This is the story from last Friday, Basil’s favorite BlogPaws day.
Friday was the day of new friends, famous and otherwise. We got to met Tillman, the skateboarding English bulldog as well as Manny the frenchie, of Instagram stardom. This day was only made better by the meeting of a new (“average joe”) friend, Jake. 
We met Jake, a 10 month old pit bull terrier/mastiff mix at a social networking event at BlogPaws. The event was full of people, dogs, food, and drinks. The whole thing was centered around a off leash dog park. The dogs could “mingle” while the people could also mingle.
We got our snacks and starting searching the area for a shady space with friends and chairs. Basil, Nate, and I rounded a corner and found what we were in search of. A few people had also found this little oasis and were grouped together on the lawn. I spotted a set of chairs free next to a women and her dog, Jake. We quickly move to meet them and have a seat.
Basil and Jake hit it off almost instantly! They shared the same high level of energy and love of laying in the cool grass. Jake’s mom and I chatted while these two “wild bucks” ran circles around us and each other. I learned that they were at the conference working for the sponsored PetSmart booth and was giving out information about their pet adoption program.
We talked and they played and I started to notice something. Some people (This was not everybody! Just a few!) were making an extra large arch when passing the two hooligans. I found that strange because usually no one can avoid Basil cuteness/charm. I mentioned this to Jakes mom and she told me that she has come a crossed a few people in her short time with Jake that said they didn’t want their dog around Jake because he is a ” big, scary pit bull.” Now I can understand being worried for your dogs safety and looking out for warning signs, that is just being a good pet parent, but just to make a judgement solely based on the dogs breed is not cool.
This is breed discrimination and unfortunately it is a big problem. The idea that some dogs are just “born bad” is wrong. All dogs are born good and can be taught to be a good dog or a bad dog. Any dog, not just pit bulls, can be aggressive and can attack. I found a great website called BadRap.org. Check out all the information that can be found over there. It really did open up my eyes to how bad this problem really is.
So, next time you see a pit bull walking down the road, on a leash of course, with that goofy smile and not a care in the world, maybe stop and talk to the owner. Ask if you can say hello and give the pup some love. I can tell you that Jake was just a love-bug. His smile was contagious and he was as sweet as can be with Basil.
We had a blast at BlogPaws and we wanted to thank everyone that we met while we were there! I’ll be posting a lot more photos soon so make sure to check back.
Travel well, nap well, live well!
-Abbey & Basil
