DOGS ON FILM
Documentaries Spotlight Pit Bulls and BSL
By Julia Szabo
Filmmaker Libby R. Sherrill. Photo courtesy of Leslie Karnowski with Skirt! Magazine Knoxville.
Why should all dog lovers care about pit bulls and breed specific legislation (BSL), regardless of their favorite dog breed or their personal feelings about pit bulls? It's simple: Because if pit bulls are outlawed, your dog could be next. The very concept of BSL is un-American. So whether we're poodle people or spaniel supporters, as American dog lovers we all need to get behind the efforts of those who tirelessly fight BSL in their communities and across the country.
Did that sound like preaching to you? One serious drawback of the printed word is that it does very often come across that way, and it's very easy to dismiss just by turning a page. But a picture, as the saying goes, is worth a thousand words—and a motion picture is worth several million. If you find yourself compelled by images, you'll be more open to sitting down and actually listening to what those images have to say. Luckily for pit bulls and the people who care about them, many dog lovers are using the powerful medium of film to spotlight the sad plight of the world's most legislated-against dog.
Libby Sherrill of Tennessee has a documentary in the works called Beyond the Myth, which takes on the media's relentless demonization of the pit bull in a style that's highly confrontational and emotionally charged. The film has a Facebook fan page and its trailer, on view at www. beyondthemythmovie.com, has already stirred up controversy among certain pit bull advocates. Sherrill, who holds an M.S. in communications, left an 8-year career at Scripps Network to produce Beyond the Myth, which she plans to complete this month. She says her life was changed after she got up-closeand-personal with a friend's two pet pit bulls, Angus and Boris; then, shortly after she started filming, Sherrill adopted a pit bull of her own named Fern Blossom. "I am grateful to Angus, Boris, Fern and all the other wonderful dogs that have touched my life during this filmmaking journey," she says. "This film is for them ... It explores the contributing factors behind the public's generalized fear of pit bulls and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of BSL."
As the proud owner of a rescued former fighting dog named Preston, filmmaker Jeff Theman of Ohio has strong feelings for misunderstood dogs. His forthcoming documentary, Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent, aims to do what the media has largely been incapable of with regard to pit bulls: remain fair and balanced. Theman interviewed numerous dog owners and experts (full disclosure: I'm one of them), and his film promises to be a thoughtful examination of lingering prejudice in America, as symbolized by this country's most discriminated-against dog, the pit bull. Among his interviewees are author Jim Willis, Andrew "Roo" Yori (who has produced his own documentary, Wallace—Rise of the Underdog, about his champion flying-disc dog), and Stacey Coleman of Animal Farm Foundation. "What impressed me about Jeff is that he wasn't searching for particular answers to tell the story that he wanted to tell," Coleman says. "He listened, then asked his questions, and he let us tell the story of our dogs as individuals. Some documentarians don't do that—they want to tell their story."
Chris Hoar of San Diego never set out to make a documentary. But he was so moved by the good works of The Pit Bull Training Team, a program of the Humane Society of the United States, that he formed a production company called Vegan Redemption together with his partner Anna Ware. The team hired a professional crew to film In the Pits (www.inthepits.org), which reveals the astonishing transformation that takes place in young men on Chicago's South Side after they are offered free training for their fighting dogs.
"After completing this program, they receive a certificate and they're told they've done a good job—and for these kids, it's often the first time they've ever been told they did something right," Hoar explains. "That begins to change them; almost to a man, they go from fighting their dogs and keeping them chained outside, to bringing their dogs into the house, petting them, and caring for them. They also start to treat their families and girlfriends better," he adds. "Within two years, we've seen guys who are multiple felony-convicted gang members go from fighting dogs to talking their peers out of dogfighting and preaching spay-neuter in their communities! When I tell people this, they very often think I'm making this stuff up." He hopes In the Pits will provide compelling proof that rehabilitation is indeed a reality, for both dogs and men.
Concludes Hoar, "If you want to stop dogfighting and put an end to BSL—to really change the lives of the dogs in these and other neighborhoods across America—you have to realize why the dogs are in that position. It's because the people in these neighborhoods have no hope; they've been ignored and beaten and told they're useless their entire lives, so why would they have compassion for a dog—or anybody, for that matter? To solve the problem for the dogs, we have to solve the problem for the owners—it's impossible to do one without the other."
For more information:
www.beyondthemythmovie.com
www.wallacethepitbull.com
www.inthepits.org
