Pooches: Mr. B the Pit Bull

While getting a lift home last night, my friend Chef P and I started talking about Mr. B and his great demeanor. We were talking about how well-behaved Mr. B is and how he is one of the most behaved dogs Chef P has ever met. We hear this quite a bit about Ms. M and Mr. B. Most people we know are pretty amazed that they are so well-trained. A worked very hard with Ms. M and they went through several years of training, but we didn't have to work that hard with Mr. B. Chef P assumed that Mr. B was already trained when we adopted him, which wasn't the case, Mr. B was actually allowed to do whatever he wanted, even roam free through the streets of Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is what landed him in the pound. When we adopted him, we set all these rules and rather than fighting them he just conformed to most of them. In his past life, he was allowed to climb onto furniture, but the moment he stepped into our house we would correct him whenever he tried to climb any furniture. Within a few days, he completely stopped climbing onto the furniture. He used to bark at every dog and person that would walk by our house and we would correct him whenever he barked and now he rarely barks and when he does, you can see him trying to catch his bark as if it was involuntary. Then there was the separation anxiety, that our trainer, Curtis Scott, fixed in 5 min. Though these are things that people would think we worked hard to correct, we believe it is just who he is and we hear this quite a bit from other pit bull owners. Pit bulls are really gentle dogs and people pleasers which is why they were nanny dogs in the past. We could tell that Mr. B would do anything to make us happy, which is a great thing and his major flaw. I can tell how easy it would be to fight Mr. B, because he would do anything for me, even if it would lead to his own death. It is such a shame that people have exploited this flaw and use pit bulls for selfish gains and choose to turn a true man's best friend into vicious animals. We love our pooches and we don't know what we would do without them. Our greatest fear is getting robbed, not because of losing our possessions, but the fear of losing our pooches, Ms. M and Mr. B and what people would do with them. After watching Marley and Me, I am so glad that our dogs were adopted and pit bulls. It was a shame that President Obama didn't adopt a pit bull from a rescue group or shelter. That would have done a lot to change the public's view of pit bulls and adopted dogs. Hopefully Ms. M and Mr. B are changing the perception of adopted pit bulls in Chicago.