Stereotypes and Breeds

This blog post was written by a guest blogger.  Madison is 11 years old and has been attending HAWS Kids 'N Critter Camps for many years.  As a matter of fact she enjoys it so much she usually comes 4 or more weeks every summer. 

Madison is currently attending our Camp Gone to the Dogs in which a group of 3 campers is assigned an adoptable dog to care for during the week.  Yesterday Madison told me about something that she saw happen at the shelter that made her angry, and I asked if she would mind writing about it. Here it is in her words:

Hi, my name is Madison and I come to a lot of HAWS summer camps every year.  This week I'm in Camp Gone to the Dogs. 

While I was putting my dog back in his kennel there was a lady looking for a puppy, so one of the other campers told her to look at Bailey, and adorable pit bull mix puppy. 

The lady said, "Oh, you're cute!!!".  Then she looked at Bailey's information card and saw "pit bull mix".  The lady then said "pit bull mix! I thought you were cute!!!" in a snotty way. 

It shouldn't matter the breed of the dog; if the dog is cute, the dog is cute.  I felt sad for Bailey and angry at the lady for saying that about her.  I feel sad for Bailey and other pit bulls that may be getting passed up for adoption because of false stereotypes about the breed.  This is why people need to be educated about pit bulls and other misjudged breeds.  If this lady would have been educated or more open minded about pit bulls, Bailey could have had a much higher chance to get adopted soon.