THE CRUELEST TRICK EVER PLAYED ON A BREED OF DOG.

WHAT BREED OF DOG DID CORPORATE AMERICA BANK ON AS THE SYMBOL OF FIDELITY, RELIABILITY, INTELLIGENCE AND UTTER HARMLESSNESS TO CHILDREN?
Let’s pretend…
…that you’re the owner of a large national company that makes only children’s shoes. No adult shoes. Just kid’s. Unlike most other businesses your customer profile is extremely narrow. Pretty much only kid’s Moms buy kid’s shoes. You’ve named your company after a cute seven year old boy and you want that little boy to have a dog. There’s nothing more wholesome than a boy and his dog, but which breed should it be? You know dog breeds have different dispositions. German Shepherds for example are vicious, unreliable, uncontrollable and a movement has been formed to ban them altogether. You know this because the newspaper told you so. What you need is a dog universally known as good with children. A dog that not even the most easily scared, overprotective mother in the country would fear might harm the boy he’s pictured next to on every box of shoes you produce and a dog she has no fear would harm her child should he encounter one. You need a dog that is loved by everyone and known as being the absolute safest with kids. The reputation of your company depends on it. What breed do you choose?

…that you are a famous Hollywood director and you want to make a series of films about little scamps running about getting into all kinds of mischief. They need a dog to come along on their misadventures. You’re going to need a smart dog that learns tricks quickly. Time is money. You need a dog that no one is afraid of. You’re shooting comedies. Most of all you need an obedient dog that can work long hours in difficult conditions with a rotating cast of up to a dozen 5-9 year olds who will, as kids do, pull it’s tail, tug at it’s ears, and poke it in the eye at any given moment. What would be best is if you could find a dog that had an obvious identifying mark like a circle around it’s eye. That way you could use different dogs of the same breed by just painting the mark on any similar looking dog that’s available. You need a breed that will take all sorts of poking and prodding and not nip any of the nippers or your whole career could go right down the drain. The headline, “DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN LETS VICIOUS DOG ON SET” is haunting your dreams. What breed can you safely rely on?

…that you are head of a large, cutting edge corporation producing the world’s finest audio equipment. To show just how advanced you are you want your trademark symbol to be a dog listening to what he believes is his owner’s voice coming from your product. Sound fidelity is what you’re selling so you want a breed identified by it’s fidelity. You also want it to represent intelligence, trustworthiness, and patriotism. What you need is a dog that the whole country thinks of as “America’s Dog”, ever faithful to his master’s voice. Which dog do people see as the country’s mascot?

For over 100 years pitbulls were “America’s Dog”, known for intelligence, faithfulness, sweetness of disposition, and most of all the quality they became renown for, being the safest and most trustworthy dog with children.
This gentle breed, once the country’s mascot and it’s safest canine babysitter, we are now told are vicious, uncontrollable monsters so dangerous they need to be legislated against.
The dogs of course are exactly the same.
Only the owners have changed.