Using Photography to Change the Negative Stigma Surrounding Pitbulls

Two years ago, I adopted a lovable Pitbull mix named Emma. She's afraid of thunder, loves belly rubs, is sweet with kids and great with other animals. Sadly, a lot of the general public perceive my Emma as a monster, and that's probably why over half a million Pitbulls are put to sleep in the US alone each year. I decided to use my photography to start a positive PR campaign called Not A Bully to help change the way people view Pitbulls.

When my Boxer and best pal, Winston Churchill, died a few years back, I was devastated. I couldn't imagine getting another dog for a long time. In fact, it took about 2 years before I felt ready to adopt a new pup. I went to an adoption event at a Petsmart in the Virginia area with full intention to adopt another Boxer, but fate had a new plan for me. This is where I would meet Emma (formerly known as Midori). Due to her appearance (aka being a Pitbull) and her dark fur, she spent the majority of her life just inches away from being put to sleep on numerous occasions. She would be put in foster care for over 9 months until I finally met and adopted her.

Emma and her Valentines Day card Emma and her Valentines Day card

 

You can call me a softie, but it made me emotional imagining that people would try and put this sweet little baby to sleep just because of how she looks and negative interpretations of the Pitbull breed. In fact, studies show that Pitbulls are the least aggressive dog breed. Sounds crazy right? Then why all these dog attacks? Well, sadly (in this case) they are very receptive to training, eager to please their masters, and also inherently strong. It has been bad bad bad humans that have trained these dogs to be aggressive. Still skeptical? Read this article about how a majority of Michael Vick's fighting dogs were placed in homes with new families after some love and structured training.

It's funny when you adopt a Pitbull. All of your friends with Pitties will come out of the woodwork to share with you their challenges of being responsible owners of the breed. Not because of the dogs mind you. The issue comes from our communities. For example, to get a lease approved in most properties, you may have to fib about your dog breed. Personally, people have scowled and looked at me as if I was a piece of trash with my loyal pup behaving by my side. Some cities have created breed specific legislation that actually bans Pitbulls from being allowed in city/county limits or you risk having your dog automatically confiscated and put to sleep. It goes on and on because some terrible people have trained these otherwise great dogs to be monsters.

I decided that I wanted to do something positive for dogs like Emma. I started a website called NotABully.org which is dedicated to sharing the positive stories of rescued Pitbulls that have been through the worst (bait dogs, abused dogs, dogs that were kicked/shot/starved) and have every reason to hate humans, but with some love and training they have made positive impacts on our communities. I want to show people that these dogs are not naturally aggressive. That even after facing every hardship possible, these dogs are still fantastic.

rocket

junior Cesar Millan's dog Junior

I've started with a series of dog portraits (examples above), which I will post more examples at the bottom of this post, and articles for a few sites and magazines to raise awareness. Emma and I even visit schools in low income areas to teach about dog adoption and the negatives of dog fighting and dog abuse. I am hoping to expand to other avenues such as short videos sharing inspiring dog stories and arranging dog adoption events. As you can tell, I am very passionate about the subject.

Visiting schools with Emma Visiting schools with Emma

I've always told people that ask me advice about how to get more success and fulfillment out of their photo careers that personal work is absolutely KEY. Every time I have pursued something that I'm passionate about for a personal photo series, it has always gone somewhere.  Well, this project is no exception. The moment I started the portrait series, I admittedly started blabbing about it to everyone that would listen. Well, that paid off! About 2 months in, the folks from the National Geographic channel reached out to me and asked me to come into their offices in downtown DC to discuss a project...

Little did I know National Geographic Wild and Cesar Millan (aka the Dog Whisperer) were planning out a TV special about trying to change the negative stigmas around Pitbulls, exactly what I was trying to accomplish with my site / positive PR movement Not A Bully. They actually wanted to have Ceasar fly to the east coast and film him coming to visit me in studio as I took Pittie portraits as well as have me share about Not A Bully and how it was inspired by Emma and pups like her. Filming happened late in 2013 and after many months of excitedly waiting, the special "Love My Pitbull" is finally coming out THIS FRIDAY on April 18 at 9pm on National Geographic Wild channel.

At the premiere At the premiere

I went to show's premiere in LA last week and saw the show and it is awesome. They even asked to put some of my Not A Bully portraits up on display! If you were ever curious about how Pitbulls got their bad image and what we can do to make a difference, you have to see the special!

Please follow Not A Bully on Facebook to get updates or get involved in helping save some wonderful dogs!

See more of my photography on my website: www.SondersPhotography.com

This campaign has been awesome and has grown larger than I ever thought possible. I've gotten HUNDREDS of emails from folks wanting to help as well as share their stories. I've loved every moment and so excited to share Not A Bully with the rest of the world!

Remember, personal projects keep your work fresh, your creativity on its toes, and can get folks excited about what interests you most! Consider this a perfect example! Funny though, I'm normally a human and car photographer and I never thought I'd get so much press for dog portraits, but I am happy it is for an excellent cause and will hopefully help make a difference.

Again, please watch the special on Nat Geo Wild channel this Friday April 18 at 9pm!

pitbull2

pitbull

oliver

Emma Emma

BTS photo of my dog portrait setup. Ring light on my Phase One, overhead beauty dish, and two strip lights behind BTS photo of my dog portrait setup. Ring light on my Phase One, overhead beauty dish, and two strip lights behind

On set with Cesar Millan, Emma, and Junior. Photo by my shoot assistant Jonathan Taylor On set with Cesar Millan, Emma, and Junior. Photo by my shoot assistant Jonathan Taylor

Awesome shout out! Awesome shout out!

 

Douglas Sonders's picture

Commercial Photographer (mainly Phase One medium format digital) and filmmaker based out of NYC. Started a site called Notabully.org to spread stories about well-behaved and positive pitbulls. Love cars, 80s movies, dogs, and adventure. Free time is spent traveling, sleeping, adventuring, or working on my baby, a 1969 Mustang Mach 1.

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294 Comments
Previous comments

Being a veterinarian for 40 years, I have seen my share of inhumane treatment of these sweet Pit

Bulls.It always amazes me that with love,compassion,good food and medical care ,they blossom and only want to please.It is ALWAYS , the owners of these dogs that cause all the misery,pain and suffering.I will never turn the other cheek because I am an eye for an eye when it comes to animal cruelty.God bless all the animal lovers out there.

Since you're clearly a pit bull "expert" what did these these families do wrong? How did they raise their dogs that was not "proper"? Except for Darla Napore's pit, the others were all altered.

http://17barks.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-happened-to-gavin.html

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.173059916187205.1073741830.172...

http://www.babybeaufoundation.org/my-story/

http://www.babybeaufoundation.org/rep-waites-and-mrs-rutledge-discuss-bu...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263698/Bravery-Milly-Anne-Hemle...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027286/Darla-Napora-Pregnant-wo... - Especially ironic: "A pregnant woman who was mauled to death by one of her pet pit bull terriers belonged to group campaigning to convince people that the animals aren't dangerous, it has emerged."

http://blog.dogsbite.org/2013/07/beyond-the-interview-essay-of-a-fatal-p...

http://17barks.blogspot.com/2014/03/my-red-nose-pit-bull.html

http://17barks.blogspot.com/2014/01/getting-to-know-pit-bulls-continued....

Here is another pit bull expert (a *real* one), that thinks differently:

http://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/pit-bulls-gary-wilkes-spring-2010-off-lead.pdf

Is this the adult version of "I'm rubber and you're glue" or infinity times infinity? Are you aware that posting "more" links does not necessarily make your argument more valid? I would be happy to engage you in a civil and intelligent debate but you seem more interested in engaging in a "link posting" Tourrettes. Calm down,put our thinking caps on and use our "inside voices" shall we??

It's a f-ing question that so far not a single pit worshiper on any article has answered. And they can't. You like to spout over and over "it's all how they are raised", "bad owners", "neglected", "abused", "trained to fight", "chained to trees", etc. But these were obviously normal people, living normal lives, raising and treating their pets like anyone else. They socialized them, altered them, watched tv with them, snuggled with them, let them snuggle with the babies. They adored them. They considered them family. No one can answer the question because they know these people were "responsible owners" and they are no different than the people on here. They *want* find some reason to blame these people for their own attacks, but they just can't find anything that these people did differently that what they are doing with their own dogs. So they reply with smarta$$ comebacks like you did, because they know these people did nothing "wrong" or "irresponsible". There are many more stories just like this that blow the whole "it's all how they're raised" argument right out of the water. You can't love or train away a dog's DNA.

Karen is the best, isn't she? The best part, she looks totally sane. Totally. /sarcasm

It is funny how that two of the links she posted (after doing some research) turn out to be reporters jumping the gun w/o facts. That the pits actually didn't kill the victim, but they were moving the body around after the people had already died. I'd post links and stuff to support my finding, however I really don't care that much about what she thinks...

Do NOT visit those links. I say that because she's click-baiting.

Raynne, we must be friends. When I first read this, it seemed so much like my writing style that I actually thought I had wrote it until I did a double-take!

Would be honored to be your friend. You know all of us "nutters" must unite against the hatred.

what beautiful dogs! keep up the good work.

This is so stupid.

People should know the history of the breed before they open their mouth. Here is a history lesson for you, The American Pit Bull Terrier was the first and only National Dog of the United States. It was once nicknamed "The Nanny Dog" Thanks to the medias portrayal of the breed they now have a bad name. You can add Rottweilers, Dobermans, and every other breed that the media thinks is viscous. For instance, you hear stories about OMG a pitbull mauled a little boy, turns out it wasnt even a pitbull but some dog that doesnt make the story newsworthy. Gotta sell the story right? So people think about that next time you see a story about a pitbull attacking someone. Probably wasnt even a APBT.

ROTFLMAO! Bahahhahahhahhaaaaa ~snort~ OMG, you're killing me! Well, at least you brought a little levity to the conversation! You can't fault someone for having a sense of humor!

Great work and beautiful pictures . The dogsbite crew a little jealous in the looks department , which they should be .

As expected the dogsbite dot org culties are all over this with their wild accusations and 'statistics'.
You're doing a great job with this Doug and those who know the truth about the APBT and it's derivatives are very grateful to you and Cesar and the many others working their talents to help these unfairly maligned dogs and to bring an end to the horrific fallout from a baseless media campaign that has gone on for far too long.

The *only* breed that NEEDS a PR campaign! The only breed that NEEDS celebrities endorsing them. The only breed that NEEDS projects such as the one in this article. The only breed for which these discussions even take place. The breed speaks for itself, which is why all this is NEEDED.

Haven't you spammed this enough?

Uhh, that word doesn't mean what you think it means!

This is their life , also known as lifeless .

What utter twaddle. Many breeds have been demonised by dog haters. Social media has made it possible for such twisted people to spread their fear and hate like never before. Pit Bulls just happened to be the hater's dog du jour when the internet and social media became widely available as a springboard for their ugly anti-dog campaigns.

Name another breed that has *needed* or had this level of PR and promotion?

Needed, hmmmmm lets see, over the last 50 years

Rottweilers have killed more people than any other breed.

In the late 70's German Shepards were the #1 killers.
German
Shepherd Dogs were 5 times more likely to cause bite trauma than
“pit bulls”.
Municipal Court Judge, Francis X.
Gorman (7-8-2004 Toledo, OH) stated: “Obviously the ratio of dog
bites per dog versus dog population seemingly would be relevant
in this case. .. Candidly, this court feels that ... Pit
Bulls do not cause the most bites in the United States.
Certainly the bites of mixed breed dogs far exceed those of the
Pit Bull because there are many more mixed breed dogs than Pit
Bulls. Moreover, even local statistics indicate that, for
example, the Chow bites more frequently than the Pit Bull.”

Yeah no other dog needed a PR campaign yet it has happened for all of them.

OMG you *are* a funny one! Rottweilers have killed more than any other breed? ROTFLMAO! Again, keep up, we aren't talking about "bites", we're talking about disabling and fatal maulings. We're talking about crushed skulls, decapitations, scalpings, ripped off faces, torn off limbs, broken bones, severed spines, crushed eye sockets, exposed mandibles and trachea, and eviscerations, not "bites". https://docs.google.com/file/d/18H442w6bOD2AijdKfVkk_F4T0o30A0Nd6scoa7iZ...

Karen you may want to do some research on your own. What I posted are facts. The fact is its people like you that give any dog a bad name, doesnt matter the breed.

Facts? Great - then you should have no problem citing your sources for such claims. Show us the source that supports "Rottweilers have killed more people than any other breed". Exactly how many fatalities were caused by German Shepherds in the "late 70s"? You made the claim, back it up! No, "people like me" don't give any dog a bad name - the dog's ACTIONS give the dog a bad name. If "people like me" were just saying pit bulls are dangerous, but people weren't reading daily headlines supporting that, or no one had a "pit bull story", and pit bull forums and "askyahoo" weren't full of questions that start with: "my pit bull keeps attacking other dogs...", or "my pit bull is biting me to the point of drawing blood...", or "my pit bull killed the neighbor's dog...", then nothing would come of it. But we all know, that's not the case. The dogs keep speaking for themselves.

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Dog-BiteStatisics-09_Jade.asp

Dog owners who have problems need to look in the mirror. The problem with their dog will be reflecting back at them. Its easy. Ive raised a few Rottweilers and APBT and ive never had one issue with them. I currently have 2 5 month old neutered males APBT. Like my wife says, dogs arent plants. You cant just throw some food and water at them and expect them to know how to act. Raise them like they are your child with love and discipline and the results are amazing. I take my dogs out every weekend and the amount of people that love to play with them and the other dogs are astounding. The only ones who are afraid are behind a keyboard.

Why are you browsing yahoo answers for questions about pitbulls?

http://bslnews.org/2012/01/24/the-real-dog-bite-statistics-plus-media-my...

I'll just leave this here not that the DBO fan boys will bother looking at it.

There are several links to accredited reports as well as facts on how DBO builds their reports.

I don't think it is fair to blame the breed. Some dogs are bad some are good the breed does not matter. Just like people you have bad people and good people. If you have a family member that is a killer does that make your whole family killers?

I think arguing whose fault it is, owner or dog is pointless. I think it is better to look at what potential an animal can have for destruction if circumstances allow. Due to their build, strength and jaw power a Pit Bull can do a terrible amount of damage in a brief moment. Someone once told me me that it is unwise to have an animal as a pet that can beat you in a fight! I keep a close watch watch on my 2 1/2 year old around her Grandma's Pitbull. He is lovely and well behaved mostly but he has snapped at my daughter 3-4 times when he is jealous of her taking Grandma's attention. I know with complete certainty that he would injure or kill my daughter much more easily than my own Shit Zhu if he had a 'bad judgement' moment. I know 4 Children have been killed by pit bulls in Illinois in the last year that I am aware of. Vigilance is key on the part of the owner but the damage potential in these dogs is there.

Wow, Niall- I respect such a responsible view. And an excellent father at that; well you should keep watch. I'm a big believer that a breed alone is not grounds for ruling a dog bad (they're multifaceted creatures, just like us!); but any time you have a powerful animal (or machine, or whatever), you have to be extra-careful, and situational awareness and understanding is key. Especially if this dog has shown a "temper" in the past. Really, a big, strong dog especially needs to learn that even snapping at a child is impermissible behavior, and I would absolutely keep a close eye (and perhaps hand!) on your little one. Pit Bull or no, if your gut tells you the dog can do damage, don't ever give it the opportunity.

That said, please don't go around killing other people's well-behaved dogs. You'd be shocked at some of the things these people say... :)

No, I don't condone killing the dogs- just respecting their abilities. I actually like this dog very much and he me but I am vigilant- in 99% cases of fatalities I have read about with children, the children and dogs were together UNSUPERVISED which is key- I think an Alpha human must be present always in these kinds of situations!!

Yes, indeed. Good on you, sir. Best wishes to you and family. Good to see sensible, down-to-earth folk out there! Take care.

Absolutely LOVE it and the only tiny little issue I had was the title "not a bully' even though I understand where you were coming from with it sort of made me think of the bully breed. Or the American Bully. (not a bully)

there are enough dogs out there.. we don´t need such a race.
they are ugly too... but of course thats subjective.
most people i see with pitbulls have a low selfesteem.
young foreigners who cant buy a weapon in europe.. otherwise it would be gun carrying thugs like in america.
it´s about power.. such a dog gives its owner the feel of power.
otherwise nobody would want such an ugly dog.....

I can see why you wouldn't post your name to an idiotic comment like that...

what is wrong with you?

Douglas youre awesome.. :)

Pit bulls should be banned they are war machines. Yes it is all about the owner and how they are raised and that's exactly why they need to be banned. Not all pit bull owners are bad and raise them to be war machines but enough do and the rest should pay for it. They are worse than guns when put in the wrong hands and unfortunetly they are raised in too many wrong hands

you make me sad

Pit Bull owners try everything imaginable to change the image of their dogs. The only thing that is going to change peoples perception of them is when they stop attacking people.

true but the point is, its HUMANS THAT ARE TRAINING THEM TO ATTACK PEOPLE. that is what the article is about as well as the TV special. Did you read the article and watch the special?

Beautiful article, beautiful work!

I'll clarify to any newcomers... there are a lot of trolls on here. Don't worry, though. They're all the same people, and this is what they do all day! :) If you want to know more, check out www.foolishfolliestoo.com http://whoiscolleenlynn.com/ and the AVMA http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.2001.218.1732

Check out, for example, Rosbach's commentary... all the same thing. Day in and day out.

Kudos Douglas! On behalf of dog lovers everywhere and moreover, those who adopt to save lives, thank you! I started my Mutts 'n Models adoption awareness campaign several years ago and to be frank, it is often more rewarding to know I am making a difference in dogs' lives than having to deal with people!