Pit Bulls: Part Terrier, Part Terror

``Debbie`s body was all chewed up,`` Roberts recalled. ``Her entire face had been chewed away. Her scalp was gone. Napoleon was standing beside the bed. He was covered with blood. There was this look on his face that said, `I fouled up real bad.` ``

When Wally Roberts saw the mangled body of Deborah Pernell, he knew instantly that she had been killed in her bed by his pit bull terrier, Napoleon.

Napoleon, who paid with his own life for the fatal attack, was of a breed that critics charge are killer dogs beyond redemption. They demand legislation to control them.

Ironically, their unsavory reputation has boosted the popularity of the dogs originally bred to fight each other in pits.

In many parts of the United States they still are bred to fight and do, although dog fighting is illegal in all states and a felony offense in 26. But, like most victims of attacks by pit bulls, Pernell was killed last February in Phoenix by one kept as a pet, not to fight.

``Napoleon was my best friend,`` said Roberts, 43, who works at a graphics design studio. He is a physical fitness buff who races mountain bikes as a hobby.

Roberts bought Napoleon in 1981 from a Chicago breeder. Napoleon, who grew to 75 pounds, was registered by the American Kennel Club as an American Staffordshire Terrier, the breed name preferred by the AKC, which opposes dog fighting.

But the Staffordshire is the same breed as the American pit bull terrier, once bred exclusively to fight and still known for its courage, strength and powerful jaws.

``The fighting has got out of hand,`` Roberts said. ``A different dog is emerging. Some people are breeding these dogs just to fight. There`s too much inbreeding.``

Although Napoleon had bitten at least two people before he attacked Pernell, 33, who was living in Roberts` home, the dog`s owner insists that the killing was ``a freak accident.``

``When I came into the bedroom, I thought at first she had blown her head off with my pistol,`` Roberts said. ``There was blood all over the place. Napoleon was standing right beside her. He just looked at me like he knew he had blown it. I don`t think I`ll ever be able to lose that picture in my mind of finding Debbie that way. I have nightmares about it.``

Roberts said he feels remorse but not guilt or responsibility for Pernell`s death.

``I met with a priest,`` he said. ``He told me to feel the pain but not the guilt. I had nothing to do with what happened.``

Some of the pain Roberts feels is because authorities had to ``put down`` Napoleon.

``I miss my dog a lot,`` he said. ``He really was my best friend.``

Then, Roberts added, ``Of course, I miss my friend Debbie, too. She was a good lady.``

Robert Baker`s specialty for the Humane Society of the United States is tipping off law enforcement officers on when and where dog fights are to be held. It is dangerous undercover work that has taught him a lot about pit bull terriers and the kind of people who own them.