#hustory

Okay, so I am not an expert or anything but I’ve been studying dogs and dog breeds for a long time (like my entire life) and reading a lot on the topic and I’ve got some thoughts I’d like to write down.

Most dog breeds in the AKC and UKC list are NOT dogs that were invented by professional breeders and dog fanciers.  Most dog breeds are just dogs that were owned by the common people of the community who used the dogs for companionship and daily life.

Rottweilers are the descendants of Roman war dogs that got left in some hick-ass town in Germany, and then spent 2000 years guarding and driving cattle for the local residents. Siberian Huskies are just the dogs that lived with Siberian Chukchi people pulling their sleds. Corgies have been around for more than a thousand years dodging the kicks of cows and sheep with their short height. Afghan hounds were hunting dogs with long coats because Afghanistan is fucking cold up in the mountains.

Dogs that served the needs of the culture they lived with, those dogs were fed and loved and allowed to have puppies.  And all of the dogs of one working type in one town or village or region all happened to look similar because they lived in isolation from dogs of the rest of the world, just like how people who come from the same region of the world also kind of look similar.

So the question is?  Is this process still going on?  Is there a race of Dogs that is evolving along side American Culture?  The same way Chow-chows evolved along side Mongolian culture and Chihuahas evolved with the Aztecs?

Yes.

America’s dog is the Pit Bull Terrier.

In the United States, our common-people dog is the Pit Bull.Think of what the average American wants in a dog:  A companion animal with a trainable and reasonably friendly temperament, good with kids, but still willing to protect the house.  Small enough to live in any type of housing but big enough for everything fun to do with a big dog.  Low maintenance grooming, few health problems.  You get a dog that looks a lot like a pit bull

Pit Bulls have always been common-people dogs.  They were used as generic all-purpose farm dogs in America's early days.  

Their bravery and toughness made them pretty useful from everything from catching rats to hunting boar.

And as you can see from these pictures Pit Bulls are pretty unchanged over the last centuries.

Even Dog Fighting, which is what Pit Bulls are often assumed to have been bred for, reflects their origin as dogs of the working class. Dog fighting only requires two dogs and a small ring, no expensive equipment or space or tools, so its very easy to see how it was a sport that working class people could attend and participate in.

A lot of dog experts say "Pit Bulls" aren't even a real dog breed because no professional kennel club really recognizes them, (The AKC recognizes the Stadfordshire Bull Terrier and American Stadfordshire Terrier, But no one I know who own’s a pit bull identifies their dogs as either of those breeds.)

This is because today, Pit Bulls are STILL common people dogs.  Most Pit Bull puppies now-a-days are not being bred by professionals.  Most are being bred by pit bull owners whose dogs happen to have puppies. They are a breed that is continuing to evolve alongside American Culture in a very organic way.  They don’t fit into the elite purist ideas of professional kennel clubs.

Some people who advocate for breed bans complain that pit bulls make up only 2% of the dog population but 20% of dog bites.  But go to anly American Dog Park, visit any American Dog Shelter, or walk down any American street and you will quickly see that the 2% statistic is VERY misleading.  Pit Bulls actually make up between 20-33% of dogs in shelters.  (So it makes sense they would be responsible for 20-30% of dog bites). Again, most people who own pit bulls do not register them with the American Kennel Club, so if you only look at AKC registries for data on dog breeds, you cannot get accurate information.  

And because Pit Bulls are the dogs of the people, living along side the people and reproducing along side the people, they have to absorb all of the stereotypes that come with being a dog of the proletariat shall we say.

It makes sense that urban, underfunded Black and Hispanic communities would be filled with pets that are low-maintenance and can be obtained affordably.  Working class people are going to have working class dogs suited to their lives.

And of course white soccer moms see Black and Hispanic people walking their dogs and think that those must be the dogs of drug dealers and gang bangers, and that those dogs must therefore be viscous.  Because the idea that Black and Hispanic working class people enjoy having companion animals due to the fact they are human beings isn’t going to occur to a white soccer mom.

Tom Waits, Los Angeles, California, 1975

#rock cheat sheet📌

Did you know what the name of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was at the start of their career? Or from Muse?

Let's remember his famous, incredibly touching letter to his daughter Geraldine:

Let's talk about you. After your first name — Geraldine — follows my last name — Chaplin. With this surname, I have been making people laugh on earth for more than forty years. But I cried more than they laughed. Geraldine, there is more than just dancing and music in the world you live in! At midnight, when you leave the huge hall, you can forget the rich fans, but do not forget to ask the taxi driver who will take you home about his wife. And if she's pregnant, if they don't have money for diapers for the unborn child, put the money in his pocket.

Keep an eye on people! Look at the widows and orphans! And at least once a day, tell yourself: "I'm just like them."

I was not an angel, but I always aspired to be a human being. Do your best, too.

I kiss you, Geraldine. Your Charlie. December 1965."