(photo by Tom Whiting)

What a great night Monday turned out to be. Perfect weather to skip going to the dojo and take my two dogs for an extended walk throughout Christian Hill (God’s country). I enjoy exposing our newest addition to the family an 18 month old red nosed Staffordshire Bull Terrier appropriately named Gronk (pictured with a section of moose antler below) to brand new things.

I get stopped all the time with compliments and even requests for his puppies. (He’s fixed so that’s not an option in case you were wondering.) He’s been to noisy downtown Lowell for many a walk and truth be told the girls that work behind the counter at Brew’d Awakenings love him and one (who shall remain nameless) has slipped him a biscuit or two while he sprawls out on the floor waiting for my coffee. Now that I think of it, I saw the same City Councilor I talk about below in Brew’d Awakenings before and he couldn’t get away from Gronk and I fast enough and I’ve never actually met them.

Back to Monday night….

Gronk is a “pit bull type dog” whatever the hell that means, and strolling down the street I saw a sitting city councilor who looked to be canvassing the neighborhood. He saw us, we saw him and he promptly crossed the street. It’s something I’ve gotten used to as our other dog Brutus who passed away last year was larger and had a face only an owner or close friend could love. Gronk has two strikes against him with most people before they even meet him. I understand this. What they don’t know and will never get to know without asking is that he graduated from obedience class and is an AKC certified canine good citizen. When I rescued him I didn’t do so because he’s a “pit bull”. I rescued him because he is a pit bull. Meaning I know that of the 600 “Pit bulls” that make it into a shelter (not counting rescue groups) in America only one gets adopted, the rest are euthanized. But more than that his story that I won’t bore you with resonated with me because it was similar to Brutus’s story of neglect and abandonment. I’m was in a situation as an experienced bully breed owner to adopt him out and that’s what happened.

So it didn’t really surprise me that someone would cross the street when they saw us. But you’re looking to get re-elected in November and don’t even say hello? Or explain you’ve had a bad experience with dogs? I would totally understand that. But to pretend I’m not there by fiddling with your list? That’s poor form and I can tell you this person lost two votes in the process. Because if you can’t be at least civil now, than I can’t expect you to be on my side if another Breed Specific piece of legislation comes up in the council chambers? I don’t anticipate that happening as one of the few things our Governor Deval Patrick has done that I agree with 100% is passing a law repealing all BSL statewide, but one of the people running for Boston Mayor Rob Consalvo is a noted anti Pit bull politician and said on Nightside with Dan Rea in February that if elected he’d look to put some ordinance back on the books. If that happens I can envision a scenario where other cities try as well. Below is Bill Burr checking in with his tale of adopting a dog. Language is NSFW. Enjoy.