Part of being a pet owner is assuming responsibility for your pet/s. This includes providing for their physical, emotional and medical needs as well as being responsible should you take them out in public. An incident that occurred over this past weekend made me realize that it can be difficult for even the most responsible pet owner when others do not show respect for boundaries.
Like many people in suburban areas, we live in a condo complex without a fenced in yard. In order to give our high energy dogs the proper amount of physical exercise we take them on long daily walks around our city. Most of the time the people and other dogs we encounter are friendly and respectful and we receive a lot of positive comments and have nice interactions. Of course being that Chaos is a Pit Bull, sometimes there is negativity. I knew that we would have to deal with the mispresented stereotype portrayed in the media, but I was not prepared for how hard I would take it on a personal level. While that is not my main purpose of sharing this post today, it does relate to the point I’m trying to make.
I was out walking Ares and Chaos along part of our usual route where we walk through a parking lot near a fast food restaurant. Seemingly out of a nowhere a little girl, about 4 or 5 years old came running towards us screaming “PUPPIES!!”. Trailing after her was who I assumed to be her mother, apologizing as she approached. I told her it was okay and that my dogs really like kids. They were wiggling around and licking her face and she was giggling excitedly. This woman then complimented me on how well behaved and sweet my dogs were and I was beaming proudly. And then the conversation took a wrong turn. She proceeded to tell me about a girl her neighbor told her walks her Pit Bull through the NKU (nearby college) campus and that she was terrified she and her daughter would run into them one day, being that Pit Bulls are so dangerous. The condemnation and harshness her tone had suddenly taken on was nearly tangible. Upon later reflection I figured out why but in that moment something in me just snapped. My icy reply was, “Well then you better get your daughter’s hands out of my Pit Bull’s mouth before he takes them off..or drowns her with all those kisses.” Her eyes grew wide as realization dawned on her but without missing a beat I did an about face, called my boys and off we went back towards home. I think that she was calling after me to apologize but everything at that point was white noise to me. I just kept going and didn’t stop until we were back inside.
I want to be clear that I am absolutely not proud of my snarky response. I normally do not speak to people that way, especially with children around. The little girl was too preoccupied with the dogs to hear anything and too young to understand the situation, but that still does not make me feel as though it was the right way to handle it. This is not the first time I’ve dealt with the negativity surrounding Pit Bulls although luckily the positive has so far outweighed the negative. Usually there is some ignorance, and I mean that in the literal sense that people just do not know all the facts. So I can be more understanding and try to educate rather than get angry. In this case there was some ignorance but also some stupidity, which brings me to my true purpose of this story.
After reflecting on what happened I realized that I was upset for several reasons. The obvious ones were the stereotypical comment on Pit Bulls and then the fact that her neighbor, someone else in my area, was complaining about us. But the biggest trigger for my remarks to her was her negligence.
Just like I mentioned before, pet parents are responsible for how their animals behave in public. Dogs should be taught how to behave appropriately and have positive interactions with both children and adults. The same should hold true for parents of human children. The number one family pet in this country is a dog. They are nearly unavoidable, especially in suburban and urban areas. Even if you do not have a dog and never plan to have one, your children should be taught how to properly associate with them. The majority of dog bites in the United States involve children under the age of 10 so this is a safety issue. I’d be willing to bet a high percentage of these bites could be avoided if children were instructed how to interact with dogs.
I think it’s wise to be cautious around any dog you don’t know, especially with children. There are plenty of people like us that don’t have a yard and need to walk their dog for exercise. But not all dogs are friendly through no fault of the owner. Maybe it’s an older dog who is irritable with children or a dog with a painful condition or a dog that just doesn’t do well with strangers. It makes it difficult for an owner to be responsible if people don’t respect space and boundaries and ask before approaching a dog. I also understand children can and will get away from their parents from time to time but the situation could have become very dangerous if it were not for my dogs being socialized with and tolerant of children. Lucky for them, my dogs are not wary of strangers, don’t have a problem with little fingers in their mouths and aren’t alarmed by a sudden invasion of their space.
The mother was ignorant to the fact that Chaos is a Pit Bull since clearly she was afraid of them yet her daughter was nearly elbow deep in Chaos’s mouth while she stood a few feet away. The media presents pit bulls a certain way, a complete misrepresentation of a big, mean dog with a chain around its neck snarling with bared teeth. It's almost comical to picture Chaos this way so I can see why someone who isn’t familiar with real Pit Bulls would not identify Chaos as one because he doesn’t fit that picture. However, again, regardless of breed, it’s stupid to approach any dog without asking the owner’s permission. I know a lot of people don’t even allow interaction with their dogs while out on a walk even if they are the friendliest of dogs, simply because they want their dogs to understand when they are out walking they need to stick to the task at hand.
We try to be responsible owners by working hard to socialize and train our dogs but there is also the added pressure of having a Pit Bull. Chaos, along with us as his owners, is under greater scrutiny just because of his breed. We want him to be a good ambassador for his breed and a positive example of what Pit Bulls are really like and all the great qualities they have. So it’s all the more frustrating when other people don’t teach their children manners. Any dog, no matter the breed or amount of training or socialization, can react to being startled, approached from behind, or feeling threatened with natural instinct – growling,biting or even attacking. Should this have happened because the little girl ran full force, head on into their faces and screaming, Ares might have been blamed but Chaos would have been crucified as another vicious Pit Bull. And I would have been at fault for not being a responsible owner. Therein lies the frustration.
Even so, I do not advise anyone to react the way that I did. I would challenge yourself instead to hold your tongue, stay calm and try to make a positive impact with education and facts should you find yourself in a similar situation. Crossing my fingers there is not a next time, but if there is, I will be ready to spit truth rather than sarcasm.
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