Forgive the polemic. If you know me, then you know that I am an outspoken advocate of the Pit Bull breed. I'll be the first to say that they get a bad rap that they don't deserve. With that in mind, I was talking to someone today who is thinking about buying a dog, and thinking about the Pit Bull. This person has a kid and was a little nervous about the prospect of their child chasing the dog and getting bit if the dog grew tired of horseplay. I said that I would post this video to show that I have no doubt about Salem's safety when she plays with Mojo.

Mojo loves kids. He is very attached to Salem, very gentle with Salem. And Salem is very attached to Mojo. Whenever other kids are at our house, Mojo never grows tired of playing with them. They chase him around and he loves it. In fact, when I was researching Pit Bulls when considering adopting one, I found that some of the qualities that make Pit Bulls great fighters actually make them great family dogs: Pit Bulls do not scare easily, and dogs bite when they are scared or when they are trained to bite; Pit Bulls have a very high pain tolerance, so they don't get defensive when a kid pokes them in the eye, pulls their tail, etc. Also, Pit Bulls are known for being very fond of adventure; they love to go new places and see new things. One of my friends takes his Pit Bull camping all of the time and the dog absolutely loves it.

However, if you have kids and want to adopt a dog, I strongly recommend adopting a puppy and not an adult. A puppy will grow up accustomed to interacting with kids. With an adult, you just never know.

Don't allow me to sway anyone into getting a Pit Bull if you don't really want one. Just don't buy into all of the BS that says these dogs are natural born killers who run about looking for children to attack. These dogs are very strong, and if they do bite, it can be nasty. But Pit Bulls are also very patient, very affectionate, very loyal to their family, and a whole lot of fun.

In this video, Salem was grooving to her favorite album and playing with Big Mo. Mojo was chewing on some denim I cut from the bottom of my pants. Salem had been taking it away from Mojo. He was a good sport and never so much as growled at her. The video is a bit long. But I didn't want to cut it when posting it with this discussion.