Dogs deserve our love

You may have picked up on the fact that I love puppy dogs. I'm particularly partial to dogs of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed. My friend Sam shares my love of staffies, and I think she described them best as being "a big dog in a small dog's body".
I maintain webpages on Dogster for my staffies, Molly and Lucy (who is no longer with us). Several times a week other Dogster users email me and ask to be pals with Molly or Lucy, and usually tell me about their love of dogs. Today the owner of Apollo emailed me. Apollo is an American Pit Bull Terrier, that share common roots with staffies. The two breeds have been distinct since the 1800's, when the bull terrier was brought to America. Bull baiting was banned in the UK in 1835, and so UK staffies have been bred as pets only since that time, and tend to be fairly small, loyal, energetic and very friendly. However the American pit bull terrier continued to be bred for fighting in the US, with the United Kennel Club introducing registration and guidelines for fighting pit bulls in 1898. American Pit bulls, sometimes known as American Staffordshire bull terriers have been bred to be much larger than the UK staffie, with a large and powerful head, and they receive a lot of bad press. But despite being bred specifically for fighting (even now), I believe it is bad owners that make the dog vicious, not the breeding. Apollo's owner sent me a link to this short flash movie, which gives more information about the abuse of pit bulls and the common misunderstandings surrounding the breed (be warned it contains some graphic photos).
There are many many unloved and abused dogs in shelters, particularly pit bulls. And it makes me feel very strongly about the importance of preventing backyard dog breeding operations and encouraging/enforcing proper dog breeding guidelines and registration. Both of our staffies have been carefully bred and very well loved. And both of them have been timid yet playful and loving friends.
Changing the subject slightly, another thing that bugs me about the things people do to dogs is docking/cropping their ears and tails to make them look ferocious, or to "prevent injury or infection". Ear cropping is now illegal in many places, but not in the USA or Canada, and tail docking is legal in most places when performed by a vet. What is a dog if it doesn't have a tail to wag or ears to flop about when its happy?