Letter to the ASPCA, feel free to copy, tired of getting their solicitations, address is PO Box 96929 Washington DC 20077-7127:
I am writing to you today to ask you to remove my name from your mailing list as I cannot support your organization as long as continues to misinform the public about pit bulls and BSL. The last thing these dogs need right now is prominent and respected organizations like yours spreading false information about them to the public and their owners. What pit bull owners need is the truth so that they can be the best owners possible and keep their dogs out of harm’s way. Plays on emotion, sugar-coating, and incorrect information geared to make pit bulls more adoptable is not the solution, and I am far from being alone in this opinion.
Your web site used to have a page where it correctly stated fighting dogs were bred for unpredictable behavior – perhaps I am looking in the wrong places but I can no longer find that paragraph. Instead I find several spots talking about dogs as individuals and how we should not discriminate – please. Let me quote from your web site:
“Can All Dogs Be Trained to Fight?
No. Much like herding dogs, trailing dogs and other breeds selected for particular roles, fighting dogs are born ready for the training that will prepare them to succeed in the pit, and are bred to have a high degree of dog aggression.”
And yet you encourage owners to “let people know that it’s bad ownership—not bad dogs—that causes pit bulls to be aggressive.” Well, which is it? Because it sounds to me like you want to have it both ways. How about really educating owners – how about explaining to them that even if they do everything right by their pit bull it may still be aggressive and that is a real concern to their neighbors. How about replying to comments on your web site from pit bull owners talking about bringing their pit to dog parks that this should not be done. How about changing that above paragraph to reflect the truth which is there is no training necessary to create a fighter. And while you’re at it, how about removing the idea that human aggressive fighting dogs were culled because any amount of research into dog fighting will show you that this is not the case, that several human aggressive and man biting pit bulls fought and were bred on, not culled. Real history, real facts, real education give pit bull owners the tools they need to succeed – otherwise you are creating unprepared owners who will set their dogs up to fail and cause more media worthy incidents.
I also hope you start to reconsider your position on BSL, which has a long history of working well in this country. There are some lesser forms of BSL such as mandatory spaying and neutering of pit bulls that has shown to reduce pit bull attacks, abuse towards unwanted pit bulls and shelter euthanasia for pit bulls which we both know is a huge problem. MSN does not impact a single responsible pit bull owner nor does it prevent ownership of these dogs. If you are going to engage in breed specific benefits such as low-cost or free spay/neuter, training, adoption fees, etc for pit bulls, how can you label those that see BSL as a workable solution as “discriminatory” or worse?
The pit bull problem of fighting, over-population and attacks has gone on long enough and these dogs need someone like the ASPCA to stand up and take a bold stand on the matter. Until then, I will continue to give generously to breed rescues, horse rescues, and other organizations that I feel are trying their best to combat problems, not make new ones.
Thank you for your time,
