Pit Bull Stories (these are not all my personal stories)
Mike and the Akita
In telling this story , I should mention that , generally speaking, it´s not good form among most pit dog men to tell stories about a Bulldog whipping other breeds of dogs. Like Howard Heinzl once observed, it is like a boxer bragging about beating up a ping pong player
For nearly 20-30 years now , the Akita has been touted by some people as the dog that could whip the old Pitbull. It was claimed that the Akita was used for fighting in Japan , and since it was a breed that outweighed the Pitbull two or three times over , it seemed logical to think that the breed would have a pretty good chance against him. Even pit dog men considered the possibility. The assumption was that the breed , being bred for fighting , would have at least a minimum of gameness. I in recent years , there have been a number of encounters between the two breeds. The following is typical.
A group of Akita owners had reached the point of wanting to test there thesis that the Akita could indeed humble the mighty Pitbull. These owners approached the only Bulldog owner they knew, and he happened to be a man with only one dog. His dog was young and had never even been rolled before, but the pitbull owner was willing to oblige the Akita people, and they arranged to meet at a secluded spot in the country. The Akita was brought down from the truck, and his appearance was so impressive and lion-like that our Bulldog man couldn´t be blamed if he had second thoughts at this stage of the game. After all, this particularly Akita had a bad reputation and was reliable reported to have killed a Doberman Pincher. However, the Pitbull fancier remained confident and brought his dog, Mike , out of the car. The Akita was released and approached stiff-leggedly and growling menacingly. At this moment Mike´s owner released him. So swift was Mike´s charge that he actually went right through the Akita, knocking him sprawling and overrunning him.Mike scrambled back around and got the Akita by the rear foot and proceeded to shake out the hold. As you will recall , Mike was a young a young dog that never been schooled , so he was all exuberance and hustle, but he was a little bit short on "savvy". Consequently , he did a few crazy things, like going into the side of the Akita's neck where there were nothing but hair. After wasting some time there, however, he got in to the brute´s shoulder, and it was at this point the Akita tore away and ran back up to the truck. Mikes owner alertly grabbed him and put him back on his leach. Needless to say , the Akita owners were somewhat abashed at the poor performance of their pride and joy against a dog half his size. They had been imbued with the idea that the Akita regained supreme in fighting ability, and they themselves had helped promote the image of the Akita as the conqueror of the Pitbull. Such ideas that have long been held don´t die easily, and as the group studied there dog cringing in the back of the truck, one of them had an idea. "Maybe," he said, "the dog has established priorities. Maybe he is simply protecting the truck. Bring that Pitbull over here." Mike´s owner obligingly brought him over, but kept him on his leash. As soon as they got within five feet of the truck, the Akita very ignominiously abandoned it and ran into the hills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jocko
In retrospect , it is hard to separate the whimsy from the wamsy in the stories. Some of them didn´t just seem possible.....but this one is true.
Ed started to let a 14 year old boy , his son Jimmy , take Jocko for walks. Things went ok for a while , but one day , an Airedale got within the reach of Jocko who unceremoniously latched onto his nose like a beartrap.
The Airedale Terrier´s howls could seemingly be heard from miles away , and Jimmy was having a devil of a time getting Jocko loose. A crowd soon gathered , and each person had his own system for breaking up a dogfight. Water was thrown on the dogs , a match was lit under Jockos tail , and a firecracker was set of under the dogs - all to no avail , for jocko held fast , and the airedale´s howls increased in crescendo.
Finally the Airedale broke loose and disappeared running of towards the horizon. now this little episode created a lot of talk around the town , for airedale´s were considered tough dogs; and for one to be worked over by a dog half it´s size made a worthy topic for small town conversation. Unfortunately , Ed , as a buissnes man , didn´t want the talk , so he had a leather shop construct a muzzle for Jocko , and this the dog wore from that time on for his walks with Jimmy.
Things went smoothly for a while there after , and Jocko enjoyed his walks even if he did have to tolerate the muzzle . But one day a giant mongrel , apparently descended from Newfoundland type of stock , took offence at Jocko´s whalebone appearance and unceremoniously sailed into him. The giant dog had his helpless and incredible smaller opponent down and nearly smothered.
Of course , Jocko was completely unruffled. So if he was muzzled ? He was just happy to be in a scrap ! grasping what he could of his opponents body by his powerful forepaws , he shoved through the mussle at the hairy throat. The most he could get was the tiniest of bites , a little bit of skin and a tuft of hair, but he held on and worked that puny hold with all the enthusiasm he would have had if were really accomplishing something.
The big dog , in the meantime was loosing some of his enthusiasm after about five minutes of taking the best shots at the helpless little dog , only to have Jocko rejoice in everything he gave him and ask for more. As the big dog´s confidence sagged ,his tail dropped . he backed up a little , undecided about what to do ; and as he did so , jocko clung to him all the harder with his forelegs and dugged his muzzled head high up in the neck , looking for all the world as though he were whispering in his ear , perhaps telling him what he was about to do to him!!
The giant animal turned an ran through the town as fast as he could , with his tiny muzzled opponent in hot pursuit . you can imagine how that looked to the townspeople. Here Jocko just a couple of months earlier whipped a big tough Airedale twice his size , now he had obviously whipped a dog over three times his size---and done with a muzzle on !!
Half an hour later Ed working at the store with his mind at ease about Jocko , was surprised by a customer entering the shop and exclaiming ,
"Ed , you´ll never believe what i just saw down the street" !!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talk Show (Leeza)
About a month or two ago, my friend and I were watching television, when we seen the talk show Leeza come on. At first I started to change the channel but then I heard them say that today's topic was the "fighting pit bulls". So I continued to watch. On the show they had interviews with some so called "dogmen" that tied there dogs in the air and beat them with a baseball bat, "... this is how tough my dog is." he claimed. They interviewed several "dogmen" and they all just about spilled there guts. Talking about how they steal other peoples dogs and cats that are in their yard and use them to train their dogs. Its people like them that mess up the sport for others.
Also a boy that was attacked by about 29 dogs and lost his left arm, his ear, and his skull was also damaged. He said that he was walking to his sister house when he made a wrong turn and he say the group of dogs but yet he continued walking towards them. He said that he had a gallon of water with him, and one of the dogs began to smell it. Honestly I figure like this why keep walking to a pack of dogs? And if the dogs want the water why not give it to them and walk off? Well he said it was at that point one of the dogs began to nibble at his ankle. Then they all began to attack him.
The funny thing is he can identify the different types of dogs that were there. He said about 21 of them were pit bulls and they had some rottweilers, shepards, and cocker spaniels. Even though this story is sad that it happened and I feel it could have been avoided. I still don't feel that the dogs attacked unprovoked. Even though there was an attack dumby with blood on the arms for the dog to bite on, what true attack dog, or man biter do you know that nibbles? Or waits a few before it attacks? Pit Bulls were never even bred to be aggressive to people, but alot of people see what they want. Ive had people keep their children away from a dog just for the simple fact that it is a Pit Bull. To me that is just about the same as racism.
Sadly the boy had to go through alot of reconstructive surgeries. I believe that this show airs every year, since 1997. And every time it comes on and people see me with my dogs they ask me "are you training your dog to be mean, bc I seen this talk show and they showed how people treat Pit Bulls."