I believed half of the bad things I had heard about the Pit Bull breed. I have a prejudice against the breed. I was unprepared for what actually arrived at my house. I felt fear, sense of adventure, and the wish that it was all a dream. I was surprised at the size, the color, the fear, that I saw in the dog from me. I think Seppel had the same emotions that I had - except they were towards me. It's been an excellent learning experience for me. Seppel is acceptable to me as a friend, but, I still have doubts.
The doubts that I have are: If I do something toward him that he doesn't understand - what will he do to me? How can the two of us learn to control his over-the-top enthusiasm towards everything? My biggest fear is if the gate is left open, unattended, would he charge out and challenge someone? I don't feel that he would run out and bite someone, but I do worry that he would act defensively towards someone and if they reacted inappropriately that he would hurt them. I have these feelings because he is a powerful dog and the breed reputation makes me afraid of what he is capable of.
However, at this point I trust him when I'm sitting in the chair or on the floor, but I would not put my face in his face. Not because he has shown me that he would hurt me, but because I'm afraid.
I feel that the good beautiful dog, friendly dog, would protect me if I needed him to. He is an easy keeper - he doesn't dig, he doesn't chew things up.
The only things I really don't like about him are that he is a licker, in his friendliness he doesn't realize the power he has. He could knock me down easily and he jumps up. When he hits me with his tail, it stings.
In summation I am not a dog person, however, Seppel has changed my mind about the breed when it comes to him. If I were younger, he would make an excellent, smart companion/competition partner.
Awww! I love that you love your granddog. My parents were quite leery of me getting a pit bull at first as well. And I know they're especially leery this second time around as I recently got another. They have totally changed their minds about Bindi too, but she is strong and very overexcitable, especially during meet'n'greet. My mom recently confessed to me that she has had a lifelong fear of dogs, which I never knew. I thought she just didn't like him. When I showed her photos of what my puppy might look like all grown up, she said she was very afraid.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know what? Sometimes I'm afraid too. When I got Bindi, I didn't trust her right away! Every time she challenged my authority, I was convinced she was "turning" on me. She was going to bite me, attack me, everyone was going to say, "I told you so!". Only time and experience can take away those thoughts - even if they're shoved in the back of our minds and we know they're not true - that we ALL have about this breed. And this second time around? Every "serious" sounding growl I'm whipping my head around convinced they are going to rip out each other's throats, even though I know better at this stage of their lives. So even after five years of having a pit bull, it hasn't gone away. Will it ever? Probably not.
But I think that's a good thing. I think we SHOULD fear dogs, just a little. Because they are animals and they can and will bite. Doesn't mean they don't love us, doesn't mean we don't love them. But I think when you work with dogs, particularly strong breeds, that always needs to be in the back of your head. The best advice I can give you is to read up on dog body language (it's easy) so that you can feel more comfortable with what is going through Seppel's (or other dogs') mind when you're a bit nervous.
And I commend you for supporting your daughter! I'm so glad my parents have done the same for me. It makes it so much easier for us crazy pit bull people to have some people on our side when it seems like society is out to eradicate the breed entirely!
Also, nice car.
Thank you for the kind reply Amity! I showed my mom & dad. I really appreciate you sharing your feelings and I know they do too. If you ever feel creative and want to write your Pit Bull story I would love to share it!!!
DeleteI think if anything because you and I are conscious dog owners we realize what we are living with. They are a powerful breed and I think it would be foolish to forget that.
Also my dad said thanks about the car - it's a '79 RX-7, it's his baby.
Unless of course you're going to start blogging about your two babies!!!! <3<3 But I'd still love to read about it :D
DeleteThanks, someday maybe I will - I always feel like other people would be bored by what I have to say because I can get SO wordy sometimes. Guess I need to put aside my self-consciousness about it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a good one for starting blogs and abandoning them. I had a LiveJournal for ages, and also started a cooking blog called Beautiful Cow, but ran out of things to talk about. lol
LOL... I can be wordy too! I don't think it's a horrible thing.
DeleteI think I checked out your blog one time :) I think you might have mentioned it on the board? Who knows how long I will keep this going... somedays I have ideas and somedays I don't haha.