Dog owners and Bully breed owners especially, when a bad remark is made about your dog's breed..?

I own a Chow Chow mix, and I told you in E-mail, like Pit's, they get a bad rep.

I usually educate them, because I hate when people say bad things about Chow's, and APBT's for that matter.

Do you think my Chow Chow mix would bite someone?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34982079@N05/32482731...

I participate & organize meet the breed booths for Staffordshire Bull Terriers. I read & learn as much as I can, and educate others about my breed, which touches on Bully Breeds in general. It is important for any proud owner.

Walking away is just perpetuating ignorance. Some people wish not to hear the good sides of bully breeds, but my personal dogs are also good stewards of the breed and behave well. They are kind & loving to all who meet them.

There are many steps to take towards breed education. If you are not a good talker, you can at least present your dogs in such a manner that deter others from speaking badly about them. I well trained bully breed is undeniably a wonderful dog.

Depending on the person I would usually try to educate them. Most of the time they do not listen anyway. What makes me laugh tho is when they come over to pet my dogs saying how lovely and gorgeous they are, then they ask why type of dogs they are. Once I tell them they draw back as quick as if my dogs had bit them!! I then say 'Excuse me but you played with them for about 10 mins there and you were fine! What about being a pitbull Terrier makes them so different now!!! I get really defensive over my dogs and I know I should move on but sometimes you just have to fight your dogs corner so to speak, they can't defend themselves so at least if someone hears what you have to say you might make a difference.

I know this isn't really an answer, but understand where the person is coming from. Some breeds, no matter how well trained, still have wild genes in them. For example, Akita dogs are extremely beautiful, but can be violent if something ticks them off. My uncle is a police man and he has told me that he knows of even police dogs that sometimes will retaliate against their trainers. I'm not saying your dog is violent, but try to understand why some people think that way. Dogs may be domesticated, but they are still animals, and all animals have instincts and impulses.

I always try to educate. I will bring up things like "why do pits need to be killed (ala Vick) for not fighting if they're all so vicious?" and "They used to be nicknamed Nanny-dogs because the children were safe with them and totally protected". I will also mention that in one month a pair of pits attacked a person on the street, causing lots of stitches. There were over 200 media hits on the incident and the story went national. During the same month a Labrador entered a woman's home and attacked her, causing her death. There were three media hits on this incident, all local. That's why people have a false impression of pits.

Well it really depends on who it is, some of my friends and relatives say bad things about APBT's and with some of them I just shake my head and go on, but some of them I reason with, as I think that after a few times of explaining these people will give in, after all I remember one more good thing every time right? Some say bad things about NAS's also, and I usually just shake my head and move on because I know that the only reason that they say the things that they say is because my current NAS is a pain in the rear.

I do a mixture of both, I breed pits, and if the guy seems really ignorant I'll try and educate him on the breed, but some guys do know a little and view it as a sub par breed. These are the ones you just have to let go.

I actually mock them. I actually just had a argument with someone from the neighbor hood next to me. Odd thing is, he had a rottie. The owner was saying "oh you have a german shepherd, you better pray you don't get eaten." I mean the fact that he could have this logic is insane, I mean he had a rottie a breed targeted like my breed. But usually I tend to make fun of them saying oh man, I'm lucky to be alive since I've been with this breed (GSD) since I was 3 days old.

I do not own a Bully Breed, but I do hear comments about dogs, especially pit bulls, all of the time. I usually don't try to reason with them, because usually they won't give in. I usually shake my head, or say something to them, and then walk off.

I calmly attempt to rationally educate the individual, but I don't just give up if they don't get the point. I had a relative who insisted my male American Pit Bull Terrier (despite having had him for two years at that point, and his old owners who had three other dogs and two children having had him for 3 years without incident) was going to up and kill us one day, and it took about a year for her to finally realize that not all "Pit Bulls" are bad dogs. I never gave in, every time she'd make a negative remark, I'd point out solid facts to her and even offered to print her out my list of references; we finally managed to show her that they're not all bad, and now she actually likes the dog and even pets him, and tells other people that he's got a stellar temperament and even cuddles for naps with the cat.

I have owned a pit bull, and i currently own a boxer, and they were both beautiful, friendly dogs. My parents and I would get remarks on how pit bulls can "bite peoples arms off" and what not, and i would correct them by saying how friendly they can be, and stuff, because I found it extremely rude of them to say that. Just like people, dogs are stereotyped. I once went to a camp site where we couldn't bring our dog, because it was a pit bull. Rottweilers are the same way.