These pit bulls fighting the good fight vs. crime
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.02.2007
Diane Jessup of LawDogsUSA rescues pit bulls from animal shelters and dogfighting busts nationwide and helps turn them into crime fighters at her Thurston County, Wash., kennel.
The Washington State Patrol uses eight pit bulls, donated by Jessup, as narcotics-detection and bomb-sniffing dogs, said Trooper Steve Gardner, a K-9 trainer for the patrol.
Jessup said the pit bulls she gives the patrol for specialized training are trailblazers in K-9 law enforcement, in which breeds such as Belgian Malinois, German shepherds and Doberman pinschers traditionally have dominated.
"My pit bulls right now are Jackie Robinson," she said. "They're breaking a barrier down." Pit bulls are unfair victims of negative publicity because some bad owners breed and train them for aggressiveness, Jessup said. Pit bulls are naturally friendly and good- natured, she said.
"If a pit bull kills a cat in Kansas, you'll hear about it. A lot of antisocial people own them," she said. "It would be nice if people saw the reality that most pit bulls are good."
Jessup has about 10 pit bulls — as well as some pups — on her property, which she calls "the pit bull paradise park." Jessup, 48, a Seattle native, said she has loved dogs for as long as she can remember. She said she has been breeding and raising pit bulls for about 35 years, and she worked as an animal control officer in Olympia for about 20 years.
At Jessup's kennel one recent Friday, some of her dogs ran loose and played, showing no aggression toward visiting strangers.
Jessup founded LawDogsUSA in 2004 when she sneaked a pit bull out of Ontario after a law was passed in Canada banning the dogs. The law would have subjected the dog, Neville, to euthanasia or life in a research facility, she said. Instead, he is working to protect Washington's ferries for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Jessup said she picks certain pit bulls that might have the right stuff for law enforcement training by measuring how good they are with people and whether they enjoy playing with a toy. It's important for a pit bull to love toys because they're used as rewards during training, she said.
Jessup said suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's guilty plea to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge has drawn attention to the fact that pit bulls often are mistreated. "They're finally seeing pit bulls as victims" instead of villains, she said.
Two puppies from Law- DogsUSA were about to enter the State Patrol's K-9 training academy, trainer Gardner said. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a sharp increase in the number of dogs used for detecting explosives, Gardner said, and using the pit bulls donated by Jessup is one way the State Patrol is working to meet the need for qualified dogs.
