Pack of Pit Bulls: WE ARE SOMETIMES THE EPITOME OF HYPOCRISY!!!

Pack of Pit Bulls: WE ARE SOMETIMES THE EPITOME OF HYPOCRISY!!!: WOW. The animal welfare community is a true conundrum to me. I have been, and always shall be, a staunch supporter of having a positiv...

WE ARE SOMETIMES THE EPITOME OF HYPOCRISY!!!

WOW. The animal welfare community is a true conundrum to me.

I have been, and always shall be, a staunch supporter of having a positive attitude toward rescue in that those who rescue dogs not waste precious time and energy to judge, to hate, to expose or to publicly deride people who they feel have abandoned or neglected dogs. In other words I believe that publicly exposing the shortcomings of former owners of dogs does nothing to help the dog, help pay for the dog's medical care or housing or help the dog find a new home.

Today I was truly bowled over by someone who I've known for a while through social media who has always been a very active advocate for pit bulls, who rescues and fosters dogs but who has also shown to be judgemental of former owners and people who 'dump' dogs regardless of what reasons the former owners may have had for abandoning their dogs or surrendering them to a shelter. Now today this person posted on social media how a dog she's been fostering is 'just too much', has too much energy and that she will have to find another foster for this dog because the dog is just too much for her to handle. My reply to her was that she needs to find a good canine behaviorist, not a dog trainer but a behaviorist, with good experience to help her help this dog calm down and learn some manners. I suggested as well that the dog needs to get out for regular exercise which would help calm the dog by draining the dog's energy.

This person's response really knocked me for a loop and has prompted me to write this blog in yet another effort to help people see the sheer hypocrisy that runs rampant throughout the part of the animal welfare community that is always out on social media demeaning former dog owners, hating on former dog owners, blaming former dog owners and judging former dog owners as if the neglect, abandonment or surrendering of their dog was done intentionally by a cold-hearted monster. While I would never and am not making excuses for people who abandon, surrender to shelters or neglect their dogs and am not saying that what they did/do is perfectly okay I am here to say that this kind of defaming does no good for any dog at any time and that judging others is a form of suggesting that we ourselves are perfect.

Okay so the response to my suggestions that I got from this person was, "That costs a lot of money. I'm no where able to afford behaviorists let alone walkers, day care, etc."  and I must tell you I was so tempted to rip her a new one because these are the very same excuses that some people who have wanted to find another home for their dog or who have surrendered their dog to a shelter or who have abandoned their dog have used; nearly verbatim! People who have been vilified on social media, called monsters, said that they should not ever be allowed to have another dog, who have been put out on social media as horrible people who had no hearts and who weren't worthy of having a dog. I have seen so many rescuers remind everyone that if you can't afford all of the things your dog needs or may ever need that you shouldn't have a dog and that you should always have resources to help your dog available or again you should not have the dog in the first place. Yet here is someone well respected in the dog rescue world who is trusted and who constantly advertises the sacrifices they make to rescue dogs and holds themselves up as a great rescuer and dog owner and they are making the very same excuses that they themselves have vilified and demonized other people for using. What the actual hell? Is it simply that we don't see ourselves as fallible or are we so untrusting, hateful and judgemental toward others?

Here it is folks...we MUST STOP THIS BULLSHIT VILIFICATION OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER AND/OR DON'T PUT OUT AS MUCH EFFORT AS WE CLAIM THAT WE DO OR THAT WE WOULD!!!

That we seem to think that if we don't have all of the money to provide all the services and activities for the dogs in our care and that we either don't or can't expend the effort ourselves to get our dogs the exercise they need it's perfectly okay, that it's a good valid excuse and that we should never be judged for it or called into question about BUT seem to think that if someone outside of our animal welfare community has or uses any of these excuses they are heartless, cold, uncaring and undeserving dog owners we have a HUGE FREAKING PROBLEM!!! Our problem is that we are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites who want recognition for the sacrifices that we make or for what we try to do for the dogs but who can't recognize that people who aren't in animal welfare face the very same challenges and have the same limitations that we have.

Come on people, what the hell is wrong with us???

In the end if we don't begin to open our hearts to humans in addition to animals and if we aren't going to be willing to see that we aren't perfect and that we can also use the same excuses for what we don't do or what we do then we are doomed. The animals deserve better human beings and that begins with US who claim to be putting so much effort into helping the animals. EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED and we can't separate humans from animals. If we are going to save the animals we can't toss aside the human beings while we are doing it...it just won't work and maybe that's why up to now it hasn't been working very well at all and we still struggle every day with too many dogs that need homes and not enough homes for them...just think about it for a minute! Are you in this for recognition or for emotional reasons or are you in this for the dogs???

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way, shape or form criticizing the person I am writing about for saying what was said or for being in the situation they are in. What I'm trying to get across here is that things can happen to ANYONE and that when it happens to someone outside of the animal welfare community the vast majority of the time they are vilified and condemned on social media for it by people in the animal welfare community. All I'm saying is that we must STOP vilifying people for being human and for falling victim to life situations that can happen to anyone.

Pack of Pit Bulls: HATING THE HATERS

Pack of Pit Bulls: HATING THE HATERS: Most pit bull advocates, pit bull rescuers and most anyone who has a pit bull type dog and frequents any one line discussions about pit b...

HATING THE HATERS

Most pit bull advocates, pit bull rescuers and most anyone who has a pit bull type dog and frequents any on line discussions about pit bulls has come across and has been aggravated by people who hate pit bulls. 

I'm not talking about people that just don't like pit bull type dogs, I'm talking about people who appear to have made it their life's mission to eradicate every dog from the face of this planet that has the appearance of possibly being a pit bull type dog.  How they choose to implement their mission is by going online, finding every article that has anything to do with an alleged pit bull type dog and then posting what they consider to be the 'real facts' about these dogs and the people who have them.  These people are prolific and seem to be limited to around maybe twenty or so.  Of course there are more than twenty people who hate pit bulls and fear them but those who actively search for articles on line where pit bull type dogs are being discussed and then post their rhetoric it seems is limited to around twenty or so.  Over the last almost six years of being a pit bull advocate I've come to recognize and even after a fashion know many of these people; some on a far too intimate basis.

Like most pit bull loving people I find these people quite unpleasant, because as a rule they are quite unpleasant in how they address people who have or advocate for pit bull type dogs, and seem to have the knack for making statements that make other people's blood boil.  It's quite obvious at times that some of them purposefully word their opinions in certain ways to goad pit bull supporters into a heated argument where name calling and worse can take place.  I've never personally been stalked by any of the haters but know people who have which takes the conversation to a whole new level and one that doesn't bring any results other than aggravation, anger, frustration and in the end hatred.

I used to indulge in these conversations by calmly and factually offering up statistics and well-verified facts to counter the propaganda being posted by these people, addressing the haters directly.  I would indulge in heated discussions and I would come away wishing I was in the same room as them so I could slap them, choke them or do something else physically to shake them out of the fog that they apparent choose to live in. That is just how aggravated they were able to get me.  However not long ago a new found friend, who had just released a book on the history and controversies surrounding pit bull type dogs, after having a very serious and all too real stalking scare suggested something I had never considered.  What she suggested was that we ignore these people in an effort to 'starve them' out.  In other words if we don't respond to them it takes a lot of their power away because then they just appear to be some angry misinformed people posting unsubstantiated information and basically making themselves appear to be less than reliable when it comes to getting the real information about pit bull type dogs and the people who have them.  So today I'm all about 'starving them out' and have stopped interacting with these people directly.  That isn't saying that I don't provide verifiable, validated facts in online discussions about pit bull type dogs it simply means that when I do I don't address them, interact with them or respond to them directly but instead interact with the other people in the discussion who are either supporters of pit bull type dogs or are curious and want information so that they can make up their own mind about these dogs and about the people who have them.  Thus far it's working fairly well for me and I can truly attest to the peace I have within by not interacting with or responding to the haters on line.  I also find myself feeling particularly pleased that I was able to advocate for the dogs without acting like an ass, without exchanging insults and without causing me to appear to be a much less credible source for real and factual information.

As of late I've noticed that a lot of Facebook pages and events have been cropping up with titles/goals like 'Expose the Haters', 'Pit Bull Haters Exposed', 'The Truth About Pit Bull Haters' and others which is what I'd like to comment on in this blog.  I'd like to suggest to the people who are understandably concerned about the pit bull haters that the more effort and energy that we put into exposing these people and confronting them the more power we are giving them.  It is tantamount to providing them with free advertising first of all and secondly it confirms to them that they are making headway (because why would we be so desperate to prove them wrong if what they say wasn't credible?) and most of all, which I think is their real goal, they are getting to us which only serves to bolster their resolve.  We can't give these people that kind of power.  We who advocate for, rescue, who have or support pit bull type dogs and the people who have them MUST NOT give the haters any more power than they already have.  But when we engage them in heated discussions, when we personally insult them because they personally insulted us, when we respond directly to the misinformation and propaganda that they post with claims that it's true and that we are the liars we are absolutely positively giving them much more power than they deserve.  We are in effect helping them prove one of their most common points and that is that anyone who would advocate for, rescue or have a pit bull type dog is an unstable person, is a volatile person and is someone who is as vicious as they claim that ALL pit bull type dogs are.  We can ill afford making those kinds of people appear to be right or to have a valid point when the public is watching us, and YES the public IS watching what's going on in these discussions, because the more ground they take and the more power they get the more likely others will begin to take them and what they say seriously thinking that where's there's smoke there's got to be fire.

I would implore those who feel they must expose these people to take down their Facebook pages and to reduce or better yet completely stop their efforts to shine a light on these people.  By focusing so much attention on them we are not harming them in the very least but we are absolutely giving them more power; much more power than they deserve.  If we shine our 'light' on responsible dog ownership and on celebrating the great responsible dog owners and their wonderfully behaved and safe pit bull type dogs we are in effect fighting the haters but we are doing it in a way that doesn't highlight them, doesn't give them any power and that will eventually leave them sitting in the dark talking to themselves with not a single person outside of their hate and fear mongering group to hear their words.

I sincerely hope that people will truly give this some thought and will understand that by starving them out by not giving them attention is quite possibly the most effective way to deal with them and to lessen the possibility that they will somehow influence public policy when it comes to us and our dogs.  

On that note I'd like to leave everyone with this thought, this fact and the fact is, according to the laws of physics of the Universe that we exist in that governs not only the physical but also the non-physical that what we resist persists.  In other words the more of our energy we feed into a problem, into someone who is against us, the more power we giving to it/them. It's as if we are freely giving over our own life energy to those who would do us harm and who would gladly do our dogs harm if they got the chance.  Let's be smart folks, let's stop giving these people so much 'free advertising' and bringing so much attention to them and their cause...let's starve them out and the only way we can do that is to ignore them, talk around them, refuse to engage them and simply keep going in a positive direction as hard and as committed as we can.  THAT IS WINNING...

Pack of Pit Bulls: FIREWORKS PISS US OFF!!!

Pack of Pit Bulls: FIREWORKS PISS US OFF!!!: As unpopular as the ‘voice of reason’ seems to be these days I’d like to give it a try.  This time it’s about holidays where we humans ch...

FIREWORKS PISS US OFF!!!

As unpopular as the ‘voice of reason’ seems to be these days I’d like to give it a try.  This time it’s about holidays where we humans choose to shoot off fireworks and the effects it has on dog owners and their dogs. 

I never had dogs that had issues with the sound of fireworks prior to the dogs I have now and have had since 2010.  My two previous dogs, Zeus and Odin, never paid any mind at all to strange, or even strange and very loud, noises outside of our home.  Both of them even laid on the sidewalk beside our lawn chairs for many 4^th of July’s while we ourselves shot off fireworks and just seemed to enjoy being with us but never showed any fear about the noises.  When we got our dog Max and then Scooby that all ended because Max is afraid of any ‘strange’ noise around him no matter what sound he hears (even the notification chime on my cell phone can send him out of the room with his tail between his legs) and Scooby just seems to be afraid of the sound of fireworks. 

When Max and Scooby exhibited their fear of the sound of fireworks I jumped right on board the ‘I hate fireworks and they should all be banned’ train.  I started to get aggravated, in anticipation of what my poor dogs would have to go through, about a week prior to when the fireworks likely would start to go off in my neighborhood every year.  I wanted to shoot my neighbors and used to try to come up with ways to get them to stop the damned fireworks; all for the sake of my dogs.  I have even called the authorities to report those neighbors who felt that the ordinance against firing off mortar rounds was only for other people but not for them.  Yes I was totally on board with the hundreds and thousands or hundreds of thousands of other dog owners who posted their anger over and hatred for fireworks and the people who fire them off all over social media. 

BUT there was somewhat of a helpless and hopeless feeling that came along with that emotional response to a situation that I had absolutely no control over in any way, shape or form.  I don’t like feeling helpless or hopeless and feel that there is always a way to deal with just about anything that comes up in life.  I have grown to be of the mind that we all have a choice in matters like this and that I would consider only two choices when faced with things that appeared I could not change; first choice being to work for a mutually beneficial solution with others so the situation changes and the second choice being to just simply deal with it on an emotional level accepting that there isn’t anything I can do about it.

With my two ‘scaredy cat’ dogs I did neither for the last several years and simply got aggravated at other people thinking them idiots for doing what I myself had done not that long ago.  We are learning that the more we react to the fireworks the more our dogs do.  We are also finding that when we can remain calm and act as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening that our dogs get much less upset and are upset for a much shorter period of time. 

THINK ABOUT IT!!!  Our dogs look to us for instructions.  It is in their very DNA as members of the canine specie.  When we get pissed off, upset over or frustrated with the fireworks and the people who set them off we are TELLING our dogs as loudly and as clearly as if giving them a direct command like sit, stay or come to be afriad and they are following our instructions to the letter.  REALLY THINK ABOUT IT!  The dog doesn’t know what that loud sound is and they are afraid, then we become aggravated about it and they pick up on our aggravation which they can’t rationalize in the very least.  They don’t know we are aggravated with our neighbors because their fireworks scare our dogs; all they know is that we are upset about the noises and so they get even more upset about them.

If you would try an experiment you might find that you can help your dog’s much more than you ever thought possible.  I would suggest that you take your normal precautions, like a thundershirt or putting them in their safe place etc, and all the while you are going through those motions instead of being apprehensive about when the fireworks start or aggravated with people because their holiday celebration upsets your dogs and just remain calm and unattached to any feelings of any kind about the fireworks.  Even when the fireworks start and your dog is shaking or looking for a safe place to run REMAIN CALM and DO NOT under any circumstances feel aggravated or upset about the noise.  Go about your day/night no differently than you do on any other day/night when there are no fireworks.  I think if you can do this and continue to do this that as these fireworks holidays/events go on you will see a marked difference in how your dogs react.  Any improvement is a milestone for your dog if the dog is less upset or is upset for a shorter time, right???

In the end none of us have any right whatsoever to dictate to others how they celebrate the holidays when they set off fireworks.  You would NOT like it, in the very least, if one of your neighbors asked you to stop having dogs because they bark once in a while or for whatever reason…IT IS THE SAME THING!!!  We have NO right to ask and since they are going to do it anyhow the only thing any of us can do is to change our reactions so that our dogs reactions change/improve.

Bottom line is that people are going to set off fireworks and they have every right to do so.  We can’t stop them nor should we think that we should try.  We waste our time and further upset our dogs by being upset with fireworks and the people who set them off; it’s counterproductive and it doesn’t help.  THINK ABOUT IT!!!

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Pack of Pit Bulls: IT'S TIME TO CHANGE A LITTLE; FOR THE BENEFIT OF T...

Pack of Pit Bulls: IT'S TIME TO CHANGE A LITTLE; FOR THE BENEFIT OF T...: Everyone is different.  Everyone has a different way of being, thinking, speaking and doing.  Everyone sees things from a slightly differ...

IT'S TIME TO CHANGE A LITTLE; FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE DOGS

Everyone is different.  Everyone has a different way of being, thinking, speaking and doing.  Everyone sees things from a slightly different perspective.  I get that.  I totally get that.  What I don’t get is how so many people who are all claiming to work toward a common goal approach it so differently and at times because of the choice of how to approach that goal can be an obstacle to meeting that goal.

In this instance, once again, I’m talking about the animal welfare community, and in this particular instance I am talking about how so many seem to have such a negative way of going about networking to get a dog get out of a shelter; in particular how so many seem to find it necessary to pass judgement on a former owner or the person who ‘dumped’ the dog at the shelter.

I understand this community is based on emotions.  I understand that a vast majority, if not all, of the people who get involved in this community do so because emotionally they feel a need to help, to save, to educate and to make a difference in the lives of animals.  The needs of animals most certainly tug on our heart strings and when so many have seen so much abuse, neglect and abandonment it can be a very emotional task to network for animals in need.  It’s so very easy to become deeply emotionally invested in the welfare of a single animal that we are networking for or are trying to save. I get all of that and understand that because it’s such an emotionally driven community that at times some people involved absolutely do operate solely on their emotions.  In no way would I ever suggest that we stop feeling or becoming emotionally invested in these animals because our emotions are often what drives us, even to the bitter end, to succeed on behalf of an animal.  However for some of us we tend to become far too emotional and at times as a result we become far too narrow-minded and quick to judge when we see an animal that has been given up on by someone else.

If I had a magic wand and could wave it over this animal welfare community to repair one single thing it would be to help people STOP including judgmental, and at times downright hateful, comments about the people who they view as being the reason why the animal, for the sake of this discussion I am talking about dogs, ended up in a shelter and in need of a foster or home. 

So often we don’t know, and will never know, the reason why someone surrenders a dog to a local shelter.  We can guess or assume but likely more often than not we would be incorrect in our assumptions.  Assuming that everyone, or anyone, who surrenders a dog to an animal shelter does so out of heartless, selfish or uncaring reasons is dangerous; dangerous because when we make these assumptions and follow them with negative, hateful and judgmental words about the former owner in our efforts to network for these dogs we are putting THAT FACE on our community.  ‘THAT FACE’ meaning the face of an insensitive, conclusion jumping, extremely critical, judgmental and sometimes hateful group of people who lack compassion for anything but animals.  Why would anyone ‘out there’ want to interact with a group like this, unless of course they were the same way, or donate to a group like this or help a group like this or approach a group like this in order to adopt a family pet?  WHY would they???

There apparently are many members of this community who either feel or have learned that this is just how we help dogs, how we network for them.  Meaning that for some they truly feel that the more heartless and uncaring you can make a former owner appear to be for ‘dumping’ their dog at a shelter the more likely someone will step up sooner to help the dog. While I don’t believe that there has ever been a study of this phenomena or it has ever been quantified I just can’t believe that this ‘method’ of networking for dogs in shelters has been any more successful than efforts would be if we chose to not even mention why the dog ended up in the shelter.  Suffice it to say no dog ever ends up in an animal shelter through any fault of their own so why do so many feel it so necessary to assign blame and find fault?  The dog is in the shelter.  The dog needs to get out before it’s killed for space.  That is all anyone outside of the shelter personnel who are directly involved with the dog really needs to know in order to help the dog, foster the dog or adopt the dog.

There are wonderful organizations that exist today that are helping a LOT of dogs but not by judging the humans who have them or who are trying to surrender them to shelters.  These organizations are founded on helping humans to keep their dogs, train their dogs, vet their dogs and perform/provide the many other tasks that so many of us who are better informed and have financial means do ourselves and tend to feel is being a responsible dog owner.  Organizations like ‘Home Dog LA’, ‘Fences for Fido’, ‘The Coalition to Unchain Dogs’, 'Brown Dog Foundation', 'HSUS' Pets for Life Project' and many, many other fine organizations that have found that most often the best way to lower dog populations in shelters is to help dogs remain in the homes they already have; no matter how we might feel about the people in those homes or their station in life.  So many organizations are overlooking snap judgments, racial and class prejudices and many factors in order to help PEOPLE keep their dogs and help PEOPLE learn how to be better and more responsible dog owners AND IT'S WORKING!!!

We can’t educate those who we judge.  We can’t influence those who we judge.  We can’t help those who we judge.  We just can’t continue to make those snap judgments that end up in verbiage in networking posts on social media like; ‘POS owner dumped this dog’, ‘heartless owner dumped this dog’, ‘uncaring POS dumped this dog’ and so many more. 

We may be penning these posts targeting others in the animal welfare community, others who have seen all the horrors we have seen, but in the end just people in this community are not the only ones to see those judgmental and often hateful posts.  As a fairly recent inductee into the animal welfare community by virtue of becoming a pit bull advocate I can be a voice for those ‘outsiders’ in the world who have never had much contact with animal welfare and/or who have only ever tried to adopt a dog or help a dog.  From the outside looking in, without knowing all the horrific abuses that go on, the animal welfare community appears to be a group of emotionally unstable, closed-minded, judgmental and often very radical people who don’t seem to have any compassion for humans but only for animals.  We appear to be a tad on the ‘crazy’ side to many and as long as we continue to spew our judgmental rhetoric and to treat humans like so many of us do we will never benefit from the support, financial and in other ways, from the public that we so desperately need.  We may think that we can do this all on our own in spite of the ‘uncaring, selfish and heartless’ public but we can’t.  We need adopters.  We need people who donate their time and their money.  We need fosters.  We need people to help us network for dogs to find foster and permanent homes.  We need THEM so if we can’t at least stop making assumptions and snap judgments or if we can’t stop posting emotion driven tirades about POS former owners on social media then we are sunk and we ARE on our own.

Is it time for us to use our emotions solely for our motivation to help animals and to stop being led solely by them in our efforts?  I think it is time.  We must have a united front and that front must exude compassion for ALL living creatures, not just animals, so that people won’t just see us as a bunch of old biddies who surely all have a hundred cats at home and can’t have a healthy relationship with any humans.

Pack of Pit Bulls: PIT BULL ADVOCATES: IS IT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION???...

Pack of Pit Bulls: PIT BULL ADVOCATES: IS IT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION???...: I’ve officially been a pit bull advocate for five and a half years now.  Prior to February of 2011, when I co-founded the Portland Pit Bull...

PIT BULL ADVOCATES: IS IT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION???

I’ve officially been a pit bull advocate for five and a half years now.  Prior to February of 2011, when I co-founded the Portland Pit Bull Project, I had kind of ‘un’-officially advocated by writing e-mails and letters to legislators in Oregon and other states or municipalities trying to share verifiable valid information in the hope that whoever I was sending the information to would stop and think more deeply about implementing a breed ban; usually targeting pit bulls.  I worked hard to target those people who would be a part of the decision making process wherever I heard, or saw on line, was considering implementing a breed ban and also when they were discussing repealing a breed ban.  

In the last five and a half years of being an ‘official’ pit bull advocate I have had occasion far too frequently to engage people on line who advocate FOR Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) targeting pit bull type dogs and AGAINST pit bull type dogs and anyone who might be even remotely interested in them or supportive of them in a positive way.  Typically, due to the nature of the people who post their opinions on line about pit bull type dogs, these discussions seem to always be heated based on or around the issue of pit bulls, breed bans, etc.  I realized long ago that anything I may share with these people in the way of accurate, verifiable and valid information was pretty much like pissing in the wind.  But I consoled myself, knowing that they would refuse to accept ANY information that did not support their beliefs, actually believing that other people who might be on the fence on the issue or just might want to know more are reading the discussions and hopefully are getting at least a healthy balance of information for them to base their opinions on.  That was my fervent hope anyway and so for the last five years or so I’ve been posting my comments, usually in response to the anti-pit bull campaigners comments, on public discussions thinking that just maybe I might be reaching someone; even if only one person.

I won’t lie, I have been aggravated with the anti-pit bull campaigners beyond measure. Intentional ignorance indeed can be completely and totally aggravating and at times mind blowing. But I have always done everything possible to keep it calm, keep it rational, to keep it civil and to provide factual information in response to their propaganda.  I really honestly believed that even though I wasn’t getting through to the people I was ‘discussing’ the issue with that other people who hadn’t made up their minds were ‘observing’ the discussion and were benefiting from receiving information that they could validate and confirm through numerous other official sources.  I will admit however that I had some ‘crazy’ hope that those people, who seem to be a select few who troll the internet for anything that has the words ‘pit’ and ‘bull’ in it together, might see information that made them think about where they were getting their information.  But I must concede that after much reflection that most likely every keystroke, every word, every statistic, every single bit of empirical data I shared with them was a waste and was for naught. 

Admitting that I was naive enough to believe that I could make any difference in any of 'their' opinions on this issue has been tough but FINALLY I got it and to be quite honest it feels as if a huge burden has been lifted off of my shoulders and my mind.

In the end NOTHING any of us has to say and no information we might be able to provide, regardless of how accurate or verifiable it is, will ever make a dent in the opinion of these anti-pit bull campaigners.  They’ve already made their choices in what to think  and no one, likely not even if it came directly from the people they are already listening to who are providing the misinformation that fuels their beliefs, can change their minds or even bring into question what they believe.  Admitting this was a difficult but necessary step in my evolution as a pit bull advocate but I’m here now and thanks to someone I just recently met, who apparently has a lot more common sense than I do, I have made a conscious decision about who I will engage in a discussion about pit bulls and the people who have them in the future.  Beginning now I will no longer read the comments of the anti-pit bull campaigners, even when directed at me personally, regardless of where the comments are or what the incident may have been.  Beginning now I will consciously choose to only discuss the pit bull ‘issue’ with people who are involved on the advocating side, the rescuing side or just with people who come to me with questions they want answers to.

In the end I have come to realize that I can be much more effective and productive if I avoid wasting my time discussing an issue with people who quite obviously have already made up their minds about it and who only seek to convince others to agree with their point of view.  It may be tough to break this old habit of engaging with the anti-pit bull campaigners but I will replace it with a new and much better habit of learning as much as I can and engaging ONLY people who share my interest in fixing the many problems and issues that plague pit bull type dogs and the people who have them.  This new habit includes, but isn’t limited to, working in a much more proactive manner to provide services and information for people who have these dogs so that they don’t one day become a statistic that will sadly only serve to confirm the misguided beliefs of the anti-pit bull campaigning camp.

So from here on out all I have to say to the anti-pit bull campaigners is... 

FAREWELL HATERS and have a great life!  

CAN THIS DOG BE HELPED? CAN THIS DOG BE SAVED?

Having a different perspective on and belief about canine training/handling than most other people around you can be tough.  In fact it can be downright stressful if and when one chooses to state one’s perspective or beliefs honestly and clearly.  The very same people who fiercely deny that dogs today are pack oriented or are effected at all by any kind of left over pack instincts from their distant ancestors, wolves, will join up as a pack on social media and will aggressively verbally jump on anyone suggesting that dogs are anything different or can be handled any differently than how have learned and therefore how they believe.  The differences between both professional and hobby/novice dog handler’s opinions and preferences are wide ranging and at times can be an obstacle to people working together for the sake of dogs when the people involved can’t overlook the other person’s preferences.  The professionals cite their education and ‘science’ as proof that their methods/beliefs are not only best but are really the only way a dog should be trained/handled while the hobby/novice dog handler’s cite their personal experience with dogs as proof that there is more than one way, one method, to help dogs work through their behavioral issues that is humane, safe and effective. 

It seems to be an age old argument that is typically fueled by high emotions and the frustration that common ground just can’t seem to be found in those discussions about canine behavior, canine psychology and how to train and handle dogs in the most effective and humane way possible.  In other words some discussions on this issue, depending on the participants, can end up as an all-out war between two vastly opposed factions.  One faction insists that their way is the best way, that science proves it and that anyone who doesn’t do it their way is harming dogs.  The other faction insists that while what the other side chooses is very useful in most situations with most dogs that all dogs are different and therefore often require a different approach.  Both sides lose because they have dug their heels in and will not budge; they can’t learn anything from one another due to the animosity that exists between the two.  But in the end it is the dogs that lose because one person who has one view won’t partner with another person who has another view and in the meantime dogs are not being helped.

Having been descended on by a ‘pack’ of proponents for one side of the ongoing argument so many times in the past I have learned over time to keep my opinions on this issue to myself since it doesn’t seem possible to share information that may be beneficial to dogs. Especially with people who feel that they already know everything that they need to know and that what you are going to tell them would require them to be hard-hearted, mean-spirited, rough, abusive and cruel should they choose to try it.  One side acknowledges that the other side has many, many excellent points and practices but is not what they choose and can’t help all dogs. While the other side vehemently disagrees with anything and everything having to do with any points or practices they may choose because it’s deemed as harmful and inhumane to the dogs.  It can be very ugly, it’s a standoff in most cases and sadly it’s not helping any dogs anywhere with their behavioral issues; so this is why I no longer take part in discussions about canine behavior, canine psychology or ‘other’ ways to train and/or handle dogs besides what seems to be the current belief/practice.

There are times when one’s perspective and beliefs are validated and sometimes from the least expected places.  Keeping an open mind is always helpful in life but at times when it comes to this issue an open mind is the last thing you will find however I have done my very best to always keep an open mind so that I can learn from every possible method and practice.  After all isn’t the end goal to be to help a dog become calm, confident and stable enough to live in a home environment in harmony with all other living things? I often wish that if nothing else those who oppose methods/approaches that were not a part of their education and perhaps isn’t the latest and greatest according to their ‘science’ could just understand that most dogs can be helped but not all of them who need help can be helped solely by the one method that they embrace.  If only it could appeal to them that at times in order to help someone you must push them beyond limits that they may not want to be pushed beyond and that in the end when all is done the gift of challenging them to face whatever they fear in order to let go of the fear/anxiety/frustration and move forward can save their life; and more often than not will likely result in a happy, calm and fairly well-adjusted dog now free of its anxieties and fears.

So here’s an apology to all of the dogs that never had the chance to be gently guided through their fears/anxieties and frustrations so that they could learn that no one and nothing is going to harm them and who were euthanized because of experts who couldn’t see any other possibilities for the dog than what they had in their own bag of tricks:

“We are sorry that we humans damaged you so much that you could not live safely among other living things and we are also sorry that we could not gently and with love help you overcome the fears and anxieties that caused you so much pain. May you rest in peace to run free and happy over the rainbow bridge.”

Pack of Pit Bulls: UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…

Pack of Pit Bulls: UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…: I have been a pit bull advocate for five years.  My advocacy is small and has a fairly short list of activities we sponsor or participate i...

UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…

I have been a pit bull advocate for five years.  My advocacy is small and has a fairly short list of activities we sponsor or participate in on a monthly and an annual basis.  We do what we can when we can that usually involves, but is not limited to, monthly bully walks, a pit bull education booth at local events, networking for dogs that need out of a shelter or to be re-homed and public education in school classroom’s and groups.  I/we have always wanted to do much more but due to being so small and being limited on how much time and effort we can put into projects we have kept pretty much to the ‘short list’ with an eye to the future when we can grow and do more. 

Last year, near the end of the year, I had a personal setback in that someone who I had a great deal of respect for and was beginning a new and very exciting project with decided that they no longer wished to associate with me because of a few differences of opinion.  I was devastated emotionally by this no matter how much I tried and tried and tried not to care.  To be certain I had completely and totally lost any motivation or desire to continue being a pit bull advocate.  Intellectually I knew it was ridiculous to allow one person’s rejection of me as a whole based on my opinion on a few issues but in my heart of hearts affect me so deeply that I was done…I really had lost all interest in the pit bull advocating thing and was seriously considering handing the advocacy over to the other members so I could get on with my life.  My heart was just no longer in it and for the last six months I’ve been going through the motions only because I felt I had made a commitment to be a pit bull advocate and had to keep that commitment no matter what.  If nothing else I am NOT a quitter so I kept on doing what I needed to do but without any real enthusiasm or even a true desire to do this pit bull advocate thing.

Just when I was still considering if I wanted to be a pit bull advocate anymore completely unexpected I found a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to this ‘pit bull advocate gig’ and found it in the most unexpected place…a book.  To be more specific a book about the Michael Vick dogs, The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant, that today most of which have moved onward and upward to being certified Canine Good Citizens and for many of them therapy dogs that serve the community. 

I can’t put my finger on what exactly in the book has brought me this renewed sense of purpose or has relit my passion but most likely it was the FACT that a majority of the dogs taken from the Vick dog fighting operation had once been considered by the public as the worst of the worst and even highly respected organizations had recommended arbitrary euthanasia for every dog found at Bad Newz Kennels that day.  These dogs are living proof of the ‘true spirit’ of pit bull type dogs and I will be damned if I will allow someone else’s inability to work with someone who has differing views on a few issues hold me back from advocating for these dogs.  These dogs that were born into a hell created by humans, who were asked to go against their very instincts as a dog and who were nearly to the last dog rehabilitated to become therapy dogs and family dogs that lived in harmony with humans and animals alike have become my new inspiration.  If these dogs can move passed the past and can embrace healing in the way that they have then I most certainly can let it go and find a renewed passion and commitment to advocating for pit bulls and for the people who have them.

Everything happens for a reason they say, and I believe, so I can’t help but think that The Universe allowed me this brief downside to being a pit bull advocate so I could come back with a brand new sense of purpose and commitment to the cause that I had once felt so passionate about.

Thank you Universe for helping me see the way.

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG: I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘ The Lost Dogs ’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events tha...

THE LITTLE RED DOG

I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘The Lost Dogs’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events that led up to the bust and of course what has happened since.  I’m not that far into the book yet and am at the point where an expert animal forensics person from the ASPCA had been brought on board in an effort to corroborate the confessions and stories that had been told about the operation, and Vick’s involvement, from the others involved in the dog fighting operation by documenting what several dogs (9 or more) had endured when they were killed for not wanting to fight other dogs. 

This book is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to hear and even as tough as I am when it comes to things of this nature I found myself crying as I heard accounts of what the dogs, but one in particular, had endured at the hands of Vick and his crew.  The one in particular is referred to as ‘the little red dog’ in the book and has had what I suppose might be considered a starring role in the book from page one.

I don’t know how human beings can do what these men did to these dogs by forcing them to fight in the first place.  That alone seems a soulless thing for any human to do.  Just the forethought, logistics and implementation of planning that goes into a dog fighting operation seems to go, at least in my mind, against everything a human being should be.  But how these dogs that refused to fight were dispatched to be culled from their fighting stock goes far beyond anything I ever imagined a human could and would do to a dog; dogs that looked to their care takers for food, shelter, safety and most of all attention and affection.  Yes I understand that we humans are capable of incredibly heinous acts against one another and that is an issue that occupies my mind from time to time but when it comes to dogs or animals that depend on ‘us’ for their very lives there seems to be something, at least to me, that brings forth the strongest emotions.  Like the abuse and killing of innocent children, which is something that causes me emotional distress, the abuse and killing of these dogs weighs very heavy on my heart. 

I keep saying how tough I am emotionally and that is very true.  I find myself to have grown into a person who accepts what is and chooses to go forward from there never really allowing myself to get too affected emotionally by the situation at hand.  I have seen what unfettered emotions can do and I prefer not to put that kind of obstacle in front of me as I go through life trying to navigate as best I can the rigors of life.  Most especially since becoming an ‘official’ pit bull advocate I have relied on my emotional toughness to guide and help me not be dragged down by the situations I encounter that are often heart breaking. I keep my head up when some others are drowning in emotions knowing that if I can keep my head I can be a better helper, I can be more effective and I can make a bigger difference than if I allow myself to be heart broken.  But the little red dog is challenging me in this respect.  As I heard the account, as testified by one of the Bad Newz Kennels people and supported by forensic evidence, of the last hours of the little red dog’s life I wept and I am affected still.  It feels to me as if I just heard that my own dog had been forced to fight another dog and when refusing to fight that dog had been thrown down stairs and when it had not succumbed to one of their usual methods of dispatching a dog had repeatedly been slammed to the ground by Vick and one of his partners until it was dead.

I don’t know what to do with this except to see that little red dog as the best motivation to come along for a long time to continue advocating for these dogs.  In my five years of being a pit bull advocate I have not really gotten involved in the dog fighting aspect as I have had my hands full with housing breed discrimination, dogs needing out of shelters or rescued, helping those who can no longer keep their dogs find suitable and responsible new homes for them and educating the public about pit bulls and breed discrimination.  Dog fighting of course is a part of what we consider ‘the pit bull problem’ and I support anyone and everyone who works to put an end to dog fighting and to hold those who indulge in it accountable for their abuse, mishandling and killing of innocent dogs bred for their nefarious purposes.  I won’t be shifting my focus as a pit bull advocate to dog fighting as if I add any more to my plate I will take away from everything else that I do for these dogs but I will keep the little red dog in my mind as a dog that none of us could ever have helped but that many of us may be able to make sure never happens to other dogs.

In the end if you suspect dog fighting in your neighborhood, town or city please report it and if you donate to causes please find a trustworthy organization that focuses on and works to end dog fighting so that they may do more to help these dogs and hold those who fight them and who kill them when they will not fight accountable.

My being an advocate and the advocacy I co-founded has always been the ‘legacy’ of my half pit bull half Rottweiler dogs Zeus and Odin but from now on it’s also the legacy of the little red dog who’s short life existed in pain and who died so horrifically.  We must stand together calmly, logically, rationally and with resolve to help these dogs and the people who choose to have them responsibly.  We may feel emotionally overcome from time to time, as I am about the little red dog, but if we are to be successful and if we are to be effective we must strive to put our emotions on the back burner and approach this thing with our hearts and souls in a calm, rational, logical and effective way showing solidarity and resolve to change the way these dogs and all dogs are regarded in society today and in the future.  It’s in our hands and it will take more than tears of compassion and anger for those who would harm dogs in this way or in any way to get this done.  We can get it done but not as isolated groups but together as one group of people who will not stop until it is done.

In closing just please think about this.  If there are people who you have distanced yourself from for any reason who can help heal the rift.  If there are people you don’t agree with on some points who can help put your ego aside and do this for the dogs.  If there are people you just don’t like on a personal level understand that the dogs could care less about personal likes or dislikes and that it is the dogs we are here for and if we can’t work together for them overcoming our personal issues then we can’t help them.  And if we who are dedicating our lives to helping dogs can’t help them who will?