Bad Dog

"Pit bulls and pit bull-type dogs spark intense controversies, from breed bans to fierce defenses by shelter and rescue organizations and breed advocates. Bad Dog draws from the increasingly contentious world of human/dog politics, featuring rich ethnographic research with dogs and their advocates that explores the ways that relationships between humans and animals do not just reflect but actively shape experiences of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, breed, and species. Weaver develops the concept of interspecies intersectionalities, bridging discussions in animal studies with feminist, critical race, queer, and trans theories. Contrasting ways of knowing that involve harm reduction-style efforts oriented toward keeping humans and animals together and shelter-based practices of working and playing with dogs, with the white, middle-class "family values" inherent in the work of most animal rescuers, Weaver proposes a reading of interspecies intersectionalities that alters what it means to touch, feel, and think with animals. Bad Dog gives us, in detailed and careful analysis, a means to move beyond the zero-sum logic where caring for animals is seen in opposition to caring for humans, and, instead, suggests a powerful way in which we might think with marginalized humans and animals together"--