Pit-iful Prejudice

"And here is one of my pitbulls with her mother, and her grandmother," the lady said as she showed me the 68th picture in her phone photo gallery.
 There were 3 pitbulls all lying atop each other like a layer cake.
It was a cute picture,that was not the problem. The problem was that after 10, maybe even 20 cute pictures of her pitbull, I was ready to move on. And while I can be rude when I don't mean to be, being purposely rude to someone who loves her dog so passionately is just not easy for me. Finally, after learning that her pitbull was a dock dog, agility dog, obedience dog, and therapy dog, I managed to convince her I was supposed to be working at the dog show, not yakking it up with the dog owners.

What was doubly strange about this interaction was I had been late to the dog show, and all because of another pitbull owner! (indirectly at least.)
I was late because the very nice Verizon representative that was supposed to be helping me fix my phone, was instead busily talking to me about the virtues of pitbulls. She told me she had no children, but she had a pitbull, and apparently that was better. I am not even sure how the phone technician began talking about pitbulls, but word of warning to anyone who meets  pitbull owners.....they will be more tenacious than their dog. When they get a chunk of someone's ear to talk about the virtues of the pitbull, they hang on with their vocal apparatus firmly locked around your auditory system. They will not stop til you walk away. Their jaws are locked on their prey.

This is not true of their pitbull, by the way, and one of the common strange misperceptions. Pitbulls jaws do not lock like vise grips once they grab their prey. Nor do their jaws exert enough force to bite through kryptonite. They bite exactly like any dog, when they bite. However, they are less likely than most dogs to bite. They have a temperament rating of  82% compared with the typical dog population rating of 77%. The dog most likely to bite is the well known and feared....dachshund.

There are many websites written by and for devoted pitbull lovers. Being as God keeps knocking me over the head with Pitbull people, I read the pitbulllover.com site. Not everyone should own a pitbull. They can be a large dog, and especially if unneutered, can be dog aggressive. However, contrary to popular belief,as a breed, they are  people lovers. A pitbull that is aggressive or shy towards humans is very unusual and not typical of the breed. Their tenacity and intelligence makes them great dogs for families that can give them "meaningful" work. They make great guide dogs, therapy dogs, agility, or working farm dogs. Old granny types should not get pitbulls, but not because they are easy pickings for the marauding devil dog. It is just that old granny types cannot exercise the pitbull as much as they need for optimal health and happiness.
Another favorite misperception is that they are unstable, and will turn crazy because their brain swells and no longer fits properly in their skull. Again, no basis in fact. If a dog's brain swells, it dies.  If left unneutered, around age two the pitbull can become dog aggressive, particularly if not properly socialized. But they do not suddenly freak out for no reason. The overwhelming majority of pitbull attacks are by dogs that are chained, improperly trained or socialized, or even taught to attack.

So the main traits I read (and heard!) over the past few days about pitbulls are : loyalty, tenacity, intelligence, playful, loves kids,strength.
How did these admirable qualities end up making them hated? Personally, it is a list that I used to pick a husband. And when my children display these qualities, I praise God. So I wondered what God was trying to tell me, bombarding me with pitbull lovers every where I turned.

The major enemy of the pitbull is ignorance and prejudice. It is true that they are a favorite choice of the idiots that train animals for dog fighting. Even those poor creatures can be rehabilitated but probably not by the average dog owner. The typical pitbull is a great dog. But even I, a dog lover, am a little scared of pitbulls as a breed. (though pitbull is NOT a breed- another misperception. There are a whole lot of breeds and mixed breeds called pitbulls.) I think God is trying to teach me not to remain in ignorance and mistrust and fear. So much of how we respond in life is based on misperceptions and fear. Those are the worst motivators for any kind of action or belief.

When God lowered the sheet of "unclean" animals from the sky in a vision to Peter, and told Peter to "kill and eat", he was horrified. Not because he was an animal lover, but because the animals were those that Jews were prohibited from eating. God was giving a dramatic lesson in the truth of His Kingdom- nothing He declared holy was exempt from His love and protection.

I think God is lowering a sheet from the sky, and a big lovable pitbull is sitting on it. I think God is telling me, "Look around you. All those ugly, stupid, smelly, struggling souls that you think are unworthy, or only good to be silenced or eradicated.....those harbor souls as precious as yours. Don't be afraid. Reach out and love them. Love all of them as I have loved you."

And all God's pitbulls say, "Amen!"

Acts 10: 14-15
 ¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
 ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Swan Songs

We were on autopilot, the dogs and I, on our usual run to the little lake in the adjoining neighborhood when I screeched to a stop along the shore. I really could not believe my eyes. On our dippy little pond, covered with water weeds were two magnificent swans.

The Canada Geese were all huddled at one end and looked like gnats next to the giant white swans. The swans had bright orange beaks with black knobs on them, and black extending to their dark eyes. The rest of the huge birds was pure white. Their necks curved in the classic sinuous s, and they made the little unassuming lake suddenly seem magical. I rubbed my eyes. Maybe they were really just large white geese? But no, these were swans. Out of the dregs of my memory I even clutched at the kind- Cygnet Swans. I knew cygnet also meant baby swan, but I vaguely recalled that this classic swan was also named Cygnet.

While I watched, the swans glided near, and my normally explosive dogs perked up, but were silent. I think they too were captivated by the beauty. A few geese also ventured near, thinking I had food most likely. With an explosion of enormous wings flapping, the larger swan tore after the geese, nipping at them. Several times over the many minutes I stood there, the swans attacked the geese. I felt sorry for the geese. After all, it had been their lake first.

 But swans! Here on little Shadow Lake! And it was a pair. Were they here to raise young?

I rarely see anyone by this little lake. The dogs and I go almost every day. It is lined on two sides by trees and a little path. The other two sides have houses along the banks. It is very small. No more than a quarter mile all around the edge. But I like to go to the tree covered path and look out over the little lake, and talk to the geese. I feel that for a moment, I am in nature. Not in the middle of a plain subdivision. My soul, which really belongs somewhere in the country soaks in those quiet moments of that little sanctuary, and then I am able to face the concrete and traffic again.

And now this in my little haven- swans!

Upon returning reluctantly home, I researched swans. The ones I had seen are indeed called Cygnet Swans, but more commonly Mute Swans. Their normal habitat usually only extends as far south as Maryland and North into Massachusetts and Canada. I wonder if they got tired of the constant onslaught of snow this year up North. I had instinctively known they were not in their usual setting.

Mute swans are not really mute. When angry or threatened, they emit a squawk.  Legends claim the swan is mute until its last moments. Upon dying, it breaks its silence and sings. Thus the famous "swan song". As far as I could tell, the only factual aspect of this might be that as it is dying, it is being threatened and it breaks its silence to squawk.


The Mute Swan is considered an invasive, non-indigenous species. For you kids preparing for your English AP exam, this means they crowd out other wildlife, and they were imported from somewhere else. Apparently, this is a source of controversy in the swan aficionado world. There is heated debate, with experts pointing to paintings from the 1500s of swans here in America, despite other experts claiming a latter importation date. And this is the part that floored me. In 2004, there was a nationwide program by our dear Uncle Sam to wipe out 85% of the mute swan population. This is because some experts claim that Mute Swans are so aggressive that they drive out other nesting wild fowl. Besides that, they eat prodigious amounts of water plants, leading to weed choked lakes no longer looking like green cesspools.(They phrased the danger a little differently.) Swans that become used to handouts from humans will become belligerant if food is then withheld. (so who doesn't?)


So as usual, the response is to kill them. Further research showed that the experts were wrong. Mute swans don't obliterate the vegetation, and don't chase out populations of wild fowl. And if people don't feed them, they will leave people alone, unless their nesting young are approached too closely. I for one, am rooting for the swans.


There are a lot of horrendous things going on in the world, even in my own small sphere of friends. Really horrible, unbearable difficulties. It is easy for sensitive souls to be swallowed up in all that despair. But then God sends a swan. Something beautiful, and unexpected. Something that makes me stop, catch my breath, clutch my heart. Something pure and white and holy in its loveliness. Something to remind me that even on the weed choked ponds of life, swans sometimes come to roost.

Psalm 104: 2-3,12,24

² The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;
   he stretches out the heavens like a tent
 ³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
   they sing among the branches.
 ²⁴ How many are your works, LORD!
   In wisdom you made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures.