SCRAPS hosts educational event about pit bulls

Young Django, a pit bull mix, happily sniffed everyone within reach Saturday, his tail wagging as he sought head rubs and ear scratches.

His owner, Barbara Arenal, was one of a dozen people who attended a “Pities Party” hosted by the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service designed to educate people about pit bulls.

Django was an example of a well-trained dog – friendly, calm and well-behaved.

“This is really a focus on responsible dog ownership,” SCRAPS development manager Janet Dixon said. “We want them to be ambassadors for the breed.”

It’s important for all dogs to be properly trained and socialized, Dixon said, but it’s particularly important for pit bulls. Often people will use a pit bull as a guard dog and leave it outside with little contact with people or other dogs.

Pit bulls are willing to do anything their owners want and are energetic, strong and curious, Dixon said. If the owner is not responsible, those same traits can get the dogs into trouble, she said.

“You need to look at the other end of the leash,” she said. “The dog is just a dog.”

The debate about pit bulls can be polarizing and it flared up in April 2014 after three violent pit bull attacks in Spokane in one week. One dog was killed while attacking a police K-9 and another was shot by police after attacking several people. In the third attack a man was severely bitten when he came to the rescue of an 8-year-old girl who was being attacked by a pit bull. The dogs are banned in more than a dozen Washington cities.

But even though some view the dogs as notoriously vicious, chows, Rottweilers and German shepherds are all more likely to bite than a pit bull is, Dixon said. “That’s just statistics.”

Even the name pit bull is a misnomer, she said. “Pit bulls are not a single breed,” she said. “They’re four breeds of dog lumped together.”

The four breeds are the American pit bull terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier, the Staffordshire bull terrier and the bull terrier.

Carolyn Takeuchi brought her small black and white Japanese Chin dog, Toshi, to the event. She said she had heard some good things about pit bulls and wanted to learn more about them.

“I really believe it’s the individual dog that should be judged,” she said.

After the event wound down she crouched to pet a large, slightly hyperactive pit bull named Mia. As Mia and her dog Toshi sniffed each other, Takeuchi said she had learned a lot.