Julius

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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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The Walk of Life

I’m feeling a bit teary-eyed as I reflect on yesterday’s walks with my boys and after having read a few archived posts. As Ray and I have been perambulating around the neighborhood lately and I’ve been marveling at how well we’ve been progressing, I’ve secretly been dreading knowing that Julius needs leash work. Badly.

 

The last time I took Juli for a walk, the muscles in my back and arm got a darned good work out, so I was hesitant to take him out again. Which means he wouldn’t get training and practice, which means I wouldn’t want to take him out…so he wouldn’t get practice…

 

Butt, Butt, Butt

Butt, Butt, Butt

So what would someone do if they, say, had a dog who used to be a nightmare to walk and one who still is? Oh, and the combined weight of those dogs was, say 160 pounds of big muscles? Surely the sane person wouldn’t decide to walk them together!

 

Playing around with the clips

Playing around with the clips

Well, fully expecting that Ray’s good manners would osmosize to Julius and that this outing would be a short disaster, I leashed up the dogs and set out down the block. And it was bad. The good news though is that it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, so I thought about what the challenges were and brainstormed my new game plan.

 

Freedom Harness

Freedom Harness

Julius pulls and skitters back and forth across the sidewalk which made for a tangle of legs and leashes. I had them both on just their martingale collars with my double clip Freedom leashes. Clipping Juli to Ray was a bad idea, clipping the leashes together to make a longer one was a bad idea, walking in the heat of noon was a bad idea, walking home while it started to rain was a bad idea.

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Fully heartened by the midday walk being less of a failure than I anticipated, I decided to take an evening walk with the boys, Asia, and the baby (because we’re all about the distractions.) Reevaluating the hook up situation, I knew Julius needed his harness back on, but previous outings didn’t make for any less pulling and though I was using the stopping method, it was going one step at a time. After clipping the leash front, top, to this, to that, we finally figured out that using his Freedom harness and only clipping to the front worked wonders. The walk actually went so well that we went further than planned and were rewarded with tired, happy dogs upon the return home.

 

We can do this!

We can do this!

I fully intend to make this a regular part of our routine and believe that a happy ending is in sight.

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O Captain, My Captain(s)

It had been seemingly forever since either of the boys got new collars and I was starting to feel the urge pulling at my Paypal account pretty strongly. Gosh, thinking back and using all of my brain power, I’ve deduced that the boys haven’t had new collars since Valentine’s Day. Ugh! How have they survived this long?

 

I knew it was getting time for a new Sirius Republic collar and I had some criteria for these new works of neck art. I wanted them to be similar and match but not be completely identical and they had to be extra awesome. I’ve noticed Juli’s neck has been a bit pink lately underneath, so I’ve been pretty mindful to take collars off when they aren’t out and about but these would be special in that I decided to have them lined with soft fleece.

 

I debated back and forth on the Super collars or the Captain collars and in the end, after saying “Super Julius, Super Ray, Captain Julius, Captain Ray,” over and over I decided on the Captain collars which I would be able to do in both blue and red.

 

I must have added sixty several collars to my cart and removed them until I felt like I had the right formula. Blue for Ray and red for Julius and then further decided on the 2” collar for Juli while Ray has always looked better in the 1.5” and when I finally decided after perusing my cart obsessively for a day or two that these boys would look like the little Captain Americas that they are, I clicked and sent off my order.

Clearly the waiting is the hardest part, but when I saw from the tracking site that they would be delivered, I practically camped out at the mailbox was overjoyed when I finally was able to check the mailbox.

Captain Ray

Captain Ray

 

Unfortunately, they were both too diva-ish to share the spotlight and insisted on solo photo shoots.

Captain Julius

Captain Julius

But that’s ok, because I don’t think these could have been any more perfect, do you?

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Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend was a busy one with wrapping up the AdoptaJubitation, readying for the next round of celebrations coming up in August, helping with the baby’s two year photos and taking a beautiful girl named Meadow to Pride Fest.

 

Proud to be a Pit Bull at Pride Fest

Proud to be a Pit Bull at Pride Fest

I’ve been enjoying a look back via the Timehop app at some of the first pictures of Julius in our home ad what has surprised me is that he looks so at home even on the first day or two. July 26th is actually the day I brought him to our home and it wasn’t actually until a few days later that we officially decided to utter the words aloud that we really were keeping him.

 

For the second year in a row, I was able to bring an adoptable dog from AC SPCA to Pride Fest. Little Miss Meadow, who seems so quiet and reserved in the kennels, completely blossomed among the crowds of people who stopped by to visit our booth. She handed out kisses and affectionate tail wags to scores of people, accepted pats while gnawing on a bully stick and only barked at one person…the protester outside the main gate. What a good girl.

 

Aurora and Meadow

Aurora and Meadow

The second kennel-mate Meadow has had since arriving at the shelter was adopted on Sunday, so I’m hoping Meadow’s person comes soon. She is definitely the type of dog who would love living with another dog, so I hope that will happen for her.

 

Finally, our “contest” is over, so I want to thank everyone who commented, liked, shared and/or entered. Allie F. is the winner, so be on the lookout for your package.

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Gotcha Day!

Adoptaversary letters are pretty popular and I had every intention of writing one to Julius, but then upon further reflection I realized that in the most literal of terms, he was never officially adopted and that he knows he is loved. I whisper in his ear every morning, every afternoon and every evening how much he is loved, cherished and how lucky I am to have him in my life. I tell him he is the best thing I’ve ever found on the street. I fully believe he loves his life as it is today.

 

So… the letter. This letter is to the woman who offered Julius a chance at a better life.

 

Dear Gxxx,

One year ago a happy, dusty, collarless, mangy-looking little puppy came bounding into and nearly back out of my life. Whether I found him or he found me is up for debate, but what is crystal clear is that he was the sweetest, friendliest dog I’d seen in a very long time ever.  Among all of the stray black dogs, who are a “dime a dozen,” he had that special something -something that made him worth “rescuing.”

 

The Little Foundling

The Little Foundling

We both know the details of how he came to live with me and for those who don’t, they can be found here and here. The message relayed to me was that you thought I could give him a better home. I remember telling the story to my sister who began wailing, “What a good person!” over and over again. I was feeling warm until I realized she was referring to YOU, not me. You gave up the sweetest dog in the world to give him a better life than the one he was destined for so I’d like for you to know, I’m eternally grateful.

The "Freedom" Ride

The “Freedom” Ride

Julius (your Smokey) lives in the house with me, my husband, our daughter, granddaughter, his doggy big brother, Ray, and his kitties, Jae and Miko.

Same dog, different year.

Same dog, different year.

 

He sleeps in bed with his humans, sometimes with the girls, sometimes with me. When he sleeps with me, he creates a huge nest of pillows in which to settle, but by morning, I always find either his head or his snout pressed against me. I believe that even in his sleep, he likes to be assured that his Mommy is nearby.

 

Julius eats two regular meals a day-breakfast and dinner like clockwork. He has grown from a gangly six month old with patchy, dull hair who wolfed down all available food to a sleek, fit, muscular young ambassador for his type. He now knows what food he likes and what he doesn’t like. He now “knows” that he has options available.

Top Dog

Julius has an embarrassment of riches to occupy his time. He has antlers of nearly every shape and size, a huge basket of stuffies, bags of treats that have yet to be opened in the pantry, and a whole crew of friends at his doggy day care. Yes, your Smokey my Julius goes to doggy day care where today, there will be a party for him in honor of the new life you’ve allowed him to lead. He will have all of the trappings that come with a party, but he will have no gifts.

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His present is his present. He lives in the here and now, he enjoys his life and we love him. Dozens of people have asked to have him, buy him, or breed him, but all are turned away. Julius is truly a precious boy and our lives are richer for having him in it. So to you, I say “thank you.”

 

I’ve actually designated July 26th as his Gotcha Day, but that will fall on Saturday.

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Two Forward and Three Back

We’ve been pondering what content we should concentrate on regarding our Facebook page.  We’ve been fairly static in our “likes” for quite a while and that is ok, but we notice there are days when we gain a like but may lose two.  We gain one “like” and lose two then gain three and lose another one.

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Here is our philosophy:  Our page is meant to be positive for the most part.  We like to show the boys in their best light, but don’t shy away from revealing flaws.  (“Hey, Mom, we don’t have FLAWS! We give you opportunities to be a better Mom.”)   While we are and always will be advocates for the Pit Bull types, we like to show the boys as “dogs.”  They are individuals and are treated as such. We will share pages and fun things when asked and love to see things our followers share.  Here is a little about what we don’t do, and this is not a judgement of anyone who does it, it just isn’t our” thing.”  We don’t utilize the term “death row dogs.”   We know it refers to the E list, but Death Row is where those convicted of murder sit, we do not like the phrase.  (Not that we like E list or any of the other terms.)  We will occasionally share an “urgent” but we try to research who, what, why first.  We don’t do “woe is me”-we celebrate successes.  Maybe our focus is really just as scattered as this paragraph.

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We share relevant news stories, fun stories and pictures and hope you’ll do the same.  We are, however trying to figure out how to get the best content to you and make our page more fun and interactive.

So, with a very special occasion coming up in the next week, we are going to have a fun little game.

As of today, we have 563 likes and if you help us get to 575 by July 26th, we will choose one random ‘helper’ to win a prize.  How will we know?  Well, this is a Rafflecopter give away that will end at 6:00 pm on Saturday July 26.  So, click, enter and win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Fostering Good Will

Some people have a special calling and if the stars align, they are able to pursue that path. I am not one of those people in the strictest sense. I have a good job, enjoy a steady work schedule and work for a company that encourages community involvement. Though I never expected to be in this industry, I’m fortunate to be in this situation. It allows me to pursue my animal care/advocacy avocation to a degree that makes me happy. It also allows for another in my home to fulfill his special calling from time to time.

 

When Julius came into my life, I’m convinced that he ran up to the right person but also convinced that it was because this person was walking a dog. Julius loves dogs. He loves going to day care, he loves people, life, children who are respectful, some treats, bully sticks, and all dogs. He is the dog who helped Ray deal with his reactivity and he is the dog who helps me welcome our temporary fosters. Juli’s calling is to be an ambassador of good will for all dogs.

 

Tora the A-Dora-Bull

Tora the A-Dora-Bull

When we brought in our beloved Tora, she was really able to shed some of her Mama persona and become a romping, happy young gal again with Julius. And if you are friends with me, or follow the boys on Facebook, you will have seen that we had anther visitor over the weekend.

 

Little Krispie captured my heart the moment I saw him. This sweet little puppy was sitting on his Kuranda bed, obviously overwhelmed and wondering where he was and why he was there. (Actually I think he was born in the shelter-the one we pulled him from-, adopted and returned with his collar imbedded in his neck-a lot in his few four months of life.) After visiting him a second time, he came carefully wiggling up to the door, so Asia and I entered his kennel and gave him some love and learned that he stunk. To high heaven.

Babies

We decided to bring him home for the evening for a bath and some puppy-lovin’ time but it almost didn’t happen. When I came to collect him he was afraid to leave his kennel and once out, afraid to walk past the other dogs to the extent that he pancaked. I made a calculated decision and picked him up and carried him to the pittie van where he settled happily into the cushions on the floor. We made a stop at greenDogGoods where he was gifted with some (much needed) shampoo and he helped me pick out a large rawhide for Ray, who he wouldn’t be meeting.

Water Break

When we got home, Asia put the Peaceabull boys in the house and we let Krispie get acquainted with the yard and when he looked pretty comfortable, we releashed him and brought Julius out on leash. We did a few intros and after just a few short minutes we could tell by their body language that they were going to be great friends. While I knew Julius would be fine, I wondered about Krispie who seemed so tentative at first, but he quickly became Julius’s little shadow. They played and romped both that evening and the next morning before Krispie was returned for what was to be his last day without a forever home and there was even a moment when Julius had to “correct” Krispie which went well.

 

All in all, I’m just bursting with pride over how much Julius embraces this role and how easy he makes it for other’s to have a bit of a break from the kennels and enjoy the comforts of a home.  Would Krispie been adopted so quickly otherwise?  I have no doubt that he would have.  Someone that stinking cute (well, less stinking after his visit) wasn’t going to stay homeless for long, but it was great to be able to give him some healthy interactions with Julius and with the baby.

 

Our calling.  When I brought Ray home, I had visions of being a great team of Ambassadors for his breed.  Now, I have two.  Ray does really well in public in general.  He has good leash skills, is quite calm and ignores most dogs but we keep him out of foster situations and extended one on ones.   He is my shopping and event ambassador.  Julius is my one on one dog ambassador and all around good party host who does well with most situations.  I feel like I hit the jackpot.

What is your dog’s “appetite” for entertaining guests?

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Vocabulary

I thought I had read somewhere that dogs have a vocabulary of around 100 words, but a quick google-check found a bit of a range all the way up to the record holder, a border collie with over a thousand words in her vocabulary.

 

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Of my boys, Ray is definitely the brainiac of the bunch while Julius is the one with the great personality. Of course, Julius does know basic words; he just doesn’t have the same level of comprehension that we see in Ray. They both know the basics as well as “breakfast,” “dinner,” “bone,” “bye-bye,” and “antler,” so we try to be pretty specific when speaking to them. (That doesn’t mean we don’t occasionally engage in a conversation that is guaranteed to elicit the ever adorable head tilt.)

 

So, what to do about these walks that Ray and I have been taking? Naturally it’s one of the highlights of his day, but we strive to keep them low key and not elicit too much excitement. Why, just the mere sight of a collar or leash sends both boys into states of ecstasy so we have adopted a new phrase around the house that the boys have yet to add to their comprehension vocabulary and make us all feel oh-so-smart to boot.

 

A Nod to Throwback Thursday

A Nod to Throwback Thursday

We now “perambulate about the neighborhood.”

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Not for Sale or Stud

For the Fourth of July holiday we decided that since we still own the house with the pool, we should make use of it by having a party. Loose plans were made, text invitations were sent and while trying to get a party planned for a remote location, Kevin and I came to a severe disagreement on the dogs to which I will fully acknowledge right now, his way made the most sense.

 

Not a Party Animal

Not a Party Animal

I fully intended to bring both Ray and Julius to the house for the pool party since chances were great that we’d be gone 8-9 hours that day and since Kevin and I were driving down separately with our vehicles loaded, I was determined to have my way while going through the motions of having acquiesced. I took Ray for a special trip to Pet Smart for a few last –minute needs and then he and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood so he could check his pee-mail and leave his own messages.

At the very last minute, I realized the decision to leave Ray at home would be best. He would still have full run of the house, have a bowl full of food (that I knew he wouldn’t touch) just in case, a full bowl of water and a nice long bully stick. The other house has a lot of lava rock in the landscaping that always cut at Ray’s feet and with the two boys there romping about; Ray would surely reinjure his leg, so home he stayed.

Heading to the party!

Heading to the party!

Julius, on the other hand, would have had to be crated and is much more easy-going, so he got to attend the cook out with us and I must say he was a HUGE HIT. Ray can be pretty clingy with me whereas Julius is so social that he likes to interact with everyone, but also spent a lot of time gnawing on the frozen marrow bone I packed for him as well as just sprinting up and down the fence line whenever the neighbor’s dog decided to flex a bit of her bark muscle. (That in it’s self would not have been good for Ray’s ACL.)

Party Animal

Party Animal

Of course, my little Juli Bean was so charming that nearly everyone wanted to take him home; one person offered me $200 and his dog in trade and someone else wanted him to stud so she could have one of his puppies. That was a nice opportunity to wax poetic about the value of neutering (“Why? Both of them are boys, so why bother?) and speak to the fact that I actually had Julius neutered before we had even decided that he was staying with us forever as opposed to being a foster.
Naturally, there were also many conversations about Pit Bull type dogs, which brings me to pose a question to the Blogosphere before I address some of the conversations: what type/breed of dog do you have and is he/she protective of your home?