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Pit bulls are being freed from their bad reputations and returning as America's top dog

It's a great time to be a pit bull.

pit bull; pit bull awareness; misunderstood breed
Photo by Justin Veenema on Unsplash

Pit bulls may finally be ditching their misinformed reputation.

Believe it or not, pit bulls used to be one of America's favorite dogs, a trusted family pet with a great temperament. People are often shocked to find out that the block-headed pups deemed as aggressive by society actually score really well on the temperament test, landing at 87.4%—only two tenths away from the score of golden retrievers. Yet for the past 50 years or so, they've been in a battle for their lives due to bad press and misinformation. But it looks like their luck is turning around.

Pit bulls have essentially been victims of a half-century-long smear campaign that they didn't sign up for. These extremely affectionate dogs are the product of cross-breeding bulldogs and terriers for the purpose of capturing and restraining livestock. Of course, eventually some not-so-nice humans decided this breed could serve as a money-making endeavor and began to breed them to fight and train them to be aggressive, though those traits are not inherent.

Basically pit bulls are much like any other dog—if you train it to be aggressive, it will do what it's trained to do. If you train it to give you its paw and sit pretty for a treat, it will.

Chocolate pit bull.

Photo Credit: Jacalyn Wetzel

The problem with the information circulating about pit bulls being aggressive is that many dogs who are not pit bulls are labeled as such due to their features, according to the American Pit Bull Foundation.

Recently there has been a counter campaign for the breed and it seems to be showing promise. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who has owned a pit bull, affectionately known by their owners as "pibbles," to say anything bad about the dogs. Aside from some chewed-up shoes and being bombarded with kisses while they snuggle in your lap like a Pomeranian, pit bull owners speak highly of the breed.

Nowadays, the breed has a lot more advocates, from organizations and shelters to soccer moms. Villalobos Rescue Center helped to catapult the dogs back into the spotlight, helping to change the narrative with the docuseries "Pit Bulls and Parolees." The show even documented the stricter laws and misunderstandings around the breed in California, which forced the rescue organization to flee to New Orleans to continue its work.

Photo by Katie Bernotsky on Unsplash

It's thanks to shows like "Pit Bulls and Parolees" as well as shelters and veterinarians combating the negative stereotype that more pit bulls are ending up in homes snuggling on couches than euthanized. Though some states still have strict laws on the books essentially banning the dogs, advocacy groups and pibble owners have been fighting back in court.

Breed discrimination certainly isn't new. Other breeds such as Dobermans, Rottweilers and German shepherds have all done time on the "bad dog" list due to bad press. But the discrimination against the pit bull seems to have taken an exceptionally long time to turn around.

These dogs deserve a chance just like any other dog. All dogs require responsible humans to train and care for them and an entire breed shouldn't get a bad reputation and possible death sentence because a few people decided to be irresponsible. National Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 29.

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Family

1 in 8 kids in the U.S. experiences food insecurity. One simple grocery choice can help.

It's truly a win-win.

Albertsons

No child should have to worry about getting enough food to thrive.

True

When you’re a kid, summer means enjoying the fun of the season—plentiful sunshine, free time with friends, splashing in pools and sprinklers. But not every child’s summer is as carefree as it should be.

For some, summer means going hungry. According to Feeding America, food insecurity affects 1 in 8 children in the U.S., largely because families lose the free or reduced-price meals at school that help keep them fed during the school year.

But back-to-school time doesn’t make food insecurity disappear, either. Hunger is a year-round issue, and with the increased cost of groceries, it’s gotten harder for families who were already struggling to put food on the table.

So what can be done—or more specifically, what can the average person do—to help?

The good news is that one simple choice at the grocery store can help ease the burden a bit for those experiencing food insecurity. And the even better news is that it’s also a healthy choice for ourselves, our families and our planet. When we’re out on our regular shopping trips, we can simply look for the O Organics versions of things we would already buy.

But wait—aren’t we all feeling the pinch at the checkout stand? And isn’t organic food expensive? Here’s the thing: Organic food is often much more affordable than you might think. The cost difference between organic and non-organic products keeps narrowing, and many organic and non-organic foods are now almost identical in price. Sometimes you’ll even find that an organic product is actually cheaper than its brand-name non-organic counterpart.

Since 2005, O Organics has helped give health-conscious shoppers more options by making organic food more accessible and affordable. And now, it’s helping those same shoppers take action to fight food insecurity. For every O Organics product you purchase, the company will donate a meal to someone in need through the Albertsons Companies Foundation—for up to a total of 28 million meals.

Look for the O Organics label in every aisle.O Organics

Here’s what that means in real-world terms:

Say you’re throwing an end-of-summer backyard BBQ bash. If you were to buy O Organics ground beef, hamburger buns, ketchup and sea salt potato chips, you’d be donating four meals just by buying those four ingredients. If you added O Organics butter lettuce and O Organics sandwich slice pickles, you’d be donating two more meals, and so on.

And where are those meals going? Albertsons Companies Foundation works with a network of national and local charities fighting hunger, and regional divisions choose organizations to fund locally. So every O Organics product you purchase means a meal on the table for someone in your area who might not otherwise have the nourishment they need.

No kid should have to worry about getting enough food to thrive. We all make conscious choices each time we walk down a grocery store aisle, and by choosing

O Organics, we can make a difference in a child’s life while also making healthy choices for ourselves and our families. It’s truly a win-win.
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