Hello:

Pleased to meet everyone.

My name is Susan. I live in RI and work as a professional dog trainer.
I am an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator and teach group lessons.
In my spare time, I volunteer as a trainer and rescue coordinator at 6 different shelters and am a member of the Animal Control Association.
I also have been featured in the Humane Society of the United States news letter for the work I do with "PIT BULLS"
I also work at a hospital and have worked at the same hospital for 23 years.

I own "Pit Bulls" and also specialize in obedience training them.
I also own a yellow lab/golden.

Let me start by saying that "Pit bulls" Pit bull is NOT a breed. It's a generic term often used to describe all dogs with similar traits and characteristics often known by the public as "pit bulls". But for this post I will use the term "Pit Bull"
in the proper hands are wonderful dogs with SOLID Temperaments.
Back this claim by going to http://atts.org/stats1.html

The problem with the dogs are the losers that own them. IRRESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERS!! Pit bulls are the chosen dogs for scum that ruins it for the rest of us.

They are the most mistreated dog on the planet.

When I am walking my own dogs on a bike path and I have my jogging clothes on all I ever get are filthy dirty looks. Some people make comments like "Don't go near that bitch". Or "look at that trash coming our way". My dog happens to have her CGC/TDI certificate and I have done years of "Pet Therapy" with her. She has perfect manners and is a wonderful FAMILY pet. Why am I getting dirty looks? People just assume I am trash???

An hour or so later when I get on my "Dog Training Logo" uniform on and am on the same bike path with another one of my dogs or even the same dog, I get this:
"Oh wow, Do you have a busines card on you" Anyone who can handle a monster like that with as much ease as you can surely train my pet"!!!!!

Well, as you can imagine, I give them quite an earful!

What nerve!!! Who do people think they are judging my dogs and me like that??? They don't know me or my dogs.

Because the public ASSUMES my girl is a "DREADED PIT BULL VICIOUS KILLER"????? PLEASE!!!!
Guess the media doesn't want to show her doing pet therapy and showing her in a positive image each and every time I call them to see it because that won't make the 6 o'clock news now will it.


More often than not, people who have owned these dogs in the past don't want to own any other breed. They become loyal fans.

The average "pit bull" is extremely smart, and is easily trainable. And they are very loyal. You could bash their head against a wall and the will still come back and lick your face.
An article on pethelp.net says, “Large, aggressive dogs are in demand by criminals seeking an extension of their own machismo as well as to protect stolen property or contraband. Unfortunately, many breeders still engage in dog fighting regardless of its cruelty and the legal restrictions against it. Thus, the group of fighting dogs has acquired a bad reputation because of its association with crime.”
“Losers” backyard breeders and dog fighters breed and then train the dogs to fight. If one refuses to fight or for another reason does not work out as a fighter, it gets dumped at the pound, or worse, left on the streets. (Backyard breeding is the irresponsible breeding of any animal, typically cats or dogs, done usually for a profit or, in the case of pit bulls, to make fighters, and does not ensure that the dogs are not related or will not carry on other genetic diseases or faults to the puppies.)
Not every pit bull is adoptable. “Pit bulls are not for everybody and there are some that are vicious and not suitable as pets. But there are millions of them that would never be vicious.
According to pethelp.net article, many dogs are mean and aggressive, but the larger dogs, including pit bulls, are the ones that get the bad reputation because their bites are more damaging.
“Dog bites from larger breeds are more severe than bites from smaller dogs because of the size of the injuries and the ability to knock a person down during an attack,” said the article. “However, large dogs do not attack more often than small dogs. A large dog attack is just more injurious.
“Media reports lead the public to believe that packs of roaming pit bulls are more likely to bite than the neighborhood dog on his leash,” the article continued. “Over 80 percent of dog bites occur when the dog is with his owner or on his owner’s property. A large number of small children are bitten by dogs they know while visiting the dog’s home. Because stories of pit bulls stimulate fear, the media is likely to report all cases of biting pit dogs or pit mixes but not stories of injury by poodles and spaniels which used to be the most frequently reported bites.

I personally work with over 300 "pitbulls"/mixes every year for the past 8 years without incident. I temperament test them and usually am all alone with them for hours on end.

The only dog I have ever had an issue with was my own yellowlab/golden who bit me and detached my finger 3 years ago leaving me out of work for 8 weeks and needing two surgeries. But, the media didn't think that would make a great story for the 6 o'Clock news either.

Bottom line, Judge each dog as an individual and do not categorize.

Susan