My favorite dog breeds in the entire world, are the breeds that very many people of the world disregard and hate. To me, these breeds are beautiful, loyal, and caring. They are the protective and way too trusting. When it comes to these dogs, especially in the United States, they are treated like garbage. More often than not they are put into kill shelters. Breeds like Pit Bulls, American Staffordshires, Rottweilers, American Bullies, Doberman Pinchers, etc. are automatically regarded as aggressive, mean to some people when they are unprovoked. In some very rare cases, this may be the case, but like I said, these are rare cases.
Being a senior with many emotional issues such as SAD and depression and getting to the point where I am supposed to transition into indepndent living, I am ready to adopt a beautiful American Staffordshire. However, the hardest thing about this breed is that many apartments that claim to be pet-friendly, either say no to the breed or find some other reason why to say no. In my initial search, there are many apartments in the areas I want to live in, but the scariest thing for me right now is reaching out to the landlords of these apartments and having them tell me,
"Sorry, that breed is known to be dangerous, we don't want a dangerous dog on our property."
This beautiful dog that has captured my heart, plays so well with other dogs and is one of the biggest cuddle bugs I have ever met. She jumped in my lap and fell asleep for an hour. She turned around and smiled at me, and licked my face in a careful manner that other dogs don't. She smiled, and before a landlord has even met her, she is already deemed a dangerous dog, all because of the things they have heard on the news.
I am currently in a Facebook group that is dedicated to helping owners of these breeds. I've seen so many people who have gotten approved to move into apartments and have moved across the country and then get told that they aren't allowed to have pets in the apartment that they had already been approved to have a pet in. It's all because of the breed and the landlord kicks them out. The worst part is that it's perfectly legal for a landlord to do this. So many owners of this breed who are trying to live in apartments try to find other legal options like service or emotional support animals. These options also are way more expensive and time consuming for these people.
Why is it that it is only us that have to pay for these issues?
As a society we've allowed misconceptions to cloud the reality that any animal presents the risk of harm etc. However, it is not the breed of the animal but the circumstances surrounding their environment and training! End the Stigma. Don't punish the breed!
