Life With a Scaredy Dog: It's NOT All in How They're Raised

A Labrador Retriever throws himself in to churning waters to fetch his owner's quarry. His paws fight the current and he swims strongly, holding its head above the water. Several times, the waves threaten to pull him under, yet he perseveres until he is close enough to close his jaws, softly but firmly, around the prize.

Painting by Karl Edwards

A Hungarian Vizsla sniffs the air, gazing at the horizon with keen, watchful eyes. Once she finds what she is looking for, she raises her petite, russet paw, tucking it toward her chest: this is a sign her handlers know well. She is still as can be, the puff of her breath in the crisp air the only thing betraying her from a statue.

Painting by Ross B Young

A sharp eyed Border Collie slinks down the fell. His paws barely make a sound as he moves, ghost-like, across the ground. At the sharp sound of a whistle, he veers to the left, circling the sheep and crowding them together before they move as one toward an open gap in the fence.

Painting by Sue Deutscher

We find it easy to conjure up these images in our heads. They are accepted, even expected traits within their breeds. When a Cattle Dog nips the neighbour's heels, or a Terrier digs holes in the yard, we are more inclined to disregard these behaviours. It's just who they are!

So why, then, is it that the American Pit Bull Terrier, a breed which was created decades ago for dog on dog combat, is marketed as misunderstood? When a Pit Bull acts on its natural predisposition and shows aggression toward other animals, society cries that it must have been mistreated, the owners did something to make it that way.

Painting by Edwin Henry Landseer

Nature and nurture work side by side, you can not train or love the genetics out of a dog. This blatant lie, that it is "all in how they're raised," is the reason for the increased number of attacks perpetuated for pit bull type dogs, for the hordes of people petitioning for breed specific legislation.

If only we were transparent about what these dogs were built for, perhaps we could prevent them from falling in to the hands of amateur owners who can not handle them, who are told the dog is sweet as pie and are then blindsided when he rips in to the neighbour's Chihuahua.

If you love the breed, love it for all that it is, the good and the bad. Don't love it for the animal activist's greatest hoax: the "nanny dog."