Dog trainer tries to change perception of pit bulls

by WRAL.com
Raleigh, NC — Dog lovers often blame the media for making pit bulls out to be vicious, mean dogs, but certified dog trainers and even animal control ...

Raleigh, N.C. — Dog lovers often blame the media for making pit bulls out to be vicious, mean dogs, and certified dog trainers and even animal control officers say there are no bad dogs – just bad owners.

“To judge a whole entire breed on one dog’s actions is discrimination. Just like judging a whole race in the human world on one person’s actions,” certified dog trainer pit bull owner Paige Burris said Friday.

Burris said the media hype on dog attacks only makes it worse for the dogs.

The latest North Carolina victim was 5-year-old Makayla Woodard, who died after being attacked by two pit bulls in Union County on Wednesday. Her grandmother was injured while trying to save her. 

“My heart goes out to that family. It’s terrible, but that can happen to any breed,” Burris said.

In a lot of these attacks, “the owners are negligent and never commit to training the dog,” Burris said.

Burris said pit bulls are like any other dogs. They need room to run and want to be included in the family. Owners should also enroll the dogs in obedience training and encourage socialization.

Burris started a non-profit called The Positive Pit Bull, offering pit bull education seminars and organizing weekly dog meet-ups.

“That’s what we’re trying to fight, trying to change perception of these dogs because they really are fantastic family dogs,” she said.

Cary Animal Control Supervisor Shelly Davis said potential pet owners need to do their homework.

“Pet owners basically, bottom-line, need to do research before getting any kind of animal, and that also means before you purchase a pit bull,” Davis said. Link to Article

US girl, 5, mauled to death by pit bulls Ninemsn - Cleve R. Wootson, Jr, Meghan Cooke - ‎Jan 12, 2011‎

A kindergartner at home on a day off from school on Wednesday was mauled to death by two pit bulls who had prompted calls to police before, authorities said.

Makayla Woodard, a five-year-old who attended Waxhaw Elementary School, died on the way to the hospital of injuries police officers described as "gruesome".

Her grandmother, 67-year-old Nancy Presson, tried to save Makayla, but the dogs turned on her in an attack that rattled the neighbourhood and will likely bring charges against the dogs' owner. Presson had bites and scratches on her shoulder and arm, but was expected to survive.

A police officer who responded and arrived during the attack, pulled the dogs off Makayla and her grandmother and began treating the girl's wounds. The officer then shot one of the dogs as it charged towards the girl again. The second dog got away and was loose for two hours before police were able to shoot and kill it too.

It was the second high-profile pit bull attack in the Charlotte area in less than a month. On December 22, a six-year-old boy was attacked by his cousin's pit bull in Mint Hill. The boy survived but was seriously injured. His grandmother, who rushed to help the boy, was also injured.

The owner of the pit bulls involved in Monday's attack, who lives next door to Presson, has not been charged with a crime, though Waxhaw Police Chief Michael Eiss said charges are likely later this week. He would not release the owner's name because no charges had been filed.

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Interview with Mary Harwelik - Aggresive Dog Trainer Specialist. Jan. 14th, 2011

I am a certified dog trainer through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers. I have worked with all breeds as a hobby trainer since 1984 and as a professional trainer since the mid-90's.  My speciality in the field is aggression. In 1997 I founded The Real Pit Bull, Inc a 501c3 nonprofit organization that educates on the American Pit Bull Terrier, ethical and responsible guardianship of dogs and serves as an advocate for the Pit Bull breed. I am the current Executive Director of this organization.

Dog attacks are never random, and all breeds bite/attack.  As a trainer, I have seen a wide variety of breeds and mixes with varying forms of aggression that baffle their caretakers.  Some dogs may seem "normal" the majority of the time, but will "randomly" agress.  Please note that I say "dogs" and not "Pit Bulls" because the behavior you see reported in the news media is by no means Pit Bull-specific. It is dog-specific behavior.

There are many reasons for aggressive behavior in dogs, not the least of which can be health-related issues (thyroid problems and seizures, for instance, the latter of which can cause very bizarre, seemingly-random and severe aggressive outbursts). Typically, aggression is fear and defense-based behavior that has been learned through contact with the environment. Dogs that have not had the proper early socialization and training will end up with all sorts of behavioral issues, very commonly aggression.

When a human, either through neglect or innocent lack of education, sets a dog up to fail by not teaching a dog the skills it needs to survive in a stressful human environment and placing a dog in situations it cannot psychologically navigate successfully, or when a human does not properly contain or monitor a dog, the outcome is often aggression and tragic injuries to humans.

I have never come across a case of an aggressive dog that attacked "out of no where".  Even when the caretaker insists the dog has "always been fine", after spending time interviewing the parties involved, a pattern always emerges: signs were there, they simply were missed. 

Why do pit bulls constitute the majority of fatal dog attacks and mauling cases?

It should be noted that Centers for Disease Control no longer monitor breeds involved in attacks (they ceased doing so in the 1990s).  They found this method of statistical record keeping to be unsucessful and insignificant.  Various polls and statistics from other sources are only as good as the data collection methodology.  I would ignore any "breed bite statistics" unless there has been a sound, scientific collection of said statistics that involved proof of breed for dogs labeled as "pit bulls" (and there are none that exist to my knowledge). In regards to breed bite statistics, the term "pit bull" does not refer to any breed, but refers to dogs that simply look a certain way.  How anyone could consider such so-called "breed statistics" relevent when they do not even refer to a specific breed is a mystery to me.