Who She Is
A trained smoke & fire alert dog.
Unity is a Blue Nose American Pit Bull Terrier, and a trained service dog. Her striking silver-gray coat, white chest markings, and expressive amber eyes capture attention—but her true purpose is keeping her handler safe. Just because she's working doesn't mean she doesn't love humans, sticks, balls or bike rides.
Her Role & My Disability
Because I live with anosmia (the loss of the sense of smell), I cannot effectively detect smoke, natural gas leaks, or fire danger early on. Unity is specially trained to detect these environmental cues and immediately alert me, acting as a living, highly mobile early-warning system.
Meet Deven
Unity works to keep me safe. I'm Deven, her handler — I live with anosmia and can't smell smoke or fire, so she's trained to alert me.
Addressing Breed Stigma
Under ADA guidelines, a service dog's legitimacy cannot be denied based solely on stereotypes regarding its breed. Breed-specific legislation (BSL) cannot be used to exclude a valid, trained service dog from public spaces. Unity is playful, deeply social, and immensely capable, proving every day that exceptional service dogs come in all shapes and breeds. Pit Bulls have also been known as nanny dogs because they can be protective, yet still aware of actual threats vs. a kid or another dog that just plays rough or is vocal.