Caminofeld
04-14-2015, 02:07 PM
Haha, for me it's just the opposite. I love their physical ability, protective yet playful nature, and their high energy level. My last pitty, Alice, was killed last year in that crazy accident I was in and I'm now in the process of adopting 2 more.
I'm not posting this for validation on my views, just felt like venting a bit due to recent events.
The other day my fiancee and I were walking Franny, our 2 year old rescue, on the hike/bike trail by my house. When I first got her a month or two ago, I found that she didn't like bicycles...then came to realize that they actually excite her. This isn't a good thing, because I ride and I'm sure the kids will too when they get a little older. What I have been doing is trying to train her out of this behavior. I started by riding my bike around the back yard to see if she would actually try to attack me...and big surprise, she did not. She just chased me around and barked a lot with her tail wagging. She did try to jump up a few times, but once I realized that she wasn't trying to kill whoever happened to be nearby on a bike I believed it safe to start desensitizing her...aka getting her around more bikes, making her sit/stay/not bark, and rewarding the good behavior with a treat and accolades. When a biker approaches on the trail I make her sit on the shoulder, straddle her, hold her by the collar, and speak to her calmly as the bike passes. I also speak to the approaching biker to let them know that she gets excited and barks at bikes. This has worked great and she barely even barks anymore. My prediction is that in a few more months she won't even give them a second look. I try to be a good ambassador for the breed, and have been really pleased by the way people have responded to seeing us in training. It's usually a brief exchange of friendly comments and a "have a nice day", or something similar. Some even give me compliments on my responsibility and tell me how pretty she is. This brings me back to my story...
So we're walking and a biker approaches. I do my typical training routine with her off to the side of the trail. I let him know at a distance (and in my typical friendly way) that we are in training and she "gets excited" around bikes. So this A-hole stops his bike right next to us and says in a provoking tone "Well maybe I'm scared of him". Then he stands there for a few seconds while Fran remains quiet but alert and looks to me for a cue. My visibly pregnant fiancee then nicely asks him to keep it moving and he puts his finger up and "shushes" her. Now I'm getting pissed. I now firmly tell the guy to move along and he just stands there...then steps closer to us and puts his arm up as if to say "What are you gonna do if I don't". Now I raise my voice and shout "Keep it moving". Fran now barks and he scampers on his bike and takes off. I've had plenty of experiences like this before from ignorant people, but only only one other time have I had someone stand there and deliberately try to provoke my dog (and the other time was with a lady probably in her 70's with 2 little barking dogs wearing sweaters...I chalked that one up to senility:)) Anyways, I don't let too much bother me these days so after some brief bitching between Krystle and I we left it at that. So we're on our way back and a couple with a Jack Russell approaches us on foot. After a brief introduction the woman chose to walk back into town with us, citing a sore knee. Along the way she told me that she didn't trust pits, but admitted to never actually meeting one in person. We were happy to talk to her about this and let her know our views, which are basically that there are good dogs and bad dogs as well as good owners and bad ones...It's all about knowing the breed and providing them with what they need (with Pits they need love, attention, supervision, discipline, temperament testing/training, socialization, and a healthy outlet for all that crazy energy. Pit owners need to also be alert to signs which could indicate a potential problem in the future and take measures to correct/prevent this...which includes euthanasia if necessary). Anyways, towards the end of our walk (and after happily answering questions/addressing her concerns) she tells us her real reason for talking to us; which is that she is in charge of a local biking group who was having a meeting in town and that some rider (we all know who) came in and warned them all of a "vicious pit bull on the trail trying to attack bikers. Presumably he told this to everyone he passed, and still we were pleasantly greeted for our entire walk. I feel really good about changing someone's opinion of the breed and would even say that we made a new friend.
Overall the experience had a good outcome. Then today I'm talking to a coworker who tells me the workplace gossip yesterday was about how irresponsible we are for not getting rid of our dogs since my toddler lives here and we are expecting a baby. :mad:
Anyways, I guess you can't fix ignorant, but I pride myself on being a GREAT Dad and was really insulted that my parenting was put into question. Believe me, I watch my dogs closer than most...and if they ever showed any concerning signs they would be dealt with accordingly...and God forbid, if they ever turned and attacked I would be right there and am confident I could quickly remove and kill them on the spot. That being said, none of my dogs have EVER given me any cause for concern and I'm going to continue to enjoy all of life's blessings...including my 2 wonderful pits...
Thanks for reading, I feel better now.
I'm not posting this for validation on my views, just felt like venting a bit due to recent events.
The other day my fiancee and I were walking Franny, our 2 year old rescue, on the hike/bike trail by my house. When I first got her a month or two ago, I found that she didn't like bicycles...then came to realize that they actually excite her. This isn't a good thing, because I ride and I'm sure the kids will too when they get a little older. What I have been doing is trying to train her out of this behavior. I started by riding my bike around the back yard to see if she would actually try to attack me...and big surprise, she did not. She just chased me around and barked a lot with her tail wagging. She did try to jump up a few times, but once I realized that she wasn't trying to kill whoever happened to be nearby on a bike I believed it safe to start desensitizing her...aka getting her around more bikes, making her sit/stay/not bark, and rewarding the good behavior with a treat and accolades. When a biker approaches on the trail I make her sit on the shoulder, straddle her, hold her by the collar, and speak to her calmly as the bike passes. I also speak to the approaching biker to let them know that she gets excited and barks at bikes. This has worked great and she barely even barks anymore. My prediction is that in a few more months she won't even give them a second look. I try to be a good ambassador for the breed, and have been really pleased by the way people have responded to seeing us in training. It's usually a brief exchange of friendly comments and a "have a nice day", or something similar. Some even give me compliments on my responsibility and tell me how pretty she is. This brings me back to my story...
So we're walking and a biker approaches. I do my typical training routine with her off to the side of the trail. I let him know at a distance (and in my typical friendly way) that we are in training and she "gets excited" around bikes. So this A-hole stops his bike right next to us and says in a provoking tone "Well maybe I'm scared of him". Then he stands there for a few seconds while Fran remains quiet but alert and looks to me for a cue. My visibly pregnant fiancee then nicely asks him to keep it moving and he puts his finger up and "shushes" her. Now I'm getting pissed. I now firmly tell the guy to move along and he just stands there...then steps closer to us and puts his arm up as if to say "What are you gonna do if I don't". Now I raise my voice and shout "Keep it moving". Fran now barks and he scampers on his bike and takes off. I've had plenty of experiences like this before from ignorant people, but only only one other time have I had someone stand there and deliberately try to provoke my dog (and the other time was with a lady probably in her 70's with 2 little barking dogs wearing sweaters...I chalked that one up to senility:)) Anyways, I don't let too much bother me these days so after some brief bitching between Krystle and I we left it at that. So we're on our way back and a couple with a Jack Russell approaches us on foot. After a brief introduction the woman chose to walk back into town with us, citing a sore knee. Along the way she told me that she didn't trust pits, but admitted to never actually meeting one in person. We were happy to talk to her about this and let her know our views, which are basically that there are good dogs and bad dogs as well as good owners and bad ones...It's all about knowing the breed and providing them with what they need (with Pits they need love, attention, supervision, discipline, temperament testing/training, socialization, and a healthy outlet for all that crazy energy. Pit owners need to also be alert to signs which could indicate a potential problem in the future and take measures to correct/prevent this...which includes euthanasia if necessary). Anyways, towards the end of our walk (and after happily answering questions/addressing her concerns) she tells us her real reason for talking to us; which is that she is in charge of a local biking group who was having a meeting in town and that some rider (we all know who) came in and warned them all of a "vicious pit bull on the trail trying to attack bikers. Presumably he told this to everyone he passed, and still we were pleasantly greeted for our entire walk. I feel really good about changing someone's opinion of the breed and would even say that we made a new friend.
Overall the experience had a good outcome. Then today I'm talking to a coworker who tells me the workplace gossip yesterday was about how irresponsible we are for not getting rid of our dogs since my toddler lives here and we are expecting a baby. :mad:
Anyways, I guess you can't fix ignorant, but I pride myself on being a GREAT Dad and was really insulted that my parenting was put into question. Believe me, I watch my dogs closer than most...and if they ever showed any concerning signs they would be dealt with accordingly...and God forbid, if they ever turned and attacked I would be right there and am confident I could quickly remove and kill them on the spot. That being said, none of my dogs have EVER given me any cause for concern and I'm going to continue to enjoy all of life's blessings...including my 2 wonderful pits...
Thanks for reading, I feel better now.