American Pit Bull Terrier And Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

[Brennan's Mum]

A Pit Bull who I have ''friended'' on his Facebook fan page had his 'Dad' type out about an interesting case of breed bias that he faced Sunday morning (US time) in his Obedience class.

Ok folks, Diesels dad here. I made this page to show Diesels view of the world, but also to educate and inform about the worlds most misunderstood breed. Please read my status which I cut and pasted from my page.

Ignorance, and stupidity on full display today. When I got to dog training today I was given the news tha

t "Jake", a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel would no longer be taking the class. Why? And I quote:

"Because there is a Pit Bull in the class"

Mine specifically. Cathie explained that yes Diesel is a Pitbull but he's well trained and owned by a responsible owner. She further went on to state how she has more to be afraid of with the GSD in class who is and has DEMONSTRATED dog aggressiveness. Her response "yeah, but that's a German Shepherd, NOT a Pit bull". Unbelievable ignorance there. Don't fear the dog WHO is aggressive, fear the one that sat NEXT to you the WHOLE class without incident.

And in two bitter twists of irony

1. She went through 8 weeks of puppy class with a Pittie and didn't even know it

2. Her dog Jake, tipped and yapped at Diesel the whole class while Diesel held his place.

I feel sorry for you lady. And. I feel worse for your dog.

Here is a link to the post on Diesel's page

Way to Go Diesel

[Dame Aussie]

Excellent!! Perfect example of the kind of ignorance I see all the time.

[Jed]

Some years ago, I helped man an anti BSL stall at a pet expo. I took my champion cavalier, Lennie. The other dog on the stall was a lovely female pit bull. There were no problems, the dogs interacted well together. People came to cuddle the Cavalier, or the pitbull - and the pitbull smooched up to them. "What a lovely dog, what breed is she"?

"Pit bull" we would say, at which point they would practically pass out, but the pit bull was still licking them and sitting on their laps.

We had a lot of doggy visitors too, and both dogs behaved with absolute decorum at all times.

The big worry of the day were the 4 GSD police dogs which escaped their crates on the back of the police vehicle, and headed straight for us - mayhem on their minds ..... luckily the police collared them in time.

The problem with BSL is that it encourages people to take their gentle little dogs away from a dangerous breed,when they should be avoiding any DANGEROUS DOG.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Jed

[mita]

Couple of years ago, I found a female Pit Bull running up and down the fenceline playing with my Tibetan Spaniels. Great time being had by all....tails wagging & big smiles.

The Pit Bull was lost, and she had with her a 'companion'....a tri-colour little Cavalier. The Pit Bull turned out to be a lovely dog....well socialised and biddable. But she continually kept watch on her little friend.

From their tags, we found the owner. As we loaded the Pit Bull into the back of the station wagon, she wouldn't settle until her little Cav mate was lifted up beside her. Then she was happy. That little Cavalier had her own personal guardian angel....& it was a Pit Bull!

My Tibetan Spaniels were sorry to see their new 'friends' driven off.

[BlackJaq]

I have to say that many people around my area seem to have a major case of breed bias as well. I was sitting out the front of Maccas with a friend and her two dogs the other day, one an older (and old looking) GSD cross and one a young mixed breed bully, not sure what exactly, but tall and lanky.

Anyways, so eventually this group of ladies stopped at the door near us and I wasn't really noticing them much at all, until one of them asked if it was ok to go past. Apparently the GSD x looked "mean" and they were afraid to go past... I have to say the dog was not very large, only about as big as a cattle dog maybe. They were not concerned with the bully but he didn't look like the stock pictures of pits that they generally like to put next to "dog attack" articles in the paper...

I've also experienced VERY different reactions when out walking dogs, depending on the dog I was walking. My Wei always gets lots of positive reactions and everybody wants to touch her and people will stick out their flippers to pat her on the head as we walk past without asking, even though she is definately NOT interested in strangers touching her and she would be the least likely one I personally would try to touch if I didn't know her.

My Coolie girl used to get some comments because she looked different, but geerally people were pretty neutral. The Coolie boy before that was very tall and all white except for a merle patch on his face and his eyes were golden. He had a lot of people scared and I'm not sure why? The worst reactions I get are generally staffies and staffy looking dogs.

I now have an older pup from the pound who looks like some kind of bulldog x, definately not the British type, maybe American or Aussie, but only short, lower than my knee and very wide/heavyset dog. That one gets ots of positive feedback, too for some reason?

I think some of the reactions are caused by how the dog looks but a lot of it is probably trained on from a young age by the media. I remember vaguely feeling that GSDs were dangerous when I was little, but never had issues with the ones owned by my grandmother and uncles so I guess I didn't connect the ones I knew to the "dangerous" ones on the tv...

[Tibbie_tabbie]

Lol, let's not make this into a GSD are bad thread ; p

Sadly some people are set in their ways Also if it was obedience class I bet they were all on leads anyway!

Good on Diesel :)

[LizT]

I had similar predujice with my German Shepherds. There used to be this lady with a small dog and when she saw me coming with my GSD she would quickly pick up her dog and apologetically say, "He is afraid" of big dogs". Gee lady...I wonder why? Every time a big dog passes, instead of showing him he had possibly no reason to be afraid and making him sit and let it pass, she would harbour that fear by picking him up. People get so conditioned.