Dog Community

Saved by a Pit Bull

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:05:59 PM

About 10 days ago, Ben had a rather unfortunate experience with an incredibly excitable Dane and it made him terrified of other dogs, especially unfortunate since Ben had been very interested in the Dane at first and it was his first trip to the park. The Dane wasn't at all aggressive, just bouncy, but was obviously massive next to Ben. We have met many other dogs since then, and been to 2 puppy classes, but he was very shy with all of them and would not play at all, just hid behind my legs.

Well today, we met a pit bull. Before getting too close, we asked his owner if his dog was OK with puppies, and he said his pit was very safe. Ben went RIGHT up to him, had a good sniff and proceeded to properly PLAY....for the first time since he got frightened. It was a chore to get him away when we had to leave, and this dog could not have been more patient with Ben. Other than a few air snaps to put Ben in his place (and Ben deserved it, he was up on his hind legs with his front paws on the pit's face) he was beyond gentle with Ben, and Ben had an absolute blast running around with him. I was almost in tears of relief watching Ben really playing and enjoying himself with another dog.

It is worth noting that the owner was obviously loving and gentle, and he had found his dog as a stray when he was a little puppy, so he doesn't even have any idea how he was bred or raised when he was very young. (The dog is now 2 1/2.)

I don't want to start a debate on pits - there are enough of those. I just wanted to share the experience of seeing a beautiful adult male pit today who put up with my little puppy bouncing all over him and chasing him around. I truly believe that dogs can sense things we can't - and Ben KNEW this dog was safe for him to play with....and this dog KNEW to be gentle with Ben.

To all pittie lovers out there, I met a wonderful ambassador for your breed today, and I will honestly sleep better tonight having seen my dog play so naturally with another at the park for the first time.

Kate

Debbie R

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:11:38 PM

Aww great story. And I love watching dogs be dogs too

georgie4682

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:14:31 PM

awww that is such a nice story![

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jensw

Posted : 7/1/2006 6:35:53 PM

Great story!! There's a pit at our dog park that sounds an awful lot like that one. He's so good with all dogs, no matter how they play. He'll play rough or gentle depending on what your dog wants, and he never ever gets rude. It's to the point where people cheer, "Yay, Ty's here!" when he and his owner arrive.

It helps that his owner is an absolutely stellar pit owner. She's responsible, proactive about training, and 100% focused on her dog 100% of the time at the park.

gradyupmybutt

Posted : 7/1/2006 9:42:39 PM

Kate, your story made me mist up a bit. I know that there are some amazing Pitties out there. I met 2 of them today. One at a bark park the boys & I visited today. The other was this stunning pit/pointer mix. Grady wanted to play with her right there in PetsMart. Yeah, I know, I need to work on Grady's manners.

)

marynh

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:12:39 PM

it's believed Molly's friend has some pitty in him. Beau is as sweet as can be. His mom gets upset when people look at him and say "oh I think he has pitbulls in him". She says to them "so?"

Kate

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:57:48 PM

There was a very gentle pittie at the dog park where we used to live that Lana had a huge crush on! She used to be very weary of larger dog and for some reason, she just loved this pittie. She would actually tip toe right up to his face and follow him around the park. The first time we saw him, I asked the owner if he was friendly and the owner told me he loved little dogs...yes, he did! I tolerated my little pest so well and Lana just loved him!

HofmannGestalt

Posted : 7/1/2006 11:10:47 PM

My cousin has a female Pitt that nursed a motherless baby kitten that my cousins daughter found out at the lake, almost dead of course.

Roxanne the pitt will still try to mother any baby to this day! She is fixed now so she can not nurse, but still trys!

Xerxes

Posted : 7/2/2006 12:04:45 AM

I'm glad that you shared this story. It makes it all worthwhile to those that are caretakers of Pit ambassadors.

tacran

Posted : 7/2/2006 1:58:34 AM

It's great that you shared your story. All too often, pit bulls only get bad press, like news reporters LOOK for another bad pit bull story.

My aunt's friend had a pit bull that alerted people that a child had fallen into the pool in the yard next door by barking frantically. The child was pulled out of the water and okay. The local newspaper reported on the story, saying simply that a neighbor's dog helped save a child's life. The dog's owner called the newspaper and demanded they print an amended story specifically naming the dog's breed. As he told them, if the dog had mauled the child, you would've said "A pit bull mauled a neighborhood child." Now that it's a good story, you only said "a dog." He made enough of a fuss that they published a correction!

gradyupmybutt

Posted : 7/2/2006 11:21:11 AM

Tracy, that's a GREAT story. Thnaks for sharing.

karin

Posted : 7/2/2006 11:32:53 AM

Kate that's great that Ben found an awesome playmate! What great pittie stories [

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Benedict

Posted : 7/3/2006 4:09:08 AM

Thanks everyone for sharing yours.

I agree that all the bad press causes a total lack of good press, and that's simply not fair to the poor dogs who suffer for it or for the owners who really care.

Tracy - I agree, that's a fantastic story.

Ben seems to have totally gotten over his fear of dogs now.....huge sighs of relief here.

Kate

sillysally

Posted : 7/3/2006 4:15:58 AM

Sally and I LOVE hearing stories like this!!!

gradyupmybutt

Posted : 7/3/2006 8:33:54 AM

Three Cheers for Pitties!!!!