A guy just came up to the desk and asked if we had any books on pit bulls… specifically, a certain bloodline.
I’m sure he’s looking for a pet, right?
Sometimes dealing with the public grosses me right the hell out.
pit-bull terrier.
Do you work in a library?
A pit-bull terrier is not a very elegant dog breed, but hardly gross-out material. Did you think he meant something else?
Uh, why do YOU think somebody would be interested in a specific pit bull bloodline? He wants stuff on fighting dogs. Raising them or betting on them or breeding them or whatever.
ETA - also, he thinks it’s normal enough that he’d ask for it at the public library. We did once get somebody who wanted to know how to grow, and I quote, “cocaine trees”. Much more ambitious than our usual “uh, I need stuff on hydroponics” patrons.
When I was in high school I worked at a dry cleaners. We had a customer who smoked cigars. He reaked of them, and his clothing reeked of them long after he left. His wife even reeked of them when she came in to pick up his cleaned clothes. Whenever either of them came in I’d get their stuff in a mad dash and try to avoid breathing for the duration. Unfortunately, this probably resulted in them being delighted that we had such speedy service.
You know, it hadn’t even occurred to me that dogfighting might not be a problem in other countries? For non US Dopers, lately I don’t know if it’s just been in the news more or if there’s a real rise in cases, but we have a problem with illegal dogfighting rings. Recently a bunch of dogfighting videos were found for sale in a local gas station - of course nobody claimed to know how they got there. There’s the Michael Vick thing, and then lately somewhere in my lovely home state realized that there’s a law against a dog fighting a dog, and there’s a law against a hog fighting a hod, but… I think they got them on plain old animal cruelty. Every so often there’s an awful news story about people getting busted and they show the saddest footage of the dogs, most of which have to be put down.
You can’t just assume you know why someone wants information. Sometimes I just get interested in obscure stuff, for all kinds of reasons or no reasons at all. Maybe someone told this guy something about pit bulls and he was loking for evidence supporting or disproving it.
Somewhere I have an old army field manual on explosives, and I never have and never will blow up anything bigger than a firecracker.
Yeah, I know, he could have even, possibly, very slimly possibly, been an actual responsible pit bull breeder, for show and pets. I don’t generally assume I know what people are looking for or why. However, the skeezy vibe he put out, along with the subject matter and the location here in the South did suggest a certain conclusion. Which is why I put it here on the Dope where we can assume the worst of people.
Well, I’m certainly ok with that. 
Anything IS possible, but it is also a public library. Dogfighting is skeevy, but if you’re going to judge people for what they read or how they use a service they are entitled to, you should probably work elsewhere.
Am I allowed to judge them when they leave human waste all over the bathroom? I mean, jeez, I directed him to the appropriate desk. Dealing with the public in all its forms every day can cause you to want to blow off some relatively anonymous steam sometimes, I do hope that meets with your approval.
Sure. Lots of people like keeping pitbulls around as pets. I’ve watched my best friend and his girlfriend go almost to the point of drooling on dog magazines, searching for the perfect pitbull. They’re symbolic of masculinity, protection, and loyalty. Personally, I think all dogs are disgusting, filthy beasts, but equating library patrons looking for dog books to dogfighters is like saying that everyone who buys cough syrup is going to get high on it. Even if they’re “skeezy”.
I know plenty of people who have wonderful, affectionate pit bulls as pets. They don’t usually ask for “the ___ bloodline”. This state is a hotbed of illegal dogfighting. Anyway, the point was, I had an interaction with a member of the public that I found particularly unpleasant, specifically because of its implied, to me, implications.
Well, I originally came in here to take you to task for breed discrimination, but I see in your subsequent posts you found this encounter unpleasant because you felt the patron was looking for information linked to dog-fighting, not because you have a problem with pit bulls.
I’m not familiar with specific bloodlines used for dogfighting, I’d always assumed dog fighters picked a few dogs, inbred the hell out of them, and kept the most aggressive dogs for fighting then killed or abandoned the rest, or used them as bait dogs.
My friend just adopted a pit bull almost certainly used as a bait dog, judging from his skittishness and scarring on his head and back.
Dog fighting is awful. I think those people who breed, train or bet on these dogs should be covered in raw meat and thrown in a pit with them. 
Gee, I was googling pit bulls just the other day. My Grandmother is a foster-mom for the local animal rescue and has been fostering the most beautiful, sweet little pit I’ve ever seen. She was quite small, on the whole, but quite muscular and was an absolute doll with my daughter. They spent the afternoon playing together. The only reason the dog didn’t come home with me is my county forbids them.
I do not and can not believe that every or even most instances of a particular breed are harmful. God forbid, I try to learn about them, I might be perceived as a dog fighting sleazebag.
My former dog most likely had pit in her and was without a doubt, the kindest, most well mannered dog I’ve ever had in my life. If I ever am fortunate enough to have a dog again as great as she was, I’ll be forever grateful.
Hillsborough County has passed breed-specific legislation?! Good Og, I thought the folks on the other side of the bay were better than that!
I’ve met plenty of great bully breed dogs. I’ve also seen a good many people associated with the “sport” of dogfighting talk about it like it’s something like horse racing, with lineages and so forth. (Granted, on the news and such.) I don’t want anybody to think I’m prejudiced against any particular dog breed; I’m prejudiced against people who support dogfighting in any way. I mean, we make collection development decisions that generally do not support illegal activities for a reason. I gave the “cocaine trees” guy tons of stuff on how cocaine is made (I figure that’s pretty safe anyway - it’s not like he’s going to run a Colombian plantation from here) - we give them the information they ask for if we have it.
I’m not actually certain about the illegality. I presume if one isn’t in place now, one will be soon. I’m not sure how those laws are retroactively. I have such a crush on that little dog…maybe when I get moved to the country…
That’s fair enough. I’d like to see someone try to grow coca in South Carolina, anyway! 
The hilarious thing is that, unbeknownst to him, the first person he asked happens to be a Master Gardener.
Maybe he was a reporter working on a piece about pit bulls. Who knows? If you read into every patron’s motives you could easily start misshelving books, and from there on it’s all down hill.