adopt a pit bull

by

Feeling Snark-tastic

My bad: I didn’t proofread and lost a whole paragraph.
If you’ve been around here for a minute, you’ll know that volunteering is big with me and that I love handling dogs at Outreach events in the community. The part that I don’t always love are some of the comments I hear (repeatedly). Below is a compilation of some of the doozies.

For Love of a Dog

For Love of a Dog

1. “I couldn’t volunteer; I’d want to take them all home.” Guess what? You don’t need to justify to me why you aren’t volunteering, but I can guarantee that if you give it a try, you won’t even want to take half of them home. Or are you telling me you can’t visit the home of a friend because you are a chronic pet klepto and you find yourself wanting to take their pets home too?
2. “Is that a Pit?” For whatever reason, that drives me bonkers. Well, that is a dog that you are petting, not some hole in the ground that someone dug. It IS a Pit Bull mix, type, etc.
3. “Is it a Full Pit?” See above on digging a hole.
4. “What is it mixed with?” Except for the rare occasion that we know we have a full blooded so and so up for adoption, we label the dogs as mixes and without DNA testing, your guess is as good as ours. If pressed for an answer, I’ll tell you “sugar and spice.”
5. “What’s his or her story?” He or she needs a loving home.
6. “Will it bite me?” Probably not unless you bite it first.
7. “They get such a Bad Rap.” I know this is meant to be supportive and I truly appreciate your empathy, but sometimes continuing to point out the problem continues to keep the problem out there.
8. “Oh, it’s so sweet! Why is it at the shelter?” Very similar to “what’s the story,” but this time you’re just surprised that the shelter isn’t full of broken, misbehaving, unmanageable animals. True, everybody has a story and a lot of them are sad, but these are just dogs who need homes and with the help of the great staff, will find great homes.
9. And my favorite: you’re on the ground petting a dog, cooing over how awesome it is and ask what breed it is. You recoil upon hearing it is a Pit Bull mix.

Many of these comments are things I hear when I’m out and about with Ray or Julius, but fortunately not as much as many other Pit Bull owners have reported.

The bottom line, though, is I do love the support the community shows in coming to our events and supporting our cause. Just know that if you ask me any of the above questions, I will do my best to answer politely (usually) but now you know what I am really thinking.

by

Keeping Up Appearances

Ah, Friday, I’ve waited all week for you!  Today is warm, but not too hot, sunny, slightly breezy, casual wear, last day before staycation day and I can feel the wind down begin.

I actually spent my lunch hour with my favorite shelter boy, Deuce, and our own Hometown Hero, Jessica, chatting about all of the great things in store for the animals in this community and their humans.  Sometime during the course of the conversation, Jessica pointed out that Deuce had left (multiple) smudge prints on my clothes. 

As I headed back to work, the running dialogue in my brain reflected that I should have been more careful and that if I took more pride in my appearance, I might not have to sit in the office for the remainder of the day with paw prints on my pants and sweater.

pooldeuce

Then on the heels of that thought (do thoughts have feet?) I realized I take great pride in my appearance.  These multiple paw marks were born from multiple hugs from a dog who loves and trusts me.  They’re from a dog who six weeks ago was happy to see me but so unsure of himself that he pancaked and urinated on himself.  These marks are from a dog who has gained some self confidence back and can ask for affection as freely as he gives it.  I was a part of his growth process, so yeah, I’ll wear this badge of honor pretty darn proudly.

Enjoy your weekend!

 

by

Adoption Weekend

This past weekend we got to participate in the PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend and I got to handle and bid farewell to the uber-cute Candy Girl.

A Kitty-Pittie

She was an 8 month old pup who didn’t know a stranger and was certain that everyone in the entire universe was pretty much set there to love on her. Her tail never stopped wagging and she stole many, many hearts. She ended up going home with an active family looking for young, medium sized dog who would be able to hike, jog, canoe and swim with them. I think she made herself a good match.

An observation I came away with is that Pit Bull mixes/types are becoming so mainstream and beloved in our area. Sure, there are the detractors, but as people brought their dogs in shopping, I saw one Yorkie, two Samoyeds, a Great Dane and four different families with Pit Bull/mixes. I’d say America’s dog is holding strong in the Fort. One thing that I amused myself with was as I kept referring to Candy Girl as a Pit Bull Mix, every one kept asking what she is mixed with and my response, each time, was, “Sugar and spice.”

by

Little Pink Piggy

I had a conversation with a stranger/lady the other day which started out extremely odd and evolved into a nice discussion on Pit Bull advocacy. When I say extremely odd, I mean extremely odd and somewhat insulting, actually.

I was actually at Petco the other day with Ray. We were buying a large bag of dog food and because I him with me, I was pushing the food in the shopping cart and feeling smugly happy about how well Ray was walking next to the cart when a lady approached and screeched at me, “Ohhh! My brother has one of those!” Which made me happily turn to her ready to engage in a conversation on how wonderful Pit bull ownership is when she continued, completely seriously, “That’s a pot bellied pig, right?”

“No…..,” I was pretty sure she was kidding until I saw her face. “Well, what is it?” she asked. “He’s a dog,” I replied cautiously while looking for the hidden cameras that were sure to be nearby. “But you get that question a lot, right?”

Again, no. To be perfectly honest, we all call Ray our little pink piggy, but given his lack of a hoof, cloven or otherwise as well as his dog face, we’ve never thought he would be taken for a real pig. Then, she wanted to know what kind of dog he was, which led to the Pit Bull type conversation. “Oh, they have such a bad rap, especially here in town. They get killed in the shelter right away.” That allowed me to talk about the wonderful Pit Bull types that have been pulled from Animal Care by the ACSPCA and what strides our community is making toward Pit Bull adoptions.

She told me about a dog she had just gotten from a person at a place that she volunteers at and that it was still a puppy but is so big and still growing. She said it had short hair and was probably a boxer but it was just so big. I suggested maybe there was Mastiff in it, so of course she wanted to show me a picture in an effort to identify it. As we all know visual identification is so difficult, but of course I wanted to see a picture.

She whipped out her phone and I started chuckling when I saw the picture. Strange Lady has gotten herself a Pit Bull. Granted, it, like so many is probably a mix and could quite easily be a Boxer/Pit mix, but there was no doubt that was a Pit Bull. Lucky lady.

by

Boys Will Be Boys

It’s been a long, long, long time since I had more than one dog and I’ve never had two adolescent dogs at the same time.  There are days when I don’t see how it would be any different than having two young human boys romping around the house.  (I’ve never really been treated to that phenomenon, either.)

With the bad weather recently, we’ve been trying to keep the dogs occupied while not destroying everything in the house.  Luckily they really enjoy their antlers, but sometimes a good old fashioned wrestling sesh is in order.

“Wooo” is an invitation to play.

What “indoors” activities do your pooches like the best?

by

Meet Ruthie

Ruthie is a one year old Am Staff mix with a huuuuge block head and an even bigger heart.  I got a cryptic Facebook message about a new resident at the shelter whom I was sure to love and the bonus was that she loves to kiss.  Powerless to resist, I high-tailed it to the shelter and saw Ruthie.  She was still “red” meaning I couldn’t touch her yet, but as I sat drooling on the window and obeying the rules, the staff took pitty on me and said she had in fact been processed and I could take her out. 

Oh, the kisses she gave and the joie de vivre she exhibited!  This gal loves life and will take you on an adventure with her.  She covered me (and my new coat) with slobber evidence of her happiness and just all out seemed to be happy.  She pulled a bit on the leash but stopped and checked in at the appropriate times, so with a little bit of work she will be a great leash walker in not time at all.  With luck, she will be adopted before I really get to know her, but otherwise, stay tuned for more updates.

by

Go Ray-Ray

It’s your birthday!

Actually, his birthday was yesterday and the boys celebrated by playing in the mud yard, followed by bathies. I was doubly annoyed with their mud bogging because they were wearing their leather collars.

Actually, I had ordered Christmas collars for both of them which I posted to their Facebook on October 22 so imagine my shock when this past weekend, I find that Mr. Julius has already outgrown his, so he was wearing Ray’s while Ray donned his beautiful Paco collar. So, yes, mud all over the place, including their fancy collars was not actually a highlight.

There was, however plenty of good cheer and bully sticks were enjoyed by all the canines. Ray was gifted with a 24″ long special birthday bully while Julius gnawed on his normal 12″ sized bully stick. Ray also got his own pink birthday piggy, which I’m happy to report has lived to see the light of day two.

Naturally, there was cake.

Unfortunately for the boys, cake will be served at a later date this week when I can make allowances for the extra calories.

What else? For those of you who are newer around here, you may not know that I was there to witness Ray’s birth. I held his mama in my arms till he arrived and will always consider that a special Birthing Day.

(On another happy note, Vanilla and Chocolate were adopted over the weekend!)

by

Nature and Nuture

I hear it again and again and each time I hear it, it annoys the heck out of me though I’m sure that at one time or another I’ve said it myself. I imagine every person who has adopted a dog with a “past” just might hate this phrase. But as a person who adopted a 7 week old puppy and who “found” a 5-6 month old puppy, I hate the phrase and consider it a personal insult.

“It’s all in how they’re raised.”

I was there when Ray was born and I visited him several times before we brought him home, so it’s safe to say I’ve always known him. I suppose you can compare Ray and Julius, which is only natural, but in doing so are you comparing apples to apples or are you comparing apples to oranges? Maybe it’s not even that simple. Maybe you’re comparing a Red Delicious to a Granny Smith or a Valencia to a Clementine.

One of the gals at work regards me as her resident dog expert, I feel not so much for my expertise but for her lack thereof. If someone mentions their dog, she is quick to talk about me and my Pit Bulls and what babies they are. “Well, it’s all in how they’re raised,” is the response she often gets. I must have raised them right. Right?

So about these Pit Bulls of mine. I have a kit for Julius’s dna, but haven’t swabbed him yet, so “breed” isn’t much of a consideration in his make up yet. At 9ish months old, he is nearly as tall as Ray, his feet are bigger and rounder, his tail curls up, his face is longer and the angles are softer. His eyes are almond shaped, dark, dark brown and luminous, giving him and Asian look. He seems slower to learn than Ray, but he also learns from Ray. Julius used to scarf down his food, though now he actually takes time to look up from the bowl and chew his kibble so he seems to know breakfast and dinner will be served every day.

Ray is nearly two years old and while he is heavier-muscled than Julius, he is not a bulky, burly dog. Ray’s dna test shows him to be 50% American Bulldog, 25% Boxer and 25% unidentified mixed breed. (I take that to mean at least a portion to be American Pit Bull Terrier, which isn’t in the test.) There is no Staffie or AmStaf in Ray. His eyes are very expressive; they are an ambery-chocolate color and he often furrows his brow as if he is worried. He trembles at the sound of the mower and the vacuum, but tries to eat the leaf blower. Ray has never missed a meal and used to want to graze, though he has learned to eat faster and finish in one sitting, or his little brother will be more than happy to help.

Ray has taken three group classes at two different locations as well as had private training lessons. He has had five different instructors total in these various endeavors, while Julius has never been to school and while all of Ray’s training has been slightly different, it has, for the most part been through positive training methods and all through reward based training.

From the moment I met Julius right up to this second, there is one word that has always described him. Sweet. Julius is sweet. He’s easy going, drops or surrenders toys and forbidden objects, takes treats soft-ish (usually) and even when he gets excited, isn’t a huge deal. It must be in how he was raised.

Ray, from the second day he was home with us up until nearly a year old had another word to describe him. Asshole. Sorry, but that usually was the best one. Don’t get me wrong, Ray is my shining star, but he was always a challenge. He is much more stubborn when “giving” or “dropping” objects, and though he is gentle now, it took a lot of fortitude to get there. For the longest time, when Ray got excited, he would grab his leash and tug then do a alligator death roll and though we had numerous trainers give us ideas on how to avoid it, moving seemed to be the only sure fire fix.

Ray has never been harmed or threatened or hungry but is much more uptight and more of a worrier than Julius who live his first 5-6 months of life outside, oblivious to the comforts of pillows, regular meals, endless treats and toys. So, did someone raise Julius right while I made Ray into a neurotic, quivering bowl of jell-o?

Yes, that’s probably it.

It couldn’t be that these two dogs who come from different circumstances are just individuals.