Ambassadors Defeat Pit Bulls’ Bully Breed Image

Ambassadors Defeat Pit Bulls’ Bully Breed Image

2 min 42 sec

TAMPA, Fla. -- A look and upward paw was all it took to hook Art Fyvolent’s wife and daughter. That’s how Bella the pibull found her forever home.

“We were walking through animal services, and Bella was sitting there as sweet as she can be,” Fyvolent remembered. “Her claw up on the cage… we had her spayed and brought her home.”

But Bella wasn’t any old pitbull up for adoption at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. She is an ambassador for her breed.

In a program modeled after one in the San Francisco area, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County Animal Services are making a big push to change the perception of the bully breed. Since June 2007, two pitbulls at a time have been selected for the “Pitbull Ambassador program.”

Dogs are put through tests called a temperment test, to ensure no level of aggression exists – not towards humans or other dogs. Bella is one of the program’s success stories. As the ambassadors are adopted, more are tested and become “ambassadors.”

“It’s the best of the best,” said Sherry Silk, executive director of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.

“Our whole goal is as people see these animals adopted form the Humane Society of Tampa Bay in the community, whether they’re at dog parks, or walking down sidewalks, they think, ‘gosh, that’s not what I thought pitbulls were like. They’re great dogs!’ They’re being ambassadors.”