Second Chance for Vick's Pit Bulls

One day while I was hanging around the oncology department at Penn's vet school, in conjunction with the research I was doing for my article on pets with cancer, one of the nurses walked in with a seven week old puppy on her shoulder. Of course everyone had to "Oooh" and "Aaah" over the adorable, ball of fur. When I asked her what kind of puppy it was and she told me it was a pit bull, my face must have registered a bit of disapproval because she shook her head at me.

"It's all in the way you raise then," she said. "It's a shame pit bulls have such a bad reputation."

Of course Michael Vick did little to disprove that reputation. Sent to prison for breeding, training and fighting pit bulls, his despicable actions have seemed to make life worse for pit bulls everywhere. Some towns have even gone so far as to ban pit bulls from their premises.

Well a remarkable organization called Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Southern Utah has done wonders to try and restore the pit bull to its once prominent position in American life.(Did you know that Petey, the dog in "Our Gang" was a pit bull?) The dog trainers at Dogtown, the dog-rehabilitation area of Best Friends Sanctuary have taken on the challenge of retraining 22 of Vick's pit bulls, including some of the worst cases.

There is a fabulous documentary on the National Geographic Channel about the project and I was mesmerized by the skill, patience and determination of these animal lovers. Even one of the most "dangerous" pit bulls, which the court determined must never leave the animal sanctuary, has made an incredible turnaround. As one of the trainers says emphatically, "You can teach an old dog new tricks."

The basic tenet of these de-programming sessions is love, patience and routine. And it is truly amazing how far these dogs have come.

So the next time you see a pit bull, please give it an opportunity to win you over. And try and catch the replays of this film. I guarantee you will never look at a pit bull the same way again.