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Ed Boks, the head of New York City Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), has started a campaign to alter the public perception of pit bull terriers by changing their name to "New Yorkies." Boks believes that, like pit bulls, New Yorkers are unfairly perceived as being mean and snarly, but he's found that they are "some of the most generous and open-hearted people I've ever met."Over the next few weeks all official documents in NYCACC's offices will be updated with the new name.Boks hopes the image makeover will help the more than 6000 pit bulls who end up in the city shelter system each year find new homes. Currently about 90 percent of those dogs end up being euthanized because there are not enough people in the city who are willing to adopt them. According to the American Temperament Test Society pit bulls score higher on behavioral tests than golden retrievers - one of America's most popular dogs. They are also usually very well behaved. Advocates say bad owners are the dogs' worst enemy. Bernadette Peters, who owns a pit bull named Stella, believes, "'New Yorkie' fits their personality better. Maybe the guys who train them to be macho won't want them anymore." In the 1990's San Francisco tried to encourage more adoptions by promoting a name change to "St. Francis Terriers," but the effort was unsuccessful.Public-relations professionals, however, do not share Boks' and Peters' enthusiasm over the new name.Howard Rubenstein believes that the name change "would create a bad image for New Yorkers. Our bark is worse than our bite. With pit bulls, their bite is worse than their bark."Owners of Yorkshire terriers, already known as "Yorkies" also object to the name change saying that it could be confusing. "If they didn't call the Yorkshire terrier the Yorkie, then they would get away with it," said Maureen Eades, secretary of the Northern Counties Yorkshire Terrier Club in the United Kingdom. "But a Yorkie is a Yorkshire terrier. They would have to advertise them as strong standard size terriers otherwise it would cause complete confusion."In the UK, where the breed was banned in 1991 following the passage of the Dangerous Dogs Act, the dogs would still be regarded as pit bull terriers even if the name was 'officially' changed.Boks says he is willing to listen to other suggestions for names if New Yorkers really do not like ?New Yorkies?. Pit bulls are the fourth most popular breed of dog in New York after Labradors, German shepards and shih tzus. The American pit bull terrier resulted from selective breeding of Staffordshire bull terriers which were introduced to America from England in the late 1800's. by Sherry Morse © 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.
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