My husband Steve and I went on our first date in 2009. I met him at his apartment before we headed out to our local Greek Festival for good food and way too much wine. When I arrived I was greeted by Zeke. Zeke is a very intimidating American Staffordshire Terrier (what most people know as a pitbull), he barked, stood his ground as I entered, and then promptly hugged me (yes, he really gives hugs). Zeke loved me before my husband and I even knew we loved each other. It’s funny how we can never truly know what moments set a new path for us. That moment I began a new path not only with Steve but also on a path that would introduce me to the person I always wanted to be — a dog mom.
I lived in a different city when I met Steve, he decided to move closer to me, and we would start our super cool life together. I quickly learned the reality about the stigma pitbulls have because regardless of how much we vouched for Zeke we had a hard time finding an apartment that was willing to let us rent with a pitbull. At that point the Michael Vick dog fighting was still pretty fresh in people’s minds, the news coverage of pitbulls really shined a negative light on them, and MANY cities were passing pitbull bans. I never really comprehended up until this point how misunderstood this breed was and still is.
Zeke is quite literally the smartest and most beautiful dog I know. I am not being biased guys, really. Zeke was six months old when he entered Steve’s life. He was previously owned by two awesome women in the military that taught him fairly well in his first six months of life. He can sit, play dead, lay down, he can be off leash, Steve can basically give Zeke any voice command and Zeke will listen. I cannot tell you the number of times people have literally stopped on the street, WHILE THEY’RE DRIVING, to ask if we would ever breed Zeke or to ask if we have puppies available. The two times we have bred Zeke we’ve had a long list of people that wanted one of his pups. He is so incredibly loved.
I could go on forever on all of the good things about Zeke. With all of the good there has to be some bad, right? Zeke has been attacked twice by other pitbulls, once as a puppy and once as an adult. The first time didn’t seem to change him very much. He was a little wary of other dogs but not in a way that we had to take extra special care in social situations. The second time a pitbull that was off leash while I was walking Zeke came and attacked him and it was pretty brutal. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a pitbull fight but it’s different than what you would consider a typical dog fight. You’ve probably heard people say that pit bulls have a lockjaw. A pitbull jaw does not actually have a physical locking mechanism but they’re mentally predisposed to hold onto something until it’s dead. The dog that attacked Zeke had locked down on the side of his face. This resulted in stitches, swelling, antibiotics, and a dog that can no longer be in a room with another male dog that he doesn’t know. We got really lucky for the fact that Zeke is still here with us. Many dogs don’t survive these attacks so it definitely could have been worse even though that feels like a very strange thing to say.
Whatever breed of pitbull you are familiar with I can guarantee they will be loyal and love you to almost a fault. I will always have a breed of pitbull terrier in my home but I am also very aware of their power and my responsibility to keep them safe from situations that could potentially cause them harm.
What will Zeke teach us if you decide to keep up with this blog going forward? So much.
I can tell you my personal experience with caring for an American Staffordshire Terrier that has to have special care because he is aggressive, how we train and work through moments of aggression, my obligation as a pitbull owner to keep him out of situations that may trigger him, how we have integrated our other dogs into our home with him, and how underneath it all he’s the most loving dog to walk the planet. I am really an advocate for pitbull care and safety so please stick with me so we can continue to shine a light on this breed that deserves to be seen as the good dogs that they are.
What will Zeke teach us if you decide to keep up with this blog going forward? So much.
- I can tell you my personal experience with caring for an American Staffordshire Terrier that has to have special care because he is aggressive.
- How we train and work through moments of aggression.
- My obligation as a pitbull owner to keep him out of situations that may trigger him
- How we have integrated our other dogs into our home with him, and how underneath it all he’s the most loving dog to walk the planet.
I am really an advocate for pitbull care and safety so please stick with me so we can continue to shine a light on this breed that deserves to be seen as the good dogs that they are.
Side note: Zeke loved Subee. To see a dog that virtually hates all other dogs allow our sweet little Subee to hang from his face, gnaw on his feet with her puppy teeth, lay on his head with complete disregard to his own comfort was truly magical. The day we didn’t come home with her from the ER there was such a sadness in his heart. When we lose a pet it’s important to remember the other pets in our home that loved them, probably more than even we did. While we’ve tried to fill his heart with our other pups, I still see his ears perk up a little when he hears the jingle of Subee’s chain which is kept on my bedpost.
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