Ode to Cicero - the Pit Bull who owns a big chunk of my heart...

I decided to capture my feelings for my furbabies on "paper".  Thus this will consist of a three part post.  I love my pets all three of them are unique in their own way...but I am going to start with my eldest and perhaps the one I feel most connected to.

First and foremost, let me give some history as to how I came to love the Pit Bull breed.  Yes, my eldest and prized dog, Cicero is an American Pit Bull Terrier - a ball of muscle and energy contained in chocolate brown silk who turns 2 this August.

In 2009, I heard a woman talking in my mother's kitchen about how vile and vicious Pit Bulls are, how the breed should be banished and destroyed, how she hated any and everything remotely Pit Bull.  I thought to myself...holy smokes, how could one person hate something that much?  Being the spiteful and curious creature that I am, I started to investigate and do research on this heinous breed of dog.  Imagine my surprise at what I found!  Naturally I fell in love with not only the beauty, strength and agility of this dog but also their loyalty, love and courage.  I couldn't stop reading, watching and immersing myself in all that is Pit Bull.  I wanted a Pit Bull - I promised myself that I would buy myself a Pit Bull...a chocolate brown male.

So time went on.  I scouted, looked at puppies, felt the heartache every time when things didn't go according to plan if I saw a cute little one which could potentially be "the one" and things didn't pan out, until, in 2012, I saw a picture of a little chocolate brown pup with a huge head, huge paws and these beautiful serene eyes.  I just KNEW I found the one.  I was so excited I nearly had a heart attack.  My boyfriend and I made arrangements to fetch this handsome young fellow (a few hours' drive).

It was love at first sight.  Both my boyfriend and I were in love with this little puppy, immediately.  I am struggling, even now, to put into words the feelings I have towards Cicero.  Some may call it obsession, you have obviously never owned a Pit Bull.  They take over your heart in a way that you can not describe.

Cicero is a very headstrong dog.  He has a very strong personality.  He also loves to play rough.  He also likes to get his way.  He likes to jump onto couches.  He has an uncanny way of aiming for my boyfriend's testicular area when jumping (I find this amusing, my beloved, does not).  He loves to chew up irrigation and small trees.  He loves to decorate the garden with leaves he picked from the tree himself.  His farts are vile.  All of these aspects would make any sane person lose their shit - it adds spice to my day.

 One day without fetch or tug-o-war with Cicero is a shitty day.  One day without a Cicero kiss just sucks.  When I am positioned on the couch he will jump on and get in behind my back, sometimes leaving me dangling over the edge - but cuddle we must, because that is his spot, close to his mom, or his dad.  He loves to snuggle with his

head on your chest, even holding you sometimes (aww moment right here people).  He is an excellent foot warmer.  Cicero can talk - in a language I don't really understand but at the same time I do.  He really gets me.  When I feel sad or down, he plays nice - he handles me with care.  He would come sit with me and just lick my face until I laugh, or get onto my lap, or fart, or pee on my leg - anything just so I wouldn't cry.  Good dog :) (he really isn't that bad and really only peed on my leg once) He seems to have a sense of humor though :P

I recently had surgery and so I haven't seen my babies for more than a week.  This past Saturday was our reunion.  I was lying on the couch and the dogs came racing in, balls of energy bouncing everywhere.  Cicero of course was all over the place.  He took a seat across the room from me, eyeballing me all the while.  All of a sudden, he let out a little cry, got up, jumped onto me and put his head onto my chest, sticking his nose out - I gave him a big kiss and hugged him tight.  He had tears in his eyes.  I kept telling him how much I had missed him and he just kept looking at me with those same serene soulful eyes.  My precious and beautiful Pit Bull of almost 2 years old.

People who have never owned a Pittie won't understand this - Pittie people will understand this.  The love you develop for a Pit Bull can not be measured, it can not be described in words.  It just is.  I imagine it may be the same with other dogs, though I have never felt the same with previous pets, ever.  My Pit Bulls are my life.  It feels as though Cicero and I are connected on another kind of level.  If this makes me the crazy dog lady I will proudly wear the title.

Cicero - I love you! You have taught me so much and gave me so much

xx

I say this too much, but not enough

I love my boyfriend.  Not in the movie romance kind of way where a cacophony of sound drowns out the universe every time we walk towards one another or kiss one another - no.  Nor the type of love that makes me faint whenever he gives me "that look" no.  Nor the type of love that makes me scream like a deranged person and run after him at an airport. Just...NO.

The kind of love I am talking about can be described as something like this:  when I wake up in the morning, the first person I want to see and talk to, is him.  I find comfort in his awkward snicker when I make stupid jokes or his giggle at my obvious disgust when he makes my coffee too strong.  He is the kind of guy who will listen to me talk and talk and talk (with an expression as if listening intently), only replying with "cool", and moving on with his things....only to ask me a ton of questions later.  He really listens, in his own, peculiar way.  We have our own, very strange sense of humor that people find odd, or even a bit daft which makes it even more funny, because it's very dry and oh so punny.  See what I did there? ;)  I really try very hard to watch sci-fi movies with him (really, I do), but end up snoring through 3/4 of the movie because sci-fi movies really ARE the best lullabies ever!!  This has shocked and saddened him - now he just puts me to bed or chases me to bed before he watches his movies, win- win?  :)

We aren't a perfect couple - I have a short temper and he is a bit scatter brained.  Sometimes we growl at each other, but we care too much for each other to go to bed with unresolved issues.  When I get upset I tend to say things I don't mean or saying things I mean in a very mean way and I end up feeling like a complete asshole.  These things happen.  What makes us work well, I think, is the fact that we talk, about everything.  We resolve things quickly and I do believe this is muchos importante for any relationship, be it romantic or otherwise, to function properly.

When my beloved and I are apart, I begin to wilt, because I have come to realise, that I really can't live without his scatterbraindness, his punny jokes or sleepy blue eyes.  We keep each other grounded and when he's not here, I keep falling.

What do I think about love in general?  It should never be selfish.  I have been selfish, I can truly admit that, but I really care deeply about the wants and needs of my boyfriend.  His happiness is everything to me.  His success is my success. His joy is my joy.  His heartache is mine.  I don't believe that a good woman would ever allow her man to fall down, without helping him up, dusting him off, and starting over, with a stronger flame and a will to move forward.  Love is friendship, companionship, laughter, a partnership and a bicycle made for two.

My darling - I LOVE AND ADORE YOU!!

Vir Johan - my ROCK...dankie x

What I have learned from my pets

I have always been an animal lover.  From horses, to cats [highly allergic though], to birds, to dogs - I dig them all.  Since childhood we have had an assortment of pets, all of which I have fond memories of.  None however can come close to the bond I have with the dogs I acquired when I started living on my own.  Two rambunctious American Pit Bull Terriers and a Jack Russell Terrier who firmly believes she is a rambunctious American Pit Bull Terrier.

Many, many people gasp in disgust and general concern when I mention that I am the proud owner of Pit Bulls [lady, are you mad?? Those dogs are DANGEROUS!!] So is ignorance my friend :)

I used to get very emotional when people made rude remarks about my dogs - I used to get involved in long, heated discussions.  I have since decided that no more.  People will keep on believing what they believe, irrespective of the facts.

All of this made me look more closely at people.  What I saw was shocking.  You see, my dogs don't judge people, the opposite can't be said however - because my Pit Bulls are judged purely because they were born Pit Bulls.  People have various reasons for hating the "bully breed", which include being personally attacked by a Pit Bull type dog, reading stories in the media, hearing stories from people, seeing the demeanor of the Pit Bull as being aggressive and so on and so forth.  I respect people's views - everyone has the right to an opinion, that is well and fair - what I do not understand though, is the mere fact that people base their opinions not on research but on hearsay [maybe this is my legal practitioner talking].  Still, to each their own.

 Interestingly enough, when I was a child of about 4 years old, I was attacked by our family pet, a Fox Terrier - he bit me in my face.  Luckily my dad was outside and he could stop the attack.  Nothing triggered the attack, I wasn't close to the dog - he just lunged for my face [my parents later gave him away to family who didn't have children and he lived a long happy life].  My parents didn't hold a grudge against the dog, nor the  breed, neither did I.  Some dogs just snap - you handle a situation as it arises.  You solve a problem and you move on, you don't make the problem bigger.

My dogs don't discriminate, they love everyone entering my house equally, provided that I introduce my dogs to them, of course :) they do not inspect nor expect them to check what breed they are, they do not ask for a payslip or an IQ test - they are just happy for the company.  Because above all else, they are just dogs.  I brought up my dogs in a disciplined but loving manner, to be advocates for the breed - to such an extent that my Jack Russell Terrier also believes she is a Pit Bull because she has the attitude of a dog four times her size.

My dogs taught me to take no heed to the critics - you can change a few people's minds by showing them, but words will only fall on deaf ears.  By fighting, you only lose in the end, because you stoop to the level of others - there is never a winner in a fight, because fighting isn't necessary.

Pit Bulls are the underdogs - the ones people so often underestimate, yet they are the ones that so often surprise us.

My dogs have changed many a mind on the breed - because I do not treat them as Pit Bulls, I treat them as dogs - they are members of my family.  I try my best to remove any stigma surrounding them, to show people that one should know the facts before one speaks.  This is true for various other aspects in life - we so often form an opinion based on "he said, she said", without knowing the true story, which causes so much trauma, drama and pain.  We have become so comfortable in being ignorant that we forget to be curious - finding things out for ourselves.

Now, when I am confronted with a Pit Bull hater, I just smile and walk away - because ignorance is bliss and it really does not help to even try convert the unbeliever when they themselves are too lazy to do a bit of research.

This is true in life as well - be a role model. Do not grab the "unbelievers" by the throat and throttle them, this gives them more fire power to just steer clear - set the example to make them yet MORE curious.  My dogs are such goof balls that people can't believe that they really are Pit Bulls [victory dance up in here].

Negativity never wins - trump the negative with the positive.  It might take a while, but it is worth it.  I have seen awesome results with my beloved dogs as the world around me has started to shift.  I have applied what I have learned to other areas as well, it works like a charm.

We can learn a lot from animals, especially, our pets...if only we could be patient enough to sit and observe them, we would be much the wiser.