Paging Dr. 90210

Walking a puppy around the neighborhood means that a lot of people stop us to chat or pet Barksdale. The thing that surprises me is a lot of people ask us what type of dog Barksdale is.

Before we got Barksdale, we had spoken to a volunteer at Oakland Animal Services who was fostering Moxie, a blue pitbull like Barksdale. She told us of several encounters she had while walking Moxie, one in particular where someone actually said "Nice murder weapon." So when we got Barksdale, I was ready for all the judgmental and snarky comments. However, they never came.

I came to realize that this is because people don't see Barksdale as a pitbull, which is why so many people ask what type of dog Barksdale is. To me, she looks like a pitbull, but the most common guess from strangers regarding her breed is Weinheimer. This brings up a larger question - what are pitbulls supposed to look like?

Are they supposed to look like this?

Or this?

What if they look like this?

Pitbulls come in all different forms, they vary in color, size, and shape. But I do know that there are certain features that people have come to associate with pitbulls - cropped ears and docked tales. These two things have become the "identifying" features of pitbulls, even though they are not natural pitbull features. To me, this demonstrates a big disconnect between what a pitbull really is versus what people think they are.

To me, cropped ears and docked tails purely for cosmetics are what I would consider unnecessary surgery. I am not against it, but my personal belief is, if it ain't broke, why fix it? The biggest problem is with dog owners who don't realize the amount of money and time it entails to achieve this look.

Moxie was a victim of a crop job gone bad. Someone had taken a pair of scissors to her ears and just snipped them off. Her ears got infected and as a result of the infection, she became deaf. She is only one example of the casualties of the pitbull stereotype.

Moxie, the nice "Murder Weapon"