How do you handle peoples ignorance about our breed.

I have done both, depends if the person seems open minded or not. Its hard to talk to someone if they don't want to listen...

But for the most part i try to educate people about our breed and everyone that has come in contact with our dogs has walked away with a smile..

I have never agreed with people about their misconceptions about our breed. It bothers me that people won't do any research for themselves instead of making uninformed opinions. (I guess that would be true about alot of things in life.) There is a local radio DJ in our area who hates pit-bulls and will announce on air any kind of bad publicity that comes out. I'm going to email him and give him some background information and temperament statistics and hope that he would read that on air. We have in the past written a letter on behalf of one of our puppy-buyers who had to move to a new place that accepted dogs, but excluded our breed. I explained that our breed is not human aggressive and the percentage of Amstaffs that passed the temperament tests were higher than retrievers! So, ingnorence (sp) is not bliss!

I also have not agreed with anyone that has misconceptions of our breed. I will always try and educate and if the person is not willing to listen then I may walk off.

"Depends on the person I have done both."

With children I try to explain
that my dog is kind,
that the medias' version is not the good one

But with adults,
it depends...

By looking some people
you know that an explaination,
won't change anything...

shadyblueamstaffs wrote:I also have not agreed with anyone that has misconceptions of our breed. I will always try and educate and if the person is not willing to listen then I may walk off.

Same here. Then they get the raised eyebrow and I'm gone

My mom was one of those ignorant people out there. When we got our puppy she told me she would kill our other dog and that she would hurt my daughter. Since meeting our puppy she hasn't said anything about it and thinks she is the sweetest dog in the world! What really changed her mind was going over to my in-laws this weekend with their 7 year old AmStaff. The boys next door who are maybe 5 and 8 were playing with Maggie in the backyard. She kept stealing the soccer ball and they kept tackling her to the ground and pulling it away from her. She was so impressed that Maggie let them tackle her to the ground and didn't do a thing. Then she saw our puppy following our daughter around the backyard and not letting her out of sight. She never realised the loyalty that these dogs have. You hear so many bad things about the breed you rarely get the chance to see a great example unless you know a great owner with one. I intend to make my puppy the best behaved dog and then take her everywhere. The way to beat ignorance is to prove it wrong.

Thanks to the media, is very hard to educate peoples about our breed. The world is full with ignorant peoples.

According to the American Kennel Club the Am Staff is the number 68th most popular dog out of 157 breeds in 2007. There are more Am Staff owners than Cardigan Welsh Corgis, Irish Wolfhounds, Retrievers (Flat-Coated), Bearded Collies, Greyhounds, or Foxhounds. Thought that was an interesting point to make in this topic.

People are ignorant, but I always tell people that these kind of dogs are the best!!! I recently lost Jah my pit bull of 13 years. When people would meet her they couldn't believe how great she was. They would say she don't know that she was a pit, but I would always explain to them that it's not the dog it's how they are raised. Mostly all my friends have pits and amstaff, I am picking up an Amstaff pup in 2 weeks, I can't wait! These dogs only have a bad name because of idiots like Mike Vick!!! I know dogs that weigh 10 pounds that are meaner than any pit or amstaff I have ever seen. They are loyal, obedient, always happy to see you, I could go on for an hour about how great they are. I really wish that ignorant people would come and meet a few of our dogs and then make a judgement on the breed.

You must understand that it is irresponsible owners that make others ignorate. You should only blame the irresponsible owner because they paint the image of our breed and put those thoughts into other heads.. JMO

I second that!

This breed can be very awefull if the owner is awefull...
A poodle can be awefull if the owner is awefull.......

I educate the person whether it makes a difference or not! usually it kinda opens their eyes so they're at least not as close minded about it. I'm a huge advocate for bully breeds and I'm working on starting a foster and rescue program for bully breeds so it's really important to me to make a difference for these dogs.

When I'm faced w/ people like that I like to school them and shut down all the false facts they try to tell me . Than they all say its just because. U own 1 and I say no I've stuck up for all breeds who have bad rumor shadows once I learn about the dog as a whole . Then I tell them next time always reserch all u can on any topic before speeking about it to others and spreading and creating more sterotypes

I wouldn't really agree verbally, but when walking my dogs, if there is someone who thinks they're so dangerous they need to put a leash on their otherwise badly educated and often unreliable dogs, well, I want try to sell them otherwise

But besides that I want my dogs to be ambassadors of their breed, and therefore I should be one as well. So I'll be happy to set things straight, but then again, when they see my dogs, I hardly ever can be half as convincing as they are.

My dogs have changed a lot of peoples opinions on the breed. They are so friendly with everybody. My family especially have all changed their minds. When we got the 1st female my mom voiced her opinion very loudly about how horrible the breed is and after we took that little baby over to meet her at 6wks old she fell in love. She has 4 Yorkies and they boss my dogs around and mine let them. She laughs now and says her dogs are the vicious ones. She brags to all of her friends that my "vicoius" pits are afraid of her little Yorkies. It's a running joke in our family but they all love my babies and make them part of the family from the time we bring them home.