MASSACHUSETTS -- Certified Animal Control Officer Mary Letourneau has logged 15 years on the job between the two towns she works for, Townsend and Ashby.
Letourneau also happens to be the proud owner of two pit bulls, both of them rescued. She also frequently watches her "grand-dog" Tigger, another pit bull, who, like her own two, she describes as gentle and loving.
"I tell people he's a pit bull, and they're surprised. They say, 'Really? I thought they were mean,'" said Letourneau. "Typically pit bulls are just like this one right here, but any dog, if they're in the wrong hands (can have problems)."
This is not exclusive to pit bulls, said Letourneau.
"I just got back from picking up two little dogs; one was a Puggle, and he tried to bite me three times," she said.
In her years on the job, said Letourneau, she sees an average of five dog bites per year, and has yet to see any involving a pit bull or pit bull mix in either of the towns she works in.
"Most of the bites that happen are labs and small dogs," she said. "But 99 percent of the time, it's human error."
Incidents involving pit bulls tend to happen in cities, she said. There are higher pit bull populations in those areas. The larger issue, though, said Letourneau, is when people adopt pit bulls with the intention of training them to act vicious.
"For one thing, you see all that stuff about fighting pit bulls. You don't see a lot of that stuff here. They're seeing more of that in Lowell and Fitchburg," said Letourneau.
In the rural towns where she works, though, said Letourneau, "I would rather have to go into a house with pit bulls than a house with a pack of dachshunds."
[This is THE most ridiculous thing I've heard uttered in a lonnnnnnnnng time.]
Even though a smaller dog bite is less likely to cause as much damage as a bite from a bigger dog, in her experience smaller dogs are more likely to bite, and the bites are more apt to get infected, she said.
"Littler dogs tend to have dirtier teeth," said Letourneau. "Littler dogs are more commonly fed table scraps, and don't get the dry kibble that helps clean their teeth."
[What?!! Dirtier teeth?? OMG.]
Still, said Letourneau, the often vilifying stories about pit bulls, as well as their powerfully built bodies, have created a fearful public perception of the breed. And it's not the first breed to be looked at this way.
"Twenty years ago, it was Dobermans, and 10 to 15 years ago it was Rottweilers," said Letourneau. "I bred Rottweilers for a long time and never had a vicious one."
One myth, said Letourneau, is that pit bulls are capable of locking their jaws. This is untrue, said Letourneau, and is perpetuated because the breed is known for their strong jaws.
"Pit bulls were, as the name says, bred to fight bulls. They have that look, the same as a Rottweiler, with those eyes that look like they can see right through you. They can be intimidating looking," she said. "But I've got a pit bull here right now that's about as intimidating as a mouse. She smiles and her smile makes her goofy. That's the way most of them are. They're good dogs."
There is no breed specific legislation in Townsend, and Letourneau said she didn't think there should be such legislation anywhere.
"I just posted this on Facebook. Why do a breed ban? Why not a ban on bad people from owning dogs? Because that's what ruins them," she said.
(Nashoba Publishing - Feb 12, 2013)
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