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04 Mar 11

Show me your PITS! ...

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!