Ambassadorship Wins the Day

As a pit bull advocate I know we all live for those little moments when we know that we've helped change someone's mind and heart about pit bulls.  Most of us have learned that we can't tell people about pit bulls but must show them.  For most of us those moments when we are able to give someone a positive experience that challenges their fear of pit bulls come few and far between, if ever at all.  Last night in my own home I was blessed with one of those wonderful miracle moments and wanted to share it with a very specific and important message.

This week some old and very dear friends we haven't seen in a long time have been visiting us from far away.  They have been sightseeing during the day when we are at work and spending the evenings with us catching up on old news (we will call our friends David and Holly).  Last evening our friends asked if some other friends of theirs, who are traveling to attend the same wedding that David and Holly are, could stop in and visit with them in our home.  We had never met these people but knew that if they were friends of David and Holly's that we would enjoy their company so of course we responded with a yes.  When our friends' friends arrived we made sure that our two pit bulls, Max and Scooby, behaved themselves and asked our friends friends (we'll call them Janie and Ron) to obey the 'no touch, no talk, no eye contact' rule that we try to enforce for people entering our home.  Janie and Ron gladly obliged while Max and Scooby sniffed them all over.  Scooby got a whiff of Janie and Ron's dog (that was out in their motor-home on the street in front of the house) and started to growl.  He didn't really threaten them in any way but simply growled nervously and gave a little half bark from time to time; more a chuff than a bark really.  We assured our new guests that we would control Scooby and to just allow him to continue to sniff them while not attempting to engage him themselves.  We wanted him to feel comfortable around them and knew this would be a good way to let him know that they posed no threat to him.

Our newly arrived guests took their seats in our family room and we started to visit, getting to know them, while Max and Scooby milled around continuing to sniff them and they being great guests didn't try to engage either of our dogs. Scooby continued to sniff and then growl a bit from time to time at which time we told him to stop and asked him to go lie down which he did. After a while Scooby relaxed and laid at Ron's feet but would get up from time to time to re-sniff our new guests and then give a little warning growl or chuff to let us know he wasn't quite sure about the scent of their dog on them.  Janie seemed a bit nervous about Scooby and even Max and as we talked to get to know one another she started talking about how they, pit bulls, got such a bad rap and that she had just recently learned how bad it was for pit bulls when they had to answer the question on their homeowners insurance policy application of whether or not they had a pit bull.  She went on to say that she had until then had no idea just how tough it was to have a pit bull as a family pet and then she dropped the bombshell I hadn't expected;  she was deathly afraid of pit bulls.  She was afraid even though she knew intellectually that it wasn't the breed of dog that determined that it was dangerous but how the dog was handled by the human.  I had told her a few moments earlier that I was a pit bull advocate and after her admission of her fear we started to talk about pit bulls.  I felt no judgment of her for her fear but only tried to share some information about these dogs, and dogs in general, with her.  As the evening wore on and she eagerly took in the information I was sharing with her about Breed Specific Legislation and such she started to relax more and more.  Scooby kept getting up, sniffing her and then growling under his breath which made her very wary of him, especially when I remarked that I really didn't think he would ever bite anyone but that I wasn't going to allow him to do it so we will never find out.  I believe that our being able to manage Scooby's growling really helped because she was able to see that we had complete control over our dog and that we wouldn't allow him to harm her.  I also think that providing her with information like he has no words so his growling is the only way he has to tell us that he's uncertain and that his growling was based on his own fear and/or nervousness also helped her see him and his actions in a less threatening light. Janie is very intuitive in that she expressed to me that a part of the issue that may have contributed to Scooby's nervousness was her own feelings/attitude; her own fear.  She also acknowledged that in order to overcome our fears we must face them and so to her credit she just kept doing her best to relax and to allow the dogs to acclimate to her.  

Max of course is a nearly bullet proof dog so he simply approached her from time to time sniffing, wagging his tail and asking for her attention but she didn't give it aside from just observing him and his manner when he was near her.  She could see, as we discussed the dogs and their behaviors, their different personalities emerge and was beginning to understand how they related to us and to one another differently because of their individual personalities.  I think that seeing that two of the same 'kind' of dogs were so vastly different helped her understand that not all pit bulls are inherently dangerous or even that not all pit bulls have a propensity for nervousness or aggression.  As we talked and she observed she relaxed more and more telling me that she felt as if her being there in our home that evening was meant to be because she knew that being there with our dogs and us was helping her overcome a fear that logically she knew she shouldn't have but had anyway.  At one point with Scooby curled up at Ron's feet obviously very relaxed Max got up and went to Janie.  His demeanor was the usual Max only he wasn't attempting to push the limits and crawl up in our guests lap like he usually does, which I found quite surprising.  His body language showed that he was relaxed around her and was not interested in harming her in any way.  As he approached her she looked down at him, still I think a bit nervous, and watched as he walked up to her calmly and then licked her hand a few times. Then he simply walked away as if to say to her, "See?  I mean you no harm; I just want to be your friend."  She drew her hand up to her chest smiling widely and giggling she said, "he licked me," as if her favorite celebrity or someone she admired greatly had just talked to her or held her hand.  It was obvious that she enjoyed it and treasured it. I know that with Max's calm and kind gesture a bit more of her fear faded away and was replaced with an affection for these loving cuddle-bugs that so many pit bulls tend to be.

We continued to talk about pit bulls and then our other dogs Zeus and Odin who are no longer with us in this world for quite a while and I know, because she told me again and again, that on this evening a mind was set at ease, a heart was softened and a fear was lessened greatly.  I feel so very blessed to have been able to help her with this fear and to have found a new friend; one that I think just might become a pit bull advocate in her own right some day.  What a true blessing for us all and we owe it all to Max being a perfect pit bull ambassador and Scooby helping us demonstrate that even when dogs have anxiety or nervous issues all is not lost and that it truly is the human being in charge that determines whether or not that dog acts out against others because of his issues.  I hope I gained trust last night from both Janie and from Scooby as nothing bad happened, we worked through it all with calm and assertive guidance and it ended very well for everyone involved.

Okay so here is the message I wanted to share with everyone.  We all know how many people out there believe the myths, misinformation and media hype about pit bulls and about the people who have them.  We also know, from our experiences on line with the misinformed, that there are no words, no pictures, no stories, no anecdotes and no amount of factual information that we can impart to people to allay their fears about pit bulls when not face to face.  We have learned that to them we are simply those crazy pit bull loving idiots who choose to live in denial that our dogs will turn on us or someone else and will sooner or later kill someone or something. So if words cannot change their minds and hearts what do we do?  We make sure that our dogs are calm, obedient, well-behaved, well-socialized and balanced dogs regardless of what 'method' we may choose (as long as it does not involve yelling, hitting, kicking or punishing our dogs) and then get 'out there' with our pit bull ambassadors so we can show people what kind of dogs they are because we are responsible dog owners.  This my friends is the only way we will ever end BSL and all of the other ills that plague pit bulls and their responsible owners today.  Most people will not believe it until they see it so we must provide as many people as possible with a positive pit bull experience up close and personal-like as often as we can. Together, if we take on this mission, we will manifest a change in how pit bulls are perceived, how they are treated and how we are treated as dog owners by law enforcement, the authorities, our government bodies and just the public in general.  

This is a mission that anyone can take on and accomplish.  You don't have to be an advocate.  You don't have to do anything but have a pit bull to help people view our dogs and us in a completely different way.  I urge you all to 'get involved' simply by doing whatever you need to do to help your pit bull be an ambassador for the group of bully breeds that are referred to as pit bulls.  We can do this.  Together we can absolutely change things for the better.

Some of the ways that some people are doing this is through what is referred to as Bully Walks.  What better example of what great dogs pit bulls can be when in the hands of responsible dog owners than to see a group, large or small, of people walking together with their pit bulls when there is no fighting going on between the dogs and the owners are just simply everyday regular folks no different than the people who are watching us?

If you are interested in coordinating a walk where you live I'd be happy to help in any way that I can.  I can be reached through Facebook at The Coast to Coast Bully Walk and/or The Portland Pit Bull Parade (I've provided links below to both Facebook pages).

The Coast to Coast Bully Walk:  https://www.facebook.com/CoastToCoastBullyWalk?ref=tn_tnmn

The Portland Pit Bull Parade:  https://www.facebook.com/home.php