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Over the weekend we rescued a golden Pitbull (or Pit-mix, hard to tell) who had been hanging around the local high school and running around in traffic. We took her to the vet for shots and neutering and now she’s with the good rescue folks over at Planet Pooch. They will do all sorts of evaluation of her temperament and personality and come up with a plan for what kind of home she’d be best suited for and the things she needs work on. She definitely needs basic obedience training and lots of socialization. She is a LOVE- we spent a lot of time snuggling while she was here with us and she liked to bring me chew toys as gifts. She is named Nugget because of her lovely color and because she is a bit rough on the outside but precious inside. Check out more pictures and contact info for her here.

Over the weekend I read a lot of stuff on BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls). The history of the breed is super interesting as are the qualities that Pits have. They tend to be extremely loving and loyal to their people, they are hard workers (often used as rescue dogs), they are intelligent and playful and great with children. Initially bred to fight by working-class English folks, they were brought to the US by immigrants and were favored as working and family dogs. As socioeconomic conditions became more complex and problematic in the 80s (the Reagonimix/Pitbull connection!) Pits started to be used more and more for fighting and became associated with poverty and crime and attacks on humans by poorly bred, mistreated Pitbulls trained for aggression. Now there is a Pit population boom as folks breed them in their backyards and then aren’t able to care for them or maybe even use them for fights or as bait for training fighters. Shelters are full of mistreated and abandoned Pitbulls who tend to be killed in greater numbers because of the bad reputation that they have which makes them less adoptable. Not sure how our Nugget fits into all of this but I would urge doggie-minded readers to consider the challenge of adopting a Pitbull at some point (maybe even Nugget’s your girl!) as it seems a possible way to address the injustice, poverty and violence in our communities that leads to stuff like this happening to sweet dogs like her.