Last night I got to meet Hector, one of Michael Vick’s former fighting dogs.  Other than seeing his physical scars, I never would have imagined that this loveable, docile dog had once been used as a brutal weapon.

Hector made a celebrity debut at Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law last night for Citizen’s for a No-Kill Philadelphia’s seminar titled, “The Importance of Creating a Safe and Humane Community for All People and Animals: A Panel Discussion.”  Hector, along with three fantastic speakers, was among those there to dispel the myths about Pit Bulls, while also promoting resopnsible pet ownership.

I think the one lesson I learned from the entire evening is that a dog is a dog is a dog.  It’s not a Pit Bull.  It’s not a Doberman.  It’s  not a Yorkie.  It’s a dog.  Too often we get caught up in what speaker Donald Cleary, the Director of Publications and Communications for the National Canine Research Council, termed a “social construct” that feeds into our fears of what a particular subject (in this case, Pit Bulls – I mean, dogs) means to us.  Cleary  explored the various breeds of dogs who were once on the receiving end of mass hysteria – beginning with the blood hound to the german sheppard, to the rottweiler and now pit bulls. There were many examples of how something like a dog-related death, while rarer than getting struck by lighting, gets blown out of proportion because of social constructs and our ever-intensive obsession with the media.  While there were more dog bites in Philadelphia years ago, we certainly hear more about them now — the recent human aggressive dog cases for example.  Cleary pointed out that in today’s media climate, we now don’t just hear about these stories in one or two medias, but in hundreds and in hundreds of different ways.

Trainer Leigh Siegfried, Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT) and Owner/Director of Training and Behavior for Opportunity Barks, also touched upon our roles as dog owners and individual responsibility.  I have to admit that much of her speech hit kind of close to home for me — with all of Dash’s anxiety problems I can’t help but feel, deep down, I am a major cause of most, if not all of them.  Leigh focused on our expectations of dogs and the role dogs play in our lives – from being family pets to protectors, to simply “resident” dogs who spend their lives chained up and exist to protect property.  Leigh also discussed the various pressures and stresses we put on our dogs, and it got me to thinking that it’s no surprise that dogs then act out — or react — in stressful situations that we’ve helped to create. Can you relate?

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