People being calm around dogs helps.

I took my well-behaved and very friendly American Staffordshire Terrier (aka pit bull) to the feed store with me yesterday. The staff there know her and laugh when she sniffs under the open boxes of dog biscuits because she knows she's not to stick her head in and help herself. I let her pick up any that dropped on the floor. I'd been talking to one older couple and Cinnamon did her couple of tricks--I tell her "down" and "stay" and then put a piece of food on the floor. She drools and stares intently until I say "okay" and she gets up and eats it. She also catches pretty well when a treat is tossed to her. This woman asked "is your dog a boxer?"

I knew what was going to come. "No, she's a pit bull." The eyes went so wide I could see the white all around that woman's irises and she literally tipped back on her heals. I left Cinnamon sitting calmly on the floor where she was, with her back to this woman so she wouldn't see that fear, and said calmly "you can see that they're really very smart and friendly dogs when they're well-cared for, like any other dog." I didn't move closer or away, the leash was limp in my hand, I finished my order, and we walked out. I didn't want her startling the dog with her fear and I didn't want to scare her more with the dog. Maybe the prospect of a middle-aged middle class white woman standing in the feed store buying dog food for a very well-behaved pit bull made an impression counter to what she has seen on the news. They're just dogs if you are responsible and train them well.

SRS