Not for pit bulls

Editor,

With great interest, I’ve read several letters to the Editor concerning pit bulls. Most do not know how these animals got their names. They were originally used to fight bulls within the confines of a pit, thus the name pit bull. Years ago, I received a 2-year-old pit bull that had been raised and was a companion to a young man who was mentally challenged. Someone who didn’t like pit bull shot the dog — he recovered well — and it had a serious effect on the man who owned him. As a result, a new home had to be found for the dog.

This dog was great with the family and was terrified of cats. Yes, you saw that one right: he was deathly afraid of cats. However, he hated other dogs. Because of this I could never take him anywhere. My husband and I had to break up a fight between our pit and the neighbors dog when they accidently met while we were leaving our home and the neighbor was coming home.  

Our pit, fortunately, locked his jaws on the other dog’s ear and not the throat. We were unable to pry our dogs mouth open and using the only means I could think of, I reached behind our male pit and squeezed as hard as I could his crown jewels. He let go and we were able to separate the dogs.

Because of the vicious nature of these animals, I would never own another one. My dad also had a pit, and like me had one for the first time. This dog seemed to be great around kids. When my nephew dropped a gum ball from the machine my parents had, he was bitten in the face when their dog went after that gum ball. My nephew is scarred for life. That dog was euthanized. Why? Because my dad felt he could never be trusted regardless of who owned him.

Even a well trained pit bull cannot be trusted. This day and age, people are too busy, lazy or for whatever reason don’t take the time or make an effort to really train these dogs. I personally would like to see this animal banned from Porterville, and it would be great if a countywide ban could achieved. There are to many gang-bangers who have these dogs and they are trained to be aggressive and there are to many dogs used for the illegal dog fighting sport.

Get them out of our city and out of our county.

Kathleen Harris
Porterville