Last Saturday was Pit Bull Awareness Day. According to Jodi Pries, who spearheads the efforts, there were more than 150 events around the country where pit bull owners came out to celebrate their family pets and expose the public to the reality that pit bulls are just dogs.
Events took place across the country -- and garnered a lot of media coverage.
Around 30 dogs and owners showed up to walk in the cold in Chesterton, IN.
More showed up in Lubbock, TX -- where the walk was coupled with 3 movie showings of a movie celebrating pit bull type dogs, Beyond the Myth.
Approximately 100 dogs and dog owners were expected to attend an event in New Bedford, MA.
"Hundreds" showed up for an event in Ansonia, CT.
"At least 300" people attended a screening of the pro-pit bull documentary "Guilty Til Proven Innocent" in Tucson, AZ.
Other events were held in Joplin, Mo; Waterloo, IA; Monterey, CA; Houston, TX; Austin, TX; Toledo, OH; Plattsburgh, NY; Cape May, NJ; -- you get the idea.
These events were all widely attended, and drew professionals from all walks of life.
Meanwhile, in Tucson, a small group organized to do a "victims walk" that, I think was accurately defined by this author as a "hate walk". The event was organized by a couple of anti-pit bull activists, and it was no coincidence that they hosted the event to try to overshadow pit bull awareness day activities.
But they did anything but overshadow the events of the day. If anything, the reality that they had two dozen attendees at their one event, in one location, while advocates had dozens, and sometimes hundreds, across more than 150 locations, shows the scale of differential in the issue.
Consistently I have pointed out this differential -- and that there is a complete lack of professsional support for laws targeting pit bulls (or any other breeds of dogs for that matter). And the poor attendence at their one hate event shows that there is little non-professional support either. Meanwhile, literally THOUSANDS of people showed up with their dogs to celebrate their pets in public spaces to help educate the public that pit bulls can be, and are, great pets. And the scale between those who realize that and those who continue to support the mythology of pit bulls as savage and dangerous dogs continues to grow wider and wider.
Congrats and thank you to everyone that showed up to rally events in your communities, and to Jodie Pries at Bless the Bullies who organized the events.
There were over 500 at the Indy Pit Crew event :)
Our little Dallas effort only had 15, but for just organizing it 3 weeks prior, I'm not disappointed.
Posted by: Nichole | October 31, 2012 at 11:44 AM
I noticed too that the "haters" news coverage was strongly in favor of not targeting a specific breed/appearance of dog. Must have fried the taters of the haters to have coverage of the grim turnout, slanted in the opposite direction to which they were hoping to achieve.
Posted by: Brindlestick | October 31, 2012 at 11:50 AM
It was pouring rain in TO but I think they got a few despite the awful weather.
Thanks for this great post!
Posted by: Caveat | October 31, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Wow, the poor turnout of the hate walk is telling since Jaloney and others must have listed the link to it in about 1,000 blogs and comments to pit bull related articles, for months on end. I wonder when the haters will realize they are fighting a major losing battle?
Posted by: Jen Brighton | October 31, 2012 at 12:32 PM
"And the poor attendence at their one hate event shows that there is little non-professional support either."
I talked to someone in Tucson who said she knew of a catering company who had been called and asked to provide food at the walk for victims outing. she refused. not only that but she called several other caterers in town and asked them to also refuse. last but not least she attended the Beyond the Myth screening and the PBAD festivities afterwards. :-)
Posted by: Laura Prowicz | October 31, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Nicole -- nice job on the Indy event -- and for organizing the Dallas one. You're "little" Dallas event was still almost as big as their "national" event :)
Brindlestick -- agree that what little coverage they got was definitely slanted in favor of the dogs.
Caveat -- good news about Toronto -- although I do know of several places that had cold weather. I sometimes laugh at Jodie organizing this for the end of October -- I don't think she realizing how cold it can get North of Tennessee for some of these events :)
Jen -- I dont know if the haters will ever get it....but I do think the general public is starting to get it.
Laura - nice job in Tucson! Great to see the positive response down there.
Posted by: Brent | October 31, 2012 at 01:01 PM
Accept-A-Bull had around 30 for our inaugural Pooch Parade for Pit Bulls in Omaha. We had every type of dog from min pins and chihuahuas to Spinone Italianos and Rotties. We hosted it at a local pet store and received a lot of positive feedback. Additionally, there were over 250 at a Beyond the Myth showing in Lincoln, NE and Accept-A-Bull had 100 people attend our Spayghetti and No Balls fundraiser to support our spay and neuter voucher program.
Check us out!: http://www.acceptabullomaha.org
Posted by: Nick | October 31, 2012 at 01:50 PM
Nice job Nick (and to the folks in Lincoln). Hopefully you all can begin changing minds to get the BSL in Omaha repealed.
Posted by: Brent | October 31, 2012 at 01:59 PM