Direct from the BBC, a new line in tawdry tabloid journalism

by Phillip E Jones

No doubt along with hundreds of other Bull Terrier enthusiasts, I awaited last night’s “Panorama” program (Thursday 30th August 2007) with a mixture of both interest and trepidation, keen to see if the heavily trailed 17 month undercover investigation by this BBC flagship program into dog-fighting and the illegal sale of American Pit Bull Terriers to Britain would offer the viewing public and me anything new on the subject.  By the time this supposedly well researched and well documented broadcast had finished I had my answer, the extensive and no doubt expensive undercover investigation was little more than a re-hashing of the numerous myths, half-truths and general misinformation which has surrounded the APBT for the past 20 years and was an extremely poor way to spend an hour of my life.

Mind you, the very fact that the program began with a shrieking female reporter pursuing one of the Farmers Boys Kennels down the street berating him publicly for his wrongdoings should have set the alarm bells ringing, but maybe she was just an excitable type. We were also treated to a series of unsightly bite wounds, supposedly the result of Pit Bull attacks, which had been treated by one particular plastic surgeon who obviously wasn’t a big fan of the Bull Terrier breeds, but who gave the impression that he’d seen and studied every dog that had committed each individual attack, because he was suggesting that each bite shown was as a direct result of an American Pit Bull Terrier. Could it be though, that he was actually sourcing his information which identified the culprit from one of the many “experts” who seem to be commonly employed as police officers, RSPCA Inspectors, vets, etc? But then again, he had indisputable proof that they were Pit Bull bites, simply because Pit Bulls have a distinctive bite pattern, which obviously isn’t shared by Staffordshire Bull Terriers, English Bull Terriers, Cross-breeds, or any other dog type, because this particular plastic surgeon is an expert on dog bites apparently.

Viewers were also told that the American Pit Bull Terrier is simply a cross-breed and suggested that it has no legitimate standing as an officially recognised breed. Perhaps the reporter might have approached both the American Kennel Club and the American Dog Breeders Association which formally recognise the Pit Bull in the States, as well as any of the national canine clubs throughout the world who regard the Pit Bull as a legitimate show breed. Obviously the reporter only went to the bother of approaching the English Kennel Club which has consistently refused to formally recognise the APBT, for some yet unknown reason.

It’s also worth noting, that apart from the wolf, all of today’s dog breeds are crossbreeds and are originally derived from disparate types of dog, each one contributing its own particular feature to the finished modern dog breed. Pedigree status is and has been given on the basis of breeding like to like and type to type over a number of generations and ensuring that the finished article complies with a breed council standard. In this regard and applying these criteria the American Pit Bull Terrier is a true pedigree dog, given that it can often trace its origins back for the best part of 100 years. The Colby family dogs are just one of the American bloodlines that can probably trace their heritage back to the turn of the 20^th Century, years before the Staffordshire Bull Terrier achieved recognition in Britain and yet is still regarded by the English Kennel Club as a crossbreed, which is complete and utter nonsense.

Somewhat predictably, the tragic and needless death of 5 year old Ellie Lawrenson was used by the program to illustrate the implicit danger of the American Pit Bull Terrier and adding, that according to police “experts” the dog in question was bigger and stronger than the average Pit Bull. However, no-one featured on the program cared to venture any sort of explanation as to how or why a complete “tool” came to own the dog, why a 5 year old was allowed to gain access to the space being used by an unreliable and unsociable dog and whether or not it was actually an American Pit Bull Terrier in the first place. Call me cynical, but how many times have so-called police experts and vets identified a dog as a Pit Bull type, only to find their opinions overturned and discredited by Stafford judges or animal psychologists. It was also notable that the reporter also implied that the dog which killed little Ellie may well have been supplied by the Pit Bull breeders they were actually investigating, but singularly failed to produce any definitive evidence to substantiate their suggestions. Still never mind, no point in letting a little thing like the truth get in the way of a good story.

Next, we were back to the irrefutable Plastic Surgeon who told the reporter that on average he was seeing 1 bite victim per day and that in his estimation 25% of these were as a result of Pit Bull attacks. Obviously, his calculations were based on his own unique method of identifying Pit Bull specific bite wounds, which seem to have escaped a large number of other surgeons in the same field that were not asked to substantiate his theory. At the same time, this medical expert suggested that dog bite reports had remained much the same since the introduction of the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, implying that Pit Bulls were still largely responsible for such incidents. To say I was surprised at this suggestion would be an understatement, given that according to a study undertaken in 1997 by the American Veterinary Medical Association in conjunction with the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the numbers of Pit Bull attacks was falling, whereas biting incidents from the likes of the Rottweiler were on the increase. If, as the doctor suggests the APBT has such a propensity to bite indiscriminately, then surely that would be reflected in a medical study from the USA, home to millions of American Pit Bull Terriers. Funny then, that it did no such thing!!

The picture then switched to an Irish Gaelic Football player who the program had identified as being involved with the Pit Bull fraternity and whose home had been raided by the authorities investigating his possible links to illegal activities. Next we saw the reporter squatting in what appeared to be an attic space, scrutinising what was suggested to be dog fighting paraphernalia, including magazines, books and a printed copy of Pit Rules, which detail the rules and regulations governing any illegal dog-fights.  It was implied that the ownership of such materials or literature was typically indicative of someone who was involved with the illegal practice of dog-fighting and that such documents were only available to those actively participating in such a seedy and illegal world. Perhaps with a little more thought and research, the investigative reporter that such materials are freely available through the internet and have been for the last 15 years. Anyone with access to a computer can download these pit rules, fitness regimes or “keeps” and anything else that relates to APBT and you don’t even have to own a dog, let alone be involved with the dog fighting fraternity. Obviously 17 months wasn’t long enough to research the subject fully!!

Going back to the real target of the program, the dog breeders. We were told that between 20 and 30 dogs a month are being sold to Asian Pit Bull enthusiasts in Birmingham alone. What they failed to fully explain is that these dogs are being sold because most of these buyers are stupid enough to part with their money for Irish cast-offs which fail to make the grade within the dog-fighting world. It’s been a standing joke for the past 10 years that most Irish Pit Bull breeders ask an English buyer what sort of Pit Bull he wants and then goes down to the nearest rescue centre to pick up a dog that fits the bill. Most buyers wouldn’t know a Pit Bull from a pony and are often content that they have a pedigree that states their new pup is bred off a “fast lane” American dog. They seem to overlook the fact that the guy filling in the pedigree is the same fella that’s just taken hundreds of pounds off them. Why on earth would a top Irish kennel sell his best stock to a know-nothing Englishman, when he can just as easily sell him any load of old rubbish and make good money at the same time  aDoh!!, bit of a no-brainer really. It’s a shame that the reporter didn’t think to follow that one up, just to see what dogs were being sold to these 20 or 30 mugs every month, if indeed they actually were being sold in the first place.

The most staggering thing about the two undercover reporters was their sheer gullibility at believing everything that they were being told by their unsuspecting targets. Presumably they had heard of the Irish “Blarney”? and yet they seemed to have swallowed every single bit of it. Perhaps they both should have spent a little more time at Bull Terrier shows to learn how to discriminate between genuine information and some of the flannel they were being fed. Nobody who is trying to sell you a thousand pound dog is going to tell you the dog is poorly bred or hasn’t been fully tested in the square.  If you tell him you’re looking for a working dog, then that’s what he’ll sell you and it would have been exactly the same if the reporters had asked for a “pet” dog, his dogs would have been the best “pet” dogs in the world. He’s a salesman and he’ll sell you exactly what you want and if he needs to walk the walk and talk the talk, then that’s precisely what he’ll do to take your money.

Tied in with the Ellie Lawrenson tragedy the program tried to highlight the extensive links that the city of Liverpool had with the APBT breeders in Northern Ireland, presumably based on the fact that a small number of “scousers” were said to have attended organised dog-fights in the province. Then of course there was the mother of a dog bite victim who told the reporters that there were “hundreds” of Pit Bulls walking the streets of Liverpool, even though you suspect that she wouldn’t know the actual difference between a Pit Bull, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier or a Crossbreed. Armed with this obviously irrefutable evidence, the reporters then chose to close the program by definitively telling the viewing public that the illegal Pit Bull they had imported from Ireland wouldn’t be joining the hundreds of Pit Bulls that were already in Liverpool. We know that they’re there because some woman said so and some “scallies” were said to have attended a dog-fight in Northern Ireland, so it must be true!!

Okay, so it’s easy to be flippant about the program and the absolutely abysmal level of reporting and researching that was employed by the program makers, fundamentally to make a broadcast that simply had shock value, but which contributed nothing to the wider debate regarding the American Pit Bull Terrier or the implementation and enforcement of the now discredited Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. In a real sense, the Conservative government of John Major achieved little with this piece of draconian legislation, other than to turn the American Pit Bull Terrier into another exotic and illegal possession, which is regarded as a “must have” for those who choose to flaunt the law or simply see their new canine acquisition as an alternative to the knife or the gun. There are obviously those that deliberately train their Pits as “man-stoppers” preferring the mental and physical strength of the breed to the more conventional guarding breeds, such as the German Shepherd, the Rottweiler or the Doberman. What they fail to realise is that the APBT was never bred to perform this particular task and generally lacks the intelligence to differentiate between friend and foe, especially if its been specially trained to regard people as a potential threat.

The true nature of the APBT was clearly illustrated during the very program which sought to convince British viewers how “evil” and unreliable the dogs are towards people. It was noticeable that at each of the kennels visited by the undercover reporters, the dogs went wild to welcome the newcomers to their yard, most of them straining at the end of their chains, simply to say hello and to greet the strangers. Of course, this particular aspect of their nature was completely overlooked, as that would completely undermine the very idea that the APBT is a devil dog which should be expunged from the face of the earth.

In fact, the only time any of these dogs actually displayed their malevolent side was when they were put in the square to face an opponent, a task that they had been deliberately trained to perform. The question of nature or nurture is often related to child raising, but is just as appropriate for any young dog, Pit Bull or Pointer, if they’re correctly raised and trained they can be a suitable companion for anyone and as truly reliable as any other breed of dog.  

Much of the Panorama program was interspersed with graphic images of Pit Bulls fighting one another for the interest and amusement of the onlookers and surely no-one can fail to have been sickened by these spectacles. But the greatest atrocity was perpetrated by one of the so-called dog-men who featured in the program. Robert Gonzales, obviously not content with the performance of his beaten dog was reported to have electrocuted the Pit Bull by hooking it up to the property’s mains electricity supply and even then he failed to despatch the unfortunate animal properly. Having always adopted a fairly non-judgemental attitude towards dog-fighters, I have to say I was so enraged at the way he dealt with the dog, that I would have quite happily strapped this human “louse” to his own mains supply and pulled the switch myself, content in the knowledge that this particular scumbag had got his own just rewards.

The shame of it, is that of all these television programs which have dealt with the subject of the American Pit Bull Terrier and their role in our society, have taken the easy route of attacking the breed, instead of trying to understand it. The APBT has been an American idol during the First World War, served as a Police K9, acted as a Search & Rescue dog and has been pet and companion to millions of people throughout the world. Sadly for the Pit Bull though, they’re the images that few people see, because it’s far easier for the media to trot out the same old tawdry tabloid journalism that was evident in Thursday night’s Panorama program.    

DOES YOUR LAND OR PROPERTY CONTAIN HIDDEN, LOST OR UNDISCOVERED TREASURES? CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Produced and maintained by Phillip E Jones @ Mobile 07756 693258 Text: 07914 189032

Mail Contact: 3 Riverside Park, Sealand, Deeside, Flintshire, CH5 2JR