May 11, 2012

I like kids today

With the nice weather coming in more and more, Damon's been regularly spending some time on a rope in the front yard. He loves lying in the grass in the sun, and the action going on out front versus the enclosed backyard is much better stimulation for him. I lay out a mat and a water bowl, and leave the front door open. I have a sign out front that informs passersby that first, the dog is tied so he can't get to you off the property, and second, that he is a friendly dog, but does not know you so please do not approach him when left unattended. I'm just around the corner in the house so I can hear when people stop to look at him, or try to say hi (god forbid anyone tease him, for their sake via myself.)



In this particular instance, I hear some kids-- boys-- stop to talk to him and to talk to each other about him. I come to the front door and as all kids think nowadays as soon as the 'adult' shows up they assume they're in trouble. They froze! It was so funny because I'm not very friendly, but I put on my best smiling face as I was not coming out to tell them to move on, I did so instead of pondering about it and talking about it, they could meet him properly. I tell them, and I make Damon sit and I kneel beside him to hold his collar. There's 3 boys. Not very good with dogs; walk up close and hover over him, hold out the back of the hand, when they get to that point they all pat him directly on the top of the head. When the 3 of them crowded around with their grubby little hands, I at least told them to instead present their palm, so they did. I was prepared to coach each one of them individually to make Damon feel more comfortable, but as soon as they heard they could meet him it would seem they teleported given the instant they were around us. Damon was grouchy, but I knew he was safe.

The point is, that even though Damon was grouchy and grumbly before they came to pet him, not one boy was afraid of him, and instead, they all fawned over my pit bull with great enthusiasm.

It's sad when parents instill unnecessary fear of animals in their children due to their own bad experiences, or worse, such as in the case of pit bulls, no bad experience only there own mislead ignorant judgment. Kids love animals! It's cruel to take that love away from them, or deny them interaction with animals. Kids love their dogs. Many lucky kids, get to love their pit bulls. When banning time comes around, and hundreds of innocent great family dogs are taken away to be euthanized for no other reason than the way they look, how do you explain that to a child? How do you justify having to explain to a child who lost their best friend this way that their city, state, province or entire country is being run and controlled based off ignorance and discrimination?

When banning time comes along... it does only harm. Who do think it harms the most?


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