unexamined Dog | Unweaving the rainbow of pseudoscience in the dog world.

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