Oakland couple rescues pit bulls and works to redeem breed’s image
The pair tackle their biggest job yet: finding homes for Michael Vick’s battle-scarred animals.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 15, 2008
OAKLAND —
For Tim Racer and Donna Reynolds, the dog rescues started with an open-door policy.
Cruising around Chicago on winter nights, they pulled up beside bedraggled strays and swung open the car door. If the animal didn’t skitter away, if it wasn’t too beaten down to contemplate jumping inside, they figured, there was a chance to save it.
Often, their hearts got the best of them. They bolted from the car and chased down dogs of all shapes and sizes. Once they found a home for one animal, they’d soon spot another needy outcast.
“There was this satisfying sense of justice,” Racer recalled. “We knew those dogs should not be allowed to die.”
Moving west, the two commercial artists focused their rescue efforts on American pit bull terriers, which they consider the nation’s most misunderstood breed. In 1999, they formed Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls, or BAD RAP, to help reverse the dogs’ criminal image.
Now they’ve set their sights on the most vilified outcasts of all: fighting pit bulls taken from disgraced football star Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels.