Awesome Pro Pit Movie

[megan_]

RottnBullies - I think the point that people are trying to make is that these sorts of videos do nothing to dispel the myths about pitbull owners - in fact they confirm them in many people's minds.

A true pro-pit movie would show pitbulls as therapy dogs, one would be called Mr Fluffy, one owner would be a middle aged mum etc - those images would make people think "huh, didn't know they could do that" and not "here we go again, bogan who wanna show their tough dogs".

The image problem that pitbulls have isn't going to go away by doing more of the same.

[Angeluca]

"huh, didn't know they could do that" and not "here we go again, bogan who wanna show their tough dogs".

I think that sort of thinking stereo types people as well as dogs and neither is good, one of those 'Bogans' might have been a police officer or business man you wouldn't know. Just because a guy wears trackies and a singlet with a tat on his arm, while walking his 'bull dog type' dog does not mean he is a lower desired person by the general public.

Besides that many clips in that where of children with the dogs in a clean respectable yard, and I believe one clip was Micheal J fox(I could be wrong), who was never regarded for having a tough guy or bad image.

[megan_]

I know that not everyone in trackies is a bogan (wear the things myself!) but pitbull owners are stereotyped whether you like it or not. True story. If you want to dispel the stereotype you have to show that it isn't true.

[Clyde]

Seriously you need to take off those rose coloured glasses and put on some real seeing eye glasses

Do you understand what that expression means?

Here I am, a bull breed owner, and I can step outside my little box and see what the general public sees because I do not wear rose coloured glasses. Get it?

Look, it really makes no difference to me whatsoever and I couldn't give two hoots. You can't help those who won't help themselves by looking outside their own breed blindness.

Don't do this...... don't wear that...... honestly has there ever been such a breed on this earth that can't even walk sideways without getting misconstrued!

No, there probably hasn't - which is exactly why the breed fanciers need to only show pictures which cannot be misconstrued. If it were my breed they'd be head to toe in pink glitter and tutus out kissing old people in nursing homes. But gnashing jaws, spikes and hunting gear is just so much more appealing to the general public, apparently.

[melzawelza]

I'm about as much of a pit lover as they come but I agree with Clyde and others. I can appreciate the raw athleticism, the strength and the beauty of the breed but that's because I love them!! The general public just see dogs they already believe are killers also being confirmed as strong, agile and athletic. They see spikes and leather. Tutu's and kissing old people is the way to go!

[RottnBullies]

Seriously you need to take off those rose coloured glasses and put on some real seeing eye glasses

Do you understand what that expression means?

Here I am, a bull breed owner, and I can step outside my little box and see what the general public sees because I do not wear rose coloured glasses. Get it?

Look, it really makes no difference to me whatsoever and I couldn't give two hoots. You can't help those who won't help themselves by looking outside their own breed blindness.

Don't do this...... don't wear that...... honestly has there ever been such a breed on this earth that can't even walk sideways without getting misconstrued!

No, there probably hasn't - which is exactly why the breed fanciers need to only show pictures which cannot be misconstrued. If it were my breed they'd be head to toe in pink glitter and tutus out kissing old people in nursing homes. But gnashing jaws, spikes and hunting gear is just so much more appealing to the general public, apparently.

Poor choice of words I picked...... yes but I'm sure you got what I meant regardless.

What a dog wears or what a dog partakes In as their sport at the end of the day does not make It a dangerous dog. If that makes me breed blind, so be It. People shouldn't relate to that In the same manner as not all people with tats are automatically scum of the earth etc, there Is just more to It!

Not everyone Is Into pink glitter and tutus or doggie dancing for that matter

And I don't know where you got gnashing jaws from, but you may want to contact the media for that one they're pretty good at portraying that

[huski]

What a dog wears or what a dog partakes In as their sport at the end of the day does not make It a dangerous dog. If that makes me breed blind, so be It. People shouldn't relate to that In the same manner as not all people with tats are automatically scum of the earth etc, there Is just more to It!

Not everyone Is Into pink glitter and tutus or doggie dancing for that matter

And I don't know where you got gnashing jaws from, but you may want to contact the media for that one they're pretty good at portraying that

Of course it shouldn't matter but the fact is that when we are talking about the public's perception of the breed then unfortunately, yes, image goes a LONG way in changing or further confirming the perceptions people already have about it.

It's easy enough to say that people shouldn't think that way but the fact is that they do.

[GoldenGirl85]

My mum is a great example of 'Joe Public' when it comes to this. She is a dog lover much like me, but when it comes to certain breeds, namely any bull breed and ACD's she says they all have a mean streak and can turn on you...until I joined DOL I had similar views on bull breeds. I've certainly changed my mind...especially after having met one of the dogs in that video (and she is GORGEOUS!) but I don't see myself ever being able to convince my mum any different...apparently that 'mean streak' is in all of them, almost like a ticking time bomb

Showing pictures of them fighting and looking 'butch' doesn't help, I'm not saying they need to get dressed up in frilly pink stuff, but there is nothing wrong with a plain leather collar, a bright nylon one. There was a picture of a dog that had a 'tough' collar, but it was being led by a halti...to the uneducated public that means the dog is uncontrollable

[RottnBullies]

What a dog wears or what a dog partakes In as their sport at the end of the day does not make It a dangerous dog. If that makes me breed blind, so be It. People shouldn't relate to that In the same manner as not all people with tats are automatically scum of the earth etc, there Is just more to It!

Not everyone Is Into pink glitter and tutus or doggie dancing for that matter

And I don't know where you got gnashing jaws from, but you may want to contact the media for that one they're pretty good at portraying that

Of course it shouldn't matter but the fact is that when we are talking about the public's perception of the breed then unfortunately, yes, image goes a LONG way in changing or further confirming the perceptions people already have about it.

It's easy enough to say that people shouldn't think that way but the fact is that they do.

Image Isn't everything, and If people aren't prepared to learn and look past that then they really aren't in a position to make such accusations or assumptions IMO What ever happened to don't judge a book by Its cover? Or Is just ok to look beyond for some things but not others! That's prejudice at Its best

Do you really think that buy dressing them down Is going to change people's perception?

Don't get me wrong I'm Into pink collars etc and so will my dog unbeknown to her :D but It's not for everyone, and It shouldn't be the focus of the problem, that's the least of their worries

As for playing down their athleticism and the sports they enjoy which seems to be another taboo, well that's a joke, try telling that to Diane Jessup tell her that what she does with her dogs Is giving them a bad rep!

[huski]

Image Isn't everything, and If people aren't prepared to learn and look past that then they really aren't in a position to make such accusations or assumptions IMO What ever happened to don't judge a book by Its cover? Or Is just ok to look beyond for some things but not others! That's prejudice at Its best

Do you really think that buy dressing them down Is going to change people's perception?

Don't get me wrong I'm Into pink collars etc and so will my dog unbeknown to her :D but It's not for everyone, and It shouldn't be the focus of the problem, that's the least of their worries

As for playing down their athleticism and the sports they enjoy which seems to be another taboo, well that's a joke, try telling that to Diane Jessup tell her that what she does with her dogs Is giving them a bad rep!

But it's not about what people should and shouldn't do. The fact is that when pits are shown in videos like the one in the OP wearing heavy leather collars and harnesses, demonstrating how strong and fast and athletic they are, how their tough owners have tattoos of them etc is only going to reinforce the perception people already have about them.

Pits can make great loving family pets - why not display that angle instead of how strong and powerful they are? This video wasn't aimed at pit lovers, it was aimed at the general public. If it was made just for pit owners to appreciate their own dogs then that would be different.

I LOVE to see highly prey drive, strong, fast and athletic dogs, I think they look great but I'm not the GP and I'm not the kind of person whose mind you need to change about the breed.

Edited August 23, 2011 by huski

[raz]

Image Isn't everything, and If people aren't prepared to learn and look past that then they really aren't in a position to make such accusations or assumptions

Well that's the thing - image IS everything and people wont be prepared to learn about pitties if they think their negative opinions on the breed are being confirmed. People in this thread arent saying pitties are bad; they're saying that the movie depicts the dogs in a bad light to Joe Blow out on the street.

[~Anne~]

Image is EVERYTHING when the current image the breed has is one of a vicious man killing powerful dog that is owned by undesirable types in our society.

[dogfan]

Sorry if this has already been stated but I'm pretty sure I saw a DOL dog in the video... not sure if permission was asked or not but still...

I think I know which DOL dog you speak of and she knows her dog is incuded and thanked him for including the dog

Ahh ok, makes sense

[corvus]

Well that's the thing - image IS everything and people wont be prepared to learn about pitties if they think their negative opinions on the breed are being confirmed.

People have their negative opinions on anything confirmed by anything at all. That's why it's called confirmation bias. Seriously, people will go out of their way to find evidence that confirms an already held belief and they actively avoid any situation in which they might find evidence to refute an already held belief. They will even find evidence to support a belief from things completely unrelated to that belief.

Read, a video is not going to change anyone's mind about pitbulls no matter what the content is, how the dogs are portrayed, what they are wearing, who they are hanging with or what they are doing. So this whole argument about image is pointless. I have a mate who used to be a manager for the RSPCA. When the pitbull legislation was on the table, a bunch of RSPCA shelter employees made a video with a pitbull who was doing therapy and stuff with kids and all sorts of ambassadorial things. They sent the video to the people they had to convince in the RSPCA and none of them even believed it was a pitbull. They said it couldn't be because of the things it was doing. Pitbulls can't do that because they are too dangerous. End of story. They were not convinced and they never will be, maybe not even if they experience it for themselves. They are not blind or stupid. They are just humans deep in the clutches of confirmation bias. A video may help make up the mind of someone sitting on the fence, but who knows how they will interpret the video.

Edited August 24, 2011 by corvus

[tybrax]

Nothing wrong with the Pitbull, But there is something Real Wrong within the Publics Perception.

[Danois]

Nothing wrong with the Pitbull, But there is something Real Wrong within the Publics Perception.

There very well may be but how do you think that perception was created??

[RottnBullies]

Nothing wrong with the Pitbull, But there is something Real Wrong within the Publics Perception.

There very well may be but how do you think that perception was created??

Well the media has played a big part, and they still do

[raz]

I have a mate who used to be a manager for the RSPCA. When the pitbull legislation was on the table, a bunch of RSPCA shelter employees made a video with a pitbull who was doing therapy and stuff with kids and all sorts of ambassadorial things. They sent the video to the people they had to convince in the RSPCA and none of them even believed it was a pitbull. They said it couldn't be because of the things it was doing. Pitbulls can't do that because they are too dangerous. End of story. They were not convinced and they never will be, maybe not even if they experience it for themselves.

Well that explains it all, doesnt it. Hugh Worthless, was it? He wouldnt know what a pitbull was if it bit him on the ass.

[corvus]

I have a mate who used to be a manager for the RSPCA. When the pitbull legislation was on the table, a bunch of RSPCA shelter employees made a video with a pitbull who was doing therapy and stuff with kids and all sorts of ambassadorial things. They sent the video to the people they had to convince in the RSPCA and none of them even believed it was a pitbull. They said it couldn't be because of the things it was doing. Pitbulls can't do that because they are too dangerous. End of story. They were not convinced and they never will be, maybe not even if they experience it for themselves.

Well that explains it all, doesnt it. Hugh Worthless, was it? He wouldnt know what a pitbull was if it bit him on the ass.

And you just proved my point about confirmation bias.

It wasn't just Hugh Wirth. He didn't do it on his own. There were other people on the panel that were in complete agreement. Like I said, it's not people being stupid, it's people being people. They knew what they saw couldn't be right the same way a lot of other people knew what they saw could be right. They found a way to protect their beliefs and that was to become convinced that what they were seeing was not a pitbull. This is how the human mind works. We see pitbulls where we expect to see them and we see not-pitbulls where we know pitbulls can't be. IMO it was an extreme case, but who knows what those people had experienced to make them so convinced pitbulls are the spawn of satan.

ETA My mate left the RSPCA, but he was convinced the pitbull restriction would be repealed eventually. He said the decision in the first place was made by so few and did not represent the views of even all of the RSPCA managers. He said there were people in there now working to get it changed. Maybe he was displaying a bit of confirmation bias as well. Or maybe it will get repealed eventually.

Edited August 24, 2011 by corvus

[raz]

I agree with you and I was discussing this with my husband on a point that's come up a few times in these threads about where all the pitbulls are suddenly coming from. I cannot say with any confidence I have ever seen one of the listed restricted breeds in Australia so what makes journos and members of the public so confident they could correctly identify one? I could probably put a big spikey leather collar and harness on my pug and have someone ask me if she's a pitty.