by Noella Noelophile®
(Graphic courtesy of Imelda Suriato, and used with permission)
Have you ever had the experience of someone stereotyping you–without knowing anything about you?
Artist/entrepreneur Jessica Johnson says that happens all the time, to dogs like her dog “Brodie”.
(Photo courtesy of Jessica Johnson, and used with permission.)
This Christmas season, Brodie and Jessica are participating in animal-advocacy nonprofit I’m Not a Monster, Inc.’s 2015 Monster Holiday Drive. They’ll be collecting toys, blankets and treats for homeless pets, with a particular focus on misunderstood dog breeds.
Year-round, I’m Not a Monster, Inc is dedicated to dispelling myths about these dogs, while promoting shelter pet adoption and networking animals in need.
Jessica says last year’s Monster Holiday Drive raised $422,621 worth of donations, to benefit more than 130 animal shelters and rescues. This year, of course, they’re hoping to do even better!
(Graphic courtesy of Imelda Suriato, and used with permission.)
As a drive representative, or “Monster Elf”, this year, Brodie is helping organizations including Carson Animal Shelter, The Lovejoy Foundation, and It’s the Pits Dog Rescue. Here’s a link to his particular “wish list”, and if you’d like to help, you can drop off these items at the following Southern California locations, during business hours:
- Pets Plus Rolling Hills Plaza – 2539 Pacific Coast Hwy, Torrance, CA 90505
- Global Pet Food Outlet Express: 401 Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
- Country Hills Animal Clinic: 2919 Rolling Hills Rd, Torrance, CA 90505
- John Simich Construction, Inc.: 1400 S. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro, CA 90731
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Wildside Unlimited:1919 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101
Jessica says she’s currently firming up the dates she’ll be delivering donated items to local pet shelters, and we’ll update that here as soon as those dates are definite.
Jessica, of course, is a gifted graphic artist, and the owner of Jessie J Inspirations. 2015 marks the first Christmas season she and Brodie will be part of the I’m Not a Monster family, as well as Jessica’s first year volunteering with nonprofit Pinups for Pit Bulls. The latter is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit, started in 2005. Jessica explained in an email that founder Deirdre “Little Darling” Franklin created the organization with the goal of educating the public about the misconceptions about the pit bull-type dog.
” Deirdre was tired of finding that so-called rescues and shelters were euthanizing healthy, friendly, and adoptable animals due to their alleged “breed”,” Jessica explained in her email. “So she utilized her background in modeling and education in fine arts to create a calendar like no other–eye-catching pinup girls and their pups, paying close attention to detail and era appropriate style along the way.”
Pinups for Pitbulls also fights against breed-discriminatory laws and breed-specific legislation. A part of their mission is to restore the reputation of the pit bull-type dog–which, Jessica says, is that of America’s companion animal, war hero, and family member.
Jessie J Inspirations features a pinup line–with a portion of the proceeds going to Pinups for Pitbulls. But, had anyone told Jessica she’d become an advocate for these dogs, a few years ago, she might have disagreed.
“I didn’t care for bully type breeds (in my growing-up years),” she emails. “We had a neighbor that had a pit bull type dog (that) was a mess…Looking back, it was the owners that…left him outside (untrained and with no interaction). Then, when I was about 23, I met Joni!”
(Photo courtesy of Jessica Johnson, and used with permission.)
Joni, Jessica says, was all about unconditional love, and a complete joy to be around. Joni changed Jessica’s perspective so radically that she began working to educate others on breed misconceptions. And five and a half years ago, Jessica had no qualms about becoming Brodie’s “mom”.
“When I first encountered Brodie, I felt awful for him,” Jessica says. “He was in a state of terror…my first 24 hours with him were nerve-wracking to say the least.” (Brodie clearly had been abused and injured before Jessica met him, and he became very ill that evening. Jessica stayed up, nursing him through the night. Here’s the link to his full story.)
So—trick question. As you look at his “Monster Elf” picture–what breed is Brodie?
The first answer most people would give, isn’t the correct one.
Jessica explains that the only actual pit bull “breed” is the American Pit Bull Terrier. “In reality, ‘pit bull’ is just a loose term to encompass the bully breeds,” Jessica emailed. Those breeds include the bulldog, Boston bull terrier and American Staffordshire terrier.
And there’s no shortage of misconceptions about the bully breeds.
Jessica references the American Temperament Test Society’s 2013 study—which shows a Chihuahua is statistically far more likely to bite than the American Pit Bull Terrier. (So is a Golden Retriever, for that matter.)
There’s also a wonderful Huffington Post article by Bikers Against Breed Specific Legislation President Chris White. In it, White explodes a number of myths about the mixed breeds, to which people generically refer as “pit bulls”. Most notably—White says this type of dog’s jaw does NOT “lock”, as commonly believed. (How could it eat or drink, if that were true?)
Some facts not widely known about these “bully” (meaning bulldog-mix, not bullying!) dogs? A number of bull terriers and mixed breeds served as regimental mascots during the Civil War and Spanish-American Wars. Some of the “bully” breeds were effective at catching rats, on nineteenth-century farms, thus slowing the spread of bubonic plague. And more recently, The “Little Rascals” TV series of the late 1950s to early 1960s wouldn’t have been the same without lovable and loyal “Petey”–an American pit bull terrier.
Oh—and Brodie is a six-year-old, tricolor mixed-breed.
Know a sweet and lovable bull terrier or bulldog-mix pup? Please consider donating to the 2015 “Monster Holiday Drive” for shelter pets in his or her honor!