This is Emmett:
He is the sweetest boy you’ll ever meet. Yes, I may be biased, but he truly does melt every single person he encounters. We spent this past weekend at my parents’ house with many relatives and cousin-pups coming and going. Yesterday about 20 people came to cookout, including my elderly grandfather and great aunts. Emmett spent the evening going from person to person, laying his head on their laps, and gazing up with his big brown eyes. Needless to say, he also spent the evening getting rubs and pats and treats from those very same laps!
While everyoned oohed and ahhed over darling Emmett, I got to boast how he is now a registered therapy dog and will soon start working in local schools and hospitals to make people’s days a little brighter. One of my great aunts even asked if he would come visit her nursing home. Everyone gushed that he would be perfect for that – except one person said, “Well, isn’t he a pit bull?”
And yes, there’s no question, he’s a bully mix. And yes, I know there are so many misconceptions about bully breeds out there. But I also know that there are a zillion dogs who are as sweet and charming and utterly loveable as Emmett is. And many of those dogs don’t get a fair chance at a good life for a lot of stupid reasons – breed specific legislation, media hype, hyperbole.
In fact, shortly after we adopted Lucas, John and I took both dogs to a training course at Petsmart as an exercise in bonding with our new little one. Of course, Emmett schmoozed with all the other dogs and owners, and everyone always patted him. On the last day of class, the wife of someone in our class came said that she thought Emmett was a very good dog. We said, thank you! Then she asked us, “When you two have children, will you have him put down?”
The unfortunate reality is that so many people share her (utterly ridiculous!) idea about bully breeds. And as much as I always want to defend the heck out of Emmett, the absolute best way to combat that nonsense is to have a very well-mannered, very friendly bully! Also, PBRC is a fabulous resource that I discovered when we first brought Emmett home and started to encounter bully prejudice, and it’s a great place to direct people who are interested in learning more or helping find a pit bull a loving home!
Rant over! 🙂 But here are some cute pics of Emmett anyway!
To say that Emmett is a kind, special dog with a wonderful heart is a vast understatement. I’ll fight to the death anyone that says differently. I’m just sayin’…