As a fellow dog owner and lover, I expect a semblance of shared experience to exist between us. A feeling of mutual understanding, an unspoken knowledge of the ups and downs, the funnies and not-so-funnies, of having a dog in your life. The rolled eyes and laughter of understanding when a dog jumps up and gets too excited, for example. The knowing nod and smile when a dog strains against your lead to get to a dog on the other side of the field, dragging you along in a clumsy half-run.
I have never disliked going to the vet with my dog. Never have I felt inconvenienced or ashamed. I have enjoyed the experience of getting professional help, meeting friendly receptionists and staff, seeing people smiling at my dog and bonding in silent ways or over pleasant small talk with other dog lovers. Until today.
Fellow dog owners, no one likes to be judged. Especially when you feel like you haven't been given a chance. Maybe you and your canine friend have always been perfect, poised and contained. Maybe you have never needed to train your dog or rein them in, and you have always sat there, graceful, composed and statuesque, with no problems and creases to iron out between you. Maybe. But I doubt it. I doubt very much that you are unlike every other committed dog owner I know, who loves the idiosyncrasies about their dog, adores their strengths and acknowledges their weaknesses, and has to bow to the powers of time and patience and perseverance to get the whole dog-human relationship right. Unless there is a superior canine ownership club that I have not yet heard exists.
This is Mika, dog loving friends.
You may have noticed that Mika is a Staffie. In fact, at the vet today, this seemed like the only thing you could notice. You looked past her excited frenzy from going to the vet, full of smells and other dogs and animals, and the faint trace of treats and food. You looked past her gentle and calm demeanour when she was sitting between my legs, her natural state when settled, looking up at me with those adoring eyes, ready for a rest and a stroke but unable to contain her excitement at this new adventure. You looked past her eagerness to scramble off the lead and towards other dogs to have a smell and say a friendly hello. All you saw was her stout, muscular Staffie body, her occasional protective growl when dogs walked past me, which I tried every time to root out, holding her firmly and safely. All you saw was her strain to get off the lead, and the hyped up headlines full of drummed up hysteria screaming out: "Staffies kill people", "Staffies eat kids", and lots of other tragic tales that are really about abusive, neglectful, irresponsible upbringing and lack of training.
You looked at Mika and you judged her.
Dog owners, I don't know if I need to labour the point that Mika is not a man-eating killing machine. I don't know if you would believe me. I don't know if there is any point telling you that we rescued her from being put down by clearly irresponsible and neglectful owners, from a known rough neighbourhood, who had not speyed or vaccinated or wormed or fleaed Mika. That she is the sweetest, more affectionate, loyal and loving dog, and she has exceeded all our expectations of her. Everything I tell you could be swept away by the arbitrary labels that come with breed. For Mika could have acted the way she had and been a cross breed, as was true with Ralph - who was universally loved and doted on at the vets, despite acting so similar to Mika. If she was a golden retriever or a poodle or a Yorkshire terrier no one would have bat an eyelid. I have seen quite a few yappy and aggressive Yorkshire terriers around this area.
Instead, I was told by two separate people that I had a "handful", and by one incredibly rude and presumptuous lady that she was "terrified". This lady scoffed at me when I told her Mika was fine at home, and when she had entered the vet and looked at Mika the first thing she said, completely unsolicited, was "I'm glad I didn't bring my cat."
At first it was quite fascinating to me, canine fans. Many a time I had sit there with Ralph and I can say with certainty that it was a completely different experience. People did not drag their dogs away from him, for example, or hide them in thinly veiled fear. They saw that he wasn't scary or dangerous - or maybe they just saw that from his colouring and body shape. Not so with Mika.
Fellow dog owners, I am assuming that under the layers of preconceived ideas from the media and hearsay, you remember what it is like to have a dog who needs work. I don't believe that no dog needs work, really. Every dog is learning to be a better companion, and every dog owner is learning to be a better leader. I want to level with you. We have had Mika since Saturday, and we are getting to know her better every day. I believe I have picked up on a few things that we need to work on already, and we will. We will love her and train her and guide her in the best ways we can. And we will see her as she is, with all her flaws and her amazing strengths. For example, Mika likes to sleep in our bed, and she is wonderful at sharing the bed and burrowing under the duvet to give us space. A flaw and a strength!
Friends, I know that Mika's growling is bad and needs to stop, and I know that she can be overexcited, and these are things we have training strategies for. What I don't have a strategy for is that you will judge her before you know her. You will judge her unfairly. That upsets and angers me. I am sick of the fact that Staffies are feared without being given a chance. Because it's bad owners that create 'bad' dogs. Any dog of any breed could become aggressive given enough neglect, abuse and irresponsible ownership. I thought that much was obvious. Maybe it isn't.
In America, pit bulls are arguably the equivalent of Staffies in terms of being the marginalised breed. A dog rescue worker in the documentary 'Shelter Me' states that 90% of the time when pit bulls in America are seen just walking on the streets, they are reported as 'being aggressive'. An awful statistic.
So I end this letter with a request. Please give Staffies a chance. Give every dog a chance. Wipe the slate clean and forget everything that you've heard about how this breed is aggressive and how that breed are known to kill. How this breed should be kept away from kids and that breed should be locked away. Every dog has a different temperament. Every dog can be trained and loved and helped to be the best that it can be. They are dogs, not wolves. Dogs can be domesticated and can live alongside us. That's the way it works. Dog loving friends, as a dog owner, you should really be more knowledgeable about dogs. It's a basic requirement, isn't it?
Yours sincerely,
Mel, lover of all dogs and of Staffies in particular.
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