In 2007, experts from rescue organizations were sent to evaluate the pitbulls rescued from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels. Only one of the 53 dogs was judged to be too aggressive to be rehabilitated, despite the fact that these dogs had been subjected to enormous stress and rewarded for aggressive behavior.
The 48 surviving Vick pitbulls were distributed by a coalition of rescue organizations to foster homes throughout the country. You can review some of their stories here.
Contrast the fate of the Vick dogs with that of young pitbulls received by AWLA. We were recently mailed AWLA’s database records for some of these dogs. The records included the “assessment” that AWLA staff made while determining whether or not to make a dog available for adoption. (The names of the dogs mentioned below have been changed for the benefit of those who cared for them before they were turned over to AWLA.)
Here’s an excerpt from the assessment for Max, a pitbull who was not quite one year old:
“When I went to greet Max in his kennel, he stands at the front and is still. He holds eye contact with me for several seconds, tail is neutral or low, mouth closed, body is tense. Then when I kneel down he starts to growl, when I put my hand up to the kennel he growls and starts barking. He continues even when I talk softly and look away. When (redacted) and I stand outside kennel, he stands still and watches us from the other side of the guillotine door, head ducked – he will not come to the front of the kennel to greet us.”
The recommendation based on this brief “assessment”? Euthanization. Despite the fact that Max had had several positive and playful interactions with shelter employees prior to his assessment, and that he did not look like a prototypical pitbull.
Here’s an excerpt for Barley, a 1.5 year old pitbull:
“Barley was pulling hard to the end of the leash to move away from the handler, facing away from the handler, panting, drinking water, yawning, etc. None of this behavior is social or relaxed, showed minimal interest in handler. During the handling portion of the evaluation where we touch ears/paw/mouth for the dog’s reaction to retraint exercises – again he is pulling very hard to move away from the handler after each exercise.”
This assessment was performed in an open cafeteria-style lunchroom with lots of interesting objects and smells, so it’s not surprising that Barley wasn’t completely focused on the handler. AWLA euthanized him based on the evaluator’s recommendation.
For a young pitbull named Sally:
“During the handling portion of the eval where we touch ears/paw/mouth for the dog’s reaction to restraint types of exercises – again she is evasive w/this & not relaxed. When handler looks at ears – she ducks her head, tail is down, (both signs of stress or fear), then flips on her back again & pushes off handler. For her paws, she is standing facing away from handler, yawns (stress signal) – when handler looks at her teeth – she is sitting facing away, ducks her head, tail is down, pulls to get away when finished. She is not relaxed for physical handling – she was resistant & uncomfortable which could be seen through her body language – she didn’t welcome it as she tried to get away from handler through out this portion.”
AWLA euthanized Sally.
For an 11-week-old puppy named Alex:
“This Pit Bull showed several displays of aggressive and concerning behavior during his behavior evaluation. He guards his food bowl and his pig’s ear aggressively – With the food bowl, he eats quickly and punches at the food when the A-A-H approaches. On 1st 2 attempts to push his head away from bowl, he has a very wide stance and is postured over bowl eating fast. On 3rd & 4th attempt to push head away from bowl, he freezes when hand comes near the food bowl and then starts growling and barking at hand while he is eating the food as try to push his head away. When gave him a pig’s ear, he got still and growls at the A-A-H as it approaches, air snaps at the hand, goes after hand grabs it & won’t let go & is shaking it.”
“During handling portion of the evaluation, he tracks my hand as it approaches to look at his ears and flips his head up to mouth hand. When I attempted to look at his teeth over several repetitions, he tracks hand and snaps at it prior to being touched. This snapping behavior is very direct, hard and he holds on, it is not exploratory as puppy mouthing should be.”
AWLA euthanized Alex.
Enough.
Anyone who has ever watched Cesar Millan pacify owner-terrorizing pitbulls on TV, or better yet, gone through training of an aggressive dog with an expert like Millan, will recognize what these AWLA assessments describe: untrained (and potentially hungry or frightened) young dogs trying to determine how to respond to a handler who doesn’t convey leadership or confidence.
If left untrained, pitbulls and other assertive breeds feel compelled to defend themselves against anything that might turn out to be a threat. And in a confusing, human-dominated world, potential threats are everywhere. The whole point of training is to convince the dog that its owner is the leader of the pack, and that the leader is both responsible for and capable of handling whatever confronts the pack. So the dog can relax by trusting and obeying its owner/leader.
When AWLA receives pitbulls or other assertive breeds, they should transfer these dogs to rescue organizations that know how to train and socialize them. Here’s an example.
AWLA’s predisposition toward killing rather than rehabilitating young pitbulls is a compelling argument for adding language like that in Oreo’s Law to the Arlington County Contract. Let’s give these young dogs and puppies a chance to survive by putting them in competent hands.
