I already am at my limit to pay for your wonderful works, but I may soon change favorites. Thank you for offering free articles. I feel I have come to know you through your writing and often like to share your work. I've been jailed by FB from time to time for trying to share your work with my friends and family and your articles may be removed immediately. Since I have been referring to your work more and more, I find I have a "record" somewhere about what, I don't know. But I tried to share a fascinating piece of archicture the other day which had no political context at all, and was told it was removed immediately because of my "record." I dont' know what that means
But this story about Pit Bulls brought me to a new level of race consciousness, stereotyping, bias, and discrimination in the doggie world perhaps surpassing that of the human beings in the people world. Thank you. I hope I will be able to share this profound evidence of racial and other kinds of discrimination with some of my doggie friends. PS My great niece has a pit bull whose praises she has been singing for about 10 years now.
Thank you so much for these comments. They mean more to me than a paid subscription—and I so appreciate your sharing. Facebook is unpredictable when it comes to what they block, and it infuriates me that they do often remove my pieces, while they let the corporate media spread itself all over the site, regardless of content. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this with my pieces—and now others,because of your “record”!! Others are too. This one should get through ok as far as content goes because it isn’t overtly political in title or picture. However, they don’t like posting links to other “social media” sites—which substack isn’t!!—so although it’s a bit of extra work, if you want to share, don’t do it by using the link in the main post. Put a little blurb (from the piece or written by you, in the main post, with “see comments for link”. It’s a pain in the butt, because you (or I, if you highlight my name in the post so I get it in my feed) will have to add the link in a comment. So don’t feel obliged to do it by any means. Just telling you FYI.
I'm from the Detroit area, about ten miles away from Sterling Heights. I remember when they wanted the Pit Bull ban. That was around the same time I became involved in animal rescue. Over seven years, I helped to rescue hundreds of dogs from Detroit Animal Control and shelters in many other shelters nearby. There are so many pitbull-looking dogs in Detroit. They're good dogs. We used to call them velvet hippos. I've never met one with a mean disposition. The worst dog bit I ever got was from a Golden Retriever. The most bitey breed was the Chihuahua, but if you're wearing gloves and shoes, you're not going to get hurt. It's a fear reaction in such little dogs and they relax once they know they're safe. PItties are good dogs, but all dogs are good dogs.
Pit bulls are a hot breed right now, at least in my neighborhood. Before it was Chihuahuas. As for behavior, pits are pretty good dogs. But like any dog, they have to be walked every day. Note to neighbors, and all dog owners everywhere: walking is not optional.
I knew a pittie named Jolie. She used to bark at me through her fence until she got to know me, then it was just wags of welcome. Jolie liked to sit on your feet, be stroked and talked to. One day I bent my head down to kiss the top of her head again, Jolie put her head up for that kiss...and my mouth and teeth met her solid skull. I bit my own lips, drew blood myself, not at all her fault! Gorgeous dog.
We have a pair of "Kauai Pig Dogs", bred to hunt wild boar on the island. They are mixes, but have Am Staff, Whippet, German Shorthair Pointer, and one of them has English Coon Hound.
SUPER high prey drive, tons of energy, and big buckets of love.
Lizzie looks like a pittie, but she definitely has Whippet coursing through her veins. (we rescued greyhounds for a long time, so that sight hound trait is very familiar to us).
I missed this back in April. Thank you for reposting. Yay for pitties!❤️
This makes me glad I reposted! I worried that people would be annoyed to get an already-posted stack in their mailboxes again.
No bad dogs. Just bad owners. And sometimes bad breeders. A wonderful essay. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much, Jonathan! Scout and Piper thank you too!
Spot on.
Thank you. And I’m going to check out your blog.
Just don't read too far back unless you want a chronicling of one of our Greyhound's seizures. Heart rending stuff there.
I already am at my limit to pay for your wonderful works, but I may soon change favorites. Thank you for offering free articles. I feel I have come to know you through your writing and often like to share your work. I've been jailed by FB from time to time for trying to share your work with my friends and family and your articles may be removed immediately. Since I have been referring to your work more and more, I find I have a "record" somewhere about what, I don't know. But I tried to share a fascinating piece of archicture the other day which had no political context at all, and was told it was removed immediately because of my "record." I dont' know what that means
But this story about Pit Bulls brought me to a new level of race consciousness, stereotyping, bias, and discrimination in the doggie world perhaps surpassing that of the human beings in the people world. Thank you. I hope I will be able to share this profound evidence of racial and other kinds of discrimination with some of my doggie friends. PS My great niece has a pit bull whose praises she has been singing for about 10 years now.
Thank you so much for these comments. They mean more to me than a paid subscription—and I so appreciate your sharing. Facebook is unpredictable when it comes to what they block, and it infuriates me that they do often remove my pieces, while they let the corporate media spread itself all over the site, regardless of content. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this with my pieces—and now others,because of your “record”!! Others are too. This one should get through ok as far as content goes because it isn’t overtly political in title or picture. However, they don’t like posting links to other “social media” sites—which substack isn’t!!—so although it’s a bit of extra work, if you want to share, don’t do it by using the link in the main post. Put a little blurb (from the piece or written by you, in the main post, with “see comments for link”. It’s a pain in the butt, because you (or I, if you highlight my name in the post so I get it in my feed) will have to add the link in a comment. So don’t feel obliged to do it by any means. Just telling you FYI.
I'm from the Detroit area, about ten miles away from Sterling Heights. I remember when they wanted the Pit Bull ban. That was around the same time I became involved in animal rescue. Over seven years, I helped to rescue hundreds of dogs from Detroit Animal Control and shelters in many other shelters nearby. There are so many pitbull-looking dogs in Detroit. They're good dogs. We used to call them velvet hippos. I've never met one with a mean disposition. The worst dog bit I ever got was from a Golden Retriever. The most bitey breed was the Chihuahua, but if you're wearing gloves and shoes, you're not going to get hurt. It's a fear reaction in such little dogs and they relax once they know they're safe. PItties are good dogs, but all dogs are good dogs.
Thanks so much for adding your experience as a rescuer. And bless you for the work you do!!
Pit bulls are a hot breed right now, at least in my neighborhood. Before it was Chihuahuas. As for behavior, pits are pretty good dogs. But like any dog, they have to be walked every day. Note to neighbors, and all dog owners everywhere: walking is not optional.
I knew a pittie named Jolie. She used to bark at me through her fence until she got to know me, then it was just wags of welcome. Jolie liked to sit on your feet, be stroked and talked to. One day I bent my head down to kiss the top of her head again, Jolie put her head up for that kiss...and my mouth and teeth met her solid skull. I bit my own lips, drew blood myself, not at all her fault! Gorgeous dog.
We have a pair of "Kauai Pig Dogs", bred to hunt wild boar on the island. They are mixes, but have Am Staff, Whippet, German Shorthair Pointer, and one of them has English Coon Hound.
SUPER high prey drive, tons of energy, and big buckets of love.
Lizzie looks like a pittie, but she definitely has Whippet coursing through her veins. (we rescued greyhounds for a long time, so that sight hound trait is very familiar to us).
I do have a blog where I (infrequently) post about them, https://greytbros.com