What part do You play?

Everyone has to play a role in this breed and when I say this breed I mean in general any dog that can even be mistaken for an APBT which leaves the field wide open.

I feel like my role as of now is to educate those who are completely lost as to what the breeds behavior is. Since I've owned this breed I have watched their actins closely and everytime someone gets a pup, I tell them everything that I went through with my dogs since they were 6wks or some since they were 8wks. I've only got 4 dogs two are with me everyday. I've got over of 4yrs of raising this breed and anyone who gets a pup, I feel the need to let them know what they have gotten into and what they need to expect and know.

What part do you play in preserving the breed?

 

Not to breed will save the breed. I"ll breed them when I can keep them, I"ll eagerly buy a dog, I just won't breed right now. It bothers me to see people who just got into the dogs just thinking about breeding them to see what they will "get". I"ll tell you what you get when you breed 2 dogs, you get more damn dogs. Then who knows where those dogs end up. How about when they aren't selling and the "breeder" has no room for them? It is really our fault that the number of these dogs has risen like it has. Game dogs aren't for everybody.

 

I educate and expose people to a real living pit bull every time I step out the door with my dog.

She's a service dog so she goes just about everywhere that I go. Her good behavior, solid temperment, friendliness and desire to work impresses most people and leaves a positive impression of the breed behind.

In my town, I know they will never pass BSL because my dog is well known and when people hear pitbull, they think about my Birdie and know how the breed is supposed to be.

 

As a dog trainer...I educate people who have the dogs and people who do not. I see myself as a breed rep, like a PR person for the American Pit Bull Terrier. I have people who should not and are not breeding to spay/neuter. I train the dogs so that they will be easier to keep and not be put into shelters. I'm training about 4 APBT at the moment and more to come. I hope I'm doing good for the breed.

 

Funny you mentioned that. A guy just posted an ad on myspace the other day trying to get rid of pit pups for free because he doesn't have any room for them. He says he just has too many dogs.

 

See what I mean? It's a wonderful thing what Hoyden and NC Black&White are doing, but unfortuneately all it takes is one incident for the dogs to make the headlines. We live in a media controlled sensationalistic society where if I were to donate all of my life savings to a good cause nobody on my block would even know. On the other if I went on a rampage and sliced my neighbors big hooters off I'd make CNN. My point is that for every person like Hoyden and NC B&W there are hundreds of scenarios where it is just a matter of time before another one makes the headlines due to irresponsible ownership. When I started with these dogs around 88' I wanted to share my new found glory with everybody. After thousands of arguments with different people I realized it wasn't worth it. One can barely change oneself just imagine changing others. I own these dogs because they fascinate me not because they fascinate others. So now if I hear a stranger just talking about dogs in general I will avoid them like the plague.

 

I work in an advertising agency, so I know well the power of the media.

The message I try to get across to people is that it is not a DOG problem, it is a PEOPLE problem. You can't fix the dog problem unless you address the people problem.

I don't preach or approach people, I just want them to see a pit bull that is well behaved, socialized, friendly and enjoying her job. Not the out of control, blood thirsty, killing machine that the media protrays them as. I let people approach us.

Here is an example, while standing in line at the local IGA grocery store this morning with Birdie, when a woman approached me and told me she just came back from visiting her son at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. While in Denver, she found out that the entire City of Denver had banned pit bulls, hundreds had been euthanized and thousands of people, many of them families had to make tough, heart wrenching decisions.

She said that while she listened to this woman drone on about the ban, all she could think about was the black pitbull that she had seen helping her owner shop, pulling the swing at the playground to swing her little girl, sitting under the table while we had breakfast at the Dairy Bar and helping her owner up the stairs at the Elementary School so she could watch her little girl in the Halloween parade.

She just couldn't believe that so many people could be so stupid and told the droning woman that the ban against pitbulls was one of the stupidest and most un-democratic things that she had ever heard about and that once her son graduated from the Air Force Academy, she would never return to Denver again. She also told the woman about seeing me and Birdie work.

Prior to this morning, I have never talked to this woman and I don't even know her name. All I know is that we made a lasting positive impression on this person by simply being seen out and about.


This fall, I had Birdie with me at the CT Renaissance Faire and we had over 26,000 people through the gates the days she was with me, I think at least half of them stopped to pet her or take her picture. And we only had FOUR complaints from people who simply did not like pitbulls! (There is a thread I posted about it here somewhere.)

When people approach us, I almost always take a few minutes to stop for them and answer questions. My goal is for people to see pit bulls in a positive light and realize that they're not the media monsters they hear about on the news. They are dogs, and just like many other breeds of dogs, they are dogs that need jobs, therefore, they are not a breed of dog that is meant for everyone. I always make it a point to let people know that it isn't a dog problem that creates headlines, it's a people problem. Punishing the dog for the actions of their owners is like punishing a boulder for starting a landslide. Accomplishes nothing.