A woman in the park heard me speaking to my GSD in French.
She said "Oh, I thought they only spoke German!" I thought it was a California thing but I guess it's everywhere.

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Ok I'll level with all of you.... "I think I was spawned of morons". Upon seeing a picture of Dixie with the kids my mother says "I hope you watch them closely, because once a big dog like that gets a taste of blood they turn viscious".<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />.

Hey! We might be related <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> My father, who is highly educated and usually is not an idiot, was aghast when I mentioned in passing that I would one day like to own an APBT. He remarked that if I got a pitbull he would tell my brother and his wife and their yet to be even planned children to never visit me when the APBT was present. I told him that would save me the hassle of having to play nice and inviting them all for a visit <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Some of the stuff I have heard:

'At what age does her head split?' - <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> sounds painful.

'They should be docked so that bad guys can't grab the tail' - about my Rotty <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> who is undocked.

'Letting my dog mate will calm it down' - about a boisterous but good temepered male Rotty. Give it a go and see what happens <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

'Eating meat will make her vicious' - OK....

'Is she a crossbreed?' - because she has a tail <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

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A woman in the park heard me speaking to my GSD in French.
She said "Oh, I thought they only spoke German!" I thought it was a California thing but I guess it's everywhere.

<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

How about the people who teach their small children "Don't go near that dog (my last adult GSD), it will kill you", spoken in Spanish so she thought I didn't understand. Yes, happened at the park. It will KILL you???? What a terrible thing to teach a child about dogs, any size dog.

Thank God my parents taught me to love and be kind to all dogs, especially GSD's <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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How about the people who teach their small children "Don't go near that dog (my last adult GSD), it will kill you",

Gee Sandy, I thought all the country's imbeciles were congregated right here in New Jersey <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> ! Thanks for giving me reason not to uproot myself <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> !

OK - I'll play. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Before I start pointing fingers at other people's "stupidity" though, I think it's only fair I start with my own. Close your eyes and spin back in time just shy of 3 years ago.......

Gary (hubby): Here is a link to info about SchH. I want to explore that with our GSD pup.

Me: WHAT?? We're going to teach our puppy to BITE PEOPLE and be AGGRESSIVE??? (Ok, someone better confess you thought that too before you knew any better - no matter how long ago that was!!)

Me: A SchH3 is a SchH3 is a SchH3.... (no need to say more on that one - at least I know better now)

Scene: In vet's office, sitting calmly with GSD Male Ferguson at about 1.5 years of age waiting for rabies shot. Vet: Do you need a muzzle for him? (Umm.. no..)

Many thanks to the Leerburg crowd for helping me come out of my own stupidity. I'm sure I have more stupidity left though - so it's a long and tedious job. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Beth

Gosh Beth!! You make it hard to pretend that I always had a shadow of a clue with dogs. I can't even go that far back in time... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I remember being convinced that Rotties and APBTs were terrible dogs <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />(please forgive my ignorance, I NO longer think this). Then, I met a really sweet Rottie girl and sweet APBT. That humbled me just a bit.

I will agree with Beth that I definitely wasn't 'educated' about dogs at all less than a year ago. Life has changed. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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Gosh Beth!! You make it hard to pretend that I always had a shadow of a clue with dogs. I can't even go that far back in time... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I remember being convinced that Rotties and APBTs were terrible dogs <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />(please forgive my ignorance, I NO longer think this). Then, I met a really sweet Rottie girl and sweet APBT. That humbled me just a bit.

I will agree with Beth that I definitely wasn't 'educated' about dogs at all less than a year ago. Life has changed. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

We ALL have to start somewhere... <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have only gotten to know one APBT up close and personal. I did not know he was an APBT at the time. He was the "barn mascot" when I was showing horses. The horse trainer, when asked about his breed, used to say "oh he's just a rescue mutt - I dunno..." <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> At horse shows, if he went missing from our stall area, he could usually be found successfully getting food from any number of food trailers. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It was common to find him INSIDE the actual food trailer. So much for "APBT's are all viscious attack dogs..." (if you are a hot dog - be scared...VERY scared...)

Beth

How about this one, some clueless owner is "walking" their little ankle bitter down the street, with their retractable leash, cellphone glued to their ear, the dog is pulling, lunging, snarling, showing teeth; up to that point the genius with the cellphone says "that's soooooo adorable, Fiffy/Pooches/Princess thinks she's a big dog like yours, isn't that cute?" . My dog lets out ONE bark, which sends Fiffy/Pooches/Princess running to hide behind Clueless, at this point it turns out MY dog is some sort of vicious beast that scared poor little Fiffy/Pooches/Princess.

Or, yout typical rocket scientist that appraoches you with his/her hand streched out to touch your dog and the second you try to stop them: "oh don't worry, all animals love me"