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And now, the owner of every well-bred, well-mannered and trained pit bull hates me.  So before y’all start flaming me, let me explain.

Going for a walk with any of my dogs becomes a stress-inducing exercise because so many dogs are out of control.  But hands down, the worst is coming up on a pit bull; because I never know how the dog is handled so I have no way of predicting what I’m coming up on.

In the same way I used to hate coming up on Doberman Pinchers or Rottweiler’s, I now loathe coming up on Pit Bulls.  They’re the new designer “dude” dog, the more animal aggressive the better.  If their owners need to use big wide collars and heavy chain leashes to barely control them, that’s a totally cool thing because “man, my dog is sooo bad”.  And if there’s a hint of scarring on the dog, as if it were used in fighting, well that’s extra cachet.

What IS that.  It was crazy with the Dobies and Rotties being all about aggressively protecting their people (to the point where sometimes that went too far and family members got hurt) but this, this is inexplicable.

People:  Dog fighting = BAD.  Why is it cool if you’re dog looks like he (or she, but more often he) has been in a fight and is ready to go another 10 rounds?  If you’ve rescued your dog, THAT’S cool – and those people have my utmost respect.  I’m not talking about them.  And no, I’m  not talking about the gang bangers from the inner city, that’s a whole other discussion.  I’m talking about the suburban young man (usually, rarely a young woman) who has this whole ‘gangsta’ thing going on.  Let me say it again, people – dog fighting is BAD.

So back to my grumble.  I can’t get away from these people and their out of control dogs.  I don’t even try to walk my Pomeranian, she’d be a tiny mouthful for these dogs so she is a total house dog.  And because my two other dogs are large shepherds, I get attituded on by these owner/dog pairs, which circles me back to the stress.  I run into these folks in pet stores, on sidewalks, in the park.  I wont go to dog parks because of them.  And I know I’m not the only one.

I know the breed is maligned and has been co-opted by a “bad element”, and I’m sorry for that.  But I live here, I own a house, I pay taxes, I feel like I have some right to feel put out when I can’t even go for a walk in my neighbourhood.  I hope that there is a seachange and the cachet runs its course soon.

And if you have a pit bull that needs understanding and training, although I’m a dog trainer I’m not the trainer for you.  Instead, I recommend  Bobby Dorafshar of K9s Only in Tarzana.  And maybe when we meet on the street, YOUR pit bull will be the under-control one, I hope so.