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I will most definitely toast to that. I’d also like to toast the the belief that one day there will be no more need for advocate groups or being concerned about how we and our dogs are viewed by our neighbors and the authorities!
I get your point. But there are only going to be so many people we can get to and help them see pits differently and for that I’d name my dog Cookie if I thought it may help some people swing open that mind. All that said whatever our dog’s name is we are still bound to do whatever we can for the breed by making sure that our dog is beyond safe around other dogs and around people. If enough people can get their well-behaved pit bull out into the public eye then the public will stop listening to the media drama hype and will begin to believe what they see.
Perhaps you may not care if people like your dog or not but you might be concerned when those people who’s opinion’s you don’t care about decide to ban together to get a breed ban passed so you will not be able to legally have your dog living in that area. Just this week a small town in Louisiana passed a breed ban based on the fact that one of the city council members had walked through a neighborhood and a pit bull, or at least a dog he perceived as a pit bull, had ‘scared’ him behaving in a manner that made him feel threatened. Yes it is that easy for them to pass a breed ban and that ban is there just because one person fears and dislikes pit bulls.
Unfortunately some people will see a picture of a pit bull smiling and fear that dog.
All I know is that I will never give up my pit bull and I am not ready to move if a breed ban should happen so I am working diligently to try to change how other people see my pit bull…I guess you could say I am working very hard to help people ‘like’ my dog and all the dogs that look like him…
People fear what they don’t understand or know. The more people ‘like’ my dog the less people will support a breed ban.
I understand. I’m just saying that people who don’t know why you named your dog Kaos are going to assume the reason behind the name is a negative one and unfortunately those very same people that are going to ask for or are going to strongly support a breed ban. We named our pit Maximus after the Gladiator and we call him Max for short.
It is extremely sad that we have to be so conscious of such things but like I said we can’t name them vicious or dangerous sounding names and then be angry with people who fear our dogs knowing nothing more about our dog than his name. Not judging, just saying. I am a pit bull advocate who is working very hard here in Portland Oregon, and anywhere else I can, to undo the damage that has been done to this breed by so many before us.
I do understand your reason behind the name and it sounds as if it fits him well. I often think we should have named our pit Tornado…LOL.
No doubt the dog could be named after the ‘bad guys’ in an old television series but if we are going to ever help the general public see pit bulls in a different light we are going to have to stop naming them things like Kaos, no matter how innocent the reason, or any of the other ‘threatening’ sounding names or tough names or obnoxious names. We have to be absolutely conscious of what sort of image the name and the behavior of our dog projects to people who have absolutely no knowledge of the reason behind the name. Not preaching here just saying if we are going to get angry with others for hating and fearing our dogs we need to consider what we name them portrays to people and how we present them appears to people. Spiked collars, big chains and the like portrays dogs as dangerous so we can’t show off our big tough looking dog and expect people to not be fearful of them and want to ban them.
Hi there. I’m not critcizing or judging but as an advocate for pit bulls here in Portland Oregon I just have to ask why you named your dog Kaos? That sort of name is exactly what anti-pit bull people expect a vicious dog to be named.
What a pity your cousin’s husband chooses to be ignorant. Sadly however the real problem is that so many people choose to believe the media and the anti-pit bull propaganda they put out or choose to believe that because they have known of or know some people who have pit bulls that are irresponsible and don’t have good control of their dogs.
A friend of mine and I just started a pit bull advocacy group here in Portland Oregon called The Portland Pit Bull Project and we host monthly Bully Walks. We have accepted that you must show people the possibilities because telling them until you are blue in the face will never change their mind. Of course some people will never, even when shown, change but if you get even one or two people to see pit bulls in a different light and to understand that irresponsible dog owners create dangerous dogs it will be worth the trouble. If your dogs truly are ‘safe’ dogs that are always 100% within your control then you must showcase them to anyone and everyone you can as often as you can. Remember that as a pit bull owner you bear a responsibility, unfortunately, to advocate for the breed by showing people just how ‘safe’ pit bulls can be to be around. You can tell people your dogs are ‘good dogs’ until you run out of breath and they will never listen BUT if you show them they can’t help but believe that what you say about your dogs is true.
I urge you to begin such an event as a Bully Walk in the town where you live. You’d be amazed just how many responsible pit bull owners you have living in your area and how quickly the word gets out. My friend started this just last January. She and I belonged to a Meet-Up group on line called Portlanders Against Breed Bans (I’m sure you could start a Meet-up group on line where you live for Pit Bull Owners/Lovers). She organized the first walk in January and about twenty people showed up with their dogs, myself included. I contacted her after the first walk and asked what I could do to help and now we have a facebook page, a blog and will be taking our website live any day now. Plus because we have worked so hard to get the public involved we have local shelters and rescues plus the local police force K-9 unit supporting us and offering to participate. The second walk was earlier this month and we had close to 30 people with their dogs. People who don’t have pits but want to support us come too…it’s for the pit bulls but includes all dogs who want to come out to be with us. We have our next walk this coming Sunday and we expect around 50 people to be there with their dogs. We always walk through downtown so as many people as possible can see us. It’s fun when people honk their horns, shout out they like it and even come running out of stores to ask us what we are doing and how can they get involved.
We have lots of plans to do charitable work and earn money for local shelters, rescues and we plan to help ALL dogs on behalf of the pit bulls. Things like this get noticed and people do change how they view the dogs after seeing that there are many more responsible pit bull owners out there than there are dog fighters, thugs, drug dealers and gang bangers.
Like the old saying goes, ‘Rather than curse the darkness, light a candle’ so I suppose we could translate it into ‘Rather than curse people for being stupid, educate them by showing them’!
