When Marisa Elbert adopted pit bull Maisy from a shelter in northern California in 2016, she didn’t expect to talk so much with her new dog. Barking, yes. But talking? Surprisingly, however, Maisy makes sure that her voice is heard by “wooing” back when Elbert talks to her, which makes her even more adorable.
Despite their notorious reputation, many dog lovers decide to rescue pit bulls from shelters instead of other breeds. Maisy is one such dog that is setting a positive example for her breed online. Her previous family wanted to breed her, but when Maisy couldn’t get pregnant, they decided to euthanize her. They claimed that she was too ugly to get adopted.
While they tried to arrange plans to put the dog down, Maisy was locked outside alone all day in a cramped kennel and was only attended to when her previous owners fed her or tried to breed her.
Luckily, a friend of Maisy’s former owners heard about their plans and offered to take the dog to a shelter instead. Shortly after she was dropped off, the staff uploaded Maisy’s photo to their website, which is how her future mother first saw her.
Like Maisy, Elbert was at a low point in her life. She had not only lost both of her parents, but her previous 13-year-old pit bull had recently passed away as well. A thoughtful friend saw Maisy’s picture on social media and tagged Elbert. And just like that these two grieving souls found each other at the perfect time.
Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video 🙂
Her New Environment
“I really believe that (Maisy) was sent to me from my parents and (my other dog),” Elbert told The Dodo in 2018.
The two were a perfect match, as Elbert recalls. As soon as Maisy got to her new home, she started wooing with happiness in no time.
“The first day when I brought her home, we went down the driveway, and I threw some balls for her,” Elbert explained.
“I mean, she was wooing on the way up, wooing on the way down. She was just so happy. It’s like she knew she was home.”
With that said, it did take some time for Maisy to adjust to her environment. After all, she had spent her entire life neglected in someone’s backyard up until that point. Dog toys seemed completely new to Maisy. Even being in the house was strange for the pit bull, Elbert explained. But as time went on, Maisy adjusted to her surroundings and began to get along with her many animal siblings — Elbert’s two horses and tabby cat, Motor.
“My big cat Motor was just in love with her from the beginning,” Elbert told The Dodo.
Beyond making friends with her species’ rival, Maisy became fast pals with Elbert’s horses, too. Whenever Elbert takes the pit bull to feed the horses, the enthusiastic dog is full of excitement and joy to see her friends. Maisy even gives her large four-legged friends kisses by touching noses with the horses. “It’s a total party,” Elbert explained.
Elbert’s experience with Maisy just goes to show that pit bulls aren’t always as menacing as some dog owners make them out to be.
An Undeserved Stigma
In fact, it turns out that the breed’s bad reputation is largely a historical phenomenon, according to Browney Dickey, an American journalist who wrote a book about pit bull stigma called “Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon.”
For example, Dickey argues that misinformation plays a big role in how pit bulls are perceived. Dog fatalities are very rare, and the deaths that are ascribed to pit bulls are often misattributed.
“People who have studied these cases, like Jeffrey Sacks at the CDC, have shown that when it comes to fatalities caused by pit bulls, the breed identifications are often not accurate,” Dickey explained in a 2016 interview with National Geographic. “The title ‘pit bull’ has expanded so dramatically over the years that people are lumping any dog with a large head and short coat into that category rather than separating out each of the pit bull breeds.”
Dickey also points out that the history of pit bulls in the U.S tells a different story.
The dogs were quite popular during WWI and the Depression, according to Dickey’s research. At that time, the breed wasn’t seen as a menace; rather, they were all-American, representative of blue collar workers and average citizens. However, the post-WWII boom began to change that. Dickey notes that the economic momentum led to a greater interest in kennel club breeds, and thus pit bulls fell out of favor with American pet owners. But one of the biggest shifts in public perception came in the 1970s when the humane movement began working to crack down on illegal dog fights.
A Life-Changing Companion
“In order to do that, they partnered with the media to put dog fighting on the front page of every newspaper in America,” Dickey told National Geographic. “In doing so, they encouraged wild speculations about these dogs that were not based in science or historical fact — things like they have 5,000 pounds of jaw pressure. And the more terrified everyone became, the more people who probably should not have had these dogs, wanted them.”
And since then, pit bulls haven’t really been able to shake their bad reputation. But stories like Elbert and Maisy’s are clearly helping to change peoples’ perception of the breed. A look at the below video’s comment section is evidence of that. Thousands of viewers from all around the world seem to love Maisy and her story, with many calling her “beautiful.” And for what she’s done to Elbert’s life — sparking joy just when she needed it — it seems clear that Maisy is beautiful both inside and out.
“I mean, she gave me something that I was needing,” Elbert told The Dodo. “I needed something to cheer me up, I needed something to kind of reassure me that I wasn’t alone. And this dog — she just came in and brightened everything up. She would kind of sense that I was feeling down, and she’d come over and pretty much smash her face into mine and start licking me. She just knew how to make everything OK.”
For fans of Maisy and her wonderful wooing, check out @maisythebarnhippo, Elbert’s Instagram, where she shares updates about the happy pit bull’s life.
Have you ever been touched by a pet’s companionship? Let us know how your furry friends help you through hard times, and don’t forget to pass this video along to all your friends who love animals!
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