We all have our favorite dog breeds. Some of us came to this conclusion because we were raised with them, friends had them or we just liked the appeal of a certain breed. Something attracts us to them; the feel of their coat, their size, their ability to sit in our laps, their ability to hunt or work. There are thousands of things that draws us in. On the other hand, what turned you off from a breed?? Was the dog big and intimidating, did you get bit as a child? Was the dog little and barked a lot and everything triggered him or did your parents tell you some dogs were bad?
Here at Pearl’s Place, breed doesn’t matter! If a dog needs help, we are going to do our best to help, no matter what! One of the most common things we see is people believing that pit bulls, pit bull crosses or a dog that just looks like a bully, is a bad dog. It is truly amazing how we take a bully type dog into a store and the majority of the people will avoid you. Doesn’t matter if our dog is sitting still or wagging its tail! If this dog is present, most people will avoid them, so sad but true.
Let’s make this educational and list a few of the bully breeds: American Bulldog, American Staffordshire Terrier, Bull Terrier, Bull Dog, French bulldog, Old Bulldogge, American Pit Bull Terrier, Boxer, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a million combinations. Can you identify each of these breeds? Can you identify a combination of these breeds? “Pitbull” is the most misused breed classification. The point is, if a dog has a muscular build, a blocky head and certain type ears, it must be a pit bull. Let’s try not to judge a book by its cover, look a little deeper.
Fact, the American Temperament Test Society, Inc. temperament tested 25,000 dogs across 200 different breeds. Their conclusion was that bully breeds (American Pit Bull, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier) scored in the mid 80’s to low 90’s in terms of friendly disposition.
All breeds have their good and their bad members, just like the human race. We work with a lot of Bully combinations (pits) and we have truly found that they are one of the most forgiving group of dogs we have come across.
Next time, don’t be so quick to judge. We have people come in and you can tell they are timid of the bully type dogs, but in the end, they are the dogs that win their hearts!