Pit Bulls Are Not Bad, Just Misused by Humans

Re “Pit Bulls’ Bullish Rescuer,� Oct. 23:

Thank you for the responsible story on pit bulls. They are truly a wonderful breed, with most of the bad press undeserved.

I would like to expand on some of the information in your story. The reason there are so many of them in pounds is not because they are bad dogs but because of uncontrolled breeding.

The scum that breed these dogs for illegal fighting may get only one good fighter out of a litter and so breed and breed, either using the pups to bait the fighters or turning them out on the streets. This was how I obtained a pit bull. She was just a small pup wandering the streets half-starved. There are also people who keep a dog and never spay or neuter it, and of course the result is a large number of mixes, again, mostly left to the streets or, when they are lucky, dumped at the pound.

Eric Sakach of the Humane Society of the United States shows his ignorance in stating that these dogs cannot be rehabilitated and adopted. Nonsense! It is only rarely that a dog cannot be saved.

All terrier breeds can be dog-aggressive; very few are people-aggressive. The pit bulls are even less so as the owner had to be able to pull the dog out of the pit during a fight. My experience is that they are silly, goofy big lunks that are into belly rubs and tennis ball fetching.

The level of cruelty perpetrated against this sweet, trusting breed is unconscionable.

Carol Neal

Orange