The strange conversations we have – Part I

Anyone who has a pit bull knows what I mean when I say that a lot of people say a lot of strange things to us about our pit bulls. Some of the things people say are actually nice, complimentary or even just curious. But most of the things people say are uninformed, inappropriate or just downright mean-spirited. Sometimes we get both from the same people.

I was out one morning on a Saturday. We live near a homeless shelter and many of the guests there are out and about in the early hours. I’ve had various morning conversations with a few of them about pit bulls: ours, pits their families owned when they were growing up, pits they’ve met along the way, etc.

On this particular morning, I had both Toni and Téa with me. We had stopped to talk with a man for about five minutes about pit bulls, their personalities, how he bet no one ever messes with me when we go out walking. Then he said, pointing to Toni, “It would be really scary if that one got off his leash.” (Poor Toni—a lot of people think she’s a male due to her size and brawn.)

I was thinking we were on the same page, based on conversation up to that point. “I know. I can’t imagine how worried I’d be that someone would pick her up and try to make her fight or use her as a bait dog.”

He looked at me a little funny, paused and said, “No, I mean because she’d kill all the other dogs in the neighborhood.”

I laughed out loud. “That one?” I was cracking up. “No, that one is even afraid of cats. I wouldn’t be worried about the neighborhood dogs if she got out.”