Paws Up: Who's Helping

Individuals and businesses that support pit bulls. (Pit bull rescue and advocacy groups are excluded - they would overwhelm the list.)
This list is too short. Send me more nominations!

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Linda Blair - owns and rescues pit bulls and is very outspoken in support of the breed

Rick Reed - everyday pit bull owner made sure the media knew about it when his three pit bulls saved his family from a house fire

Paul Tellings - Toledo resident who took on Ohio's vicious dog laws (which declare pit bulls automatically "vicious") and intends to take the battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Some pit bull owner at Petsmart - This young man looked and walked the part of a thug, complete with baggy pants and gold chains. I am horribly ashamed to admit my first thought, upon seeing him stroll out of Petsmart with his middle-aged pit bull, was: "Ugh. Another punk with a pit bull." Then my jaw dropped as he and his pit bull performed a flawless "sit" next to the busy sliding front glass doors. There they were, completely calm and quiet, the pit bull fully focused on his owner's face, a stark contrast to several other dogs who fairly dragged their owners in and out of the sliding doors. Then he said "okay" and the pair proceeded out the door with the pit bull at a perfect heel. Considering the distraction of all the dogs, people, and a constantly moving, squeaking door, that pit bull's performance was nothing short of astounding. The owner clearly had done a lot of training with his pit bull. He was no thug. Never, never, never judge a book by its cover.

Joe Remijas - adopted a pit bull named Taysia, got her therapy-certified, and got her good deeds publicized in the Chicago-area Courier News. Good press, yay!

Natalia Cancel, Lysette Garcia, Yaritza Rosario and Jasmine Zapata - these four eighth graders researched, developed, and proposed Illinois House Resolution 1026, which "urges municipalities not to enact breed-specific dog bans while encouraging laws that target irresponsible dog owners." (ASPCA Press Release, May 24, 2006)

Rachel Ray - Celebrity chef Rachel Ray, who has her own pit bull, publicly supports pit bull rescue efforts on her talk show. In December 2006 she firmly announced her support for a pit bull rescue group fundraiser calendar. (New York Post, Jan 7, 2007)

Jon Stewart - Pit bull owner and host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. He pointed at the camera during a piece on Michael Vick's dogfighting accusations and said, "Pit bulls are very nice dogs, by the way."