"Lady", screamed the school security guard as he rushed toward me, "You can't bring that pit-bull into the school'.

"Right", I'm thinking, "like I don't have anything to do at 8:45 a.m. on a cold winter morning but bring my uninvited self and uninvited dog into a school".

Fortunately the security guard can't read minds (at least I hope not) so I smile sweetly and explain that we're there to do a school assembly on responsible dog ownership. Not quite believing me and giving my American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff) Mikey a more then curious look the teacher in charge is called, and Mikey and I are in not quite so many words told to "stand" "stay". Suddenly two little girls come running down the hall upon seeing us they cease running and slowly walk toward us. One girl asks "May I please pet your dog", with a smile I can't surpress, my answer is "yes". My smile gets bigger as she puts her hand out for Mikey to sniff and proceeds to stroke him under the chin and work her hand upward to his head. "I remember him from last year, and how you taught us to say hello to a dog" she states. Well the security guard might have been new but these children were not. So the morning was cold, so I get to bed at 3 a.m. after working night shift and set the alarm on full blast for 7 a.m. Who cares, these children remembered some of what I've been bringing to schools on Staten Island for over 10 years, that could have made me forget a blizzard. The teacher in charge of the assembly soon comes and Mikey and I are on our way to the auditorium.

I was doing these programs since I owned Boxers so it only seemed natural for me to bring my AmStafF who started his visitation at about 3 mos. of age. While I don't focus on different breeds, I do ask the children if they know what breed is with me, they usually don't and refer to him as a pit-bull. My explanation is that he is a cousin to the breed and very proud of it since the pit-bull was used to represent our country on a W.W.I poster (there are times I even bring the poster to show the children a part of canine history). Part of my program revolves about teaching the children the proper way to train a dog as they are a product of their environment, just as many humans are. There is always time set aside to speak to the children who are afraid of dogs, not with the idea of taking their fears away, but rather to give them safety tips to follow if they see a stray dog on the street. This is especially significant to me since as a child I had been attacked by a dog, year later the realization set in that in fact I had unknowingly provoked the attack. Nevertheless my fear of dogs laster through my entire childhood. Inviting the children on the stage to pet Mikey, give him a command or two serves multiple purposes. Not only does it get the children involved, it holds their interest, shows how a well trained dog responds to verbal commands and also allows them to interact with the dog some of them may have at first glance considered to be the unjustly named fierce pit-bull. They have now met a true representative of the "bully breeds" (a/k/c American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier), one from good breeding, one who was raised and is owned by a responsible individual.

Mikey is an extremely reserved dog, his biggest interest in life is me. He gets upset to hear other dogs growl or bark, has found injured birds in the yard and has summoned me to help them, sort of like the Albert Schwitzer of the canine world. In all honestly he could not care less if 50 children pet him or if none did, as long as he is with me he's content. To make him a little more interesting to the children I taught him a variety of tricks. One day the program was held in a class room as opposed to the usually auditorium, At the end of the session I asked Mikey to jump on a low set of filing cabinets so he could be at eye level with the standing children. All gathered around him and I said, if you put your hand out and say "Mikey hello", he'll give you his paw, if you say "Mikey kiss" he'll give you a kiss. Poor Mikey, it was paw paw kiss paw kiss kiss until his lovely brindle head was spinning trying to keep up with all the requests the children were making. He has done visitations as a registered therapy dog at a VA hospital in the Bronx, made visits to autistic children who had a dog phovia at Eden II, and while he is adaptable at whatever I ask of him, it is the schools which I myself enjoy the most. The children will be the future owners and if one child can grow up and remember just one part of what they hear at an assembly, then all the cold mornings in the world couldnot keep me away. Mikey has gotten a certificate for "Best Assembly Presentation", and some wonderful letters from the teachers. By the way, he is officially, Ch Motif's War Token of Michael, C.G.C (Canine Good Citizen), T.D.I. (registered with Therapy Dog International), T.T. (Temperament Tested).

Each part of Mikey's registered name holds a special meaning, yet one of those meanings has changed since I first filled out his AKC papers. "Token" was to symbolize the fact he was to be my one and only AmStaff, this is no longer true. After living with him and becoming heavily involved in the "bully breeds", another AmStaff had entered my life along with two Staffordshire Bull Terriers. "Token" has now, for me, come to mean "symbol", as he is truly a symbol representing all the wonderful qualities these breeds have to offer as canine companions.

 
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