Eragon, An American Pit Bull Terrier

My husband bought Eragon for me when he was six weeks old after the loss of our beloved Conan also an American Pit Bull Terrier. Conan was only with us a short time before he went to bark with the angels.

Eragon was raised and trained by me. Oh, my husband's part in this? He feeds them, take them to their doctor's appointments, have play time and walk them. When I say them, we have a Labrador Retriever, Squeaky. She has her own hub, I Found Love Just In Time.

For as long as I can remember the pit bull has been given a bad rap such as biting, fighting and killing. I have witnessed to a man beating his children was attacked by the family pet, a pit bull. They live right behind me. He had some people with pits to come and fight, I witnessed that and called the police.

I've read that a pit bull attacked a young man when he and the dogs owner got into a heated argument and pushing was involved.

Another incident was a child pulled her pets tail and the dog snapped at her, the mother told the little girl not to pull the dogs tail and according to her she didn't pay any more attention to what was going on after she said not to pull the tail. She stated that the child was digging in the flower bed and she motioned with the stick to hit the dog and the dog pushed her down with his mouth around her neck.The child died at the hospital and the dog (a pit bull) was put down.

These are all terrible incidents with pit bulls involved. The one thing I noticed in all the incidents, the dog was provoked in some manner. You can't beat them, pull their tails, motion at them because they do not know what your intentions are. They go into defensive quick! Almost any dog will defend his owner or a member of his immediate family. I have never witnessed a dog walk up to anyone and out of the clear blue sky bite or kill.

I will defend Eragon until he shows me he is a killer. I will never say what a dog won't do when provoked. Eragon is part of my immediate family, that includes myself, husband and Squeaky. We are responsible pet owners and we take responsibility for their safety and welfare. They are not allowed to roam around unattended.

I have a grand daughter eight years old that spends the summer with us. She is not allowed to enter into the fenced area where the dogs are kept. Well, the gate is locked anyway.

I'm a firm believer that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In other words, prevent it before it happens. Children are mischievous, so are some adults, and will do things to aggravate or provoke a dog.

Being protective of his family is a characteristic he developed on his own. It is his way of saying I Love U Ma. When he is outside, he alerts us someone is on or crossing on our property and he will bark until he sees one of us come to look.

He has never been trained to attack but he will protect his owners, where he lives and our personal property. When I say personal property, I talking about our vehicles. We take him to the store, whatever vehicle we are in, he will alert us if anyone gets to close. He expects cheetos when we come out of the store. He's been eating them since he was a baby.

Eragon is well mannered and obeys when we speak to him. When speaking to him, I use a firm voice and he adheres to what I say. There are some commands that I may have to say twice to get his attention and that's during play time. He loves to run and he loves to be petted and hugged. He lays his head on my lap for me to scratch his head. Yes, he is spoiled and I'm as guilty as my husband.

He has been neutered, that tones down aggressiveness. I thought my son would have a coronary when I told him. All he was thinking about was how much money I could have made by mating him with other thoroughbred pit bulls. I had no interest in that, all I want is for him to be healthy and that he is.

Yes, he had a birthday party. He had a cupcake, ice cream and a hot dog. We ate with him, and when he finished, we got face kisses!