October - Pit Bull Awareness Month

For those of you following along, I have a Staffordshire Terrier, Diesel, which is a Pit Bull. Here would be what the AKC (American Kennel Club) recognizes as far as a Pit Bull:

The American Pit Bull Terrier - recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and the American Dog Breeders' Association (ADBA) The American Staffordshire Terrier -recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) The Staffordshire Bull Terrier -recognized by both the UKC and the AKC.

Info found on Google

A Pit is not actually a breed as much as a general term for a lot of breeds. Unfortunately, along with this term comes a generally negative stigma. Pit Bulls have been overbred, doped up, and trained to be aggressive fighting dogs for the entertainment of horrible people. Naturally, pits are sweet, protective, loving family dogs. All over social media you can find stories of kids and pits being best friends. My first pit was Gunner (since that post is a million years old I'll have to do a Gunner Follow Up soon), a boxer, Dalmation, Pit, who I raised from 8 weeks to a year old before he had to go live with my dad in West Virginia. He is absolutely the best, most well behaved dog ever. He adores my sister and never leaves her side. The only time he has ever shown any aggression was when he thought my sister or I was being hurt and it was protective not blind aggression. 

The stigma that all pits are bad and should be considered a dangerous breed is just outrageous to me. I've met ankle biters that I'm more terrified of than my 80 pound Staffy. CONSTANTLY, people are asking me "why would you let that dog around your baby". Answer: because he's part of the family. If I trust him around me, I trust him around Dakota (within reason. I'm sure he could prolly knock her over or smother her with kisses but thats about it). 

I'm a huge Pit Bull lover and it breaks my heart that a lot of people think so negatively of them and that they don't receive as much love as they should. Shelters all over are full of Pits and Pit mixes so before you run off and buy a 2k purebred puppy, consider adopting an older Pit that just wants to cuddle. 

Basically, I stand behind the saying "Blame the Deed, Not the Breed". Because he's a Pit does not make Diesel vicious. If he bites me, then he's vicious, but because he wasn't trained or brought up to be aggressive (or they tried and failed) he's the perfect dog for my family and I cannot wait to watch Kota grow up with him as her protector and friend.