Children Need Pit Bulls: A Picture Book

[De Leonist]

64. I'm sure that was a sad and horrific experience for your son and wife to go through....

and my condolences on the loss of the canine member of your family. But here's why hate or fear of this breed as a whole is ultimately futile. Animals(including dogs) just like people are products of their environment and upbringing. The animal that attacked that little girl was a shattered, broken, and twisted version of it's self. You cannot raise or hold any creature(that includes people by the way) in a neglectful, deprived, and passively abusive environment and expect it not to acquire considerable damage to it's mental and emotional psyche.

The reason that individual animal was so damaged is the same reason why a non-violent offender who goes into a maximum security prison as a young man who is not known for violence can come out years later older and far more violent than he was when he went in. Cruel surroundings and living conditions scar and wound the hearts and minds of any creature subjected to such a thing.

I do not know what the issue was with the animal that attacked your dog and obviously horrified your family. But I can tell you that I was attacked by a pit bull at young age. It wasn't any where near the scale of the little girl in the news but enough that I needed stitches. I never understood why the dog attacked me and I too became afraid of the breed. But it wasn't until I met an owner who adopted numerous rescued pit bulls all of whom had come from violent pasts that I understood that these dogs are not the monsters that so many believe or want to believe that they are and that all these dogs really want is to know love.

Your fear will not stop them from being abused and brutalized by cruel people nor will it stop severely damaged and maladjusted animals from possibly causing pain to others. I do not mean to say that Pit Bulls are perfect dogs. No breed is perfect and no individual dog is perfect. But even Pit Bulls who were severely abused are capable of rehabilitation and eventual adoption. I'd have a pit bull myself right now if I had the space and financial resources to provide the dog with a loving and safe environment.

The fact is pit bulls are not the villains in this issue nor the monsters you may think them to be. They are victims as much as any human who is the victim of the tragically blind aggression of an emotionally and mentally traumatized animal.