“Michael Vick's pit bulls learn to be pets” was a recent headline in the news media. It was a cheery story of how some 47 pit bulls seized from Mr. Vick have been taken to shelters where they are being ‘rehabilitated’ and many offered for adoption.

Two key questions weren’t addressed: 1) should Mr. Vick’s pit bulls have been saved and 2) can a pit bull raised and groomed to fight ever be reliability rehabilitated?

I think the answer to both questions is NO.

Michael Vick’s Pit bulls

Honestly, it’s not just me. Two groups I rarely agree with – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) – both believed Mr. Vick’s dogs should not have survived.

The decision, however, was up to a federal court judge who caved to animal rights groups. Twenty-two of the surviving pit bulls were sent to Best Friends Animal Society, a no-kill sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

All the shelters that took in the pit bulls were given our tax dollars for the effort, and Best Friends received almost $400,000 for the dogs (although I’m sure money was not their motivation).

Public Shelters Are Swamped with Pit Bulls

The issue of whether rehabilitation works and potential liability if it doesn't is huge in today’s county shelters.

The Wisconsin Journal newspaper reported that a county humane society was spending $6,000 a WEEK to care for 47 pit bulls authorities believe were bred for fighting.

Half the available space in the shelter was devoted to the dangerous dogs and the organization had to cut back on efforts for other animals because of the costs.

In addition, the humane society had to hire guards to protect the shelter during off hours because unknown terrorists have threatened to harm society employees should they harm the pit bulls.

If you watch Animal Planet, you know that some Humane Societies do not allow pit bulls to be adopted and euthanize all pit bull strays.

That’s because there's no way to control how an adopted pit bull will be used and there's the potential liability if an adopted pit bull injures or kills someone. Government-sponsored shelters are considered to have ‘deep pockets’ and can be sued if an adopted dog attacks.

Private Shelters Live in a Parallel World

Non-profit, private groups such as Best Friends do not have the same regulations, oversight or laws to control their behavior.

Any one adopting a pit bull from Best Friends may be required to sign a full waiver of rights to sue and may even be required to indemnify Best Friends if a put bill does attack someone. Their happy little website doesn’t get into the gritty details of how they work.

[Amusingly, not a week goes by that I'm not attacked by animal rights extremists for my common sense article
“Eight Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Animal Shelters.”

Yet, Best Friends is representative of many of their questionable tactics. This is the same group that a couple years ago spent $250,000 to import 300 dogs from Lebanon and lobbied for a law to allow anyone to trespass onto a private property to seize a dog the person felt was being mistreated.]

Can Rehabilitation Work?

Can you stop a Border collie from herding? Can you stop a Yorkshire terrier from barking? Can you stop a Spaniel from chasing prey?

Dogs have been bred for certain qualities over generations. Is it arrogance or ignorance that makes someone think they can undo decades of Mother Nature with a couple weeks training?

Pit bull apologists continue to claim that it’s the owner, not the dog. There is some truth to that but why does someone in 2008 want to own a pit bull?

This is a dog with such a bad reputation that many places, such as the city of Denver, CO and the county of Dade, FL, have banned the breed after horrific attacks. Many insurance companies exclude from pit bulls in homeowners policies.

How many animal rights extremists cringe when they see someone bring a pit bull into a dog park?

Sure pit bulls may be loyal, affectionate, blah blah blah but EVERY DOG BREED advocate says the same things about their breed.

I do not think a dog bred from fighting stock and trained to fight can ever be trusted enough to be a family pet. Anyone with young children who adopts a pit bull is too irresponsible to be trusted with a dog or a child.

I’ll close with a statement from Lt. Abe Gamez of Contra Costa (CA) Animal Services after his investigation into the severe mauling of an 80-year-old woman by her neighbor’s pit bulls – dogs she’d interacted with numerous times before: