I’ve been involved with Pit Bulls for about 35 years, which makes me far older than I’d like to be! I’ve written two books on the breed, shown dogs in AKC, UKC, and ADBA conformation, put a few titles on dogs, and have been directly rescuing Pit Bulls, exclusively, since 1997.

I mention all that just so you have a basic understanding of my love for and experience with American Pit Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers. I love these dogs, and I frankly couldn’t imagine not having one sharing my home, spending time with me out and about, or just snuggling on the couch.

But I’ll cut to the chase here. Sometimes other Pit Bull advocates do things that annoy me, though I know the “offending” advocates are all well-meaning (and really, if you like Pit Bulls and treat them kindly and responsibly, you have to be an okay person, in my book, even if you’ve committed some of the offenses I’m about to mention).

“It’s all in how you raise them.”

No, it isn’t. Stop saying that. There’s that old concept called nature vs. nurture. Science hasn’t definitely figured it out 100% yet, but what we do know, for sure is that both nature and nurture influence behavior in animals such as humans and dogs. Dogs can be aggressive toward people or dogs even if they were never raised that way. Dogs can be aggressive toward squirrels, cats, and unfortunate stuffies even if they were never raised that way. By the way, cats can be aggressive toward birds, mice, and spiders, even if they were never raised that way. Get it?

Nature does matter quite a lot. Some dogs are naturally shy and timid. Others are naturally confident and outgoing. Some dogs are naturally mellow, while others are naturally more like Mighty Mouse on speed.

It’s a problem to say “it’s all in how you raise them,” because the phrase completely ignores nature and can make otherwise good owners feel “at fault” if their dog doesn’t like other dogs or is scared of strangers, even when those dogs were properly socialized during their youth.

In addition, there’s this notion that, if you get a puppy, you can raise her to turn out exactly how you’d like. No, you can’t–at least not entirely. Of course, you can train your puppy and give her a great foundation, with lots of positive experiences around strangers and other animals, but the real truth is that puppies are all fundamentally different from one another, just as children are all fundamentally different from one another. You still have to find the right match for you.

Crying out to save the terrified or aggressive dog and letting the perfectly happy one get euthanized

This one really bugs me because I know the motivation here is all good. We humans have emotions. We see a scared dog, quivering in the back of a shelter kennel, and we want to help her. Likewise, that dog that the shelter wants to euthanize for acting aggressively toward people, we have a desire to help. Inside, we think, “He just needs to know some love” or “With training, he’ll blossom into a great, well-balanced dog.”

Maybe he will. More likely, he won’t. Sure, dogs can make huge progress. I’ve seen it over and over again. Of course training and proper socialization, desensitization and management can help a terrified or aggressive dog blossom into a socially acceptable dog. However, keep in mind that many of these traits are influenced by genetics. Short of a magic pill that changes the underlying genes or their biochemical products, no training, love, or management is going to alter that dog’s DNA. Odds are, that dog will always require some level of extra caution and/or management.

And, heaven forbid, with the aggressive dog, if it doesn’t work out…if whoever has that dog isn’t 100% on the ball every single moment of every day, that dog could hurt someone. That dog could become the next headline. And when that dog becomes the next headline, my perfectly happy, well-socialized, snuggle bug of a Pit Bull becomes at risk of being suddenly illegal, confiscated and euthanized (and yes, this has happened in cities all over the world).

Ever here of a little city known as Denver, Colorado? After a 3-year old was killed by a Pit Bull and a reverend was seriously injured by another one, the city banned Pit Bulls. Since that ban, somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 Pit Bulls have been impounded and euthanized.

That’s right, about 4,000 dogs have died because of two aggressive dogs that lived.

When you save that aggressive dog, you risk my dog. When you risk my dog, you more than annoy me. You outright make me mad. Please, stop risking my dog’s welfare. (To clarify, I have no serious issue with saving a scared but nonaggressive dog, but I do always remind people that fear is the leading cause of aggression).

Here’s another really tragic truth: saving the aggressive or terrified dog almost always leads to a more temperamentally sound dog being killed. The  blocky-headed goofball that isn’t quivering in the back of his kennel, jumps on the gate to get attention, and bounces on people because he’s so happy to see them just doesn’t tug at most heartstrings when it comes to social media postings.

The fact is, the scared and otherwise broken and even aggressive dogs get the shares on social media. They get the crowds. They present heartbroken images. The happy dog smiling and wagging its tail in the shelter kennel doesn’t quite merit the same social media response. He’s not sad enough. He’s not tugging on our heart strings enough. He doesn’t know that the dog in the kennel next to him that’s shivering and huddled in the corner is trending all over social media. People are calling the shelter about that dog. Foster homes and adopters step up for that dog. He doesn’t realize that, next week, when the nice shelter person comes to take him out of his kennel, he’s not going to the play yard. He’s going to a room where someone will end his life.

Now, I know you might say, “A life is a life.” That is true, to some extent, but the reality is, these terrified or aggressive dogs often stay in foster homes longer. They require more resources, more work, and that means that they are taking up space that would go to two or three more dogs who desperately need out of the shelter just as much as that one dog.

Now, I’m not so foolish as to believe this blog post is going to put a stop to such things. I know people cannot always help what dogs stir their hearts. All I’m asking is that you think more about the issue and realize that, in the rescue world, saving one dog inevitably means letting another one die. Try to choose wisely and, through your choices, enable the highest number of temperamentally sound dogs to be saved.

By the way, if those two aggressive dogs in Denver had never been allowed to hurt people, 4,000 Pit Bulls would’ve been saved. Think about those numbers. Think about all the good Pit Bull owners who had their dogs seized and euthanized, even though those dogs harmed no one. Think about that happening to your dog, because I promise you, it can. Talk all you want about how you’d move or live in your car, etc. But the reality is, when the breed is outlawed, there’s no where to move except out of the city or state, away from your job, away from your friends, away from your children’s school, and sometimes, even when you are ready to move, you cannot move fast enough before animal control comes and takes your dog.

Letting politics override ethics

I know rescue is expensive. I know donations are important. I know social media followers are important. However, rescue is full of hard decisions, and the lives of both people and dogs are almost always affected by our decisions.

Put politics aside. If doing the right thing causes you to lose a few volunteers, some social media followers, or even donations, do the right thing anyway. Sacrificing ethics will eventually lead to something truly bad. It’s just a matter of time. If you know a dog isn’t safe to place, don’t place the dog. If you know your rescue is not equipped to take a specific dog, don’t take the dog. Say no when you need to. Give yourself permission to follow your conscience and your gut instincts.