Perhaps one day all people will look at a pit bull and say, “hey there goes a real good dog”. Despite overwhelming evidence as to how good the majority of Pit Bulls are, pit bulls are still being profiled. Consider a recent story in a Virginia Beach paper about Jeff Haymen, a 22-year-old man who is deaf. His hearing dog is a Pit Bull named Marley. Jeff and Marley attended the Tidewater K9 Academy for training and have been doing great.
 

Since 2000 I have been working with dogs professionally. I am sometimes given the answer or solution to a troublesome canine scenario with the following statement “It’s just a dog”. Meaning it is not worthy of any further consideration.

This mindset of a dog as lesser than or unequal to humans is sad. In my own experience nothing that I have ever been involved with has brought as much joy to others as my dog Mojo, notice I said to others, not just myself. The smiles and the joy Mojo conjures up in people is quite a site to see. He is one of only millions of dogs who bring untold happiness to millions of people, other than their owners, simply by existing.

This “it’s just a dog” mindset comes up in discussions about the use of pain or force when training and maintaining dogs. The dog; who some so callously toss aside like dead leaves during yard work has the ability through nothing more than existing, to cause joy.