The Rap on Pit Bulls Revisited

"I inform every patron that this is not a typical dog," Crist said. "But a pit bull that has been evaluated and undergone temperament testing should not be a problem if it's in the right hands."

Long gone are the days, however, when Americans warmly associated the pit bull with Petey, the loveable pooch with the black ring around his left eye who co-starred in Our Gang and Little Rascals movies of the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Today, these muscular animals are more often identified with the bad-boy culture embraced by some gangs, hip-hop stars and professional athletes.

Witness the recent indictment of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who with three other men has been charged with operating an illegal dogfighting operation on his farm in southern Virginia. Federal authorities said the Bad Newz Kennels,as the enterprise allegedly was known, killed pit bulls that underperformed in fights and training exercises. Some were hanged. Others were drowned. One was wet down and electrocuted.

In the Washington area, street fights pitting one gang member's dog against another's are more the rage, shelter officials said.

"We see more people breeding these dogs to be bigger and badder," Fricke said at the Loudoun shelter on a recent afternoon. "Unfortunately, it's becoming a fad. We also see a lot of dogs come in to our shelter with scars -- evidence of street fighting involving gang-type people."

The shelter sits on 13 acres in Loudoun's rural west but serves a county that has become increasingly urban on its eastern edges, where gang activity is a problem.

"We have had guys walk through our shelter, looking for their lost pit bull, with the teardrop tattoos -- you know, the prison tattoos," Fricke said.

Loudoun's adoption ban has caught the attention of animal activists.

"We get e-mails from around the country, calling us killers and Nazis," Fricke said. "Some people have actually gone to the sheriff to try to get us arrested for not adopting these dogs out. What they don't realize is that we love animals here. We're not the bad guys. And we didn't create this problem. We're just trying to mop up this mess."

This isn't strictly a right-to-life issue because some pit bulls are euthanized for violent acts, shelter officials said. Not easily forgotten is the afternoon in March 2005 when an 82-year-old Spotsylvania County woman was fatally mauled by her neighbor's three pit bulls.

"The consequences of getting it wrong with one of these fighting breeds is really serious," said Kay Speerstra, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which runs the county's shelter.