people hate pits...

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So, I recently moved more into the country. Now we live on an acre and a quarter (more room for the dogs). We were moving boxes in to the house and both the dogs slipped out the door (a pit bull and a 5 month old germen shepherd pit mix). Immediately they saw the man across the street sweeping his drive way. Both of my dogs are used to a world were everyone loves them; all of our friends pet them and play with them, and no one we know is afraid of them. I can understand my neighbor being afraid of my dog if he ran up to him barking, and I know it was my fault they got out. But he walked calmly over to the man and I ran and grabbed him with in 30 seconds. I apologized for my mistake and assured him both of my dog were very nice. Well this man started to yell at me, telling me how bad pit bulls are, how he hates them, and he can’t stand seeing one in the neighborhood. This really offended me. How could this man hate my dog just because he is a pit bull? Well then my dog got upset because them was yelling at me. He started barking and glowing at the man but the man continued to yell. I turned a walk a way and end the situation. (Keep in mind the whole time my puppy was sitting calmly next to us) as I was leaving the man said I better keep my dog on a leash or else. Believe me I don’t want my dogs running loose anymore then he does. If they are not inside they are tied up outside. It just makes me mad that he has so much hate for a dog he doesn’t know. Has anyone else had any problems like this?

 

ya well its never fun welcome to the wonderful world of owning a pitbull i get alot where im from top even when im walking my dog on the lead i still get dirty looks or people well cross thge street but u casnt really blame them for it there just uniformed i mean in all honest if i didnt know much about the breed and my dog came runnning up to me i would be a little imtemated(sorry speeling sucks) but all you can really to is chock it up to experince and hopefully you can help teach him about the breed so look at as an oppertuinty

 

I get more annoying kids than adults in my area. Of course the annoying kids are a result of misinformed parents. I get so many questions from kids (teenagers) asking if my brindle/white pup is a blue nose pit, or if I have another puppy like him that they could get. I also have the rottie owners kids who were trying to explain to me that they couldn't get a pitbull because their mom told them that they have locking jaws, and that pitbulls turn on their owners. The adults usually mind their business. I do live in a pretty good neighborhood in that other dog owners in my neighborhood own rotts, dobermans, a bull mastiff, a mastiff/great dane mix, a mastiff/ st bernard mix, a GSD, another 2 year old pitbull, and a rhodesian ridgeback...I don't think they have time to worry about my pup when their dogs are dragging their asses down the street. Actually, these people are really conscious of their surroundings, use leashes and proactively avoid the ultimate royal rumble.

Actually, you may have an opportunity for that ignorant and biased man to see your well behaved dog, and teach him a thing or two.

 

YUP. My Max took off once across the street to play with a young lady that was jogging by, and she tried to hit him & beat him off when he ran up to her to play.

 

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Yea, maybe I can change his mind. You know my mom black lab is way more aggressive them both of my dogs.

 

Well as of yet my girl friend and I, luckily, haven't had any real problems with anyone in the neighborhood. In fact, our neighbors next door have told us that they'd love to puppysit or walk the dogs, they just love our puppies. A few days ago though, while we took them outside to do their business there were a few punk kids with a wheelchair that would act like they were mugging each other whenever a car would pass, and not one of the dogs liked it at all. After the kids got close enough to see the dogs, they decided to go home. I heard one say, "Naw man, for real, lets just go. Those dogs keep barking and growling at us, and two of them look like pit bulls."

The biggest problems my girlfriend and I face is with my family. Whenever they're here I always get the, "Hey Krystal, did you see the news and hear about the pit bull that attacked a (insert various ages of children or elders) for no reason?"

Oh well. People are just ignorant. That's exactly why my girl friend and I try our hardest to train our pups properly so they aren't aggressive and my family can just shup up already.

 

I have never found people who were ok with my dogs when I move. The worst was 3 years ago, I moved to a very rural community geared toward farming and animal husdbandry. The last thing I expected was my neighbors yelling and screaming at us to take our dogs and go back where we came from(I think they meant Detroit even though we only moved from the next town over).

These people called animal control and told them we had 20 dogs and had them on tread mills all day a half hour per dog. AC inspected our home and they found nothing but well cared for healthy animals. Our neighbors then called the sheriff and when they didn't do anything they called the township zoning officer. This went on for 2 years and they finally gave up. Our dogs are well behaved and the officers would no longer answer their complaints.

I hope things go better for you. Just be responsible and don't give them any ammo. Good luck!

 

That's a horror story and a half...I am glad that you were able to deal with that situation in the right way and win one for the team. I know that they don't all work out that way, but thanks for being a responsible citizen and a good representative for responsible owners. Again, you'd think the more rural the community the better the response to a home owners dogs regardless of breed, but thats obviously not the case.

 

It's not just dogs! It happens with people too...

 

well this is a sad sad situation thats a fact.... not only how your neighbor acted ..but the fact that he would have acted like that weather or not your dog ran up to him like that .... now shame on you for giving your dogs the chance to run out like that .... thats a big no no .... as a bulldog owner you NEED to take that extra step to MAKESURE you dog doesnt get out...

what if he had a dog, and your dog got into it with his... another artical in the local paper ... another taxpaying citizen down at city hall bitching at all the township meetings about "those damn pit bulls and how we need to ban them"

its just a huge responsiblilty...its not about "your dog" so much as it is about "the breed as a whole"....

oh and how can he hate your dog without knowing him???

IMO thats almost a stupid question... or at least a question you should already know the anser to...

think about it ... for exsample i live FAR north... and its prodominantly white... as a matter of fact ... i would have to SEARCH for someone who wasnt white...there out there but they are few and far between.. so needless to say racism is a huge thing here people as a whole have a shitty outlook and a shitty mind set... i know folks that probobly havent EVER talked to someone of a different race so its VERY easy for them to say stupid ignorant racist comments and not have it bother them a bit.... (ignorant being the key word here)

what it all boils down to is PEOPLE ARE AFFRAID OF WHAT THEY DO NOT KNOW... its very simple, and another thing people HATE change ... and you moving in to this guys neighborhood was bad enough, but now youve got dogs and one of them is a pitbull and on top of that.... you let them run free.... (accident or not thats how he sees it) so i think its easy to see how he could be so salty towards you and your dogs....

my advice ... be the best breed ambasador you can be,(and really dont let your dogs "slide out the door" anymore i really think you can own dogs and have this not happen i may sound like an asshole but in my eyes thats just PURE irrisponsiblilty..) and dont piss that guy off.....

 

I completely understand and I agree with you. Like I said I realize that the fact that they got out was all my fault. Now I don’t even let him walk from the house to the chain with out me holding on to him. and both of them have leads for 150 pound dogs, its over kill i know but I want them getting loose. But Yesterday when I got home from my husband put the dogs out and the guy was standing at the end of his yard with a machete watching them. It’s scary for me because a while back a had an American bulldog and she was change up in our yard, and I was washing my car. A man was walking by and the dog barked (she was a lot more protective them the pit I have now) Well the man pull a gun out and shot the dog in my own yard. He said he felt his live was in danger by my dog who was tied up far a way from him and I was right there.

 

Wow. Just do what you have to do to keep your dogs away from the man. As time passes, maybe you can try to strike up a conversation with him and pick his brain a little as to why he hates Pit Bulls. Im not sure how schooled you are on the breed but if you needed some coaching as to how to bring the man around, there are MANY very (dog)educated people on this site who would be more than happy to give you some good stats on our breed. Good luck. YIS, D.
The whole "dog shot in the yard" thing is a bit hard to believe though...Just IMO

 

Yea, I think im going to write him an apology letter because I can’t stand having people mad at me. Im not going to press him to like my dogs because that is his own opinion. I just don’t want him to come in my yard hurt them out of spite for the breed.

 

Educating ignorant people is hard but it can be done. My aunt hates all dogs not just pit bulls and with time she has come around and now when she comes to our home she no longer feels scared and normally comes baring gifts for the dogs. Im not gonna beat you up over the dog getting loose cause im sure at one time or another all of us have been guilty of that crime.

As for your neighbor ? Only time will prove him wrong as long as you deminstrate your dogs good behavier by good yard play. Some people are just plain ignorant and will remain that way no matter what. Good luck !

 

They forgot to call the health department and complain about the poop.
Thats what neighbors did to us when we moved into our last house along with calling the police, AC and anywhere else they could think of.

 

ok which was it? barking and growling or sitting calmly?

 

I give you people a lot of credit for handling situations like this rationally. Fortunately for me I've never had a problem. I owned a Pitbull/Basset hound mix, but he definitely looked like a Pit. Of course he was the friendliest dog on the face of the planet. Too friendly actually, he didn't have a protective bone in his body, he loved everybody. Of course people would occassionally walk across the street when they saw us coming, or give me/my dog dirty looks, but that was it. No one ever said a thing to me. When my ex-wife and I got a full blooded Pit it was even worse with people crossing the street and avoiding us. Of course he was also as friendly as could be and loved all people, especially little kids.

Tell you what, I don't care if someone walks across the street or gives me a dirty look. But I'm Italian and I'm very hot headed. I get a lot of my aggression out in my martial arts/boxing classes, but it's going to be a very bad day the day someone actually threatens me or my future Pit. I'm not sure how I will react but I know it won't be good. I've gotten into fist fights with people who stared a little too long at my ex, I can't imagine how bad it will be if someone threatens to kill my dog. I know this isn't right, and I admit I'm a serious hothead. I've become a lot better over the years, but I'm EXTREMELY protective of my dogs, and I don't think of them any differently than I would a child of mine. Most parents would be prepared to die for their children, and I would do the same for my dogs.

Of course right now I don't even own a Pit. But I think that's going to change soon...

 

Holy Troll Batman!!!

 

*One* of my experiences -

Last month, someone in my family came to my house to visit. She has met my pit bull, Sug', several times. As Sug' licked her hands and wagged his tail, she said, "I dislike you," to him.

"What?" I asked. "He has given you nothing but love and you say that! Why?"

"It's his breed," she responds.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said, "His breed is widely misunderstood and any normal aggression they have is toward animals, not people."

She replied, "All pit bull owners say that."

"Maybe all pit bull owners know the truth then," I responded.

She did admit this was a good point.

My sweet dog was/is judged because of his breed, despite the fact that he has never done a thing wrong.

This situation made me think about how people still judge individuals, be it a dog or a person, in a negative way, because of their breed or race even though that particular being has not done anything to warrant the judgment. Sad!

 

my puppy was sitting my and pit was fine untill the man started yelling then he barked. sorry for the confusion, there were two dogs.