Dumbo

It was near dusk a few years ago when my parents noticed a car stopping outside their house. As they watched, a woman reached over to open the passenger door, pushed a dog out on the sidewalk, and drove away. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we learned why.

When they went out to investigate, they were greeted with a happy dance from a friendly dog that seemed to have no idea that he had just been dumped by his owner. The dog was well fed, well cared for, and polite. When he was invited into the house, they found that he was housebroken.

My mother named him Dumbo; I think it was something with his ears. When some children who lived nearby met Dumbo, it was mutual love at first sight. They would come to the house and ask if Dumbo could come out to play. Soon they pooled their piggy bank money and even agreed to make monthly payments if they could have Dumbo. A deal was struck, not involving money,

A few weeks later my parents visited us over the Christmas season. We were looking through a dog encyclopedia showing pictures of all the purebred dogs recognized for showing.

“That’s Dumbo!” my mother exclaimed. ”That dog looks exactly like Dumbo!”

Dumbo, according to the book, was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a dog bred for dog fighting. In the media frenzy over pit bulls, I recognized this breed as one that had been branded with the label. Caught up in the mindless frenzy, it seemed clear that his owner must have panicked and dumped him.

My mother warned the children’s parents, but they just smiled and shook their heads. They had never heard of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They didn’t care if he was a purebred dog. They just knew that Dumbo was the most loving dog anyone could have for children.

He chases other dogs out of his yard. His ancestors were bred to fight dogs and genetics can never be totally disregarded. But through the years he has never showed the slightest aggression toward humans.

Comments

[Rhea]

I hate to hear about that dog being rejected. Sad. I am glad he has a good home.

[Hope]

Staffy Bulls are wonderful dogs - known as "nanny" dogs in the U.K. Which is one of the reasons that breed-specific legislation is just silly, IMHO.

[Denny]

The only thing I can think of that would be more inhumane than breeding and training dogs to fight would be to train Christians and other prisoners to be gladiators so they could fight for their lives in the colisseum.

[Sally]

Dumping a dog is terrible, but I sort of know how she feels. The media makes people feel like they are sitting on a time bomb when the own pit bulls.

[Mary]

God bless yor parents..and Dumbo of course. Never judge a book by its cover or dog by its breed. What I can't understand is how this woman who abandoned him could not have known her own dog. As always though perhaps there is far more to the story of her letting him go than we'll ever know. Maybe she had a husband who threatened to kill or have him put down..or she was abused and could not take the dog with her to a shelter..or or or.

Point is he is now safe and happy with wonderful caring people.

[Carina]

Nanny dogs! Fighting dogs were bred to be dog aggressive but very biddable with their human handlers.
GOOD for your parents...I rather like Staffies, they are such cute, compact dogs.
Don't even get me started on breed specific legislation. Now if we could neuter stupid humans.....

[Chandira]

Aw. That breaks my heart. Staffs are lovely dogs, I've known a few. The only one I know of that ever caused injury was my friend Penny's dog in high school, that broke her father's leg. How? She was running down hill to greet him enthusiastically, and she was such a solid tank of a dog, she broke his leg when she didn't manage to stop in time..

(Carina, I hear you..)

[Laura]

I have fond memories of a friend's pit bull dog growing up. I have just as terrifying memories of a large shepherd mix charging across the street barking and snapping at me.

The pit bull was definitely a member of my friend's family and we would play with her with no fears. My neighbor's dog was an aggressive nasty tempered mutt that the owner knowingly left unattended in their fenced-in backyard to "guard" their property.

It's the owners that can make the difference.

[Faith]

The one thing that pisses me off faster than anything else is how bad of a rep the so called bully breeds get. Part of the reason they get such a bad rep is because of the freaking media hyping them up. What they fail to tell you is that there are many small breeds of dogs that have a higher bite record - but they're smaller so they don't get the hype. Even though they can do as much damage.

Ok I'm off my soapbox, sorry this is a sensitive subject for me. I've owned Rotties and pit bulls, and in fact my sister owns a pitbull right now. They're wonderful dogs.

[jillbryant]

Thank you so much for this post. Nice to hear good words about the bully breeds. Most pits have a great big buffalo-heart just looking to love people - especially children. Yes, many pits don't like other dogs much (I'm so lucky my pit Honey does - doggie daycare is her life!) but that should never be confused with people aggression.

The media has a lot to answer for in mislabeling this wonderful breed...They've doomed so many of them to a life of evil owners that mistreat them or else - euthanasia - it's awful. I hate that discussions about pits are often so sad because the reality can't be ignored but....all the comments were so nice here.

Honey also thanks you for the positive story...Dumbo - I love that.

[Dirty Butter]

The only dog we ever had put to sleep for being vicious was the smallest dog we ever had. I think because she was so small we were afraid to discipline her properly, and she grew up thinking she was the head of the pack at our house. Anyway, I have the tiny little tooth mark scars on my arms to prove just how mean she could be, so we had no choice.

Pit bulls have gotten a bad rap. The wonderfully child friendly dog in the Our Gang Comedies was a pit bull, and so was Our Dog Tigh(sp?), and the Victrola "His Master's Voice" dog, I think.

[Val]

If only people knew that pits do not have people aggressive traits. When they were originally being bred for dog fights, any dog that showed aggression towards its handler was culled.

Nowadays there are sadly some people who try to train these lovely dogs to be aggressive to humans as well as other dogs.

Good breeders, on the other hand, have modulated dog aggressive traits by careful breeding.

[inthecorner]

Shooting at an innocent dog, hitting an innocent woman, and look at that nice squad car -- a so called "take home vehicle" --- the dog gets shot at, the woman gets shot, and the taxpayers get hosed ......... all in a days work.

Surfside officer takes gun to get mail, sees a dog across the road, draws and fires his weapon, missing dog but hitting a woman - a Surfside resident - in the neck - and the 'take-home' car is shown in the video/tv report

http://www.pitbullforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=124223

[Kim Goldston]

I would like to tell al the parents out there a story. I am a cautious mom and a animal precinct watcher. My husband has always been looking for his "best buddy" dog. You know, the one that rides in the truck with him, and hangs out with him on football watching days. Well.. he told me about a friend of his that had found a dog on the side of a highway here in Dallas. I told him ... "if its a pit bull, you can forget it", we have a 8 year old, a 15 year old and a 18 year old and I am often here alone as my husband is a fireman. I want to make a long story short, but we ended up getting this precious dog. I met him, took him to the vet, and had a personality test done on him and they told me he was a stafforshire terrier. Hmm. ok.. whatever that means, he looked like a pit to me. For the past 3 years he has been wonderful and loving and never once has shown aggression to anyone. I must admit he has torn up a few items in the house and in the yard, but I think that is from being a puppy and being bored.
So, to all the pit bull haters out there, I was one of you, and now I am one of them. This precious animal lays on my feet at night, sleeps in my girl's rooms while they are playing and is my husband's buddy.