Guess there's a first time for everything...

[gooeydog]

I've heard most of the "dangerous pit bull" lines before, but today heard one I've never gotten before. I'm watching my nephews (ages 8 and 10 yrs) tonight, and after they helped me exercise the other dogs in the yard, we decided to take advantage of the good weather and head up to the local elementary school to play with Haley. First we went off into the field and the kids played and wrestled around with her (she was on a long lead) a bit, then they said they wanted to go play on the playground, so over we went. There was a girl maybe in her early teens there with a boy about my nephews' age, along with a woman with a horde of kids, 4 or 5 of them, sitting towards the far end of the playground. I've had Haley at the playground before with other people there, and just keep her close to me, no problems ever, and most people are relatively friendly towards her or at least neutral. I reeled her in as we approached the playground, and sat on one end, where we wouldn't interfere with anyone else, and where we could avoid a small fursnack min-pin that was barking and growling through the fence of the basketball court everytime someone passed by. The woman stood up and called her children over, but given that I do that frequently when I take kids up there, I didn't think much of it. By then, my nephews (little savages that they are :lol:) had moved to another section of the playground, and I couldn't see them from where I was, so I got up and moved to a bench set between two of the areas, but far enough from each that we wouldn't be in the way still, and Haley plopped down at my feet, tired from the romp in the field.

I'd been sitting there for maybe 5 minutes, Haley still sprawled across my feet, when the woman called across, "Miss, I'm concerned about that dog being around these children". I wasn't sure at first what she meant, so called back, "Ma'am, this dog is friendly, and I have her on a leash anyway", to which she responded, "That dog is a pit bull". Talk about stunned.... I didn't even know what to say right then. I managed to gather my witts about me and answered back, "A dog of any breed can be aggressive, this dog is friendly, and not bothering anyone". She then said, "well, I don't think it should be around children". As politely as possible, I replied back that I was there with children that I was watching, and would not make them leave just because she didn't approve of my dog. She then called her kids back over and told them loudly to stay away from "that pit bull", at which point they of course all wanted to gawk at the spectacle, one telling her, "I won't go close, I just want to see it".

We stayed around for another 40 minutes or so, as my two charges ran all around (tiring themselves out and making my job easier ). The woman gathered up her kids about 20 minutes after we got there and walked them to a house bordering the field, just what I want to worry about everytime I walk one of the dogs up there.

The ironic part of the whole situation was that as she was carrying on about MY pit bull (who was too tired to do much of anything at the moment, nevermind such a task as eating children ), the min pin was carrying on at the fence not 15 ft behind her everytime someone came within 10 ft of him.

On a better note, yesterday we brought Hale along to pick up my nephews at their school, and I walked her up to the buidling to meet them. She spent much of our wait mobbed by children who had to see the 3 legged dog and were captivated by her personality, and a few adults as well, we actually had to shoo some people away to get back to the car :)

[Lokipups]

And really, the saddest part about that? It's that her ignorance is going to be contagious to her kids :roll: , just what we need, another generation wary and afraid of a specific breed.
Hey, have you ever thought about giving a talk at your nephews school about pits and great they really are?

[schippsmom]

:Dog_run:

Those nasty pit bulls!! I was just attacked by one of them at the park. Crazy dog tried to lick me to death.

[Horsefeathers!]

Lokipups napisał(a):

And really, the saddest part about that? It's that her ignorance is going to be contagious to her kids :roll: , just what we need, another generation wary and afraid of a specific breed.

OR...

Teaching her kids about "bad" dogs, so that when they get older and hit that rebellious stage, they decide they need one for the sake of looking tough. After all, if Mom was that freaked out, it must be a sure enough bad*ss dog and just the thing I need to make me look tough. Urgh! :-?

[gooeydog]

Loki and HF, you're probably both right. APBTs aren't too common right in this area (it you get out of our immediate area a bit, there are a few, but not nearly what you'd see in the city), so I don't know how many these kids have seen in person (apparently not too many, given their fascination with Hale, though that could also have been because of her missing leg), what a crappy first impression of the breed that would be :(

And yep Loki, I do have hopes of doing something along those lines.... there's a woman a few hrs away who gives dog safety demonstrations at schools and other such, it covers ways to avoid dog bites, some on how to read dogs' body language, and what dogs are more likely to bite (which includes addressing myths about various breeds). She also evaluates dogs for use as demos for this and provides information on starting such programs, so I'm hoping that sometime within the next year, I'll be able to get involved with that, using Haley as a demo dog. She's still quite sloppy in some of her obedience work, and has some problems with "nibbling" shoelaces and long sleeves or pantslegs when she gets real excited (though she's gotten much better and rarely does it except in scenarios like if someone comes in the house and immediately starts making over her), though she hasn't jumped up on people in quite a while (she still sometimes "oozes" over onto their feet, or laps if they're kneeling down :roll: ), so we have some more work to do before she's ready for anything like that, but hopefully we'll get there. I don't think anything is better at dispelling the myths that surround APBTs than for people to see one interacting with people :wink:

It's too bad that the woman was not only ignorant, but refused to acknowledge that the fact that Haley was so well behaved.

Well we all know that it's always the quiet, well behaved ones... though I suppose that makes Hale pretty safe, because the only time she fits that is when she's completely pooped :lol:

[courtnek]

while you're at it, could you tell them that NOT all dogs that look like Labs are friendly, like children and can be rushed up to and hugged?

Everytime I take Freebee for a walk there are at least two children and one adult who want to touch, hug and pet her. She is a mix, but looks just like a black Lab. She is ok with most adults if I am there with her, and teenagers, but she is afraid of small children and the way they move and screech. And she does not stand there wagging her tail like the average Lab and beg to be petted, She tolerates, and that's it. I cant tell how many times I have had to stop a small child from rushing up to her to hug her. She will back off, and stand behind me, and their parents still encourage them to keep going!! I hate to do that, because I am afraid they will think they should fear dogs, but what if she snapped? She never has, but theres always the chance. By her body language, I know she's afraid....

:roll: :roll:

[Lokipups]

That would be great if you could use Haley as a demo dog! And am I mistaken, or do you have a tripod too? They make wonderful therapy dogs for children with disabilities, it's something many of them can relate to, and helps them overcome that feeling of being "different" :thumbs: .

And as for ignorance being contagious, there's a sign on my office door that reads
" If stupidity were a disease, you would be quarantined"
:P :lol:

[Boscoe13]

schippsmom napisał(a):

:Dog_run:

Those nasty pit bulls!! I was just attacked by one of them at the park. Crazy dog tried to lick me to death.

That's hilarious!! Its so true in many cases!

[Malamum]

That would be great if you could use Haley as a demo dog! And am I mistaken, or do you have a tripod too? They make wonderful therapy dogs for children with disabilities, it's something many of them can relate to, and helps them overcome that feeling of being "different" .

Lokipups - Hayley is the "tripod" or three legged dog :wink:

[gooeydog]

Yep, Haley is the tripod (that's actually one of her nicknames with the neighborhood kids :lol: ). I'd love to do therapy work with her as well, but she needs a lot of work on remaining calm even when getting attention and behaving aroudn other dogs (getting better, but still a bit too interested in them, especially in close quarters). before she'll be ready for that. She's a solid dog, hardly anything shakes her up, and she just eats up attention from anyone, so there are a million and one things she could do well, just up to me to put in the work smoothing out the rough edges.

[mouseatthebusstop]

[quote name='Dog Lover']Is ignorance contagious? I hope not... :roll:
sad but it is

[Guest Anonymous]

Truth of the matter is