True Stories of Love, Loss, and Loyalty

By David DiBenedetto and the Editors of Gun & Garden

You know how to test the proposition that a dog is man’s best friend? Lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car, drive out into the woods somewhere, and let them out. Which one do you think is going to be glad to see you?

(Garden and Gun and DiBenedetto 2015, 150)

There is no real DNA profile for the “pit-bull-type dog”; it’s at best a catchall term for what is pretty much a mutt all around, but I was shocked to learn that the American bulldog-terrier mix was actually once cherished as a national icon, the canine embodiment of loyalty and courage and rock-solid temperament. The kind of dog you could always count on, and the kind you could trust with any job, from cutting cattle to search and rescue to, yes, hanging out with the kids. Petey, the Little Rascals’ sidekick from Our Gang? He was a pit bull. The RCA Victrola dog? A pit bull. The Buster Brown mascot? Pit bull. Sergeant Stubby, the most highly decorated dog in World War I? Pit bull. Portraits of pits draped in the American flag graced some of the most famous wartime recruitment posters. Even Theodore Roosevelt and Helen Keller adored pit bull dogs.

(Garden and Gun and DiBenedetto 2015, 266)

References

Garden and Gun, Editors o., and David DiBenedetto. 2015. Good Dog: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Loyalty. N.p.: HarperCollins.

ISBN 978-0-06-224237-2