Note: I have emailed this to the team at The Fifth Estate and, if you haven’t seen their episode Pitbulls Unleashed yet, go watch it! Form your own opinions. I’ve writted about BSL before, and my opinion is pretty clear; breed should not play a factor in legislation of dog ownership. All that said, watching this episode hurt, disappointed, and upset me, so here are some thoughts. Feel free to add yours in the comments below.
Dear Mr. Kelley, and all at The Fifth Estate,
I love your show. I PVR The Fifth Estate, and as a 29 year old Canadian, I have been watching your program for a lifetime, quite literally. I am also, coincidentally, a professional dog trainer by profession.
I was so thrilled when I turned on my PVR to see what I should watch on a Friday night and saw Pitbulls Unleashed waiting for me. This sentence will give away my bias in a heartbeat, but my first thought was, “Oh, good. Those dogs need some good PR.” So, I cracked a bottle of wine, hunkered down with my French Bulldog mix and Doberman Pinscher, and watched.
I, over the course of an hour, went from excited to angry to heartbroken to disappointed and am still seething somewhere between the latter three. See, here’s the thing: you can report whatever you want. But at least make it well researched. And the thing is, you didn’t speak to a single vet behaviourist, trainer, or any real educated dog professional. You talked to parents who have suffered a tragedy – which I do not want to discount. What they have lived through is truly horrific. Period. You talked to a lawyer. You talked to a vet tech who had no scientific backing to her opinions. You talked to a plastic surgeon – a doctor, to lend credibility, who, I’m sure, sincerely holds his beliefs; however, when you see children injured by dogs, you can’t be an unbiased source about those dogs. And, you showcased Cesar Millan – who is a whole other story in and of himself (please see: http://pawsitivelygenius.com/an-open-letter-to-national-geographic/) but, and I hate to say it, for once I actually agreed with him. I think using him as a source shows just how unresearched this episode was, but he wasn’t wrong. Your episode was, roughly, 70% heartbroken parents, 25% fearmongering, ominous music, and photos of injured children, and 5% half-assed devil’s advocacy for the breed.
So here’s the thing: I’d love to talk to you. I’d love to talk about dogs and behaviour and Pitbulls and all the things I found problematic or harmful in your story. Or talk to another behaviourist or trainer! I’m not the world’s foremost expert or anywhere close. I’m just an educated, science and evidence based trainer, with passion and opinions who is willing to talk dog-politics – and a lot of trainers aren’t, totally fairly, thanks to compassion fatigue.
I am pro-“Pitbull”. I am anti-BSL. I have never owned a Pitbull. I’ve never owned a lot of breeds.
I don’t want to go too in depth on my criticism of the episode in this letter because it would just come off as an angry rant which means that,
- No one will read it,
- You’ll write me off as crazy,
- I can’t eloquently cover everything I’d like to in a letter, and,
- It would take a novel.
I’ll cover a few brief points, and reassert this: want to talk more? I’m all yours. In the meantime, a few scraps of food for thought that you didn’t cover, or didn’t cover well.
Who tends to own Pitbulls?
This is a huge point, and I think a lot of your episode unravels back to this. Sure, a lot of cases where people end up in the hospital due to dog bites are Pitbull related. But why is that? Your episode, your doctor on the episode, your parents on the episode, they all say it’s breed. But is it?
Breed can certainly play a role in temperament. Anyone who says it can’t is lying to you. However, that is not the be all end all.
The thing is, though, the people who tend to want Pitbulls – and I’m generalizing here – are people who want that ‘big tough dog’. They’re people who may not put the effort into training their dogs, who may even go so far as to encourage aggression or the intimidation factor. The same goes for many dogs who have a ‘scary’ reputation: German Shepherds, Rotties, Dobermans (mine is a St. John’s Ambulance certified therapy dog, but just think back to their reputation 40 years ago), Dogos, etc.
An undersocialized, untrained dog is a dangerous dog.
We see undersocialized, untrained Chihuahuas and Dachshunds probably daily. They bite with far more frequency than our ‘scary’ dogs. But reality bites; big dogs, when they bite, do more damage.
With very, very few exceptions, dogs do not attack out of nowhere.
To have that 1% of dog who is the brain damaged serial killer is just like to meet that human. It is very, very rare. To a slightly greater percentage, dogs who are sick or in pain can be reactive. That means they need treatment; it doesn’t mean a flaw in their temperament.
When dogs attack, it is very likely they have shown warning signs – more than likely over, and over, and over in the past, or, if not, leading up to the attack.
Breed aside, people need to be very, very careful when children are with dogs. As with any animal. Full stop.
It is important to remember that bad owners make bad dogs.
With regards to that vet tech… and rescues, in general.
Brandi is, I’m sure, a dog lover. I’m sure she has the very best intentions. Most people, and most animal lovers do. And she has a great point: what rescues do, rebranding dogs, is incredibly harmful. People need to know what they are getting.
If a dog is a resource guarder, don’t say “he loves food”.
If a dog is reactive towards other dogs, don’t say he’s “shy”.
Be honest. It’s important. I, and many others, will happily adopt a resource guarder. Will happily adopt a reactive dog. Will happily adopt a dog who isn’t good with kids. Will happily adopt many dogs with a myriad of issues. But don’t set adopters up for failure: they need to know what they’re getting into.
And yes, behavioural euthanasia is a thing that has to be done sometimes. It is not always evil or bad. No kill is not a perfect solution.
But…
But at the same time. That all depends on individual dogs, not breed.
And the thing that really bothered me was Brandi talking about her foster dog who was fine when he first came home, and once he was healthy and had no more heartworms started showing reactivity. THAT. IS. NORMAL. And expected. And as a pet professional, she should know that.
First of all, you have to keep dogs calm and quiet while being treated for heartworm, so his exposure to other dogs was likely limited.
Secondly, and most importantly, when you adopt a dog, it is normal for them to be timid, shut down, and shy for the first month or two. It is common knowledge within the pet professional community that you only find out the dog you got after that period has passed. Their entire life has changed, they are acclimatizing and finding their footing. You don’t know who you’re adopting at first.
For the average pet owner to not understand that, I can forgive. For a vet tech, I can’t.
So finally, let me say once more time: I am so sorry to the people who have suffered tragedy or injury at the hands of any dogs (and their owners). I cannot begin to understand your pain.
Dog attacks are terrible, and shouldn’t happen.
But breed isn’t the reason behind attacks.
I could go on and on and analyze every few minutes of this episode, but I don’t think it would be constructive. But if you want to talk more, I’m open to it. Always. Anytime.
All the best,
Verena
