Ambassadors of the Breed

Great Job Jenn!!
--Laura G.

Yeah Jenn! I hope to meet you soon

Kay from Rocket Dog Rescue

the nice people at Current TV are taking out the bars & tone and 30 secs of black that was accidentally included in the initial posting. please check back. it will be posted again soon! thanks! - jenn

maybe one day it will be back up....goodness! so many obstacles. patience, patience...

You are an amzing filmaker and constant inspiration to me.
Fantastic Work.

How true , how true. The epitome of stereotyping, nicely demonstrated via the sweetest and kindist of subjects.

- Dan Anderson.

I thought the film was amazing. This film gives a vioce to a breed of dog that is misunderstood and often mispresented in the media. I hope that this fim raises awareness and inspires people to adopt these loving animals. Thank you for you contribution.

Nice work. As a pitbull owner with mixed feelings about the breed I found this provoking. How can I give it a green light?

Nice work. As a pitbull owner with mixed feelings about the breed I found this provoking. How can I give it a green light?

Uhm, maybe you should have had interviews with a few people who have been attacked by a pit bull. There's a reason these dogs have the reputation they do.

stay tuned...there may be such interviews in the future. thanks for your, uhm, comment.

The other day two women were walking by and saw us and our pitbull-- the one woman was amazed that our girl was a pitbull--she had never been face-to-face with one before. She learned that day that pitbulls are sweet, beautiful and loving. I wish we could forward your video to everyone...there are so many people who have no idea and just know what they see/hear in the media. thank you for making this video!

thank you, sj! you can forward this video to anyone & everyone you want. spread the word! since i didn't make it to the finalists, i am going to post this on YouTube, etc. and also apply for grants to build the video into a more comprehensive documentary. please stay in touch! or also go to www.myspace.com/ambassadorsofthebreed and add us to your friend list!

Great Job Jenn!

brilliant stuff, great footage... really nice work.
I look forward to the feature!

Awsome piece GL....24 hours that's all they get wow, I think in SF the SPCA automatically puts them down.

enter your post here
Nice that you are making videos, Jenn--especially on this subject.

Good job Dorn. I'm proud of you.

What a wonderful piece. It's not just because I'm a dog lover. Your piece held my interested all the way until the end. Great cuts and footage. I'm in love with buddy. I have a pit/lab miss at home. He is the best. We are in the misdt of getting our Search and rescue certification.

if I could add that the last shot left us abruptly. Maybe if you make a still from it and hold it for a couple of beats and then bring in the credits.

Big GL from me.

Good counterpoint to conventional wisdom (the point about dobies, German shepherds, etc, is especially well put -- I remember as a kid hearing shepherds being saddled with this exact same characterization). Concise and very well put together. Good luck on expanding this, but until then, GL!

I personally dont get why people get Pit Bulls.
If you are saving a dog from the shelter it is one thing. But if you get a Pit Bull from the breeder? Why do you need a dog which can hurt you or kill you? I am not saying that Pit Bull is the only dog who can kill or hurt you but this is one of the breeds which are really well equipped to hurt other dogs or people. If they attact. Of course I am not saying that Pit Bulls attact more often than other dogs...my Yorkie probably is more "violent" sometimes (still in training) than your Pit Bull. But I bet you would prefer to be attacked by my little Yorkie than my neighbour's Pitt Bull.
Friend of mine was very open minded and now she is without her little pet. And the Pit Bull is still waking the streets. He didnot even attact my friend's dog. "He was just playing" - the owner said. But Pit is strong dog. This one was just playing and killed a puppy but when Pit goes off....dogs and people die.
Just a thought.
And yes I am crossing the street when I see a Pit Bull just to not risk my Yorkie's life :)

okay voytek,
obviously you did not pay attention to the message of the film AT ALL, and epitomize the intolerant folks whom this excellent film aims to expose. to quote the film, "all the people who are terrified of pit bulls have never met one". that kinda describes you now doesn't it? instead of relating your own personal experience with these dogs, you tell some story about your neighbor and her dog instead.
as for buying pits from a breeder, personally, i don't think anyone needs to be buying ANY dogs from breeders considering how many wonderful, potential pets are euthanized across our country in 'shelters' every day. and i was wondering hypocrite, i mean voytek, in all my visits to animal shelters, i don't recall seeing any yorkies...was yours perhaps a breeder purchase?
anyway, that's enough ranting, you are clearly an ignorant fool. instead, thank you to the fantastic, caring community of pet owners around the bay area who open up their minds, homes and hearts to adopt pits and pit mixes every day! from personal experience, i know that these dogs make amazing pets. the irresponsible morons who don't bother to properly train/manage their pits are to blame for their bad reputation, not the breed itself. thank you for creating this film jenna!

Voytek what you and, unfortunately, most people don't seem to get is that it is not the breed which is cause of violent behaviour in dogs but infact it's upbringing. What those Pit-Bull owners know is that to prevent a dog from being anti-social and agressive you must give it a good home, exercise it, train it and socialise it. This is regardless of the breed.
Unfortunately I alot of people listen to all this nonsense about Pit-Bulls just being agressive. Unfortunately again, alot of the wrong kind of people go out and buy this breed purely because they think they can have a guard dog, or a dog to fight. Also alot of people are just plain idiots and buy a cute little puppy they just don't plan to look after and train. This is when there is a problem. It is our fault as a society because we do not prevent these kinds of people from buying dogs in the first place and then we place all our blame on the end result; an aggressive dog.

I believe that to prevent this problem we should not be just killing these poor, innocent dogs purely because they are Pit-Bulls. How does this stop the problem at all? How can anyone think it does? We need to bring in laws such as a requirement for all owners who are not licensed breeders to desex their pets. To have laws requiring people to have sufficient housing for dogs and to train their pets. We also should require people to have a license to even own a dog. How can we let anyone have a possible aggressive animal (and this is ANY breed of dog) without knowing how to look after one?
I don't own a Pit-Bull. I have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier yet it pains me to see the suffering that these poor dogs and owners have to go through and I hope that this madness can finally stop. Lets stop using these false quick fixes and save these dogs!

This is a great piece...It's a very relevent topic in the media today & important to educate people about their misconceptions over certain breeds of dogs. Mass media tends to over exaggerate one thing and minimalize others to their liking. Like any animal...proper training and love allows for it to behave socially. That 24 hour window thing is so wrong. Again, great piece...thank you for sharing. GL ~MBS~

Great piece. Good sound, good interviews, good edits. I really liked this piece a lot. Glad you dispelled the myths and stereotypes about pitbulls. . GL!

I have a dream, that one day Pitbulls will be loved! <3 Nice One!

Pitbulls!! GL.

Most any dog that has the chance to run daily is a happy dog.

First a story.
I remember as a kid, there was a HUGE white German Shepherd that just sort of roamed around. (small town east coast, the 70's dogs walked around in packs... looking back it was a little weird)

Anyway, "shep" as we called him... give me a break we were like 6, one day decided I was going to be made the toy for a moment. Now remember we were all scared of this dog. He ate kids at night, he stalked streets for any child that dared walk alone... Shep saw me coming. I knew not to run, he didn't. He ran at me and jumped... landing on my chest pushing me to the ground and licked my face for a solid minute before wandering away. We became instant friends.


I’ve only ever met a few pit bulls in my life, but with one exception, they were super friendly jumping all over me and playing, licking etc. Really fun.

The exception was not what you were thinking. He was super submissive.

You have to train the owner before you train the dog. Unfortunately that is not the way it always goes.
Good pod. GL from me.

TJ Walkup of: www.omnificpictures.com

Says,
Hey this is a really wonderful POD. You have got the right idea! These Pooches are so pretty! And Sweet! How could you make a bad video with faces like that?

GL all the way!

An engaging story, good camera work and b-roll. I used to be one of those people scared of pit bulls until I met my friend's rescue "lucy", she was a great dog and very loving. GL! -zen

Green Light!!!!!!!!! I love this dogs I want to adopt a baby! You mention that you " love and respect films and filmmakers that provoke thought and inspire change. I also love escapism. I feel best with a camera in my hand and a vision in my head"

Hope you can see my film and give me a comment.

great film, you should get a spot on animal planet so everyone can see how great of a breed pit-bulls really are! I've lived with a pit-bull and yes they are difficult dogs to own, but they are just like any other dog, they chew stuff up, play fetch, and love to sit on your lap. It's not the dogs them selves that are the problem, but like stated above it is the owners who get a pit bull for all the wrong reasons that are. Don't get me wrong, if you go into a pit's back yard when they are on a chain or fenced in, or if you tease and provoke these dog, you might get bit. The reality is that the same thing could happen with any other breed of dog.

Nice work Jenn

I own a wolf hybrid, hes big and black and appears threatning to the non dog people who meet him, however similar to the people in your film, everybody who mees him really likes him. Its important for people to recognize dog behavior is a dirrect link to its owner, more then its breed.

Thanks! GL

Well Done! Needs to be seen on TV.
I'm not a pitbull owner but feel this video gives a fairer representation of the breed than the media.

Good Job!!!

This is exactly what people need to be seeing and hearing to stop BSL and the public opinion of these breeds. These dogs and their people did a wonderful job of showing what these dogs can be. We need to get more of this stuff filtering through. If even one anti-pitbull person sees this and starts to rethink their position it was worth it. Thank you so much for getting this out there! My dogs and I thank you!

this feed needs tobe aired on tv the public needs to see how friendly pit bulls are and that they are not mean dogs

Yes this is what people need to see! I met a pit bull and he was so sweet and lovable!!!
Good job! GL!

yes! I gave it the greenlight, Pitts get a bad rap, but somtimes they look me right in the eyes and i get the feeling they could snap, but they are mostly sweet.

Check out my pod about my life with an inborn genetic disorder " a window to my world"

This is a story more people need to hear about. Nice work. GL!

GL It's a pity that the whole breed gets tarred with the same brush after one terrible incident. But if your child were to get killed by a pit bull would you be so generous. It's easy to understand why people become fearful.

It might be good to have included some opposing views even though they were represented by the pro camp. I think it's important to hear this POV.

Check out Sister Beatrice Explores if you get a chance. Like the Pit Bull, Art is often misunderstood and misinterpreted.