"Racial profiling" dogs and people

Bay Area Dog Owners Responsible About Pit Bulls

The New Yorker has an excellent article by Malcolm Gladwell about why racial and breed profiling don't work. Did I say "breed profiling?" Yes, because the subject of the article is pit bulls, who have been banned or restricted in Ontario, Canada; China; many countries in Western Europe; and many states and cities in the U.S. The problem, as Gladwell points out, is that targeting pit bulls as violent dogs makes as much sense as targeting Muslims, or brown-skinned young men, as terrorists - i.e. none at all.

My dog is a pit bull mix. He's as goofy, smart, and fearless as they come. Right now he's with me in the kitchen, disemboweling a stuffed animal of indeterminate species (Phaon thinks it's a monkey; I think it's a dog). There is white fluff all over the kitchen floor. If the weather were decent today, we'd go to the dog park so Lugh could greet every human and dog we meet. Thursdays he goes to doggy day care where he spends the day running around with 11 other small dogs (and comes home exhausted, for which we're grateful). Sunday afternoons we take him to obedience training; he's the star pupil. I know everyone brags about their kids (or ought to), but he really is disgustingly good. He comes when he's called. He sits, lies down, looks me in the eye and stays. He waits at curb corners. He happily runs through the tunnel at training when other dogs spook and have to be cajoled by their people. He goes into his crate when we tell him to.

He loves to play, to ride in the car, and to lie around the house, especially in front of the fire. He likes to watch "Buffy," and Loreena McKennitt calms him when he barks in his crate (which is rare). Every morning he gets into bed and snuggles in between Phaon and me. We pull him and poke him, prod him and hold him, introduce him to all kinds of people, and do everything we can think of to socialize him. We want him to be happy. So many pit bulls lead mean and brutish lives, all because of humans' misunderstanding and mistreatment of them.

More from Gladwell: