The PBRCE is the credo of the "Pit Bull Rescue Alliance." Unfortunately I don't find much about this group, because the website no longer exists. It seems the whole ethics thing hasn't gotten much traction in the pit bull rescue community. There WAS a copy of the Code of Ethics at New Hope Pit Bull Rescue's website. New Hope is in South Carolina, and though the Code of Ethics tacitly acknowledges that temperament is inherited and early environment is important, they adopt out fighting dogs almost exclusively. The Code of Ethics seems to be their baby, but has several authors including Donna Reynolds of BAD RAP and Mary Harwelik of The REAL Pit Bull, Inc. This was back along time ago, when Donna and Mary were still friends in March, 2009.
I actually found a couple versions of the PBRCE. And one is a "work in progress" version with explanatory notes in which I read with breathless wonder - the admission that it's NOT just how you raise them!
"Many people still live under the guise (sic) that puppies are the way to go because "it is ALL in how you raise them!" Hmm...well not totally. Seasoned rescuers and breed fanciers have seen time and again dogs that were socialized extensively with other animals from a pup, only for that pup to mature into a dog who can no longer tolerate other animals, even those they have grown up with. What this means for groups who rescue many more puppies than adults is this, a higher likelihood of returns between the ages of 18 and 36 months."
The authors are nutters after all, so they don't bother to acknowledge that pit bulls that were carefully trained and raised in loving family homes also can berserk and attack neighborhood children.
Another item discusses an issue I was not aware rescue angels were concerned about - they consider pit bull mixes more dangerous that pits. The authors note that adding a guard dog type dog's inherited wariness of strangers to the genes of a proactive killer is REALLY BAD! It seems that mixing pit bulls with other dogs doesn't dilute the killer genes, it just gives the resulting dog more reasons to use them.
C. Rescuing pit bulls mixed with guarding breeds is strongly discouraged. Extra caution and care should be taken when selecting and placing those dogs that are mixed with guard dog breeds including but not limited to Neapolitan Mastiffs, Dogue de Bourdeaux, Fila Brasileiro, Presa Canario, Cane Corso, Rottweilers, German Shepherds and others. Since the temperament of the pit bull is very different than the temperament of breeds in the guardian category, such mixes can create unique handling and placement challenges, and should be considered candidates for experienced homes only.
Consider that molosserdogs.com asserts "(t)he present-day Cane Corso exists in decent numbers, but because of reckless breeding and crosses with some bull-breeds, it is getting difficult to find a true representative of the breed."
The Pit Bull Rescuer's Code of Ethics is less that two years old, but it is already archaic. The pit bull propaganda machine has totally given up the "pit bulls are different" thing and the ethics thing, too, for that matter. Between March 2009 and June 2009, Donna decided that truth and ethics were passe. (You'll notice that the BAD RAP ethics page is a page first intended to be copied as a handout, but then later removed) She suddenly decided that pit bulls were no more dog aggressive than any other breed of dog. Well, that's funny because true dog aggression, ie aggression towards another dog simply because it is a dog, is a trait unique to pit bulls. That's their genetic heritage.
Anyhow, Donna reveals her sudden new "belief" here in her blog. The post is very weird. Somehow, people are able to socialize all other kinds of dogs better than they can pit bulls and that is the why pit bulls kill dogs - not genetics. By her convoluted logic, if puppy millers pump out thousands of non-pit bull dogs that don't rip through cages and kill each other, it is because they're so good at socializing them.
When Donna came out with her new "belief," she really freaked a lot of nutters out! You can read on pit bull forum where the nutters react with confusion and anger, wondering how pit bulls are going to do in the hands of oblivious adopter who trot them home in the belief that they're just like labs.
Harwelik retorts,
so now its the dogs are not dog aggressive genetically? which is it? is the pit bull breed dog aggressive by genetics or are we humans to blame?? i find it hard to blame humans all the time, yes sometimes they are to blame for allowing a dog to have no rules.. however, genetics is genetics and you can only manage genetics."Wow, more truth.
Sadly, truth, rationality, and ethics, have been replaced by positioning, tactics and politics. The Animal Farm Foundation adopted the motto "Different is Deadly" to convey their new strategy to avoid BSL. Here is what can be found on the AFF facebook page:
When it comes to the dogs we all love and strive to care for, DIFFERENT IS DEADLY. We cannot have it both ways. If advocates support mandatory spay/neuter laws against dogs visually identified as pit bulls, it makes the dogs different from other kinds of dogs. If pit bulls really are different from other dogs, we should expect them to be legislated against differently. We cannot have it both ways.Notice the careful statement "visually identified as pit bulls." They technically and politically don't acknowlege that pit bulls exist all the while advocating for them! Rather than respecting pit bulls and advocating strong stewardship of pit bull, they lie and maneuver and gleefully advocate putting fighting pits in people's homes. Ethics are so very passé in 2010.
