Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Middle-Class Suburban Mommy/Pit Bull Owner

I do not intend to use this blog as a place to proselytize about pet (no pun intended) issues. However, the recent indictment of Michael Vick (I just barfed a little in my mouth) has led me to feel the need to tell the long boring story of how I became a pit bull owner, and to share insights I have gleaned from being a responsible suburban mommy/pit bull owner.

Six years ago, Ralph mentioned that he'd always wanted a dog. I grew up around dogs, so I appointed myself official dog finder. I found a great national website that lists all kinds of animals for rescue. That is where I first saw The Nurse.

She was listed as an American Staffordshire terrier mix, and, at the time, I didn't know that Am. Staffs and pit bulls were the same thing. That is until my cousin who is 1/2 ghetto fabulous and 1/2 Martha Stewart (seriously, picture Lil' Kim loving life in Stepford), set me straight. I didn't care; she was adorable and sounded sweet. I was hooked.

The Nurse's foster parents brought her over to meet us, and I was in love. Ralph did not share my sentiment, as he could not fathom living with a dog that was so afraid of men she wouldn't go near him. Of course, I convinced Ralph that everything would be fine once she got used to him, and The Nurse was ours.

Our first night with The Nurse, we put her in her crate in the kitchen as her foster parents had suggested, and went up to bed. Anyone who has ever had a new dog knows the rest of the story, she cried and cried. Ralph ended up sleeping all night on our kitchen floor with because she broke his heart. They have been inseparable ever since.

Life with The Nurse hasn't always been easy. She is afraid of most every man, child (with the exception of The Bug) and dog that she sees. Early on she had severe separation anxiety which caused her to poop on our living room floor if we left her alone too long. (What is it with my f'ing living room!). Thankfully, that chapter in our lives has ended.

Because of her fear of children, we were concerned with how she would react to The Bug. To our surprise, she was in love with him from day 1. She always wants to be where he is, not in a protective way, but in a loving way. In fact, as I write this, she is sitting outside of his door while he naps. Because she is so attentive to The Bug (potentially more than we are), we nicknamed her The Nurse. As for The Bug, he thinks that she is a great pillow for watching TV.

In public, we are faced with people who are afraid of the breed our dog happens to be. People cross the street when they see us walking towards them. A woman once told her son, "We don't pet those kinds of dogs", right in front of Ralph. We laugh to ourselves when people give us strange looks because we walk our pit bull right next to The Bug's stroller.

When people ask us if she is a pit bull, I tend to get on my soapbox and tell them how pit bulls used to be one of the most popular family dogs, and that Petey on The Little Rascals and the RCA dog were both pit bulls, and that they used to be called "Nanny dogs" in England because they were so tolerant of children climbing and tugging on them. I say to them that horrible people who exploit a breed's tendency to be loyal and shy and then abuse them and starve them are the real bad guys. I tell people that The Nurse is the best/most well trained dog that I have ever know, and that they should be leery of any dog that isn't well trained, not just one that looks a certain way. Ralph, on the other hand, tells people that she is just a mut, not a pit bull, he just doesn't want to hear their sh*t. People's typical reaction when they talk to Ralph is to say how cute she is and then ask to pet her.

The bottom line, please don't judge a dog just by her breed. Responsible owners make for good dogs and irresponsible owners, of any type of dog, put others at risk.

1 comment:

whymommy said...

A dog rescue that I used to work with calls them "pet bulls." You're absolutely right -- it's all about the dog, and the owner, not the breed.

He looks like he just looooves your son.