Share Your Pit Bull Story: Saturday Is Pittie Awareness Day

Tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 22, is National Pit Bull Awareness Day, and we thought the best way to celebrate these gorgeous, goofy, and often misunderstood dogs would be to encourage everyone reading who has ever had a positive experience with these pupsters to share their story in the comments section below.

To kick things off, we’ve invited our friend Laura Petrolino of StubbyDog to tell us what National Pit Bull Day means to her.

StubbyDog is a nonprofit that is working to change public perception and improve the lives of Pits everywhere. (You can read more about them on their Facebook page.)

Here’s Laura! — Janine K.

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Because I grew up with dogs, there have only been a handful of sad times when I was forced to lead a dogless life. During one of them, while I was in graduate school, a good friend, knowing of my extreme dog withdrawal, connected me with a colleague who was looking for a dog sitter. And so Ruby entered my life.

Ruby was a medium-sized, beautiful brown Pit Bull who bounced when she walked and tended to steal all the blankets at night. I was able to overlook this slight annoyance (and my cold toes) because Ruby won me over with her ridiculously goofy and loving personality. She was just what I needed, and I secretly waited for her guardian to go out of town again so I could have my Ruby vacations.

Several years later I discovered StubbyDog, a nonprofit whose mission was to change the public perception of Pit Bulls and help people rediscover them as lifelong friends. Although I’d read shocking media stories about “dangerous” and “vicious” Pit Bulls, sweet, bed-hogging Ruby was what I saw when I thought of the breed. I knew very little about the prejudice and hateful responses the dogs and their guardians are forced to deal with every day.

Because of dogs like Ruby, almost anyone who has ever known and loved a Pit Bull becomes an advocate for them, which is why events like National Pit Bull Awareness Day, on Saturday, Oct. 22, rally people to support these wonderful dogs.

Pit Bull Awareness Day shines a spotlight on brave, loyal, and loving Pit Bulls you don’t often read about in the media, such as:

Shaka

Shaka, the star K-9 cop who keeps her community safe. Spackle

Spackle, the constant companion who helped heal her mom’s PTSD. Sarge

Sarge, the survivor who taught us to respect our elders. Sal

Sal, the therapy dog with the power to soothe hospital patients. Jagger

And Jagger, the victim of dog fighting, who teaches us all the power of forgiveness.

There are so many heroes — canine and human — working to change public perception and improve the lives of Pit Bulls everywhere. Every day I’m inspired by a new story of hope, courage, and love! We know there’s a lot to do before more people begin to think positively about Pit Bulls, the way I did with Ruby. But the more stories we can share like those above, the better chance we have.

Dogsters, let’s make this Pit Bull Awareness Day really meaningful. How has a Pit Bull affected your life? What would you tell others about your Pittie? Please share your pawsitive stories below!

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Contest: Start 2012 Off on the Right Paw with a Pittie Calendar

Okay, we know that next year is far off (thank goodness, there’s still too much to do before this one ends!), but we got these adorable Pit Bull-themed 2012 calendars in the mail from our friends at Dog Park Publishing and want to give you a chance to win one!

Up for grabs are:

This Itty Pitties calendar, featuring adorable, aww-inspiring itty-bitty Pit Bull pupsters:

And a For the Love of Pit Bulls 2012 Calendar:

To enter, leave a comment telling us which calendar you’d like to own and why you love Pit Bulls! We’ll pick a winner using random.org on Friday, Sept. 30. Don’t forget to include a proper e-mail addy when you fill out our comment form — if we can’t contact you, we can’t send you a calendar.

P.S. If you want to pick up an extra calendar for the Pittie lover in your life (see links to the calendars above), know that Dog Park is donating a portion of its revenue to the shelters and rescue groups that provided the beautiful models featured in the calendars. We think that’s really neat.

View the original article here