[ SHOWGSD-L ] OT - Titans defend their ownership of pit bull dogs
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:11:24 -0400
Ginger Cleary,Rome, GA ww.rihadin.com
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human
hands, will ever be liable to abuse. ? James Madison
Member GSDCA
Member Sawnee Mtn Kennel Club
GA Director Responsible Dog Owners of the Eastern States.
-----Original Message-----
http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070813/SPORTS01/7081
30393/1002/MTCN0302
Monday, 08/13/07
Titans defend their ownership of pit bull dogs
Questions are raised after Vick probe
By PAUL KUHARSKY
Staff Writer
As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pieced together a revamped personal
conduct policy, he heard from players who were concerned that their
reputations could be stained by the behavior of a few.
A federal indictment against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick
for alleged involvement in dogfighting is having such a trickledown effect
as other players who own pit bulls â?? including Titans Michael Griffin,
LenDale White and Reynaldo Hill â?? are facing questions about their dogs.
The three young players paint a picture of loving pets they're proud to
care for, not dogs bred to fight and destined for abuse.
"If you have a pet, it's something you take care of, it's something you
raise from a puppy to a grown dog until it dies," Griffin said after the
allegations about Vick began to surface. "It's just like having a kid."
Griffin and Hill are less willing to talk about their pets now that Vick
is facing indictment. Both declined to be photographed with their dogs,
fearing unfounded implications some could choose to make with such pictures.
"It's heartless to see someone able to put a dog in there where all that
dog knows is, 'I must fight. If I don't fight then my owner is going to kill
me,' " Griffin said. "Dogs have no choices. Both dogs know, 'It's either me
or you.' That's just heartless to put dogs in a ring and watch it for
sport."
Griffin breeds pit bulls. He said to get them close to standards, he
works not to emphasize a bad temperament, but to eliminate it.
The former University of Texas player has four dogs with him in
Nashville â?? Joc, Rose (named after the Rose Bowl), Gemini and Lefty, who
will soon need surgery to remove a bad eye. Griffin's parents keep two more
â?? Shaq and Honey.
Tough guy dog
Until the Vick accusations surfaced, Titans defensive lineman Kyle
Vanden Bosch said he had no idea there was any dog fighting going on in the
United States.
He's got two dogs, an Italian Greyhound named Dobby and Rex, a
Chihuahua. But he knows that for some players, pit bulls are a more
appealing breed.
"It really is an NFL kind of dog," Vanden Bosch said. "I know a few guys
on the team have them and guys in college who did. You kind of try to have a
rough and tough image and that's kind of what a pit bull is, really a tough
dog and a no nonsense type of dog.
"They're loyal and really can be good family dogs. To me it's sad that
stuff like that happens. It depends on how you treat them. If you treat them
well they can be great dogs. But if you raise them to be fighters they can
be nasty creatures and it's unfortunate that people do that."
Although Griffin is active as a breeder, Hill (whose dogs are named Coco
and Snoop) and White (who owns Rocky and Monster) are more traditional pet
owners.
"The focus with me is just to have them in the house," Hill said. "My
girlfriend is always playing with them. They're just pets."
White said his dogs are "friendly neighborhood dogs" and that those who
stereotype pit bulls as automatically mean are mistaken. But he also called
them "guard dogs" whose job it is to give trespassers second thoughts about
being in his yard or coming into his house.
"A dog is what you make it," White said. "You can make any dog as mean
as you want the dogs to be. I don't really think pit bulls are just mean
dogs or tough guy dogs. My dogs are made to love everybody and be good. But
if you cross a boundary they're made to attack, too."
'Symbolic viciousness'
Daisy Okas, a spokesperson for the American Kennel Club, said four
breeds are generally referred to as pit bulls. Bull Terriers, American
Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers are registered AKC
breeds, while American Pit Bull Terriers are not.
"Our culture has vilified this dog by making it into an icon and
accessory for the 'bad boy' image," Okas said. "This image is something
manufactured by the hip-hop culture which seems to glorify violence against
not only animals but people, too."
She said pit bulls are great with kids, have steady temperaments and are
extremely loyal, eager to please and trainable. But thanks in large part to
the publicity of the case against Vick, the dogs are now largely regarded as
a "symbolic figure of viciousness" that prompt the general public to make
assumptions about them and their owners.
As a breeder, Griffin said he tries to promote certain qualities that
are outlined in the standard for his dogs: bigger heads, more muscle tone,
thicker rears, wider chests.
"The dogs I have, the way they're bred today, they're not even bred for
fighting," he said. "If they're aggressive, you don't breed them. They are
bred for a look.
" â?¦ If you used these dogs for fighting, they can't perform how they
used to perform. Traditional dogs were used for an hour, an hour and 30
minutes in the pit. These dogs, you take them on a five-minute walk, that's
their exercise for the day."
Griffin didn't want to comment on the case against Vick, but did
indicate it's upsetting that because one high-profile NFL player is accused
of being part of a dog fighting ring that the general public may look at
other owners of the breed and presume the worst.
The Titans' No. 1 draft pick has pictures, videos and trophies that show
his dogs have spent their time in show rings, not fighting pits.
"I love the breed," he said. "It's disappointing other people see them
being fought and stereotyped, thinking maybe I'm doing the same things with
them. Everybody who's seen my dogs, I've never had a problem."
Owner over dog
Okas said people should judge the person holding the leash, not the dog
wearing the collar.
"It really is about the owner and not about the dog," she said. "How do
they train the dog? How are they socializing him? How are they caring for
him? Those are the factors that go into whether it's a nice family pet or a
problem â?¦
"It's very cyclical, what a 'tough breed' of dog is. The wrong people
choose to own it and the whole breed is associated with the bad apples. A
halo is cast over the whole breed and every person who owns the breed. It's
wrong to make wide, sweeping judgments of people or dogs."
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