Tomorrow is a holiday, did you know?

Tomorrow is National Pit Bull Awareness Day!!

This is the 4th annual Pit Bull Awareness Day, and I for one, think that it is a great tradition!

Here is why it's important:

As breed advocates, we have an obligation to show the public what the media will not -- the truth. As responsible pit bull owners, we can no longer be willing to be judged, discriminated against, and criminalized by the image set by the visible minority of irresponsible, negligent, and careless owners. The media berates our dogs daily. Legislators have labeled pit bull owners as the "criminal element" who only own pit bulls to enhance their macho image. The time has come to set the record straight, and the National Pit Bull Awareness Day campaign is just the place to start.

In order to change the negative stereotypes that surround the American Pit Bull Terrier, we must take the initiative to educate people in our communities on the real pit bull. The search and rescue pit bull...the therapy dog pit bull...the K9 police pit bull...and, of course, the family companion pit bull. Its an opportunity to open dialogue and to show people first hand that there is no such thing as a "dangerous breed" of dog but, rather, that problem dogs are the result of problem dog owners.

In addition, participating in National Pit Bull Awareness Day gives you the opportunity to network with other responsible dog owners in your community. You can discuss issues of importance where you live, and work together to make changes to create a better environment for citizens and animals living there.

This is SO important to bring breed awareness to the masses! Too many people just assume that all Pits are evil and will eat their children. This couldn't be farther from the truth. As I've said 100 times, there are NO bad dogs, ONLY bad owners.

Take the weekend to hug your pet no matter WHAT breed they are, and hug a Pitty if you see one!

Me hugging my very own Pitty, Lil' Pup :)

Mr. Pit and I are trying to get tickets to the Phillies game on Saturday but otherwise it's a pretty quiet weekend around the Pit house. Hope you have a great one!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Owners, Not Pit Bulls, Are the Problem...

This is an exerpt from an amazing article yesterday in Newsweek.

Click HERE to view the whole article...

I've seen those who adopt these dogs for all the wrong reasons. The fearful might get a pit because they want a great guard dog. (Pits make lousy guard dogs. A well-bred pit is just too human-friendly to protect your property.) Some get a pit because Rachael Ray has one and they want to rescue a dog. (Why didn't you take up cooking instead of getting a dog that you know nothing about?) And the trendiest pet owners spend thousands of dollars for a "blue" pit because the dogs are rare. (No, they aren't, and you just got swindled by an unethical breeder who contributed to the overpopulation problem.) But pets aren't purses, and people who jump into pit-bull ownership without the requisite training and education can often do more harm than good.

Did you read that people???..."A well-bred pit is just too human-friendly to protect your property"...I have been saying this all along! Lil' Pup would seriously LICK someone to death before ever biting them or making them feel at all out of place...BEST.DOG.EVER...worst watch dog in the world.

Pits are NOT bad dogs. NO dog is a bad dog. There are only bad owners who dont' know how to properly care for their animal and aren't aware enough of their breed and temperament to be good parents. Later in the article they say not to bring a pit to an open dog park, mostly because if there is a scuffle, the pit will get blamed no matter who started it. AMEN. We never bring Lil' Pup to the park, and we've even stopped walking him on the walking path because we just get too many negative reactions, even though he doesn't DO anything wrong! But, it's all in his 'ferocious' look, and well, we can't do anything about that. I think he looks sweet, but then again, I'm not the majority and I am his biased mother.

Just thought it was a great article on the bad rap that these poor puppies get.

Oprah, Puppy Mills and People Magazine

Puppy Mills suck.

The fact that they are not completely illegal is astounding to me.

For those of you not familiar with what a 'puppy mill' is, a brief explanation is simple and sickening.

Hundreds of dogs are bred each year to produce as many puppies as possible in living conditions you wouldn't subject your worst enemy to. Sires and dams are forced to live stacked on top of each other in wire cages with no bottoms and the only time they get to come OUT of the cages is when they are being bred or giving birth. These poor animals spend the majority of thier life unable to turn around, lie down, or stand at all comfortably as their paws dig into the metal. The dogs in the bottom cages perhaps have it worst of all, as there is nothing to catch the feces from the dogs above them.

Then, when these poor dogs are deemed too old to produce any more litters, they are routinely shot and killed and buried on the farmers land.

These poor dogs NEVER see a pat on the head, a scratch on the belly, or a night on a soft rug by a warm fire. These moms get to spend only 4 weeks with thier puppies (most good breeders recommend puppies stay with thier mothers for 8 weeks or more) and the puppies go from the farm to a petstore to sit in an even MORE cramped space waiting to be bought.

Puppy Mills are rampant in parts of central Pennsylvania, and Bill Smith (creator of Main Line Animal Rescue) and Oprah have done an expose on just how horrible these living conditions are for these poor animals. Bill has made it his mission to save dogs from central PA Puppy Mills and is working with local politicians and lobbying the state to have more strict laws enforced to regulate how these animals are being treated.

As of now in the state of Pennsylvania, dogs are considered livestock and therefore can be 'disposed of' (as the farmers call it) as such. It is not illegal to shoot a dog in the head in the State of Pennsylvania. WTF? How is that possible? This is the kind of thing that gets my blood BOILING and I want to do as much as I can to get the word out so we can shut down these 'farms' until they agree to better living conditions for all the animals they house.

PLEASE read the links below, they give a lot of information on all the good work that Bill and other dog rescuers are doing and thankfully the Oprah segment (which is re-airing tomorrow!!) has done a lot to uncover this seedy underbelly of dog breeding.

This is the Main Line Animal Rescue site that will link you to the Oprah story and the feature this week in People Magazine

Owning a dog or any animal for that matter is a privilage, not a right. Treat your animal as you would any other member of the family.

Adopt a dog from a shelter, try this one I guarantee they will have the breed you want!

Don't EVER buy a pet from a pet store. You are asking for trouble with the animals health (a very large percentage of puppy mill pups have been inbred and come riddled with disease) Pet stores are KNOWN for getting thier dogs from commerical breeders as opposed to private breeders who actually KNOW what they are doing. Plus, pet store owners know that you don't want to hear that they get thier dogs from a puppy mill, so they will tell you they don't. If you MUST buy a dog from a pet store, make sure to research the store, and the breeder they claim they get thier dogs from. If it is a responsible breeder you will be able to cross check them on www.akc.org or a number of other Kennel Club websites.

Also, don't sell yourself short by saying you'll only buy a pure bred dog. Pure breds are great (I grew up with a pure bred Portuguese Water Dog) but the mutts and mixes in shelters NEED YOU! Seriously, if you need points to get you to heaven, or for your karma...rescue an animal from a shelter. They will pay you back 100 fold with thier love and thanks.

And if you think that shelters only have pit bulls and 'bully breeds' a) check out a pit, you might like them. They were the original "Nanny Dog" used specifically to take care of children in the early 1900's. b) There are NO bad dogs, only bad owners. Don't shy away from dogs at shelters because you think they are bad dogs. 99% of the time its the owners who didn't know how to care for them or just plain didn't want the responsibility once they puppies grew into dogs. Dogs that aren't adoptable won't be there in the first place.

Thats all I have to say about the subject for now, I get pretty worked up about the whole subject and the whole thing makes me sad and mad and wanting to go home and give my rescue dog a great big hug (and a new toy).

So please, check out the above links and watch Oprah tomorrow at 4!

(BTW, thats my rescue pit puppy in the pic up there. Pretty ferocious looking huh?)

Here We Go!

Welcome to The Preppy Pit Bull.

This blog is going to be my outlet for all things ME, including but not limited to:

My likes, dislikes, rants, raves, obsessions, cravings, musings, ideas and the like.

It will also be a place where you can track my budding business (mostly an idea at this point, more on that later) my profession(s) (both current and dreamed), my wish list of items to purchase for me (Coach Whitley Boots) or other people (as I would love to one day buy my husband a Red Corvette, and my Mom a greenhouse, and a number of other things) and anything else that seems relevant in my little life.

I hope to make people smile, sometimes laugh outloud, but mostly entertain those who happen upon this blog on purpose or just by chance.

By the way, our dog is a rescued pit bull, hence the name of the blog. He is the sweetest dog on the planet and he is an amazing ambassador of the breed and all it's misconceptions. If this blog does nothing else, atleast those who read it will know that all pits are not bad dogs, just unfortunate that some pits have bad owners.

Enjoy!