2.23.08 he’s not a pitbull!
Not that there is anything wrong with a good pitbull. But George is not a pitbull! He’s a Boxer! Granted they are from the same family. When I look at him I see a big loving baby which he is, apparently though when other people see him especially niave people who don’t know dogs, they see a scary looking intimidating dog, ha if only they knew he’d lick them to death not maul them to death. But I guess him looking intimidating is a good thing for a woman who runs alone. Of course if I was in any true danger he’d protect me. Last weekend when we went for a run it was great, he was in control and we didn’t have too many issues but today it was crazy. He actually barked this time and of course it was at the pitbull. George is tough and Boxers are strong dogs but he ain’t no pitbull so I’d hate for one of those dogs to get loose sometime, which makes me think I’m going to rearrange my running route next time. German shepards, labs and other dogs just bark and that’s about it, but the pitbulls run to the fence like they want to attack and it doesn’t look playful. There was some kind of mix possibly a Boxer/pitbull mix and George went nuts when he saw him, he was jumping all over the place. Good thing I’m strong enough to control him and we had the harness on because other wise he would have got loose. Then soon after we walked by this guy washing his car and he’s all looking over like you better keep that dog away from me and I’m just laughing inside, thinking chill out dude. Then when we were almost home this lady and her three little boys were out in their yard and she just stood up and stared at us and the little boy goes wow look at that pitbull and that’s when it dawned on me, people are really scared of him. George wasn’t barking, growling or doing anything really and they were still nervous. Unfortunately even though George is not a pitbull, he is in the same family and pitbulls have made a very bad name for these type of dogs. It’s so sad because it’s not the dogs faults but the irresponsible owners. You can tell when people know Boxers because they get really excited when they see one and they make comments of how beautiful he is, but if you don’t know dogs I guess he would look scary.
Anyway, we had a decent run. Brenden went with us too, so this might have added to Georges extra stress. Running with a child is hard, he runs fast, then slow, stops when dogs bark, so this probably didn’t help George. It was all very distracting. But hey I got a good upper body workout controlling him.
We ran 2.772 miles. Tomorrow we’ll probably go for a walk and learn a better route.
March 9, 2008 at 9:53 am
I’m sure he is adorable. For all the pets folks have, I am amazed sometimes at how little they know about animal behavior.
I have a husky/Australian shepherd mix that we found a little over three years ago. He is just now getting out of his puppy phase. I really hate telling little children that they can’t pet him, but he is terribly afraid of little children and even most people. He puts on a big show of course, such as when folks come to the door, but then he runs and hides. When children come over, we have to lock him up because he gets scared and starts nipping at them.
He LOVES his walks. How does he know when I’m closed up in my bedroom and changing for our walks? He’ll just sit at the door and cry. He never barks at other dogs or people on our walks though. He’ll keep walking and whimper & turn his head, but that’s about it. We’ve had a few loose dogs in the neighborhood follow us, and he just keeps on walking. Good thing too as he’s so big that I wouldn’t be able to do much if he decided to take off!