Pit bulls and Rottis and Dobermans – oh my.

Every day in the news, from our insurance companies and from the public, we hear what evil dogs these breeds are. A day rarely goes by without someone saying that they don’t want any of those “ugly, mean dogs.” I’d like to put forth a hypothesis: These dogs aren’t ugly unless they are trained to be ugly.

What people forget is that the adorable little Petey who ran around with the gang on the Little Rascals was a pit bull.

And they don’t stick around long enough to get to know the Rottweilers, which can be some of the biggest, calmest couch potatoes we see at the Bangor Humane Society.

Do these dogs bite? Some do. Statistically speaking, do their bites result in death more often than other dogs? Yes – but, these dogs are often consciously or unconsciously trained to do so.

When owners choose to ignore the advice to neuter their dogs, they are accepting the increased risk of having their dogs kill someone. The risk is 2.6 times that of neutered dogs.

The same goes for owners who choose to tie their dogs out on chains. Their risk increases by 2.8 times.

Just plain undersocialization also increases a dog’s propensity for aggressive behaviors. A dog that has not been exposed to a great number of people, children and other dogs will not understand what we might see as an appropriate response to these new creatures.

They think that they are protecting their turf from that alien we know better as little cousin Charlie. That’s a perfectly appropriate response in their minds. It’s our responsibility to make certain little cousin Charlie isn’t an alien to them.

And, of course, a dog trained to be ugly will indeed be ugly. It’s sort of like working with a computer -you put bad stuff in, and you’ll get bad stuff out. And the dog suffers because of it. Most ugly dogs are that way because they are angry or scared. Feeling scared or angry for a lifetime cannot be a pleasant experience.

Any dog can bite, and it’s definitely not all about the breed. On the list of dogs that have killed in the last 20 years, pit bull types and Rottweilers do top the list, but also included are the unexpected dachshunds, Westies, Yorkies and a Labrador retriever. I had a family-raised golden retriever lunge at me last week; I have yet to have a family-raised pit bull behave in such a manner.

While cities and countries around the world are finding new ways to discriminate against certain breeds, others are finding unique ways of encouraging people to adopt them. Until public outcry and distrust forced them to stop, the San Francisco SPCA renamed all of their pit bull terriers “St. Francis terriers.”

Many of the adopters, not knowing the real breed of the dogs and therefore not having any preconceived notions about their supposedly inbred behaviors, successfully raised these dogs to be tremendously wonderful family dogs.

At the Bangor Humane Society, we are receiving an increasing number of pit bulls and pit bull mixes. We try to be honest about their breed, we inform people about training issues, and we warn them about breed discrimination in insurance and housing – all while trying to find homes for these underwanted dogs.

We also advocate against breed discrimination. While there are exceptions, dogs typically aren’t bad inherently. Unfortunately, we are not always so sure about their owners.

Bev Uhlenhake is the executive director of the Bangor Humane Society, located at 693 Mount Hope Ave. For information, call 942-8902.