Ever since I was little, my family has owned a dog. Since then, we've had three dogs: Nelly, who passed away in 2011, and lived a fairly long time for a Golden Retriever that convinced herself chocolate was equivalent to doggy food; Bo, who we got after Nelly passed, and is still as stubborn as ever; and Genie, who we got in 2014 as a companion to Bo, since we couldn't always get him to a dog park. Bo needed a non-human friend to roughhouse with and expel that puppy energy.

We tried the cats, but this was the general response:

"See this? Yer next!"

However, many people give Genie the side eye because of her breed: She's most likely a pitbull-terrier mix. You hear horror stories all of the time about pitbulls and other "bully breeds" going after innocent people. However, this is due to unjust training of their owners. Aggressive pitbulls are taught by their owners to be bullies for fairly cruel reasons, often enrolling them in dog-fighting matches. There's a saying in the media: if it bleeds, it leads, and dog attacks from dogs that are already seen as "dangerous" would make the front page before an attack from a Chihuahua would be near the personal ads.

Besides criticizing their unfortunate taught behavior, there's many unfair and merely aesthetic reasons people pick on pitbulls in particular: Their rock hard head, and their infamous "locking" jaw that doesn't let go. Genie has both of these traits, especially the rock hard head.

Try getting that noggin to the nose. Yeeowch!

Unfortunately, I don't have another photo of Genie holding onto a toy for dear life. If she really likes her toy, she's keeping her toy unless you distract her with Bo or another toy that smells even more like doggy slobber.

So yes, she does have some of the typical traits of a pitbull, since that's her breed. However, just because a dog has certain traits doesn't mean they will necessarily show them in a negative way. Like any dog, pits need love and understanding and need to be shown love and compassion to return it in kind. Aggressive behavior is taught, so do not confuse the aggressive training of an owner with the true heart of a pitbull.