pitbull's who search and rescue.

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[/font][font=Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman]For Kris Crawford, it's not always easy being a dog owner. When the Castro Valley resident takes her dogs for a walk, people cross the street to avoid them. On Thursday, a woman slowed her car, rolled down her window and screamed: "Shame on you for owning those dogs!" Crawford has three pit bulls, the same breed that recently mauled a 10-year-old boy in Richmond. That incident is only the latest in a long series of public relations nightmares for pit bulls, and Crawford is tired of it. [/font]

[font=Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman]Her dogs aren't killers. In fact, they save lives as part of the Alameda County Canine Search and Rescue Unit. They travel throughout Northern California, looking for missing people. Crawford says they seem to love their job. "Dakota will search until she drops. She wants to find people because she adores them." Crawford said of her star rescue dog, "I wouldn't use any other breed." [/font]
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[font=Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman]With large heads, squat, muscular bodies and jaws that take hold and won't let go, pit bulls can look pretty scary. With their reputation as vicious fighting dogs, the breed can seem like real-life hounds of hell. Crawford said, however, there is nothing innately savage about pit bulls. It is the owners, not the dogs, who are to blame for incidents like the one in Richmond.[/font]
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[font=Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman]Pit bulls are highly intelligent and highly trainable. They have a huge desire to please their masters, and that can easily be directed in the wrong way," Crawford said. The stubborn nature that earns pits the reputation of vicious fighting dogs makes them ideal for search and rescue, Crawford said. And it is also why their jaws can hang on for so long. There is no special "locking mandible" as some newspaper articles have suggested. Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin, a University of Georgia veterinarian who has been an advocate for the pit bull, agrees. "There is absolutely no evidence for the existence of any kind of 'locking mechanism' unique to the jaw or teeth of the American Pit Bull Terrier," he said. Dr. Brisbin also said that the breed's refusal to let go comes from their bulldog ancestry and historic use as a hunting dog. [/font]
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[font=Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman]Crawford adopted her dogs off the streets as puppies, and only after doing extensive research into what makes the breed tick. Then she trained them hard, using only positive reinforcement methods. The result: dogs who would never attack but who might slobber victims to death. "The other search and rescue handlers have a joke that you haven't been properly rescued until you've been French-kissed by my dogs," Crawford said. Dakota, Cheyenne and Tahoe spread their message of safety and tail-wagging through a variety of other programs, as well. They participate in a youth outreach program called Hug-a-Tree, which teaches kids what to do if they are lost in the wilderness. In animal-assisted therapy, Crawford and her dogs go into hospitals and family shelters. "The visits achieve lower heart rates, (they) calm disturbed children (and) get uncommunicative people to talk," Crawford said. [/font]
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I found another good press article. Our breed never ceases to amaze me!!!
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Thanks for the post!

 

IMO it's the best all around breed....ain't nothin they can't do