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| Joined: | Tue Dec 7th, 2004 |
| Location: | New York USA |
| Posts: | 3520 |
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Please keep in mind that most dogs (and horses) reflect the attitudes and character of their owners. If an owner has attitude, then it is likely their dog will, as well.
I have a wonderful, now aged, Pit Bull/Bull dog mix. Her name is Gilly, and she was a street rescue many years ago. We heard she'd been intended as a fighting "bait" dog, but wasn't aggressive enough, so her owner just left her on the streets when she moved out of the area. Our gain.
Gilly is one of the sweetest, most empathic dogs in the world. Anyone having a bad day? Gill climbs up and lays as much as her body across them as she can fit. (I know - she slept with me during the "mean years" I recently went through.) She's great with children - the biggest problem little ones have is that she wants to lick them to pieces.
BUT. One time when three of us ladies went camping/riding in a very remote location in PA several years ago, a group of men came up behind us in an SUV on a narrow dirt logging road, with a high cliff to our right, and a steep drop-off to our left. One of the men jumped out of the truck with a map, and tried to approach us, as though to ask for directions. All of us gals were creeped out, as we'd seen this SUV roaming around the camp the previous night.
Suddenly, Gilly got between us and this man (there were two others in the truck). She seemed to grow to twice her size, hackles raised, and snarling like Cujo. No kidding. She became an entirely different dog - I never would have guessed she had it in her.
"Is your dog OK?" the man asked.
"Well. . .she's a Pit Bull. What do you think?" I responded.
He high-tailed it back into his truck, and we high-tailed it toward trails that made us less vulnerable.
Do you think Gilly got to sleep in my bed that night?
I've always thought, since then, that I'd feel sorry for anyone who ever tried to get past her to me, or to any of our children or grand children.
Here's to great dogs!
PB
PS: The photo here shows Gilly allowing Rockie, Jamies little mixed breed dog, to dominate her in a "fight." So much for being a fighting or bait dog!
Attachment: Rocky&Gilly.jpg (Downloaded 160 times)
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