I know that many PT'ers use Gentle Leaders for their pups. All my dogs, except Chloe, have needed the extra encouragement that a GL provides. My girlfriend was having problems with Chica dragging her all over the place and constant training wasn't helping much, so I gave her Charlie's old GL to see if it helped. It did, Chica doesn't pull half as much with it on. Of course, she turns into a major drama queen when she's wearing it; rolling on the ground, giving us "the look" or simply toppling over and laying there like she was dying.
ANyway, the "rant" portion of this has to do with all the ignorant people out there. Chica is probably about as close to 100% pit as a mix can get, and she looks it. She's the sweetest dog in the world. She lets the cats climb all over her, play with her tail and chew on her ears. But whenever we go out with her and she's wearing her leader, people give us such a wide berth. Parents snatch their children up, and we hear things like, "Ohhhh... what a scary dog!" or "Someone's obviously got an attitude problem!" It's pathetic! We have to explain over and over that it's a GL, a halter, and has nothing to do with muzzling. The fact that Chica can still open her mouth doesn't dawn on these people. Even while we explain it we get looks that cleary say that they don't believe a word of it. The worst was when we went into a local used book store. They allow pets on leashes and it's a great place to take a dog to socialise. The employees are always great, and never think twice about handing out ear scratches and treats. But one time we were there and some horrid woman looks at CHica, gasps and runs over to the nearest employee, freaking out about how having a muzzled dog around is just dangerous as the dog is obviously unpredictable and violent.My girl is never one to hold her tongue when it comes to animal injustice so she marches over there and tells the woman all about the GL etc etc etc. The woman asks what kind of dog Chica is and my girl tells her. Bad move! The woman panics and starts asking to speak to a manager. Meanwhile, I'm sitting on the floor with Chica and Chloe, where a hearing-impaired little girl is getting all sorts of sloppy kisses from both dogs. oooooohhhh... vicious!
Needless to say, the manager asked the woman to leave and stop causing problems. But her reaction is all too familiar. I wish there was a way to do a mass education of people. Not all pits are mean, most aren't. And wearing a GL or a Halti is NOT a muzzle.
Has anyone else had problems like this? What do you do? Is there anything TO do besides educate on a case by case basis?
It's so frustrating....
(a couple of pics with Chica and her "muzzle")
oohhh... It's horrible! How will I ever go on!?
I love ya, mom! Now get this thing off of me!
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Originally Posted by binka_nugget
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