 Barked: Wed Oct 10, '12 11:09am PST |
 | |  | | I foster a great deal, and am VERY Pit positive when it comes to shelter pulls and adoptions, and there is a striking difference when I am out and about with a fostered Pit vs another dog. That is where I gain a lot of heart for people who own and love these dogs.
I may basically agree with what Tuck is saying, but in ways I challenge it. I do, after all, own Giant Schnauzers, who if you are in the dog fancy and know your breeds, know that is one breed not to *f* with. Or mentored on Kerrys before, who make Giants seem like Drag Queens vs the Kerry's nail spitting, beer guzzling personae 
So that's the not cool part. The rep of the Pit, with just the common Joe Blow on the street who doesn't know of what they speak. I know with my Giants, in that I have Am Cockers also, some in my clique would place a puppy with me gladly....an Am Cocker with the Giants, I mean....and others would be very concerned about that combo generally. But at least that is a reasonable and educated conversation, and, most critically, upon seeing my Giants, chill out.
That's where it sucks. It SUCKS when you have a Pit who is showing every body language in the world of being dog friendly, and you have dog owners having some heart attack.
From years of shelter assessments, this I can say...Pits never lie. Dogster Duncan, who I run my rescue with and who also had a term with Best Friends, in addition to all her kill shelter experience, would say the same. What you see with a Pit IS what you get. They don't throw one thing to you and then do another. I pull Pits out of shelters with far less caution than other breeds. I have never had one who proved a liar of me, of the adult persuasion of course. With puppies, they are puppies and time will tell. But a love bug Pit is just that, and if that can't relax a dog savvy person then I do have to say they are buying into the hype. The very genetics of the dog means that even before they fight, they are practicing body language of intimidation and letting their opponent know what they have in mind. |  |  | |  |
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So BSL is discrimination. Grunt, my current pit, loves humans, all of them he will fold himself in half with happiness at a greeting. Yet people will see him and cross the street to get away from him 
Their loss, but some I will say he's friendly and would love to say hello to you, some come over, some don't. The ones that do are amazed at how gentle and sweet Grunt is. I live in the country, yet I take my dogs once a month to the kennel for socialization and playtime. Grunt is now 18 months and he will playbow and get as low to the floor to greet and play with a poodle. Turner was a reactive dog, he was a throwaway fight pup that wouldn't "engage". He was lucky, where I got him from they shot and then burned the bodies. I managed his behavior. If I saw other dogs I removed him from the area and never had him off lead where there was a possibility of other loose dogs. I am a responsible pit owner. I take pride in who I am and who my dogs are. I understand the breed, the good and the bad and I accept my responsibilities as such. Through work I have met and talked countless hours with dog fighters and am well versed in the dark side. I know the capabilities of my breed and I respect their abilities to please. BSL in my opinion is bull, yet instead of griping about it I wish they could meet Grunt and other dogs and make judgement on a case by case basis. BSL is like looking at me and saying she's a druggie or bad seed because she has tattoos... Don't judge a book by it's cover, read the contents and LEARN!! 
