Author: Debra

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De-Myth-Tify

The interwebs are full of information about nearly anything you want to educate yourself on and you can very easily find both sides to any story if you dig deep enough. Being that we are, of course, Pit Bull advocates I tend to read articles more geared toward how wonderful my chosen companions are.

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I love those articles that debunk myths that keep circulating which further inflame the BLS propaganda. For instance, Pit Bulls do not have locking jaws, though a friend has told me this year that their vet told them otherwise.

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But the myth I really, really want people to stop sharing is the one about the Nanny Dog.  Although there are scads of pictures from back at the turn of the twentieth century with children and their Staffies, there is no written reference to these dogs being bred or raised to be nanny dogs.

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In fact, anyone who would leave their children in the care of a dog-any breed of dog-really needs to think long and hard about the consequences.  Children and dogs are some of the cutest things on the planet but while you can often predict what certain behaviors will occur in a dog, I know for a fact that a two year old is a loose cannon.  Our human baby absolutely loves her “goggies” and all of the visiting dogs from the shelter, but believe me, she is never left unatteded with any of them.

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Julius, who is very social and good in so many situations, knows he can just get up and walk away when he’s had enough “baby time.” Ray, who tries so hard to be socially appropriate, will let the baby sit with him, but often nervously licks his lips or rolls over. We keep the interactions brief and safe for Ray so that they stay just as safe for the Muffin.

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I love my dogs and I trust my dogs, however I know that they are dogs. Nothing has happened in our home to spur this post and everyone is fine but while I’d love to say, “yeah Pitbulls are so awesome that you can hire them as baby sitters”, but that would be irresponsible and ridiculous. Until they learn to speak words and tell us they don’t like something, I need to be their voice and keep them safe.

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Walk of Fame

Oh what a difference a week can make.  Actually, what a difference one week, a lot of support, a blog post, more support, a pack order, a Halti, and more support can make. 

 

After last week’s debacle of a walk and all of the uplifting comments we received, including some learnings for the group as a whole, we had a most enjoyable and very successful walk to date.  Others acknowledged that the previous walk felt rushed and there was an air of “let’s get through this” of which I admit I was feeling the same of.

 

Freedom Harness

Freedom Harness

Each week we’ve been meeting at a different location.  This week I made it my mission to be at least 10 minutes early and subsequently made it on time, though we allowed for the new location and waited several minutes longer.  We took the time to do verbal introductions again and then fell into our newly assigned pack order.  Juli took up the lead with his buddy Clyde (you’ll be reading more about him in the future) and a head Halti that he borrowed from Dahey, Ray’s littermate (!).  He hated the Halti, but only enough to keep him from screeching. About a quarter of the way through the walk, I adjusted the clip to the leash and Julius seemed happier with the slighter bit of freedom.

We trod a path that was a nice mix of nature and civilization so we encountered several dogs, bikers, joggers, walkers and such with a lot more success for the entire group.  Knowing we were all supportive of each other really was a difference maker in the tone and feel of the walk.

If  you happen to live in the Fort Wayne area and are interested in joining this great group, check out the link and fill out an application.  We’re a young group and still figuring things out, but there’s always room for more!

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Walk of Shame

As I sit here and ponder how to start this post, I realize that I’m happy and thankful for several things in the blog and dog world. On Sunday Juli and I had our worst pack walk to date. Actually, Julius always has a superfantasticwonderfulgreat time no matter what he is doing. I, however, endured a self-imposed solo walk full of personal judgement. Fortunately, both the Erie-sisti-Bulls and Two Pitties in the City touched on a bit of what I was enduring in my head, which makes it easier for me to put into words what I was feeling.

I have a hard time thinking about Julius being “reactive” because that word has such a negative connotation, but the fact is he reacts whenever he sees, hears, or smells a dog. The fact that he is super friendly and only wants to meet and greet doesn’t alleviate the fact that he is screeching and pulling.

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Our pack walking group is founded on a no judgement principle and everyone has been very supportive of Julius’ energy. Everyone but the gremlin who lives in my brain. We were a couple of minutes late which made me panic so when we arrived and the pack took off, I felt too embarrassed to assert myself. Julius needs to be at the front of the pack near a friendly dog, but we headed up the rear. Because we had such good success earlier in the week with a weighted backpack, I put that on him with his martingale collar. When he began straining and huffing, I felt at a loss, so as we kept stopping and redirecting, the pack pulled further and further away. They offered to wait, but while consumed in my embarrassment I waved them on then fostered a good lump of self-pity for being left behind.

Fortunately for me and my feelings of inadequacy, another member doubled back to retrieve a lost item and Julius and I continued on with them in a much more successful manner. This was a big learning for me. Our group is new and we are still feeling our way, so my take away is that we’ve all come together with a common goal: to walk and socialize our dogs in a non judgmental setting. If I -or anyone else- feels they need some kind of help or support or if we just have a simple request, we need to speak up. For me the danger in not continuing was great. After a few yards I wanted to hang it up for the week and go home. Stubbornness and pride won out and in the end, Julius won too. We completed our walk, and later that morning he got to shine in what he does best: dog interactions.

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Wordless Wednesday (redux)

I’m a dork and apparently haven’t consumed enough coffee yet.
We’ve been fortunate to be in touch with two of Ray’s three litter mates and yesterday we received a picture of the fourth, Sonny.
So, here is a collage of the four survivors of the litter and their mama, Sparkles.

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Woof for Loot!

As you know, we are occasional contributors over at the Doggyloot blog.  We answered a call to be a contributor and were selected with the thought that we could contribute at least once a month or more if we wanted.  To be honest, I used to get the daily deal emails, but just had to unsubscribe because I didn’t purchase often enough to want a daily inbox filler.  We still followed them on Facebook, fortunately so that we could see this opportunity arise.

For me, the ability to reach even more people with the message of Pit Bulls as just dogs and occasionally slipping in our passion  for volunteering and rescue was exciting.  The new list of contributors to the blog is pretty varied and there’s been a lot of good information, so I hope you’ll subscribe.  The loot on Doggyloot has been pretty awesome too, with of course, great prices.

Recently we were told Doggyloot wanted to send us a gift for being contributors and we should give them an idea of what we might like.  I perused the website and decided the sixty venison sausages would be great because I could have plenty for the boys here and still take plenty to the shelter for sharing.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and got not one package of sausages but three as well as this Kong Wubba, and a package of stuffies to share too!

 

Woof loot.

Woof loot.

There’s a lot of cool stuff over there so I hope you’ll go check them out. I’m pretty sure you’ll find something great.

*True, I did receive a pretty great gift but I was not asked to write about it. I just wanted to share.

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The Business of Sports

It’s no secret that I’m a football fan and if you’ve seen these photos of the boys, you know who my two favorite teams are.

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Each year it seems the NFL grows bigger and more popular and has attracts an ever widening fan base. As September blows in more people park in front of their television sets and tune in to see their football heroes make the big play on the field. We look up to these larger than life players and with social media we have unprecedented access to their lives, pictures of kids, pets and in turn the players reach out to a broader base when soliciting donations for their charities and organizations.

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There are two players in the NFL that come to mind who may or may not have been beloved by their fan base to now experience being vilified by the masses but from one situation something very positive has arisen and from another something probably very unfortunate. From all the way back to the Atlanta days, I’ve never liked their quarterback who was busted in the dog fighting ring. I didn’t like the Falcons, I didn’t like his style of play and back in the day, I didn’t particularly like (or dislike) Pit Bulls. At the time, very little of what he did or what happened made an impact in my life to the point that when he ‘got his second chance’ I thought that was fine. Many people deserve a second chance, don’t they?  Well, no, not necessarily.  There’s paying for your crime and there’s the type of person who can commit atrocities in the first place.

It wasn’t until I began reading more articles about the Vicktory dogs and meeting more Pit Bulls that I understood the extent of the horrific crime against these sweet souls. Clearly his actions have now made an impact on my life’s direction and because of who he was and his “celebrity” the 51 dogs taken from his property, who are now celebrities in their own right, have blazed a trail for so many other Pit Bull type dogs who may not be alive today if not for changes in how we view these survivors. Yeah. Michael Vick. Never liked him and never will, but if not for him in a very round about way, I would possibly not be the Mommy to my two precious boys.

As a Raven’s fan, I enjoy the access to some of my favorite players and in years past have watched as Ray Rice filled back packs for area school kids and championed an anti-bullying campaign, so when news broke of the incident with his then fiancée, I was shocked and heartbroken. I mean, come on, anti-bullying campaign! The good guy, known as a momma’s boy in the best of ways was now a “woman beater” and with the breaking video has found himself (rightfully) unemployed.

A few weeks ago as office talk was centered around our Fantasy Football league, it was noted that I am usually a ‘homer’ when drafting my team and Ray Rice’s name was mentioned in the running back category. “He’s dead to me, I can’t draft him” was my response. I love watching football and will continue to be a fan while understanding that the business of the sport is that the sport is a business and the bottom line is to make money. Punishments are not always severe or timely if there are other monetary concerns and as fans we continue to feed the behemoth and people are always sorry after they’ve been caught.

/end rant.

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My Writing Process

A couple of weeks ago I was nominated by Emmett Maggie at Oh My Dog to take part in the My Writing Process Blog Tour. It sounded pretty simple, after all there were only three questions to answer and you get a couple of weeks to complete the task, so I agreed. Um, what in the name of holy waffles was I thinking?? I’ve barely written anything in the past few weeks, so this has either come at a horrible time or just in the nick of time to get a kick start back to a fairly stable writing schedule.

Question #: 1 What are you working on? Well, depending on your point of view, nothing or lots of things. I usually have a few Peaceabull posts rattling around in my head and I have at least three Doggyloot assignments yet to fulfill.

#2 Why do you write what you do? I’ve blogged for well over a decade, but only sporadically and for the longest time about the human aspect of my life and I found that even while writing to a faceless blogosphere, I’m not a good sharer. I actually started this blog (on another platform before transferring to WP) in my mind even before Ray came to live with us. I had such grand plans for Ray and our future together as Breed Ambassadors that I knew the only thing to do was to begin a blog to chronicle these feats of wonderful pit bull-ness. What this actually became was an avenue to meet other animal lovers and be a part of a very special community. Being able to share ups and downs and discuss all matters dog has been incredible and has allowed me to sprinkle in a bit about the humans of the assembly once again.

#3 How does your writing process work? Typically an idea will pop into my head and I let it simmer for a bit while I try to decide if the idea can be built upon into an entire post or if it is more fitting as a Facebook status. If I think I can expand it to at least a few paragraphs, I will begin writing it but unless I get completely stuck, I rarely save drafts to be finished later. I will hold a draft until finished and then publish but generally if I feel it is going to need many touches, I usually save it as a Word document instead. The thought of a bunch of unfinished drafts sitting in my dashboard makes me feel twitchy.

Well, there you have it. Not very exciting but that is the method behind my madness and now my task, since this is a hop, is to nominate three other bloggers to answer the same questions and to nominate three others. So, without further ado, I nominate:

Erie-sisti-Bull. Hannah writes about her two gorgeous Pit Bulls, Edison and Tesla, and their triumphs as well as challenges. The posts are easy reads with fun pictures included and they are a great part of the dog blog community as well as being great ambassadors in their hometown of Erie.

The Beagle Bratz.  Well, everyone who reads them knows they are the writers of their blog, although their mom chimes in occasionally. Definitely one of our blog buddies and a fun read.

My Two Pitties.  I love, love, love the photographs of this crew and the stories about how great the dogs and cat get along are inspiring.

So, there you have it, go forth and read.

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The Bully Collective

After reading about Chicago SociaBulls and Pack of Erie Dogs, I’ve been yearning to get into a pack walking group but have had some challenges. I wanted a group that was still in the early stages of development, was bully-centric but still all inclusive, naturally non-judgmental, and governed by rules that I could get on board with and by people who shared many of my goals for the group and values in dog ownership.

 

I know that is a pretty specific list for someone who hasn’t joined any other pack walking groups in the area. We may be lucky here in that there are several groups in our area who walk and though I haven’t tried to join any of the others, I knew this one was for us.

 

The Bully Collective was founded by two women who are relatively new to Pit Bull-type dog ownership, but not to dogs in general and have recently discovered first hand some breed specific prejudice differences in treatment while walking their dogs. The Collective was formed to give dog owners a safe and non-judgmental place to gather, exchange ideas and develop our dog’s social and walking skills. It was decided to use a color coded bandana system to distinguish them on the temperament spectrum. My big dilemma was which dog would I take?

 

Inaugural Walk-photo L. Reyes

Inaugural Walk-photo L. Reyes

 

Although the theme was non-judgment, at the back of my mind I kept thinking about the pressure I was putting on myself to bring the “right” dog. While we haven’t ever joined a pack walking group before, Ray has participated in several “Pit Bull” parade types of things and is generally the one I take out in public for functions and Julius’s walking skills are a million times better when he is walking with Ray. I just knew I didn’t want to try handling a two-fer on our first walk and Ray would probably not be able to make the nearly 2 mile trek anyway.

 

Julius was the lucky winner and upon seeing the assembled group, began his usually screaming. Yes. Screaming. He gets so excited when he sees potential playmates that he absolutely screeches in an almost hound dog/blood curdling way. As the group established a walking order (our initial lap consisted of a group of four), we realized Juli was going to need to be a the lead or would potentially have a series of mini strokes while trying to catch up with the leaders. Luckily as Juli and Clyde found their stride, the walk (and Julius) became relaxed and pleasant until Juli mastered the art of pooping while walking. Hip-hip hoo  for a non-judgment zone.

 

We had one more arrive just as we were ending our first lap, so we decided to go another for as much as we could so that 12 year old “Daddy” who is in foster waiting for a forever family, could walk with us.  The second lap turned out just as well and we all seem to be excited and energized by the spirit and direction of this group. I’m really happy to have been invited to be a part of the grass roots beginning of this group and look forward to a lot of good coming from it.

Do you pack walk in your area?  What are your experiences?

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Throwback Thursday (Kind of)

There’s that person, you know the one-someone you’ve known forever and perhaps the two of you have drifted in and out of each other’s lives but each time you drift back in, it’s as if there have been absolutely no gaps in the conversation. Sure, one of you may have to fill in some blanks for the other, but the silences are not awkward and the chatter is easy.

 

I’m fortunate in that I have a few of these people in my life; the ones who know all of your secrets, the ones who have shared so much.  I received a package in the mail from my “Person.” My giggling fit over the sight of the card quickly turned to a soft flow of tears as my past flowed back like the wind that ruffles your hair on a summer breeze.

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To have a friend who remembered that the two of you played this together all the time over 25 35 45 years ago, and to make the effort to find something like this, is astounding.  Well, not really astounding considering the person.  To have a person who, though we’ve traveled different paths, we have come to a point where we still have the same values and interests.

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Here’s to the next chapter!

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What Would You Do?

Last night a person who volunteers with another rescue called me and wanted an opinion on the Desmond Hague dog abuse matter. Since then I have been polling co-workers for opinions and Googling for as much information as I can find in the matter so that I wouldn’t spew my knee jerk reaction but rather make well informed opinion.

 

I have a terrible curse of being able to see many sides of an issue in many cases (my husband would disagree-I just thought I’d put that one out there) and can drive myself crazy with “What ifs.”

By working just six football games, this group generally makes around $5000 for their rescue, and that constitutes their number one fundraising avenue for the entire year. I have no idea what the operating budget is for this group, but my impression is that this is a significant portion of it. Do they work and take the money and help countless other animals, or boycott because of the treatment of one animal?

 

Naturally, like anyone who has been caught, Desmond Hague is sorry. His apology is pitiful and seems full of lies. He states that he was frustrated with a friend’s dog and that this behavior is out of character but the dog in the video has been proven to be his. This dog exhibits behaviors to make one think this was not a one-time incident, so is Desmond Hague a liar and a habitual animal abuser? Who’s to know?

 

For the employees of Centerplate and those many groups who stand to gain financially, where does moral ground end and practical matters begin? How easy would it be to find another job, another large fundraiser? Many people have expressed the desire to boycott buying concessions at a Centerplate venue, of which I believe there are 13, including Notre Dame, the Superdome, 49er’s new stadium, Fedex Field, Qualcomm Stadium, and Belmont Park just to name a few. Some of these places are issuing statements which will allow for individuals to bring in food, acknowledging that both the team and Centerplate may lose money.

 

The dog in question has been taken into custody and awaits adoption to a better life, Hague, if convicted faces up to two years in jail and a $75,000 fine and a ban on animal ownership.

 

So, what are your thoughts on the matter?