Life With A Pit Bull
It isn't uncommon to hear Pit Bull owners utter the words, "You have to own one to know what I mean." Pit Bull ownership is a truly unique experience. It is difficult to express the level of love, joy, and pure magic this breed brings to its caretakers every single day. On this page, however, we offer you a glimpse into this world. Responsible ownership, the commitment needed to own a Pit Bull, everyday silliness, and special moments captured in word and on film--it's all here to give you an idea as to why APBT owners wouldn't own any other breed!
If you'd like to contribute to this page, share your own photos and stories, please email us at CrusadeAPBT@aol.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Pit Bulls At Home
Holli's owner says: Holli is a loved family member. I guess I would say she is a teacher. She has taught people who have a stereotyped idea about Pit Bulls that they are not all like what you see on TV. Holli is the most loving and affectionate dog I have ever met. I have had her since she was 7 weeks old. I guess because she has been spoiled rotten she now thinks she is human and has taken on a lot of human characteristics. When watching TV, Holli sits just like us, she only eats food that is bite size, she LOVES to give hugs, and she sleeps with her head on the pillow and under the blanket right in between her Mom and Dad. Besides being with her parents, Holli loves children. Most parents get scared when they see the 62 pound Pit Bull playing with their child, but Holli loves to be around kids.
Holli w/her "Daddy".
Holli w/her buddy Tyler.
Pit Bull owner Alan, says: Our little Pit Bull Sugar has a very manipulative trick she plays on my wife.
Rachel and I like to cuddle on the couch as we watch movies. Sugar gets a bit jealous since there isn't room enough for her, too. So she'll slowly, slyly sneak out of the living room and slink into the laundry room. She returns shortly with one of my wife's shoes. (Never one of my shoes, only Rachel's).
She'll then parade into the living room, shoe held high, and plop down with it directly in front of the tv. Rachel gets up, grabs her shoe, and takes it back to the laundry room. As soon as Rachel "takes the bait" Sugar claims her spot on the couch. Works every time!
Games Pit Bulls Play
Debra Speir writes: "My Pit Bull mix, Lucky, has two games that he plays by himself..they are
hilarious to watch. Game 1 - he takes a large rock from outside (I've seen
him do this with 5 pounders!), balances on his back legs, and bats the rock
around with his front paws, like he's playing hockey. He can do this for
incredibly long stretches of time. Game 2 - he plays "vroom vroom" with my
4-year old's toy trucks. He puts a paw on top of one and pushes it around
the floor. Sometimes he gives one a hard shove, then chases it. Are other dog
breeds this entertaining?
Pit Bull owner Lynda had this to say about her dog's play antics: One of our favorite games was "The Dance".
The first time we saw it was when we gave Pepper an
apple. She loved to eat EVERYTHING, and ate it
quickly, so we expected her to gobble up the apple just the same. But she didn't know what it was, and decided it was a ball. She batted it around, and did a dance that
looked like a cross between a soccer game, a sword
dance, and a Mexican hat dance. There was much
leaping, fancy footwork, barking/singing, and joy in
this dance. After about 45 minutes the skin of the
apple was pieced, and Pepper realized that this might
be a food item. The dance continued for at least
another 15 minutes, and then a very tired dog ATE her
toy. The humans finally stopped laughing hysterically
at the show.
This dance was then enjoyed with every other apple,
rawhide treats (which could be played with for months
before being eaten), and tomatoes she would pick from
my garden (tomatoes wouldn't last long, though).
The dance required an appreciative audience, and the
more the audience enjoyed it the more amazing it
became. Ignoring it was not permitted -- the human
would be barked at until sufficient attention was
paid, and then the dance would start/resume.
We tried to videotape the dance, but she didn't
consider the camera enough of an audience to do more
than a small dance for.
April and Dana Bell write: "Harley is our four month old Pit Bull "child". He is incredibly spoiled and of course we think there is no cuter or sweeter puppy in the world! He has several different games that he plays to not only entertain himself, but ultimately us as well. He loves to play tug o' war, except he doesn't actually ever let us get hold of the other end of his rope. Instead every time we reach for it he'll run around shaking it back and forth and acting like he worked really hard to get it away from us. His all time favorite past time though is for us to take him swimming with us at the lake. He will spend all day swimming out to us our floaties, he'll lay around for a little while, and then he'll jump head first off into the water and swim back to shore; only to turn right back around and swim back to get on the floatie again! At night he feels that he has to come and crawl in bed between us a few times before he actually goes to get in his bed with his blankie and teddy. We'll say, "Harley go get in your bed"; and he'll walk to the end of the bed lay there until we tell him to go get in bed again, then he'll inch a little farther down, and wait for us to tell him again to go to bed. We tease him that he's making good and sure we don't want him sprawled out on his back on top of us! But in the end we really wouldn't have it any other way. He has become an indispensable part of our little family, and now we couldn't imagine how we ever got along without him!"
Harley snuggling.
Pit Bull Pix!
This is Murdoch, owned and loved by Siobhan Cullen.
Another shot of Murdoch...
Krash and Luca, owned by M. Harwelik.
A Day In The Life of A Pit Bull Owner
("Boomer" and owner are fictional characters used to illustrate real-life situations.)
The alarm goes off at 5:30 on the dot. As I reach for the snooze
button, I realize that my legs are pinned underneath the mass of
muscle that I call Boomer. My 65 pound Pit Bull doesn't care that
he isn't a "politically correct" lap dog. He's happiest when he's
plopped on top of some poor, defenseless human. Cries of, "But
you're too big!" fall on deaf ears.
I finally manage to dislodge my legs, but in doing so I disturb
Boomer. All hope of catching another half hour's worth of "Z's" is
lost--Boomer's wide awake now, and asking for his walk. I could
just let him out in his kennel in the yard--it's a fairly large,
chainlink run with a top, and the yard itself is surrounded by
six-foot high privacy fencing. I learned the hard way that Pit Bulls
are exceptionally good escape artists. The four foot chainlink that
used to surround my property was a piece of cake for him to
climb over. I took that down and opted for the covered kennel run.
That held him ok, but then we had the problem of neighborhood
kids and all sorts of stray animals wondering into the yard and
driving poor Boomer nuts in his kennel. Not to mention that he
was in plain view for all the world--including the dognappers--to
see. Yes, the safest thing we could do was erect the big ol'
privacy fence. I tried keeping Boomer loose in the yard for a
while, but he managed to scale the new fence too, so back to his
kennel run he went.
Boomer doesn't want his kennel run, he wants his walk. Who
can blame him, really? He's a big, energetic, active boy who's
just slept for 7 hours, and now he needs some exercise. So I
slip on my coat and shoes and out the door we go.
It's still dark out, and the streets are quiet. I'm most at ease
walking during this time, since the chance of our running across
an errant dog who's looking for trouble is rather slim. Boomer
won't start a fight, but he'll never back down from an invitation. A
dog of his strenght and size could do considerable damage to
an animal who doesn't know what it's getting into. And he's
always onleash for this very reason. As we pass the enclosed
dog park I pause for a moment, considering whether or not to let
Boom-boom run out his kinks for a bit. But then I spy a
Dalmation and his owner at the far end of the field, and we
continue on. Dog parks are almost never an option for Boomer
and I--there are always other dogs using them.
We finish our walk uneventfully. Boomer's still full of energy, and
as I get ready for work he's underfoot, looking for attention. I put
him in my bedroom before I leave (he has to be confined, as true
to his breed he's a huge chewer and will happily ingest all sorts
of inedible objects. The one time I was stupid enough to leave
him loose he ate three plants, chewed up the couch, pulled stuff
out from cabinets, and had happily raided every single garbage
can in the house, their contents strewn everywhere.)
The familiar twinge of guilt surfaces as I step out the front door. I
hate leaving him for a full day, but it helps knowing that he gets
plenty of exercise, attention and mental stimulation during my
non-working hours. Sure that leaves considerably less time for
me, but I knew what I was getting into when I brought Boomer
home--Pit Bulls are hardly self-sufficient. Left to their own
devices without proper exercise, they will wreak havoc on house
and home.
I'm tired when I finally get home from a busy day at the office, but
Boomer's been sleeping the majority of the time I've been gone, so he's rarin' to
go when I let him out of the bedroom. I know I'll get no peace
until I exercise his body and his mind, so I grab his training
leash and collar from the closet and off we go.
This walk there are many more people and other dogs around.
As we head down one block, I see a woman with a small, white
dog who is offleash and obviously not under control a few
hundred yards away. I'm worried about the little dog starting
something with Boomer, so we turn around and head in the
other direction. No biggy, this happens all the time. It's part of
being a responsible Pit Bull owner, and I'm accustomed to
making abrupt u-turns.
Boom and I haven't gotten far when we are intercepted from our
course by a young man who comes running up to us and starts
pointing at and commenting on my dog. He's obviously in awe of
Boomer, but also terribly misinformed. He spouts all sorts of
things like, "Aren't you afraid he'll turn on you?", "They have
locking jaws, you know", and "They can be really vicious, can't
they?". I've been asked these things more times then I care to
remember, but I patiently try to abate this gentleman's fears, and
encourage him to pet the happily tail-wagging Boomer. The man
looks pale at the thought of touching this bloodthirsty beast,
declines, and then stands there with mouth agape as Boom and
I continue on our merry way. Ah, what I fine job the media's done
at brainwashing the gullible public.
We stop at the local park for about 15 minutes as I run Boomer
through his obedience training paces. I had initially thought that I
could get away with not formally training him, but I soon learned
that a Pit Bull without training is difficult to manage at best and a
real big problem at worst. I signed us up for training classes.
The time and money invested have definately been worth it.
Home again, I put Boomer in his run, doodle around the house,
prepare dinner, eat, and then let the dog back in. Later in the
evening as I lay on the couch watching TV, Boomer--who's
always glued to my side when he's in the house--jumps up
beside me, curls in a tight little ball next to me, and begins to
snore. I pet his silky smooth fur--it's like velvet--and think about
all the trouble I go through for this dog; and how absolutely worth
it it all is.
~~~~~~~~~
Pit Bulls vary in temperament and needs, but generally speaking they all share some very similar characteristics: animal aggression, they are energetic, can be destructive if not given the proper care and attention, and are escape artists. Owners should be prepared for worst case scenarios, although of course each dog is an individual. The single trait that EVERY potential Pit Bull owner must possess is RESPONSIBILITY: know what your dog is capable of and take the proper precautions. There is no room for error due to the fact that Pit Bulls are now being banned globally and EVERY BAD INCIDENT involving a Pit Bull is more fuel for these bans.
I recently heard from a site visitor who felt the above glimpse into Pit Bull ownership life painted too glum a picture, that it made the breed out to be a lot harder to deal with than it really is. My answer to this is that I have no desire to sugar-coat anything to do with this breed. Potential owners need to be made aware of all the ramifications of breed ownership so that they may prepare themselves to deal with their dog in a responsible manner. I am not out to "sell" the breed; my only goal is to educate people about the degree of commitment necessary to responsibly own a dog.
Please see the Ownership and Resources
sections for more information.
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