Pit Boss

Kip is a champion at home and in dog shows.

STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER

me very angry," said Mrs.
Holtzman, who successfully
fought a 1992 effort by the Novi
City Council to ban pit bull ter-
riers in the city. "They're great
family pets. They're self-confi-
dent; they love to please; they're
very forgiving and they're a nat-
ural guard dog. If you purchase
one from a reputable breeder,
you shouldn't get a bad dog."
What about all the well-pub-
licized incidents of pit bull ter-
riers attacking humans?
"The issue there is respon-
sible ownership," Mrs. Holtz-
man said. "If a dog is socialized
and trained properly, he'll act
accordingly. Any dog can be-
come mean if he's not trained
properly. Local governments
should not single out this breed
or any breed, for that matter.
"Yes, some pit bull terriers
are still bred to fight, which is
illegal; and I don't like that. But
they're bred to fight each other,
not humans."
Mrs. Holtzman knows all
about people's perceptions of pit
bull terriers. Mr. Holtzman has
owned them for more than 20
years, and Mrs. Holtzman re-
members "standing in the mid-
dle of the living room in Jerry's
apartment and crying" nearly
seven years ago when she first
came face-to-face with her fu-
ture husband's pet.
"I was terrified, but the dog
turned out to be a lovable, sweet
animal," Mrs. Holtzman said.

Time for a hug.

is registered name
is Rowdytown's
Reigning Rock,
but his friends call
him Kip. That's
short for Yom Kip-
pur.
Kip is a 3 1/2-
year-old, 60-pound
American pit bull
terrier/American Staffordshire
terrier who has competed in dog
shows across the country since
he was 6 months old.
At this month's Detroit Ken-
nel Club Dog Show at the Cobo
Center, Kip placed first in his
classification and was the run-
ner-up in the American
Staffordshire class.
His owners are Jerry and
Randi Holtzman of Novi; Mrs.
Holtzman is his trainer and
handler.
Kip is the first dog that Mrs.
Holtzman has shown. She
shows him at least once a
month at events that usually
last two or three days. Mrs.
Holtzman and Kip work about
15 minutes every day on train-
ing.
The United Kennel Club
(UKC) registers members of
Kip's breed as pit bull terriers,
while the American Kennel
Club (AKC) calls them Stafford-
shires. Kip is a UKC champion.
His father (Rowdytown's Piece
of the Rock) and grandfather
(Rowdytown's Hard Rock Cafe)
are both UKC and AKC cham-
pions.
"We picked up Kip from a
breeder in Hart, Mich., on Yom
Kippur," said Mrs. Holtzman.
"That's how he got his name. It
was 1990 and he was 8 to 12
weeks old. The name really fits
him because he often looks like
he's atoning. It's part of his per-
sonality."
Wait! A pit bull terrier with
a calm personality? That's not
the perception most people have
of this dog.
"Yes, I know. And it makes

"I was terrified, but
the dog turned out
to be a lovable,
sweet animal."

"The problem was I was uned-
ucated about pit bull terriers. I
believed everything I read
about them."
Ironically, Mrs. Holtzman
isn't someone who gets shaken
easily. She's worked in medium
and maximum security men's
prisons for the Michigan De-
partment of Corrections and
she's currently employed by the

Klp Is proud of hls awards.

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