A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a little music elitist that felt Japanese musicians like Gackt were the epitome of genius, creativity, and expression through music. Needless to say, I very quickly realized I was a bit off (especially with the Gackt part). Moving from artist to artist throughout the years in my journey to find the best musical sounds for my own tastes, I made my way from eastern Asia all the way back to English speaking countries in 2009 when I ~mysteriously~ ended up with two newly released CDs with similar sounds: Foot of the Mountain by Norwegian superstars a-ha, and Hands by British electropop/synthpop artist Little Boots. I don’t really know what exactly compelled me to get these CDs: perhaps it was some divine intervention kind of thing that people go on and on about. However it happened, I’m sure glad it did. The similar-but-different sounds of both a-ha and Little Boots were extremely reminiscent of 1980s pop music around the world (which a-ha was originally a part of, dontcha know) but were still relevant and modern for the new millennium. After I played the two CDs a few hundred times, I moved on to other artists with high degrees of 1980s influences such as La Roux and Marina & the Diamonds. It was only then that I noticed a little trend appearing: somehow I was gravitating toward music that sounded like it was from the ’80s! Gasp! Shocking, right? For me it was a shock because I have always made my dislike for thing in the 1980s so clear to myself and others. The fashion, the music, the movies, the politics: everything about the ’80s was a joke. Or at least I thought. Now, though, I have realized the 1980s were not so bad after all, and in fact they produced some quite amazing things that have changed the world and my own life forever! Amazing!

Let’s take a closer look at exactly what made the 1980s not so bad after all. Some of these things most people will know, and others some people might not. Either way, they are all excruciatingly important to my argument, so pay attention:

1980: Pac-Man¹. That’s all that was important, really.
1981: Tohui The Panda², Josh Groban³, and Benjamin Thomas Barnes⁴ are all born in this single year. Epic win.
1982: Emoticons and CDs/CD players are created. Hooray! ⌂̺͛ᴖ̲̿ᴥ̲̿ᴖ̺͛⌂
1983: The GNU Project starts up and Hikaru Utada⁵ is born.
1984: The Apple Macintosh computer and individual Band-Aids are introduced to the world. Plus it was 1984: dystopian society FTW!
1985: a-ha releases their debut album, Hunting High and Low, that produced the hit “Take on Me”. Glory is bestowed upon the world.
1986: Two words: Top Gun⁶. Although the Legend of Zelda games were probably a bit more successful in the long run, amirite?
1987: Final Fantasy⁷? Prozac⁸ in the USA? William Peter Moseley⁹? What more could a person want?!
1988: Me! Oh, and Anna Popplewell¹⁰.
1989: Epic Communism fail = EPIC WIN.

So really, I must admit my emotional defeat and permit the 1980s to revel in all their glory. They deserve it. I never really appreciated all the fantastical and beautiful things the 1980s gave the world that are still extremely relevant today (for the most part). My hate for the 1980s was extremely unjustified, and therefore I am truly grateful that I have now been enlightened as to why those 10 short years were in fact far more awesome than I ever could have fathomed. Hallelujah!

On Friday, February 19th, 2010, it was released to the public that Daddy, a 16-year old male pit bull and number one sidekick of “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan, had passed away. I do not watch Cesar’s show very often, but who owned Daddy was completely irrelevant to me when I heard this news. The words that struck me so intensely and created such an emotional reaction in me were the ones that spoke of how Daddy – a member of a “bad breed” of dog – helped to prove to the public that pit bulls, and other canine breeds with bad reputations, are not born being aggressive and vicious. Daddy was quite the opposite which resulted in him being the perfect example of how even a feared breed of dog can easily be loving, dedicated, and calm.

In just the past 24 hours, I have heard so many uplifting stories from complete strangers across the world wide web about “bad breeds” of dogs; some people owned pit bulls, some owned rottweilers, some owned mixed breed dogs, and some didn’t own one at all. Regardless of the actual scenario, every person I have heard from has said the same thing: these notorious breeds of dogs can be just as loving and sweet as any other domesticated breed of dog out there. It is how a human treats and acknowledges the individual dog that can make them into violent and dangerous animals.

As a person who has grown up in a family that loves a dog of a notoriously “dangerous” breed, this all hit very close to home in every sense of the phrase. My family doesn’t own a pit bull, rottweiler, or other well-known domesticated breed of dog. We were instead blessed with the chance to adopt a wolfdog¹, or a wolf-dog hybrid (as the breed is called by the American Veterinary Medical Association). When we adopted our dog from the Arizona Human Society in 1996, it was illegal to own a wolfdog as a pet, and thus his original owners had lied about his breed to simply be able to have him in their home. Due to his behavior – which is extremely different than a domesticated dog – they gave him to the AZ Humane Society and we were able to adopt him. Since 1996, though, there has been a huge amount of positive progress in terms of public education and legislative changes in the state of Arizona concerning wolves and the wolfdog breeds. It is now legal to own a wolfdog – even without a permit – here in Arizona, and the overall image of the wolfdog has begun to rapidly change for the better.

While Arizona has seen leaps and bounds in the understanding of these beautiful animals, many other states in the USA have not. A large majority of the states in the USA completely prohibit wolfdogs, such as Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, and Illinois (just to name a few). What really disturbs me the most about the laws against owning wolfdogs is the actual worded phrases in the legislation that is made public. Connecticut, in particular, has some of the most poorly written legislation I have ever read concerning animal ownership (including wolfdogs):

“No person shall possess a potentially dangerous animal. Any such animal illegally possessed may be ordered seized and may be disposed of as determined by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.”

The first sentence is really what reveals that the people who wrote the legislation have fallen victim to the myths about supposedly dangerous breeds of dogs. There is the potential for any dog to be dangerous. I have heard stories on the local news about dogs of the more popular and beloved breeds attacking people as they please here in my own state. There have been German Shepherd attacks on grown men all the way to Chihuahua attacks on small children. Whether a particular dog breed will viciously attack at random is not something that can be documented with 100% accuracy. This is simply because every dog will learn behaviors in a unique way based on their human owner. If the human owner does not properly enforce boundaries, give love and affection, or pay genuine respect to their dog(s), the dog can easily develop poor behavior because they have not been consistently taught otherwise. This is especially true for the so-called “bad breeds” of dogs, including wolfdogs. The term “poor behavior” does not mean “violent behavior” all the time, either. Violent and aggressive behavior in a dog is the result of reinforcement of it from a human. There are many police canine units in this country where dogs are trained to be “attack dogs” on command. Those dogs can do some serious damage to someone if they are sent to attack; in theory, that is a “potentially dangerous” animal. However, those canine attack dogs used by the police force have been trained to be aggressive only when permitted by their master. It is widely known that the attack dogs used by police units live with their master and his/her family, and thus have been called some of the best family pets to ever be placed into a home. Even though they do have the potential to be dangerous and hurt someone significantly, they do not exhibit that potential because they have learned how to behave around humans with a particular attitude, demeanor, and personality.

Training a dog is not just about teaching the dog how to “sit” or “stay” with a verbal command. In fact, the “more aggressive” dog breeds need more training in other somewhat abstract areas versus learning simple behaviors. This became extremely apparent to my family in regards to our wolfdog after we adopted him. Wolfdogs are more so at the very tip of the canine training spectrum, and thus the typical obedience classes and techniques do not usually work for developing good behavior in the breed. Many of the “bad breeds” of dogs have a specific need to decipher the ranking hierarchy of power in their family, human or canine. Our wolfdog is the lone dog in our family, but he knows the hierarchy of our “pack” and that he is not the “pack leader”. He treats each member of our hierarchy very differently based on where they stand in the “pack” and what their responsibilities are in the family. Regardless of our position, our dog always treats us with respect and acknowledges our individual roles in our family. Therefore, we show him the same respect and acknowledgment that he gives us. A dog such as a wolfdog or even a domestic pit bull will not tolerate disrespect and neglect. When those begin to occur, the potential for aggression and violence starts to form.

Cesar and Daddy were a clean, textbook example of how a “pack leader” should treat another “pack member” below them in the hierarchy. They respected each other completely, reacted to each other’s behaviors and emotions, and still showed affection at the same time. To be honest, this would have been the case regardless of the whether Daddy was a pit bull or not. All dogs need guidance and acknowledgment from a leader, whether their leader is their “master” or their “pack leader”. They are animals, and thus have an entirely different behavioral and thinking system than we humans do. You cannot treat a dog like a human because a dog cannot understand the rationale and logic behind certain behaviors that we – as people – may find obvious. Thus, we as humans cannot simply expect and assume our dogs will obey our every command and be perfect companions. Dog owners need to think like a dog because dogs do not have the ability to think like a human. We need to accommodate them, not the other way around.

Right now there are a huge amount of states in the USA that still have severe limitations on ownership of certain dog breeds besides the wolfdog. Outside of the USA, there are many provinces and territories in other nations that have harsh laws against particular breeds, too. If you are an animal lover or pet owner, please find out what your state/territory/province/etc says about dog ownership for particular breeds and what the consequences of illegal ownership are. I am sure a lot of you will be surprised to find that dogs that are owned illegally – regardless of their temperament or past behavior – can be “ordered seized” and “may be disposed of” as the laws of Connecticut so finely state. The human owners of these dogs may also be fined, lose home insurance coverage, or even be charged with a crime.

Is it really a crime punishable by law to love, respect, and acknowledge one of these dogs in our homes? Or is the perception of ignorant and misinformed humans that certain dogs are a public safety risk simply becoming more accepted than the truth behind a different species? If we say that “the dog is man’s best friend”, then why in the world is man becoming dog’s worst enemy? This needs to stop.