Post by suziriot on Aug 8, 2009 17:29:34 GMT -5
Today a friend of mine and I headed out to the Cantigny Park Dog Days event, she with her adorably squat little AmStaff and me with my big foster boy Lebowski. Both boys are always well behaved in public and are great breed representatives. We knew that several bully breed rescues would be there, including two that we know and have worked with. There were many adoptable bullies on site, but not very many with people actually attending the event. It seemed to be a mostly Lab, Collie, Poodle, or little snacky dog type of crowd. And most of the dogs had TERRIBLE manners and completely oblivious owners. We were getting plenty of dirty looks from well-coiffed ladies letting their Pomeranians jump and bark and generally freak out at the end of 10 ft leashes. "Is that a PIT BULL!? Aaaaa!"
We pretty much stayed on the outskirts and talked to the people from the rescues we know. When the agility show started, we walked over to watch. We were busy keeping a close eye on our dogs and what was going on around us and so we did not hear the first part of what the announcer said, but my friend and I flipped out over what we heard next. Over the loudspeaker we heard, "We've had pit bulls go at it out here before and it's not a pretty sight."
My friend and I turned to each other with the WTF DID HE JUST SAY look on our faces. I could not believe that the announcer at an event where several rescues were present with the intention of adopting out pit bulls would say such a thing. I marched over to the founder of one of the rescues I work with and practically yelled, "Did you hear what that jerk just said!?" She actually had not, but when I told her she looked like she was going to "go at it" herself!
Long story short, she talked to the announcer once the agility demonstration was over. His response? "Oh it was an off the cuff remark. I'm totally pro-pittie! I didn't mean anything by it." She called BS on that and said that when you've got a microphone and you're officially representing the event, there should be no "off the cuff" remarks, particularly ones that insult dogs and dog owners. What kind of message does that send to the people at the event? How will her rescue be able to adopt out their dogs at events like these when the official representative at the event is saying things like that?
And of course our dogs were the best behaved ones there. They were calm, happy, friendly, and well-mannered amongst a crowd of anxious, barking, jumping, rude dogs of more "acceptable" breeding. Luckily, we did have a few very positive encounters with people who were curious about the dogs and I think seeing our good little boys even changed their mind about pit bulls. And that's why I even bother going to these things.
We pretty much stayed on the outskirts and talked to the people from the rescues we know. When the agility show started, we walked over to watch. We were busy keeping a close eye on our dogs and what was going on around us and so we did not hear the first part of what the announcer said, but my friend and I flipped out over what we heard next. Over the loudspeaker we heard, "We've had pit bulls go at it out here before and it's not a pretty sight."
My friend and I turned to each other with the WTF DID HE JUST SAY look on our faces. I could not believe that the announcer at an event where several rescues were present with the intention of adopting out pit bulls would say such a thing. I marched over to the founder of one of the rescues I work with and practically yelled, "Did you hear what that jerk just said!?" She actually had not, but when I told her she looked like she was going to "go at it" herself!
Long story short, she talked to the announcer once the agility demonstration was over. His response? "Oh it was an off the cuff remark. I'm totally pro-pittie! I didn't mean anything by it." She called BS on that and said that when you've got a microphone and you're officially representing the event, there should be no "off the cuff" remarks, particularly ones that insult dogs and dog owners. What kind of message does that send to the people at the event? How will her rescue be able to adopt out their dogs at events like these when the official representative at the event is saying things like that?
And of course our dogs were the best behaved ones there. They were calm, happy, friendly, and well-mannered amongst a crowd of anxious, barking, jumping, rude dogs of more "acceptable" breeding. Luckily, we did have a few very positive encounters with people who were curious about the dogs and I think seeing our good little boys even changed their mind about pit bulls. And that's why I even bother going to these things.