the story of two dogs

[rm]

http://lettersfromtitan.com/2011/01/13/the-story-of-two-dogs/

Entry is pretty gentle, but includes references to animal cruelty and something non-graphically horrific someone once said to me about rape. If you're having a rough day, this may not be the entry for you.

But it's mostly about how even though I'm scared of dogs, I think pit bulls are pretty cool.

Comments

[6-bleen-7.livejournal.com]

I feel exactly the same way about dogs. My intellectual appreciation for the intelligent, well-trained dog is completely hijacked by an incident in kindergarten wherein a neighbor's sheep dog nearly took off my arm.

Pit bulls' tarnished reputation is an unfortunate result of the breed itself being confused with idiot dog owners who refuse to train their dogs.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Awww. On behalf of my rescue pibble, blessings to you and the compassionate folks you've linked, and to everyone who has an open mind and heart towards the demonized breed of the day. I've had dogs all my life, many different breeds, and they were all Good Dogs, but I have never had one with such a soft and sensitive temperament as my little pittie girl.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that post. I'm just so enraged by everything I read about the treatment of pit bulls and, really, many dogs these days; I really wish there was anything I could do that would make more than the tiniest difference.

I wish that I could clone my parents and have them teach other kids (and adults) how not to be scared of dogs, because they did a fabulous job with me. I don't remember a single moment I've ever been afraid of a dog, even as a four-year-old facing an Irish Wolfhound. (And I will say that my one experience with wolf-dogs was shockingly different, because they don't read as dogs to me. Their body language is all wrong.)

I keep wondering what the next machismo dog will be. When I was a kid, the German Shepherd was phasing out and the Doberman was phasing in. The Rottweiler took over, and then the Pit Bull. Hell, Airedales have a terrible rep with people in their 80s and 90s because they were the machismo dogs of the 1930s.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Other than the time I actually got bit all to hell by my friend's St. Bernard (arm and torso from just under my breasts to my public bone), the scariest canine moment of my life was in Australia with a dingo that had gotten out of its enclosure at the zoo. It was perfectly calm, but it was either trying to play with me or hunt me, and it's body language was just NOT A DOG and it spooked me all to hell. I have no doubt it was smarter than me.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

Geez, no wonder dogs make you jumpy! Who could possibly blame you?

My dog is part pit-bull. (The rest of him is lab and border collie.) He's clever and sweet and dopey, and behaves much like Tyrone. I have a friend who is deathly terrified of dogs, and Jack knows that she's afraid and turns himself practically inside out to make her feel comfortable.

This year at Yule, she fed him doggie treats from her own hands for the first time. Jack has been so loving and patient over the years, and it made us all happy to see my friend relax with him.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

A lot of the serious Dog People I know have been predicting rare mastiff breeds like the Presa Canario or Cane Corso are going to be the Next Big Thing for macho idiots. Many of the cruddiest sort of pittie breeders have been crossbreeding with mastiffs and rotties for years already, because a classic pit bull just isn't big and blocky and musclebound enough for that sort of faddish buyer, and in the DC region in recent years, animal control folks have reported an uptick of incidents involving mastiff breeds they almost never used to see: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/28394/breeding-trouble (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/28394/breeding-trouble)

[myrrhmade.livejournal.com]

Not sure I can read it, but Sampson (in my icon) would love to give you a big pit bull kiss right now with his massive tongue of doom!

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

I'm also afraid of dogs generally, but I came home from a trip to the west coast nine years ago to find a baby gate had been placed between the dining room and the kitchen because my roomie had "somehow" ended up adopting a pit mix from a shelter while I'd been away. And this dog...let's just say that if I could marry an animal (!), I'd marry her. :)

I hope the poster in that linked entry updates soon, but it looks like (*fingers crossed*) a happy ending may be in the future for that dog!

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

Tyrone sounds like an awesome dog. What a gentleman, indeed.

Is there a way I can get a feed from your new blog to my lj? I'm sorry if it's really obvious - I'm not very good at such things.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Tyrone was awesome. He passed away a while ago, this was all in my 20s.

Someone tried to set up a feed, but I think there was wonkiness, so I'm not sure either! Working on it.

[forest-rose.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad it's not just me being technologically challenged!

I've never been a dog person - I love my kitty, she's much softer and purrier - but I am being won over by my friend's collie Merlin. He is just like BBC Merlin - all ears and grin and enthusiasm and gangly legs. Bless.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

There is this RSS, which works though sometimes there is a time delay between posting and when it procs to the f-list.

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/lettersfrmtitan/profile

[sanat.livejournal.com]

I feel you as a dog attack survivor, and as one who doesn't blame the fact that it was a pitbull so much as the owner was a negligent moron.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the update on the dog from the bridge? Apparently, literally thousands of people have offered help, advice, and homes.

I love the Internet some days.