by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

Show Me Your PITS!

This coming Monday, March 7, 2011 there is a national Facebook Campaign is taking place called, ‘Show Me Your Pits!’  This second annual campaign is a simple, fantastic and fun way to spread awareness to show your love of Pit Bulls, the other good dog.  If you are a Pit Bull owner, aficionado or rescuer all you have to do is change your Facebook profile picture to a picture of your beloved Pit Bull on March 7th.  The event last year had about 322 participants that took part and this year there are already over 2,000 people planning to part take in the event, you know my dog Max will be gracing my profile picture!

The event was created by Christy Boecker who also started the Facebook group ‘Pit Bulls – The Other Good Dog’ in 2009.  Christy is a pet behavior therapist for almost 25 years and a Pit Bull Advocate for 10 years.  One day while working at a local animal shelter as the of Director of Operations, the plight of the Pit Bull touched her very deeply with the surrender of a lovely 6 year old Bully mix named Buddy.  Buddy’s owner was a military man and he was being transferred to a base that had Breed Discriminatory Rules and he could not take Buddy with him.  He had raised Buddy since a pup and was a loved member of the family that included 3 small children.  Christy immediately felt she had to do something more, and because of Buddy’s story is the reason behind the Facebook group and this second annual campaign.  The Facebook page has over 16,000 fans and growing and just goes to show no matter how the media has ruined perception of this breed, the American Pit Bull Terrier is a very loved and loyal family dog, they work as therapy dogs and police dogs, are smart, fun, funny, active, adorable, and of course ‘The Other Good Dog.’

In order to keep the fan base growing and the Pit Bull community involved Christy decided to start the Facebook campaign of changing profile pictures to Bully breeds in hopes of seeing their lovely faces all over facebook.

Christy is also a national co-speaker for a day long workshop designed for shelter staff and employees to better understand the Pit Bulls in their care and to adopt them out responsibly. The workshop has been sponsored by Petco Foundation and Christy hopes to reach most major cities in the United States during 2011.  Christy also hosts the ‘Bully Ball in the Park’ annually in her home town of Waterman, Illinois.  On a Sunday afternoon in mid September Bully owners can gather in the park to mingle, join contests and just have a good time.

Christy’s Pet Perfection will be if she can get over 5,000 people to partake in Monday’s ‘Show Me Your Pits’ event, so come you know you want to!

Max, AMERICAN Pit Bull Terrier, and he votes for only dog friendly candidates!

By Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace

Did you know that tomorrow, Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 is the 4th Annual National Pit Bull Awareness Day? Started four years ago by an organization called Bless the Bullys  – they wanted to shed a brighter light on the positive side of this amazing breed of dog and their responsible owners. This breed, as most of us know, has been so brutalized by the media and in many instances by the human hand. But, and it’s a big but, the positive side of an American Pit Bull Terrier is that they are now used more and more as police dogs, drug detection dogs, rescue dogs and therapy dogs. Nothing proves this breed’s resilience more than the fact that a pit bull can be brought from the pits of hell like the Vick dogs, and have been completely rehabilitated. Many of these dogs are now working therapy dogs, yes that’s right living with families and working as a therapy dog. One of those dogs, Hector, is living with an amazing family in up-state NY that also has another world famous rescue Wallace the Pit Bull – a national Champion Frisbee dog – who they also rescued from an animal shelter.

On Long Island we do have so many responsible Pit Bull owners, but there is still a stigma with owning the breed. Really the stigma is ignorance – because many people just believe what the media has portrayed the breed as over the last 10- 20-years. But most likely the people judging this breed have never even met, played with, walked or been in the presence of a pit bull. Often times while out walking my own dog, people will stop me and say, “Oh he is so cute,” while they pet the dog and receive kisses, “what kind of dog is it?” Some people will back away when they hear pit bull – but more often people say, wow, what a great dog, or the media has ruined this breed, or something else positive. Which is a wonderful shift – but the importance of the national awareness day is still needed – because there is still much ignorance nationwide about this misunderstood breed. The fact that most people couldn’t even truly identify the breed should tell you something. Can you Find the Pit Bull?  There is a reason this breed is so popular – anyone who meets and plays with a pit bull, usually falls in love – can’t believe how fun, super smart, goofy, loyal, athletic and just plain sweet the dog is.

There are not any events planned on Long Island that I am aware of to celebrate this day tomorrow – but maybe next year all our rescue groups who work with this breed can come together and organize a celebration. If you have your own pit bull, walk your dog with pride tomorrow or light a candle for all those that have been killed. Always wanted a pit bull – first do some research, talk with other responsible owners about the breed and then you check out our local shelters – you may just find their big smiles and wiggle butts will capture your heart.