Some of you folks reading this may be familiar with National Pit Bull Awareness Day. This is the day designated by Bless the Bullys as one pit bull owners should use to remind the world that all pit bull owners are not alike–sure, there are some really bad apples, but there are also many, many, many of us who are responsible and smart owners/advocates. We take the responsibility of dog ownership seriously and keep our dogs in control at all times. We are not the “criminal element,” as some lawmakers have tried to portray us, nor are we ignorant, negligent, or sociopathic, as some media outlets would have you believe.

Rather, we’re teachers, entrepreneurs, accountants, editors, dog walkers, students, waitresses, and dog trainers. We live in your communities, and you may barely even notice that our dogs exist because we don’t let them roam at large, we don’t let them sit in backyards barking, and we socialize and train them properly so they aren’t scaring you when we walk them down the street.

Anyway, Pit Bull Awareness Day 2009 takes place Oct. 24. B-More Dog has decided to expand it a bit, by making that whole week sort of a Pit Bull Awareness Day week, which we’re marking with a few events.

First, we have a happy hour/silent auction taking place Oct. 19 at <a href=”http://makeabaddecision.com/Bad_Decisions/Home.html”>Bad Decisions</a> bar in Fells Point. We’ll have a bunch of cool stuff you can bid on, drink specials, and lots of friendly pit bull lovers and owners from around the Baltimore area to schmooze with. For details, please check out our Facebook event page here.

On Oct. 24, B-More Dog members will be heading out into the greater Baltimore area to spread the good word about us and our dogs. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate the day yourself, check our post from 2008 listing 10 ways you can do your part on Pit Bull Awareness Day.

On Oct. 25, B-More Dog will also be offering a special Pit Bull Awareness Day Edition of our B-More in Control workshop. From noon to 1 p.m. we’ll be offering our PowerPoint presentation B-More in Control, followed by lots of cool pit bull-centric demonstrations and discussions. We’ll have agility dogs, weight pull dogs, a Rally-O course demonstration, and a narcotics dog presenstion with Star the Staffybull from Mutt Magic Training. Lauren Bond from B-More Charming School for Dogs will also do a training presentation for us. And Baltimore Humane Society is providing us the space to hold the events.

Join us, if you can. Maybe you and your dog will find a new hobby. Details outlined in the flier below.

Help B-More Dog for 5 Bucks!

Since 2006, Macy’s Shop For A Cause Event has partnered with nonprofit organizations nationwide to raise more than $28 million for their ongoing charitable efforts. This is your chance to be part of this year’s event on Saturday, October 17, 2009.

Shop For A Cause gives you the opportunity to help B-More Dog by purchasing a $5 Shopping Pass for exclusive savings and special offers in every Macy’s store on Saturday, October 17th. As a participating charity we keep 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of each pass. Plus, you can enter to win a $500 Macy’s Gift Card!

Come together with Macy’s and us, and while you’re out enjoy a day of shopping and great savings, you’ll be helping our community at the same time. 

For more information or to order a shopping pass, call contact Michelle McDonald at mdebbrr@aol.com

Pigtown Festival is tomorrow

Good times in Pigtown!

 

Tomorrow is the Pigtown Festival, which we’re very much looking forward to. We can’t wait to see the Pooch Pageant, the Running of the Pigs, the Blue Sky Puppet Festival, and more.

If you come out to the festival tomorrow, please stop by our booth  and say hello.

For details and a festival schedule,  click here.

B-More Dog in Baltimore Pets Examiner

Many thanks to Tammy Zaluzney, the Baltimore Pets Examiner, for this great piece  about B-More Dog.  She did a fantastic job capturing what we’re all about, and we appreciate the exposure. This is definitely going to be a must-read blog for Baltimore pet lovers!

B-More in Control

B-More in Control September flier

So this summer B-More Dog has managed to consistently put on our free workshop for Dog owners called B-More in Control. We’ve had free classes in May, July, August, and we’ve got one scheduled in September at the MDSPCA in Baltimore City. We’ve had sort of sparse attendance (one class had seven attendees, another had three, etc.), but each and every time, we’ve managed to get at least one person to come in who really is the kind of person we hoped to reach: Well meaning owners of pit bulls who are just a few steps away from having a big problem on their hands if someone doesn’t help them understand why it’s so incredibly important for all pit bull owners to be more in control of their dogs.

<blockquote>We had a woman at our first class who had ended up with a dog that belonged to someone else that she was having problems taking for walks. The dog was simply too strong for her and she wasn’t really sure how to train it.

We had a couple of new pit bull owners at our second class that were concerned about how to handle reactive dogs out in public–no one had ever really prepared them, prior to adoption, for how to control a dog that’s a bucking bronco when it sees other dogs or cats in public.

We had a woman at one class who had gotten into trouble with animal control in the past when her young pit bull got into a fight with another dog at the park because she didn’t really understand dog aggression or the importance of keeping your dog leashed in public.

We had a woman who had been bitten by a pit bull who wanted to talk to responsible pit bull owners who could help her understand what went wrong and what she should do next. </blockquote>

It’s been an interesting summer, presenting these classes and talking to people about the problems they’re having with their dogs. Quite honestly, most of these problems are often pretty simple to fix, but people just don’t know where to go to fix them or who to talk to about them. I’m hoping we are making some headway in terms of getting them to sign up for training classes and realizing that in this day and age, you can’t just let problems fester and work themselves out. You’ve got to be consistenly proactive–particularly if you want to own a pit bull.

Anyway, all this is to say that B-More Dog has another class coming up Sept. 27. As always, it’s FREE. It’s open to owners of any breed of dog. It’ll cover some basic control issues, some management issues, and a Q&A with a local trainer who might be able to help you get a head start on addressing some of the problems you’re having with your dog. Or, if you’re not having any problems, maybe you just want to hang out with some easygoing, dog-loving people, watch a PowerPoint presentation about dog body language, and talk dogs for an hour or so.

Everyone’s welcome, RSVPs appreciated but not mandatory. E-mail bmoredog@gmail.com for more information on B-More in Control.

Join us at the Pigtown Festival!

B-More Dog will have a booth at the 2009 Pigtown Festival on Sept. 12. We’re excited to see the Pooch Pageant, where guest judges will pick the most unique and well-dressed pups.

For more information on the Pigtown Festival, click here.

City of Laurel Asks for Repeal of PG County BSL

OK, folks, time to start writing your letters and calling your elected representatives.

The city of Laurel, which is on the border of Prince Georges County and Howard County in Maryland, is asking the PG County Executive to lift its ban on pit bulls.

This is a big deal–pit bull owners and lovers have tried unsuccessfully to urge the county to repeal its ban a few years ago. This time a major municipality within that county is taking the first step.

Write the PG County Executive Jack Johnson, whose e-mail is countyexecutive@co.pg.md.us, and urge him to re-examine this issue.

You can find contact info for PG County Council members here.

If you have friends or family living in PG County, it’s particularly important to ask them to write their representatives asking them to repeal BSL in the county as well. Because it’s PG County residents who vote their council members into office, and it’s PG County residents that the council ultimately answers to.

B-More Humane

Today B-More Dog was scheduled to do a humane education/proper dog interaction seminar for some kids at a summer program at a local community center. Doc came along and did some obedience, ate some biscuits, and got loved on by some kids. He did great.

Some photos of him with his new friends. The kid in the white shirt on the left told us he wants to be a dog trainer someday. More, more, more treats. I’m a good dog! Doc and me and friends at St. Francis Community Center. This was really a pretty cool thing–it was casual, we answered lots of questions about dogs and pit bulls, and the kids really liked the fact that Doc was a chain dog from the middle of nowhere but still managed to “make something of himself.”

Definitely a good time, and Doc was a pro!

Button Has a Message for You

Nathon Winograd on Michael Vick

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that not only is Michael Vick out of jail–he’s also been conditionally reinstated by the NFL.

So many people have said so many things about this. We won’t try to reinvent the wheel here. We’ll just direct you to an eloquent blog post by Nathan Winograd on the situation. He titled his post, “And the Monster Went Free.”