Isabelle wants a hug.
Wrinkles appear on her broad, black and white head while she waits for a sign from owner and pit bull advocate Christine Allen.
Eventually, the 55-pound dog is allowed on to the couch and Allen’s lap.
"They want to be touched all the time," Allen says of those belonging to Isabelle’s breed.
As South Bay representative for BAD RAP — Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls — Allen teaches pit bull owners about their dogs, and provides foster care for shelter dwellers she believes are adoptable but slated to be euthanized.
Pit bulls, the Corralitos resident says, "are athletic, loyal, goofy dogs."
Mass breeding facilities, like one in the East Bay, turn out up to 200,000 pit bulls per year, Allen says, and "don’t spay/neuter, don’t care about temperament, and don’t do health testing."
The spay/neuter part is where most animal experts and advocates agree that solutions must start.
Santa Cruz County has had a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance in place for 12 years. Pit bulls can be spayed or neutered free of charge, says Lisa Carter of the Santa Cruz SPCA, "because of their sheer numbers in our shelters."
The policy not only cuts down on the number of unwanted animals, it makes the altered animals less aggressive. In 85 percent of dog attacks, Carter says, the attacking animal has not been spayed or neutered.
Richard Steffen, staff director for Speier, says wording of the proposed dog breed legislation is likely to be amended to more narrowly address breeding practices.
"We’ve talked to about 20 animal groups and some victims, and we’ve got studies and the whole thing," Steffen says. Through the process, he says he has learned that requiring specific breeds to be spayed/neutered would get the most leverage with most of the parties close to the issue.
"We’re trying to strike a happy medium," Steffen says.
They have a bad reputation because a lot of the people who choose that breed are bad owners," Carter says. "It’s a very sad situation."
Allen agrees there’s a sizable camp within the pit bull owner world attracted to pit bulls because of their bad reputation. Those owners, she says, tend to be irresponsible about selecting their dogs, handling their dogs, and "pimping them" — a practice that produces future generations of aggressive animals.
"Obviously, there are shady, awful pit bulls out there," she says — an admission that pains her because of her affection for nicer members of the breed. But, she says, "it is an aberration to have pit bulls going after people."
The original pit bulls were bred as fighting dogs, according to an SPCA primer on the breed. The bulldog-terrier mixes were deliberately fearless, with a high tolerance for pain. They tended to be aggressive toward other dogs but extremely tolerant and docile with humans.
Allen says she is careful with Isabelle, who she says plays nicely with dogs she knows, but is wary of unfamiliar dogs.
She doesn’t worry about the dog’s regard for people. Five months into a pregnancy, Allen says she is confident Isabelle will be a great companion for her baby.
In fact, Isabelle just passed the "Canine Good Citizen" test sponsored by the American Kennel Club.
"She loves to be picked up," Allen says of the 5-year-old adopted dog. "I dress her up, I paint her toenails. She doesn’t care; she loves the attention."
Sorry this was so long, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. This is from an article in the Santa Cruz paper on 7/25/2005
