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| Metro Animal Care and Control supervisor Billy Biggs is shown with China, a pit bull that took part in the killing of a Chihuahua last week. China was joined in the attack by Trouble. Neither pit bull will be destroyed. That only happens if a dog seriously injures a person or attacks another animal more than once. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean |
The dogs – Trouble and China – belong to a breed with a tough reputation that has left Middle Tennessee communities grappling with how to handle them. Some have tried to implement policies curbing their adoption and dissuading ownership. Cities have been careful not to ban ownership, fearing legal challenges from pet owners.
Metro Nashville’s Animal Care and Control kennels are filled with a disproportionate number of pit bulls. Of the 2,200 dogs taken into custody this year, some 726 have been pit bulls. Metro’s policy does not allow the breed to be adopted, fearing that if the dogs harmed someone the city would be held liable.
“They have a reputation,” said Billy Biggs of Metro Animal Control. “It’s not all their doing. Unfortunately, they can do a little bit more damage.”
Certain breeds such as pit bulls can have a genetic predisposition toward aggression, but an individual dog's behavior depends on how strongly those genes are expressed in an individual dog and that dog's environment and upbringing, said Dr. Julia Albright, an assistant professor of veterinary behavior at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Veterinary Medicine.
“You cannot condemn a dog for its breed, in my opinion,” Albright said. “I treat dozens of aggressive Golden Retrievers and Labradors.”
Albright consults privately with companion animal owners on dog behavior. She also cautioned against believing any breed is fine with the right upbringing.
Animal advocates say the breed gets a bum rap.
It’s irresponsible owners taking their cue from pop culture that throughout the years has made certain breeds a status symbol in the streets, said Jan Morrison of the Highland Heights Neighborhood Association in East Nashville.
“Years ago it was Dobermans, the Rottweiler and then pit bulls,” said Morrison, who volunteers with rescue organizations. “Some are treated as property and not as a family pet. They are burglar alarms.”
The state has taken no action against the breed since a state senator’s failed effort in 2008 to pass a law making ownership of a pit bull a misdemeanor. Some Middle Tennessee communities have created their own regulations and others are looking for solutions.
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| A pit bull named Prada is shown at Metro Animal Care and Control on Wednesday. Animal control spends a lot of time dealing with the breed. Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean |
Wilson County is exploring an ordinance on dangerous and vicious dogs after a boxer mix bit an animal control board member while she was riding a bicycle. Wilson County does not do adoptions, leaving that to rescue organizations.
“I can tell you that when we’re out, we see many pit bulls, said Mary Burger, Wilson County Animal Control director. Since January, 39 pit bulls were picked up by Wilson County.
In the Robertson County seat of Springfield, owners have to register their pit bulls, provide photographs of the dogs and post signs warning people that a pit bull is on the premises. When pit bulls are outside their kennels, they must be muzzled and on a leash no longer than four feet in length.
Springfield had dog control issues with some pit bulls running loose and implemented the ordinance in 2001, said Springfield City Manager Paul Nutting.
The ordinance has withstood challenges, except for the city’s requirement for owners to have liability insurance. The ordinance hasn’t stopped people from owning pit bulls but it has been effective in keeping them from running wild, Nutting said. “It’s keeping them properly confined,’’ he said.
Sumner County has avoided any breed-specific ordinances and instead tries to promote responsible pet ownership.
County Commissioners have inquired over the years about regulating pit bulls, but nothing has been brought to a vote, said County Law Director Leah May Dennen.
If the county did want to regulate pit bulls, it would be difficult to decide what percentage of the dog’s breed legally qualifies as a “pit bull.”
“Those are issues that you get into regulating breeds of dogs,” Dennen said. “It’s a tough proposition to enforce.”
Sumner County Animal Control officer Tammy Weatherford said that about 50 percent of the dogs they receive are pit bulls or pit mixes. She said they treat them like any other animal, with one exception: home inspections are done for each pit bull adoption to make sure the dog will have a fenced-in area, won’t be chained up, and will spend time indoors.
“Any dog you take home and just chain up, that dog is going to become aggressive,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what breed it is.”
Jodi Preis of Cookeville, who tracks and challenges measures against breeds statewide, said breed advocates are frustrated by the lack of public education and how pit bulls and their owners are portrayed in the media.
However, Preis, who runs Bless the Bullys, a rescue organization, said that perception is slowly changing.
“High-profile dog fighting raids have allowed the public to see these dogs as victims... not as monsters,” she said.
But recent attacks put the breed back on the radar.
A pit bull attacked four people, including a 6-year-old boy, in Clarksville last week. A 13-year-old was the only one requiring medical attention after he was knocked to the ground and bitten in the arms.
In Trouble and China’s case, they ripped apart Disney, a Chihuahua, in East Nashville.
The pit bulls did not have to be destroyed. That happens when a dog seriously injures a human or if they attack other animals more than once.
Their owner, John Prysock, said it was an accident and that the problem stems from so many stray dogs running around in Middle Tennessee neighborhoods.
“I’ve been a dog owner for a long time and I had many breeds,” Prysock, 34, said. “I told the judge that a stray dog has attacked mine in my own yard. That’s the problem.”
Metro Health Department and Nashville Humane Association stepped in after more than 1,800 complaints were lodged in East Nashville’s 37207 area, mainly dogs of all breeds running at large through neighborhoods.
Highland Heights’ Morrison had to walk with pepper spray to fend off some strays.
Metro Health and NHA started a spaying and neutering program and hired two additional animal control officers through a grant.
The health department was focusing on an obesity study when the issue of dangerous dogs running loose surfaced.
“We found there were barriers to physical activity,” said Joe Pinilla of Metro Health Services. “It’s an education campaign to ultimately create a safer environment.”
(The Tennesseean - May. 23, 2011)
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