Positive PR on a small scale. My nephew is 8 and is petrified in general of dogs he was attacked by a Dobermann in the park when he was about 3 and although not badly bitten he was petrified. My brother and his family do not have a dog, but the children Taylor 10, Lewis 8 and Molly 5 consider Sal and Tess theirs.
Anyhow today Lewis had a policeman in his class a dog handler. The policeman talked in general about dogs and how they should be treated etc etc.
Lewis put his hand up and said "
The best way to treat a dog is like a dog, but when you fall off your bike and hurt your knees she'll kiss you all over and make you laugh. But most of all she's always happy to see you even if you've only been the toilet"
The policeman said thats really nice what sort of dogs do you have and Lewis said "
We don't have dogs at home but my Auntie Kal has the best dogs in the world Sal and Tess"
The policeman said thats nice what breed and pretty much the whole class sighed and said "
Sal and Tess are Staffies, everyone knows that"The school is about 4 minutes from my house and lots of the kids live down my road and I often take one or the other on a walk about break time to chat to the children etc, all the children love them and they the children.
The student teacher there said "
Oh Staffies maybe we should keep them away from the police dog in case they fight" and the children all to a child it seems (according to the teacher said) "
Awww Miss, Sal and Tess don't fight, they just lick they're Staffies"
Positive publicity on a small scale. One small step.