The Ultimate American Pit Bull Terrier , livre ebook

THE ULTIMATE
AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER

Jacqueline O Neil
Howell Book House
MACMILLAN
A Prentice Hall Macmillan Company
1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Copyright 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
MACMILLAN is a registered trademark of Macmillan, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O Neil, Jacqueline.
The ultimate American pit bull terrier/Jacqueline O Neil
p. cm.
ISBN: 0-87605-248-0
1.American pit bull terrier. I. Title
SF429.A72F735 1995
636.7 55-dc20 CIP
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6
Book Design by Kris Tobiassen
To Tom O Neil, a superior navigator
CONTENTS
From the Author
Introduction
Chapter 1 The American Pit Bull Terrier, Then
Chapter 2 The American Pit Bull Terrier, Now
Chapter 3 Who s Who in the Bull and Terrier Breeds
Chapter 4 Is the American Pit Bull Terrier the Right Dog for Me?
Chapter 5 Picking the Ultimate American Pit Bull Terrier
Chapter 6 What Your New Dog Needs
Chapter 7 Little Puppy Discovers Big World (Your Guide to Socialization and Training)
Chapter 8 Caring for Your American Pit Bull Terrier
Chapter 9 What Can My American Pit Bull Terrier Do?
Chapter 10 To Breed or Not to Breed
FROM THE AUTHOR
The term Pit Bull when used in this book, is an abbreviation for American Pit Bull Terrier, meaning a dog whose parents were both purebred American Pit Bull Terriers. In recent years, the media have misused the term Pit Bull , calling practically every dog that gets into trouble by that name-including all manner of mongrels and mixed-bred dogs. As a result, many American Pit Bull Terrier owners have stopped using their breed s traditional nickname. But that s simply not fair. We still call Doberman Pinschers Dobes, Shetland Sheepdogs Shelties and Labrador Retrievers Labs. The real American Pit Bull Terrier is not a culprit, but a victim, and deserves to keep its nickname the same as any other breed.
INTRODUCTION
Gary Watkins, eleven years old, was absorbed in chasing lizards when Weela, the family Pit Bull, plowed into him with a body slam that sent him sprawling. Gary s mother, Lori, saw the whole incident and remembers being surprised at first, because Weela always played kindly with children. But her surprise quickly turned to horror when she saw a rattlesnake sink its fangs into Weela s face. Somehow Weela had sensed the snake s presence from across the yard and rushed to push Gary out of striking range.
Luckily for thirty people, twenty-nine dogs, thirteen horses and a cat, Weela recovered from the snake s venom. Luckily, because that s how many lives she saved a few years later. For her heroism, Weela was named Ken-L Ration s Dog Hero of the Year in 1993. The press release read in part:

In January 1993, heavy rains caused a dam to break miles upstream on the Tijuana River, normally a narrow, three-foot-wide river. Weela s rescue efforts began at a ranch that belonged to a friend of her owners, Lori and Daniel Watkins. Weela and the Watkinses worked for six hours battling heavy rains, strong currents and floating debris to reach the ranch and rescue their friend s twelve dogs.
From that experience, the Watkinses recognized Weela s extraordinary ability to sense quicksand, dangerous drop-offs and mud bogs. She was constantly willing to put herself in dangerous situations, says Lori Watkins. She always took the lead except to circle back if someone needed help.
Periodically, over a month s time, sixty-five-pound Weela crossed the flooded river to bring food to seventeen dogs and puppies and one cat, all stranded on an island. Each trip she pulled thirty to fifty pounds of dog food that had been loaded into a harnessed backpack. The animals were finally evacuated on Valentine s Day.
On another occasion, Weela led a rescue team to thirteen horses stranded on a large manure pile completely surrounded by floodwaters. The rescue team successfully brought the horses to safe ground.
Finally, during one of Weela s trips back from delivering food to stranded animals, she came upon a group of thirty people who were attempting to cross the floodwaters. Weela, by barking and running back and forth, refused to allow them to cross at that point where the waters ran deep and fast. She then led the group to a shallower crossing upstream, where they safely crossed to the other side.
The story of Weela s heroism appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine. Paul Harvey discussed her on his radio show. She was a guest of honor at Hollywood s prestigious Genesis Awards, and her picture and story graced the souvenir book.
Strong, gentle, intelligent and brave, Weela, CGC, TT, is the ultimate American Pit Bull Terrier, epitomizing the best that the breed has to offer. But her story also highlights an important yet often misunderstood fact about the breed. The Pit Bull is a dog that loves to please its owner and tries to become whatever kind of dog its owner desires. Weela has had two owners. The first owner dumped her in an alley to die when she was less than four weeks old. Her present owner, Lori Watkins, found five starving Pit Bull puppies whimpering in an alley, took them home and raised them. Later, the Watkins family placed four of the puppies in loving homes and kept the little female they named Weela. They believed Weela was special, and she proved them right. Most Pit Bull puppies grow up to become a reflection of both their owners personality and the care and training they receive. One can only imagine what a different dog Weela would have become if her original owner had raised her, and she had done her best to please him.
The strongest dog in the world for its size, the American Pit Bull Terrier is confident and alert. Endowed with nearly human facial expressions, the breed s bright eyes and inquisitively wrinkled forehead make it both handsome and comical. With its muscular yet agile body sleek coat and quick intelligence, the Pit Bull is a large dog compacted into a medium-sized bundle of energy-enough dog for anyone and too much dog for some.

Lori Watkins with Weela, Ken-L Ration s 1993 Dog Hero of the Year .

Bull-Fight: If you go near, Master George, he will pink you. Henry Aiken, ca. 1820 .
CHAPTER 1
The American Pit Bull Terrier, Then
Archeologists agree that dogs were the first animals domesticated by humans. Cave drawings from the Paleolithic era, the earliest part of the Old World Stone Age (some fifty thousand years ago), show men and dogs hunting together. Gradually humans found additional uses for dogs. The earliest known ancestors of the American Pit Bull Terrier served as guards and draft animals, but they were especially esteemed as dogs of war.
ORIGIN OF THE PIT BULL
The ancient Greeks had huge, ferocious dogs of a type called Mollossian that historians believe originated in Asia. During the sixth century B.C. , Phoenician traders brought some of these Greek guard dogs to England. There they flourished and became the ancestors of England s early Mastiff-type dogs.

Picture of a bas-relief called Hunters with Nets and Mastiffs, from the walls of Assurbanipal s palace at Nineveh, 668-626 B.C. British Museum .
When the Roman legions invaded Britain, they were met on the beaches by the Britons fierce Mastiff-type war dogs fighting side by side with their owners. The Romans admired these fighting dogs so much that they sent many of them home to Italy. There the dogs were called Pugnaces, or the broad-mouthed dogs of Britain. As the Roman legions and influence spread across Europe, so did the dogs.
Warrior dogs also starred in the bloody Roman circuses, where they were used to fight savage animals of other species, armed men and each other. In A.D. 395, the Roman Claudian described the British Hound that brings the bull s big forehead to the ground. His contemporary, the Roman historian Symmachus, wrote about seven Irish Bulldogs that excited a circus audience with their savage fighting and brave attitude. Symmachus called the deadly dogs Bulldogs, because dogs of that type were used to fight bulls.

The Ancient Bulldog
A Mastiff of true English blood Lov d fighting better than his food; He glory d in his limping pace, The scars of honour seam d his face; In ev ry limb a gash appears, And frequent fights retrench d his ears .
-Gay [from George R. Jesse s Researches Into the History of the British Dog (London: R. Hardwicke, 1866)]
During ancient times there were no breeds as we know them today, and dogs were usually named for the work they did. For example, in England all guard dogs of massive size were considered Mastiffs, and all dogs quick, brave and small enough to enter a hole in the ground (terra) after wild game such as badger or fox were called terriers.
Eventually some of the Mastiff-type dogs became specialists. A 1632 dictionary defined the Alaunt as being like a Mastiff and serving the British butchers by rounding up and penning fierce oxen. The Bandog was any large guard dog that was kept chained by day. And the Bulldog, of course, was the gladiator.
George R. Jesse, the famed British canine historian, wrote that the Bulldog was the result of selectively breeding Mastiffs to produce a smaller, more agile dog with a recessed nose and a protruding jaw. This, Jesse contended, would enable the dog to breathe freely while holding onto a bull. He described the original Bulldog s appearance in Researches Into the History of the British Dog : The lowering eye, somewhat projecting, the heavy jaw; broad, massive, round skull; distended nostrils, and in some cases teeth constantly exposed; together with his deep, ample, and muscular chest, gave this redoubted and formidable animal a terrific aspect not belied by his undaunted coura