Another side of the story

Let me take a moment and tell you about the menagerie. I currently have residing at the abode, 3 full-time cats, 2 part-time cats, a squirrel and a {{gasp}} pit bulldog.
This is 'da pup, as you can see she fits the image of one of those vicious killer pit bulls that we have all heard/read about to a tee.
I did not start out wanting to be a pit bulldog owner. At the time we acquired Clover (sounds like a cow's name, but we didn't name her) we had 3 cats.
I read the papers, I've heard all about how pit bulls are aggressive to other animals. I have heard that they aren't very easy to train, that they are stubborn and that you have to provide lots of chew toys or they are liable to use the love seat (or the cats). I have read the stories about how they turn on their owners, they aren't safe around children and yadayadayada. I had visions of coming home to shredded cat, chewed furniture and monster pit bull "accidents" that I would likely have to clean up. Nope a pit bulldog just wasn't the dog that I was looking for.
But, I have become a believer.
When Clover first moved she thought that she owned the place...the cats took care of that right away. You see they KNEW that they owned the place and made sure that the dog knew it too. Now, a quick aside about the cats. They are all declawed so they really couldn't stop the dog from turning them into chew toys if she so desired. but that was never an issue. This "vicious" pit bull only had to be told a couple of time not to use the cats as chew toys and she happily accepted her place in the animal hierarchy. We later acquired a squirrel (whole 'nother story) and she rides on the dogs back when we let her out. So with this evidence I have come to believe that maybe the breed as a whole isn't animal aggressive. Maybe they just have to be raised right.
As for being stubborn and hard to train, I have found that pits in general and this one in particular love people so much that they are EASY to train. They love making their people happy. They LOVE to be around their people. I've done quite a bit of research on the breed and found that this breed scores HIGHER than Golden Retrievers and Collies on human socialability.
Clover has indeed chomped on one person in her life. But that guy was trying to push his way into our apartment one afternoon when my wife was home alone. We later found out that there were several home invasion/attacks in the area where a guy was going around knocking on doors and forcing his way in. So I bought her a large steak-which actually gave her diarrhea for days,but I digress.
The bottom line on Pit Bulldogs is this. There are certain group of people that buy Pits to enhance an image. They want people to think that they are tough so they buy a dog that people are already scared of. And then they try to make that dog even scarier. It isn't fair to blame the dogs.
I'm writing this because tonight I went to the store with my wife. we stopped in a seedy area where there are often hookers and panhandlers around. They sell items cheaper and we normally frequent this store only during daylight hours. Sure enough, as I stepped out of the car I was approached by a panhandler wanting me to buy him some beer. I told him to buzz off and went into the store. While I was in the store he rounded up a friend and approached my wife in the car. When Clover saw strangers approaching she moved from the back seat to the front and put herself between Elisha and the guys outside. And she let them know that it wouldn't be a good thing for them to get any closer to the car. About this time I came out of the store with the store owner and told them to shove off. Would anything have happened if Clover hadn't been in the car, who knows? But I do know this, when they saw a PIT BULLDOG putting herself between them and my wife THEY STOPPED. I doubt a poodle would have given them any pause at all in approaching the car.
Just by being the breed that she is she has, on more than one occasion, stopped situations that may have had criminal intent. She isn't a guard dog but she guards us.
Clover has Lymphoma. She probably won't be with us very much longer. She has enriched my life and opened my eyes to the prejudice that this wonderful breed has against it. I will savour every minute that we have left with her. When she is gone my whole family will mourn. We will have lost a member of the family and a faithful friend.