I'm angry at the cable guy and the dogs feelings are hurt.

Why am I angry at the cable guy? Because he hurt my dog's feelings of course. You see the other day I was having some technical difficulties with my cable. I called for help and a technician was promptly dispatched. He was a sneaky fellow and somehow made it into my driveway and on to my porch with the dogs or I noticing.

We were startled when the knock at the door came and as most dogs do my pitbull and mutt went to the door and caused quite a commotion. I held my hand up to the door to signify to this gentleman not to enter the house just yet, however, he mistook this for a high five or a gesture to waltz in. Luckily for him I had the collar of the 40 pound mutt already in my hand when he entered.

So here I am standing in my kitchen with the cable guy, my little mutt lunging and growling at him like a minature cujo, and Petey, the pit bull, standing there quietly wagging his tail. This obviously intelligent cable guy, that waltzes into peoples home because he thinks he was getting a high five, looks at Petey's wagging tail and says; "He's not going to bite me is he?" Let's think about this, little cujo is still struggling with me to go and rip his throat out and he asking me if my pitt bull is going to bite him.

I am ashamed of myself but I have to tell you that, at that moment I considered letting the little mutt go. It certainly would have taught him lesson about judging a book by its cover or in this case judging a dog by its breed. Realizing that he was obviously lacking in his observation skills, I pointed out that Petey was not the one to be concerned about. (Petey, by the way, had at this point given up on getting this guy to say hello to him and went to lay down.)

I scolded Bindi, the mutt, for her behavior and sent her to bed. She very carefully watched him as went about his cable guy duties and when he got to close to her bed she would give him a low warning growl. Trying to make friends with her, he told her she was a "good girl", Petey, hearing him talk kindly wandered over to him to see if he could get a "good boy" maybe a pat on the head from this guy. Instead, he looks at me and says; "he isn't going to bite me is he?"

How does one respond to that? My response was, "Yes he is going to bite you. They are trained very well, kind of like good cop bad cop. The little one growls and the pit bull pretends to friendly. Then when you least expect it, he attacks. As a matter of fact, I didn't hear you come in because I was in the bathroom washing the blood off his face from the furnace repair guy earlier this morning."

He wasn't amused. As a matter of fact, he packed up his things and said he would send a supervisor out to see if he could find the problem with my cable.

So I present this question to you. Are people out there really that ignorant? Here are some facts from The North Shore Animal League (I adopted the she-devil mutt from there):

What is a pit bull?
Pit bulls are actually not one breed of dog but 3: the American pit bull terrier (ABPT), the American Staffordshire terrier (AMSTAFF) and the Staffordshire bull terrier (STAFFIE).

There is no such thing as a "bad breed".
The pit bull breed gets a bad rap, but more often than not, they are the VICTIMS of irresponsible and abusive ownership. Pit bulls are extremely intelligent dogs and take their cues from the humans who raise them. Only humans are capable of knowing the difference between “right and wrong” and all dogs are bred, raised, and trained to behave the way they do.

Pit bulls are actually bred to be affectionate towards people.
Pit bulls have been bred for hundreds of years for strength, agility, high pain tolerance and absence of aggression toward humans. Because they were traditionally fighting dogs and most were also family pets, the dogs required extensive handling. So even though they were bred to be aggressive towards other dogs, aggression toward humans has never been tolerated.

Bull breeds score better on temperament tests than the general dog population.
In December 2004, the American Temperament Test Society showed the American pit bull terrier scored an overall temperament rating of 83.9%, compared to the 77% score of the general dog population.

On a final note about Petey, true to the breed he is not dog friendly. He gets along with Bindi because she is a female and she is not a bully breed, but the last time I checked, the cable guy was not a dog. I don't take him to dog parks nor do I ever let him off leash. The only way to end the stigma that comes with the pit bull is through responsible ownership. Don't let your pit bull get into a position where he/she can get into trouble and look bad.