Killing machines or man's best friend?

>> >> The pros and cons of pit bull culture in Montreal

by JOHN EDMONDS

"People are never scared of our dog until they learn she's a pit bull," says Rob Boudreau, president of the newly formed American Pit Bull Terrier Club of Montreal (APBTCM). He's sitting next to his girlfriend Karyne in their backyard in Cote-St-Paul. Their dog Daimon--a friendly, frisky 60-pound beast that looks like a wingless gargoyle--runs up to get scratched.

Rob explains that today's event--a "fun" show of agility contests for a dozen pit bulls and their owners--is meant to help change attitudes about the breed.

"They're wonderful dogs. They try so hard to please," says Karyne, giving a snuffling Daimon a good rub.

With the words "pit bull" evoking images of a vicious killing machine, it's clearly a challenge to get the public to realize how gentle the dogs can be.

Soon other pit bulls are led into the yard. There's a considerable range of colours and sizes. The largest, Tiger, is over 100 pounds. But they all have the trademark short hair, round muscular build and large powerful jaws. And they all seem quite friendly--to humans at least.

But as soon as a new dog arrives, the others focus on it with total intensity. The owners enter the yard cautiously, holding their dogs on stout, short chains, making sure the other dogs are tethered well away from their pets.

Several times a couple of the dogs got too close. Erupting suddenly with fury, they lunged at each other savagely. Their owners--mainly men in their 20s--had to pull back with all their strength to separate the snarling dogs before one got its teeth into the other.

"It's a myth that pit bulls have specially locking jaws," says Rob. "The reason they won't let go when they bite, no matter what, is that they don't want to."

"We told people they couldn't bring dogs who are aggressive to people. If they're aggressive to other dogs that's okay, because you really can't avoid that with this breed," says Karyne.

While most dogs will vie for dominance--especially with other dogs of the same sex--with pit bulls the instinct has been enhanced through breeding.

But pit bull owners like Rob say that this doesn't make the dogs especially dangerous.

"It's some of the owners who are the problem," he says.

Pit bull attack

Norman Hollander, the owner of the Take 2 video store in Cote-des-Neiges, says his dog Paco was almost killed by a pit bull in the neighbourhood a few weeks ago.

"My 11-year-old daughter and a guy who works at my store were walking Paco, and they went by the house of a guy who owns pit bulls. And suddenly this little pit bull runs out of the yard and just took Paco out. I mean he just submarined him--went under him and bit him on the chest, and wouldn't let go.

"My daughter came running back and said, 'Daddy, a dog is killing Paco!'

"So I go out with a little junior baseball bat to where the dogs are. The pit bull--named Kaiser, appropriately enough--is still biting him. So I start hitting him with the bat. I'm a big guy, close to 300 pounds, and I hit the dog four times on the back with all my strength. And it still doesn't let go. So I hit him again and he finally lets go. So Paco runs off home, bleeding, and this pit bull chases him! I follow them back to the store, and the pit bull is biting Paco again. So I hit him some more and he lets go, and then just trots off home like he's done a good day's work."

Hollander says that despite hitting the dog, it never menaced him.

"Paco still hasn't had stitches because they're letting the wounds drain," he says. "He's got these big holes in his chest--you can see right inside him. Once I got 15 ounces of pus out of them."

Kaiser's owner, Mike Gopaulen, sees things differently.

"He's lying if he says my dog just attacked his dog. That dog of his, Paco, is always running around the neighbourhood off his leash. His dog came onto my yard, and one of my dogs was in heat. The male dog was just protecting his territory. It's like wolves in nature--just instinct. Like, what would you do if some guy came into your yard and tried to screw your wife? I know Kaiser didn't just attack Paco. My dog wouldn't lie to me, man."

After Hollander made a police report about the attack on his dog, Gopaulen was served with a city order telling him to have the dog destroyed within 48 hours.

He told the Mirror that he has hired a lawyer, and plans to have the order reversed.



Bred to fight

Beyond fun shows and dubious concepts of dog telepathy, the most hardcore of pit bull owners like to arrange fights between their dogs. One year ago, just north of Toronto, 19 pit bulls were seized from a farm after police got a tip that they were being raised for illegal dog fights. They found fighting pits on the property--and five buried dogs who were believed to have died fighting.

SPCA president Pierre Barnoti says he's heard reports of pit bull sport fighting in Montreal, but he's never been able to track it down.

"They've got some kind of code," he says. "When they say Tuesday in Montreal North, they might mean Friday in St-Henri."

One of the guys at the Cote-St-Paul show says he once saw an arranged pit bull fight in Montreal.

"They just have two dogs and they let them off their leashes. That's all they have to do."

Did he like it? "Yeah, it was okay. It was less gory than watching a man jump to his death from a building. I mean, it's just like watching two guys go at it in a boxing ring."

Pit bulls were bred in England in the 1800s for dog fights, bull baiting, bear baiting and badger hunting. The experts say that the while pit bulls are vicious towards each other, they are not especially dangerous to people compared to Rottweilers and German shepherds--which are more likely to bite.

"There were 125 police reports of dogs biting people in Montreal last year," says City of Montreal spokesperson Francois Lemay. "In 25 of those cases, the dogs were seized and euthanized. And only a small percentage of those were pit bulls."

In another 20 cases, the owners had their own dogs destroyed, at the city's request.

About 13 Montreal-area municipalities--including Outremont, Lachine, and St-Laurent--have banned pit bulls due to citizens' concerns. But the SPCA's Barnoti is against banning the breed, saying, "Any dog can bite, even a poodle. The real problem is when you have a certain type of owner who doesn't properly train or contain their dog."

But Barnoti says another problem is the attitude of the City of Montreal itself when it comes to ordering the destruction of a dangerous dog. "I know of a case a few months ago in St-Henri where a pit bull almost ripped the kneecap off a woman, and all the owner got was a fine," he says. "But in other cases, where a dog just bites another dog, they order it killed." :

Curious about the APBTCM? Call Rob at 768-4488

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