3.7/5 ( )

Didn’t make it through this one, despite being more informed and enlightened about dogs than I ever thought I’d want to be.

A must read for any Pitbull owner. The way these dogs are demonized by media and the general public is heartbreaking. Bronwen takes you on a cross country trip to investigate and research these musclebound fur babies . An authentic and unbiased look at this breed. She gives you the truths....good and bad. I'm usually a fiction only reader, but I really enjoyed this. I simply couldn't put it down once I started. A truly delightful read! ( )

4.5 stars

The first half of the book starts with a history of dog breeds, dog fighting, “pit bulls” (however defined, as it constantly changes, but it’s mostly based on looks although there is one actual “American Pit Bull” breed, but many others tend to be lumped in, as well) as seen in history. In the second half of the book, the focus is more on dog bites, breed specific legislation, the media and politics.

The author has done an incredible amount of research here. She looks deeper into some of the media accounts (which are rarely, if ever, based on any kind of proper research), interviews people (on both sides of the “debate” over whether “pit bulls” should be banned or not). I learned of a few myths (like “bait dogs” – apparently they don’t really use bait dogs to train dogs to fight).

This was really interesting and I was impressed how, with very little information she was able to dig deeper, particularly into statistics, to find that most of the stats in the media accounts are just not based on valid (can’t think of a good word) stats. That is, one of the first “peer reviewed” (shoddily done, it seems) articles (which, of course, was then cited in later peer reviewed articles) that did find that pit bulls caused the most deaths was based on very flawed stats (“flawed” is the word I’m looking for).

I’m really impressed with this book and the amount of research that went into it. I feel like a lot more people should read it! ( )

Pit Bull reads very slowly. The care and heart with which Dickey has pursued her subject is admirable, and her bias is openly acknowledged in the prose, allowing her research the particular illumination of a self-reflective author. The structure and voice were subservient to this research, and the story's flow was thickened by the immense labor of defending each new point of view.
An illumination which I would have appreciated going in: this book agonizes over the details of human relationship and treatment of dogs, but does little to deal with the animals themselves. This allows it to be a lens through which we can view the conflicts and bureaucratic solutions of our day, but obscures the minds and behavior of the animals. The assertion reached by the end of the work is that pit bulls ought to be treated like any other dogs, but Dickey does not long venture into the realm of larger dog-human relationships, or delve into the biological aspects of living with domesticated dogs. ( )