When Rosie was 5 months old she slipped her collar and went running into a neighbor’s yard to play with their puppy. She was doing the play bow and hopping around. My daughter – who was 9 at the time – went to get her and the neighbor started screaming that if our f*@$#ing dog ever came into his f*@$#ing yard he would f*@$#ing kill it! Nice guy, eh? VERY mature. We got Rosie and went home. 20 minutes later the police rang our doorbell to investigate the dangerous dog complaint they had received. Rosie met them at the door and flopped over for her usual tummy rub that she expects of all strangers. The police thought she was adorable and saw that she wasn’t the vicious beast described in the call. Plus, one of the officers had 2 pits at home so she knew what was going on. Although we still encounter some folks who will cross the street when we’re out walking, we’ve been lucky that most responses to her are very positive. We’re also seeing a lot more families in our area with pits, so people are becoming accustomed to seeing them as family pets instead of scary beasts. Some folks will never get the message but, the more we get our dogs out there to meet folks, but more people get educated about the truth. Changing hearts & minds one licky face at a time, eh.
