No fighting, just fun

Lug-Nuts lets dogs and their owners be macho without violence.

Step by step, the American Pit Bull Terrier tentatively pulled the unfamiliar weight. The owner encouraged his dog forward with an enticing bit of hot dog. Pulling the pink plastic sled loaded with dog food bags, the APBT crossed the finish line and the crowd cheered.

A young boy watched from the sidelines, his chain-adorned pit bull beside him. A competition volunteer approached the boy and encouraged him to enter. Once the numbers were tallied, the newcomer was declared the winner.

“When he left, his dog no longer had the chain wrapped around his neck,” says Sue Sternberg, shelter manager of Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption in Accord, N.Y., and creator of the Lug-Nuts inner city weight-pull program. “Then the father of another contestant went over to the boy, and congratulated him on his dog’s pull saying, ‘Son, you have a great dog there, whatever you do, don’t fight him.’”

Pick up the November 2006 issue of DOG FANCY for the full story.