Janus mom....your story is very touching
I have a vet and ignorant people story. About 6 weeks ago I took our year and a half old girl Sasha to the vet. This is a huge, very busy office. So, I am standing there waiting to check out and Sasha is in a sit stay on my left side. Dogs are walking all around her and although I can see she would LOVE to play, she is sitting and staying. A guy to the right of me who is waiting for his dog to come out from boarding says "Beautiful Dog"...Meanwhile this lady comes in from outside, scopes out the waiting room that is filled with probably 12 dogs, singles me out with my dog in a SIT STAY while others were pulling on the lead, etc, comes over to me and says, "Does your dog fight with other dogs"...well, ya know, it was a long day...I was tired, a bit crabby, extremely worried about my girl, the last thing I needed another ignorant comment by another uneducated person. So, I replied back with "No, she just eats them". Of course she looks horrified, I chuckle and say, "look at her in comparison to the other dogs in here, does it look like she fights with other dogs?" SHe says, "Oh...well, since she doesn't fight with other dogs I'll bring my dog in". As if she wasn't going to bring her dog in because there was a dreadful ROTTWEILER in the room. SO, the guy to the right of me who commented on Sasha is smirking during all this. A minute later, out come his rottie and pit bull from boarding. He walks past me and says, "don't you get tired of the comments?" Now the same lady looked even more nervous and of course shielded her dog when the rottie and pit bull went by. At that point, I approached her, with Sasha who immediately sat on my left side when I stopped walking, and I showed her a picture that I had with me of Sasha licking our then 5 day old newborn baby. I said, "Do you think I would allow this if she was dangerous?" I went on to say that Rotties, LIKE ALL DOGS, need proper handling and training....tried to give her a little education, etc....hopefully it worked a little.
I walk her a lot and I also get so tired of the people that will actually CROSS a busy, main street when they see her coming. So sad, such a misunderstood breed.