Do You Take Pitbulls?

I got a phone call today from a nice woman who had two, young bull-breed dogs she wanted to enroll in my beginning obedience class.  She sounded nervous and hesitant as she asked if I would take them in the class.

 “Well” I responded, “there will have to be two humans there to work with them during class.”  She replied that that wasn’t a problem, her husband would come with her.  Then she went on to say how relieved she was that I would take these dogs in my class.  I asked her a few more questions about the dogs (something I do with every potential client who calls) and none of my ‘trick the dog owner’ questions resulted in answers that worried me.

Are there really dog trainers out there who don’t accept ANY bull-breed dogs in their classes?  Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I don’t understand how anyone who calls themselves a professional dog trainer can do that.  I expect a professional dog trainer to know enough about dogs to understand that the propaganda put out by narrow-minded proponents of breed-specific legislation is largely over-blown hyperbole.  I also expect that someone who accepts money for their dog-training advice has enough skill to handle difficult dogs in class.

But then, maybe I’m just old-fashioned.