Due to circumstances beyond their control, my brother and sister-in-law have been forced to relocate their dog to the family farm.  It’s hoped this will be only temporary for they love the dog dearly and, without a doubt, the dog enjoyed a stable home for many years before being abruptly dislocated.  But things happen, as they say, and things change.

As for the dog, Snoopy, she’s a pathetic baby who never grew out of the puppy stage.  She’s still a big ol’ puppy now.  Here she is lounging in the sun during my recent visit to East Texas.  Keep in mind she lives with another dog, three cats, a litany of other animals, and plenty of people.

Why, yes, she is a pit bull.  I’m so glad you noticed because I’m going to rail against those who dislike pit bulls and those who keep trying to pass laws to victimize this breed.

My family has had pit bulls for decades.  Many decades.  And we’ve loved each one of them like a member of the family.

Like any other breed of dog, there is nothing more vicious about pit bulls than there is about German shepherds or Dobermans or rottweilers or…  Well, I could go on ad nauseam listing every breed of dog on the planet.

Pit bulls seem to get a bad reputation from ignorant people who have never been around one, and sometimes from people who have had unfortunate incidents with one.  Neither case justifies their proclivity toward banning the dogs in toto and punishing those who share a home with pit bulls by inflicting unusual requirements and tighter restrictions.

Let me first address those who have been involved in pit bull attacks: ALL. DOGS. ATTACK.  If we were to subject every breed that has attacked someone to stringent and unnecessary brutality via the law, our first step would be to outlaw all dogs.  There is no single breed capable of claiming its brethren has never attacked someone or something.  It happens all the time around the world.  Get over that right now for it has nothing whatsoever to do with being safe around the animals themselves.

When dogs go feral, they are dangerous.  When dogs are brutalized and abused, they are dangerous.  When dogs are neglected and starved, they are dangerous.  When dogs are mistreated and forced to fight, they are dangerous.  None of this has anything to do with the dogs and everything to do with the people who put the canines into these positions.

Pit bulls are large dogs.  Just ask Jenny about Cody.  The first time she visited the family farm and came face to face with a dog that weighed more than she did and had a head larger than her own, her fear was palpable.  They can be intimidating to look at, what with their massive frames and powerful jaws.  Yet Jenny equally could tell you it didn’t take long for her to trust that dog, and eventually she found herself sitting on the floor petting him while he rested his head in her lap and played the roll of a baby soaking up all the attention he could get.  He, too, was nothing but an overgrown puppy, a loving yet protective animal who looked and sounded more ferocious than he was.  That’s not to say he couldn’t be fierce if events warranted, but isn’t that true of all dogs?  Yep!

What bothers me more about the anti-put bull mentality is when it stems from people who have never been around one at all.  They’ve never been attacked.  They’ve never shared a home with one.  In fact, aside from on television, they’ve never even seen one.  Those people make me sick.  Their view is that someone else said anecdotally that the dogs are dangerous, therefore the dogs must be dangerous.  They have no firsthand knowledge of such a thing.  They don’t know the first thing about pit bulls, yet they puff themselves up into dog experts and claim restricting this breed is for the best.  Like they know anything…

For now, Texas has a restriction on laws that target specific breeds.  It should stay that way.

Pit bulls are no more dangerous than any other dog, any other breed, and they don’t deserve this bad reputation from the clueless and witless idiots clamoring to be the next victim who can claim these dogs are dangerous.  What a bunch of busybodies!

Having been around pit bulls for most of my life, I can assure you they are no more or less dangerous than any other breed of dog.  More importantly, I can assure you they can be the biggest babies, the most playful friends, the most loving companions, and the most gentle of animals.  It all depends on how they’re raised, how they’re treated, and what kind of life they’re being given.

All this senseless bickering about them is just that: senseless bickering.  People need to shut up already and leave the poor dogs alone.  If you don’t like them, don’t go around them.  If you have a bad experience, go after the person responsible instead of the dog.  If you think they’re dangerous, you’re a clueless git who needs to stop talking so much and start learning something.

To be quite honest, I trust pit bulls more than I trust people.