I’ve applied what I’ve learned from their lives to my own.
“We raise American Bulldogs & Pit Bulls at our house. We have a GSP, too.
I’ve see the aggressive or ‘bad’ side of all of them. They are hard dogs.
But when I work, rub, or give them a job, they are the best dogs in the world.
Humans can learn a lot from man’s best friend.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Ever since I was a boy, I’d always had an infatuation with bully breeds.
Out of high school, I wanted to get a Pit Bull, however my landlord had a breed restriction on pits, so I “settled” for an American Bulldog.
You know, a very similar breed to the pit bull, just much larger with the potential to be more destructive. Good ‘ol breed restrictions, lol.
So instead of a little skin, teeth, and bone 40-pound pit bull, I ended up with a 100+ pound heavy boned American Bulldog, ‘Ol Hank who just passed on me a year ago.
Of course, I loved the tight, athletic look to these muscley dogs, but that “tough” look isn’t why I was interested in them.
I was always interested in them because of their drive. They are tough as nails dogs with high working drive when they are bred correctly.
So my thinking was get the dogs I’m interested in, and use what many people of old, and sadly still to this day, use for destructive, horrid reasons, and channel that gameness into something positive.
This is when I got into sports like weight pulling, and personal protection training with these dogs. I found that deep, natural desire to work and have a purpose. I found my dogs are happiest and least destructive not from when I cozy them up on the couch, but after they are spent from performing a task, and sometimes that “task” is nothing more than running the field.
And then you flip over to humans.
We are, societally speaking, the laziest and most medicated Populus we have ever been. There are folks everywhere, every day slumming around with no pride, with their necks cranked down starting at a screen, simply existing with no purpose.
And we then wonder why people are depressed, miserable, and destructive.
It’s because just like our dog counterparts, we need a job. We need a function. We need a purpose.
We can’t get around it with lifestyle and “genetic modification” (note how well-bred dogs, and hell even strays, are far healthier than the “designer breeds” man works at screwing up more and more every day?)
“Exercise your dog!” They say.
But we should take the same advice.
For the same reasons.
