Posted on 05/08/2009 5:16:22 AM PDT by meandog
Eric Peterson of Brookings is a rescuer times two. First, he rescued Eve, a 2-year-old American Pit Bull Terrier. Now, with a demanding training regimen behind them, he's ready to undertake some search-and-rescue missions - with a lot of help from his pawed pal and partner. Eve is now qualified in "tracking and trailing ." She and Peterson are part of the Brookings County Sheriff's Department K-9 Search and Rescue program. A scenario for her and Peterson might be a situation where a nursing-home resident suffering from dementia wanders off or a child wanders away from home and becomes lost. A "tracking dog" follows a subject's footsteps , being oriented to a mixture of human scent and ground disturbance where the subject walked; a "trailing dog" is oriented to the cells that people are always shedding, which would happen as the subject walked along the ground. Eve can find a subject using either or both methods. Other search dogs work with orientation driven by an airborne human scent. And, finally, some search dogs are trained to find human remains. Should the call for the services of Eve and Peterson come, they're ready to respond. Defending, rescuing dogs like Eve Peterson, manager of Powershop Gym in downtown Brookings, defends dogs like Eve, whom he got via "Pit Rescue of the Great Plains," based in Sioux Falls, for which he serves as board secretary and Web master. He likes to clarify the definition "pit bull" ; he calls it a "slang term." It's a more generic term that covers a wide variety of canine types with similar physical characteristics.
(Excerpt) Read more at brookingsregister.com ...
Don’t anybody tell Chet99.
He’ll be screaming from the rooftops that the pit will eat the nursing home patient.
I admire your attitude. Do you really want dogs bred to fight in a pit licking girls hands?
I’ve been told, repeatedly, that ...
Wait.
WHAT ???!!!
Good doggie!
The breed is brave, loyal and loving. It gets a bad rap due mostly to bad owners who neglect and abuse PBTs and usually urge on their aggression. It is little wonder to me that most dog attacks take place in lower socio-economic neighborhoods and trailer parks where the dogs are allowed to roam, become almost feral and fight. Here is another story about a heroic "pitbull" saving its master yesterday: click here
PIT’s are our breed of choice too. This morning I was walking my dog and my grand-dog (both BIG Pits, we are dog-sitting) and all the neighbors came out to see and pet them (we don’t have many pets on our street, no when one is out they get attention).
They are excellent dogs, and treated right, make excellent pets.
I’ve got personal experience that throws the whole ‘bad rap’ out the window. You want to try honesty? No sarcasm. I hate bullshit.
I’m glad you still think so.
Take care
You breed pit fighting bull terriers.
While a nice story it makes me wonder.
Any dog can be trained to track although some breeds are better at it than most.
This dog was picked, then trained and now is a “good doggie” story. Was the dog picked and trained just to make a point?
As I said, it makes me wonder.
totally agree meandog. I have two pit mixes and they are GREAT pets.
People that fall for the blanket slander of the breed are like liberals that fall for the same thing about Rush!
Deluded.
We don’t breed - our dog is neutered. I said Pits are our breed of choice.
And our dog is a terrier but he doesn’t fight in a pit, he lives in our house and is loved and treated as any other pet would be.
I’m glad`to hear that. I really am.
Pit Bulls are actually used in many states as track and rescue dogs. A Pit named Dakota was used in California during the search for Lacy Peterson and was the dog that tracked her scent to the Bay Marina. Kentucky uses Pits as therapy dogs. Helen Keller had Pits amoung her service dogs. The most decorated military dog in all of US military history was a Pit who served during WWI. Petey from the Little Rascals was a Pit. Pits did not have a “bad rap” until they became the fad dog for thugs, who mistreat these dogs into submission and then train them to fight to the death.
Good point.
Why are they bred as pits?
Don't tell Pelosi, else every nursing home will have a pack of wild but well-fed pit-bulls in residence.
Most delicious.
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