What’s in a name?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.

That very well-known quotation from Wm. Shakespeare was the obvious sub-title to today’s post.

You will be aware that I have written several times previously about Pit Bull dogs. But I would like to draw your attention to a post that was published here back in 2013. It was called In praise of Pit Bull dogs and featured a guest post from Noella Schink, in Portland, Maine, where she then lived and played with her 3-year-old pit bull mix, Addie, 8-year old shih-tzu, Brutus, and 2-year old hound, Lula. Apart from all of them being a little older I trust nothing else has changed.

That post in 2013 also included a picture of our gorgeous Casey, as follows.

Casey doing what dogs do so well – picking up a scent.
Casey doing what dogs do so well – picking up scents around his home.

Over on the Care2 petition site there was a compelling case being made for Pit Bulls to be given a different name. Read it and see if you are convinced of the need.

ooOOoo

How We Could Save More Dogs From Death Row by Changing One Thing

By: Jessica Ramos, March 29, 2016

About Jessica

3172603.large

Whether we like it or not, labels matter — even for dogs. New research from Arizona State University published in PLOS ONE, suggests labels could even lead to a potential death sentence, if you’re a pit bull.

Pit Bulls Wait 3 Times as Long to be Adopted

The pit bull went from America’s darling dog to one of the most feared (and misunderstood) dogs today. Their fall from grace is evident in stories like Olive’s. Olive the Pit Bull was brought in as a stray and stayed in the shelter for approximately 11 years. Olive was lucky enough to find her forever home, but so many dogs like her aren’t — and our arbitrary labels aren’t helping their cause.

According to Science Daily, researchers from Arizona State University wanted to know if breed identification influences adoption. The researchers found that dogs labeled as “pit bulls” could wait three times as long to be adopted from shelters into their forever homes compared to their lookalikes without the label or labelled as another breed.

Compared to other breeds, like Labradors, pits were perceived as less friendly and more aggressive. They also were considered less “attractive” than their lookalikes. Weird, right?

Even the researchers were surprised by how much the pit bull label influences perception and, ultimately, adoption. As researcher Lisa Gunter from Arizona State University explains, “We were surprised how very similar looking dogs sometimes get labelled ‘pit bull’ and other times as something completely different. These dogs may look and act the same, but the pit bull label damns them to a much longer wait to adoption,” reports Science Daily.

Ultimately, the researchers recommend losing the pit bull label to stop inadvertently penalizing these dogs in the shelter setting.

Heartbreaking Pit Bull Statistics

If you thought that Olive’s story was sad, she’s actually one of the lucky ones — not only for getting adopted, but for staying in the shelter system for the 11 years that she did.

According to Pit Bull Rescue Central (PBCR) 200 pit bulls are euthanized in Los Angeles County animal shelters every single day.

PBCR emphasizes that “for homeless pit bulls the death sentence is almost always automatic.”

Villalobos Rescue Center (made popular by the TV show Pit Bulls and Parolees) had this to say about the pit bull plight in Los Angeles: “The pit bull population has now risen to 40% of all the dogs in 12 shelters in Los Angeles. That means that almost half of the entire Los Angeles dog population is pits or pit mixes! Most are strays, tossed out like dirty laundry. It’s heartbreaking.”

Sadly, the plight of pit bulls is not limited to Los Angeles County. A 2013 Nat Geo Wild infographic reveals that:

  • 60 percent of the total dogs euthanized in U.S. shelters are pit bulls
  • 30 percent of the total dogs admitted to shelters are labeled pit bulls
  • 86.7 percent of pit bulls admitted to open admission shelters are euthanized

Do you know what the worst part of this sad situation is? There’s no such thing as a pit bull.

As Bark Post explains, the pit bull label is just “an umbrella term that most people use to refer to different types of dogs – the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, any mixes thereof, and any dog that vaguely resembles these dogs.”

The breed isn’t real, but the stigma has real consequences. And time and again pit bulls prove that they can be great dogs with the correct guidance and training when they get a second chance. Remember how Jericho the Pit Bull went from death row to being an amazing service dog?

Take Action!

Sign and share this petition urging animal rescuers to lose the stigmatizing pit bull label that unnecessarily penalizes innocent dogs. It’s a matter of life and death.

Photo Credit: Max Schneider

ooOOoo

I can’t better the comment to that Care2 item left by Sheri.

Sherri S.

Only idiots believe that pit bulls are bad! When are some morons going to finally wake up and realize bad owners are responsible for bad dogs! BSL should be banned everywhere. We must never stop fighting to end the senseless killing of this breed.

Say no more!

12 thoughts on “What’s in a name?”

    1. Possibly ten minutes after the point when it’s too late to learn! That sounds very pessimistic. Not sure I intended to respond in quite such a gloomy tone.

      Like

      Reply

  2. I wonder too that because of the negative image they have been given that those people who tend to buy them make them the monsters they appear to be purely as guard dogs for their property

    Like

    Reply

  3. We are all so good at labelling.. So sad that we give a dog a bad name but for a few whose treatment by humans were most undoubtedly the cause of that labelling..
    We could go one stage further in the human race.. We are all human yet not all are bad, would that we all got classed and judged by the actions of a few.. Not many of us would be roaming freely!
    I went along and signed the petition Paul before adding my comment..
    Hope you and Jean are well.. and having a good week
    Hugs Sue

    Like

    Reply

      1. Oh, I don’t have much to say, Paul. We do what we can locally, and am trying to get a mobile neutering van working here. I will have something to say if my sister-in-law ever gets around to doing the animation for the book she asked me to write about rescue animals. That said, did rescue a big girl last week and had her placed in a country property 1hr away inside 48hrs. Wish it worked out like that more regularly 😉

        Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.