This once rare breed has become a potent symbol that crosses the class
divide. It's alive and well in the minds of the machos or would-be machos
in my neighborhood, which is why one sees so many of them in the park.
Good for the owner's image, even when both dog and owner are pussycats.
Otherwise, why choose a breed that carries an onus and anyway tends to be
aggressive towards other dogs? There are lots of other effective breeds for
guard dogs that don't come with these problems.
I thought I was tempering an overly-pastoral impulse by including another
part of the reality of my overwhelmingly friendly multi-everything
neighborhood.
Mark
At 08:50 AM 5/12/2005, you wrote:
>Mark Weiss wrote:
>
>>THREE IN THE PARK
>>
>>Trained to test
>>the heft of the ball
>>before tossing.
>>
>>Spring. This, he points, is
>>George Washington, he tells
>>the African.
>>
>>One is tempted
>>not to notice
>>the pit bulls.
>
>LIES, DAMN LIES, AND ANIMAL ADOPTIONS
>
>At the SPCA the directive is out:
>when we show a dog to an adopter,
>there is no such dog as a "pit bull."
>
>It is a Staffordshire Terrier Mix
>a poodle with an attitude,
>an outsized killer Pomeranian.
>
>Maybe we can pawn one off
>as a nastier-than-usual cat because
>we have too many cats as it is.
>
>Public relations: we are afraid
>people will be afraid if we
>call the dog by its rightful name.
>
>Bad associations: white suburbanites
>who employ The Colored as nannies
>and illegal Mexicansas gardeners
>
>see in the name "pit bull" some guy
>in a yellow suit and porkpie hat
>beating the shit out of a dog
>
>to make it vicious. The fact
>that he succeeds says lots about
>imagery. Ours, his, but not the dog's.
>
>When the dogs are seized by the cops
>some of them are put down
>because some of them have killed.
>
>The others don't like other dogs but cleave to humans
>with absolute trust, not because they're stupid but
>because maybe love really is stronger than death.
>
>But it's not stronger than the lies we tell.
>
>KTW/5-12-04
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