Ray

by

ACL Update

Frog dogs

Since Ray’s ACL scare, we’ve been super, super careful in getting him lots of rest in hopes that it was maybe a sprain. With his anxiety over being in a Vet’s office, I didn’t want to subject him to several consultations if it wasn’t necessary, but I also don’t want him suffering physical pain as a trade off.

I’m pretty happy to report that since the initial weekend, we’ve limited his movement enough that he hasn’t limped in nearly two weeks. He is allowed to go upstairs at night for bedtime and down for the daytime. He and Julius are not allowed to rough house (of course) and they do separate potty breaks outside. Ray and I haven’t had our walks since that weekend, but I’m thinking we may start very, very short walks next week and see how it goes.

Our Vet said that although he isn’t limping any longer, it could still be a partial tear that may re-tear with too much exercise. I’ll keep a very close eye on it and, if necessary will take the next step, but after the skin tag scare, I’m not going to rush to surgery unless I truly feel it is warranted.

I want to thank everyone for all of your thoughts and words of concern. We appreciate each and every one of you.

by

Food Snob

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite dogs bloggers wrote about a very touchy subject.  What you feed your dog(s).  The jist of her article was about how divisive this subject is and how so many people get so passionate about their opinions.  It’s often too easy to fall into a debate of “if you really love Fido, then you would feed him this.” 

Now fortunately, all of the blogs I read are written by people way smarter than I who know their stuff when it comes to all things dog.  I also do a bit of research on my own and truly believe that I make the best decisions I can based on the information I have at hand.  I once read a quote, “When you choose your advisor, you choose your advice.”  Of course that is true.  I have my local experts who give me advice on good, holistic foods for my dogs.  I also rely on Dog Food Advisor to give me a starting point and a high-level overview of my choices.  I talk to people and I see the reactions of Ray and Julius (ok, just Ray.  Julius will eat anything that isn’t green.) 

I realized though, that while there may be a multitude of people who may try to bully convince others into spending beyond their budget on food for their canine companions, there are just as many people who truly believe they are feeding a high quality kibble to their dog, though it might be something I wouldn’t really feel comfortable feeding to the boys.  I’m of the mindset that if it works for you and your dog, then great!  If you ask what I feed, I will tell you.  If you want to know why, I will tell you why.  When you tell me what you feed, I will say, “great,” and leave it at that, so don’t feel the need to convince me to change.

The challenge for me is when our Vet pushes recommends a food that I wouldn’t dream of feeding.  I’ve noticed at their office a lot of literature supporting why corn is good, why fillers are good, why animal by-products are good and I just cringe. I know that this food company really has an “in” with veterinarians and our vets really don’t do a lot of research on nutrition so I just nod. One of our vets even was recommending a food for Ray to loose weight and said their dog ate it and lost weight but they had to switch because the dog lost too much weight. Do you think maybe because it wasn’t getting any nutrition?

I feed a 5 star rated food to both Ray and Julius, but that is because they love it, I support the ingredients and it fits my budget. Ray is overweight and I know that.  He will be sedentary for several weeks, if not months and I know that, too.  I’ve switched him to the reduced fat version of his regular food, switched out as many treats as possible with fresh vegetables.  I commit to a slow and steady rehab for his leg and by the end of the summer we should both be lean, mean fighting loving machines again. 

So tell us, what do you feed and why?  How do you handle the food controversy or have you managed to stay apart from it?

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.

by

Walk This Way

Asia has graciously offered up another post!

When Ray comes upstairs with me, he always has to reach the top first. No matter if I’m ahead of him the whole way until the last two stairs, he always pushes his big butt past me to win. I told my mom this and she said, “I’m not surprised, you are the same way.” And really, I am. Ray and I are lot alike, as well as my cat Miko is a lot like Ray and me.


Ray and I are both completely in love with our mommy, and sometimes all we want is her attention. Just being around her makes us feel happy. We will follow her around, and wait for her to get home. Ray is very calm most of the time, as am I, but we both also get so worked up sometimes that we can’t calm down. Me, while playing soccer and him while playing with his toys. I’ve found that Ray is a great opponent in soccer, and I enjoy playing with him.


When we got my cat Miko, he was just a baby and since we had two other cats he lived in my room with me for the first week or so. Everything in the house belongs to Miko, and if we get something new he is our inspector. I am very much the same way in everything is “mine, mine, mine!” Sometimes as a joke, but most of the time I am serious.

This makes me wonder, when our pets are born do they already have their own personality, or do their humans influence how they act? Do any of your pets act like you, and how so?

by

My PSA

Hi folks!  I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve been playing all day long taking sensitivity training and that keeps me very busy but I wanted to share something with you.  As you know my Mama spends too much time with other dogs volunteers a lot and I know you read my sister’s post about volunteering.  Well, what you might not know is that I am very service minded too, so I had my Mama help me make up this little Public Service Announcement.  Feel free to share it.*

*this picture might be wonky until Mom can fix it later, but it will be on FB too!

by

Pits in the Park

Last week my Dad told Mama that I should contribute more often to our blog.  He actually said I should do all the writing, but I don’t think that is going to happen.  I did have a really great weekend to tell you about.
Mama kept telling me we were going to do something special on Sunday and even though I don’t really know what “Sunday” is, I found out she was so right!  Not only did we do special things but we did so many special things that the day just kept getting better and better.  
In the morning, Asia, Mom and I went for a walk on a different part of the River Greenway trail that I’ve never been on before.  It was hot and I got pretty tired, but I had a really good time, even when an off-leash beagle started woofing at me.  Mommy and Asia said I was a good boy.  Mommy was right…that was a special surprise.  But then when we got home, there was an even better surprise.  We laid down on one of my special comforters and we got one of the pillows that I’m always trying to eat and we snuggled up together for a nap.  I laid my big Pittie snout on Mama’s face and started snoring like a piggy right away.  Mama was surprised that I was such a good cuddler, since I sleep solo in my crate, but I reminded her that I sleep with my squeaky monkey.  We slept for a really long time and when we got up there was another surprise!
Mommy and I went bye-bye in the truck and she told me this was my big surprise.  After all of the fun things we already did, I couldn’t believe that the day could get better but it sure did.  We went up to Fort Wayne where they were having the First Annual Ray-Ray Adoration Festival Pits in the Park Event. 



Thanks for letting us take this pic of “typical” Pit bull behavior, Steuben Co Humane Society



There were tables with treats and toys and all kinds of things to sniff, which Mom called vendors as well as booths for the Fort Wayne Pitbull Coalition and so many other well behaved, handsome Pit Bulls and their families.  Lots of people came to pet me and I gave out lots of kisses and then we sat on the grass in the shade and listened to music while more people came to pet and talk to me. 
Daddy thought having a lot of doggies in a park might be a recipe for disaster, but Mom said everyone there was a loving and responsible dog owner who were interested in busting negative stereotypes. She said it was a very Peace-a-bull Assembly.
Alls I know is that I was one tired little boy and even though I have to help write the blog, I’m glad Mama didn’t ask me to drive home, too.
P.S.  Mama said she didn’t see a single ball there, but she must not have been looking very hard.  I saw a bunch of them on a table that she could buy…
by

Vacation, Staycation

Hi folks.  My mama has been so busy being on vacation and getting ready for Asia’s baby shower that she hasn’t had time to tell you what I’ve been up to.  I love when she and Daddy are on vacation because that means I get to play and be with them all day long.  I was a really good boy all week, too, except for a little incident in the corner flower bed.  Oops.  Well, the mulch in there is so pretty and tasty, I can’t help myself.  Actually, I did help myself, but I think we can put that behind us and move on.  I did get to spend more time in the yard playing with my tug monkey, which I liked a lot. 

I’m not really sure what a “baby shower” is since mama calls me baby but I don’t take showers, I take baths (and hop into the tub all by myself, thank you.)  I think it means that a lot of people come to pet me and they drop a lot of food on the floor and let me help clean it up.  My Auntie Doe was cooking and she kept saying, “Oops, I dropped some chicken on the floor,” so I kept helping her.  She brought people with her and they ate a lot of fruit which I also like, so I got to have bites of banana and apple too.  
We had a lot going on over the weekend of the party. Mom says it was all done by Pinterest, but it looked like it was mommy, dad, Asia and lots of others doing the  work.  We had tooool pom poms that Asia tried to put on my head, balloons which I don’t like because they chase me and say BOOM, and something called a chocolate fountain and a belly cake.  I think that is probably something yucky, because I didn’t get to see it.  Mom says chocolate is yucky for dogs. Mommy also made tasty pink cookies with some girl’s name on them and Asia got to sit on a throne that Mommy painted and “re-polstered”  just for the shower. 
After the weekend was over, Mom and I went shopping on Monday and I got a new monkey for being such a good boy all week.  I love my new monkey because all of the sounds he makes,  even though we don’t get to play tug with it. 
Today Mommy went back to work, which is ok, because I need a break from all of this vacation stuff.
by

Weekend Round up

Over the weekend, Asia and I spent some quality time working on decorations for her upcoming baby shower.  We were working on making tulle pom-poms with some instructions I garnered off the internet and with the eager assistance of Jae and Ray.  Actually, Ray was a very good boy and lay on his mat keeping a careful eye on the pom making while Jae, in his usual kitty cat fashion grabbed all of the ribbons and tulle and anything else pretty that moved. 
When we got a few poms done, Asia thought that maybe Ray would like to wear one.  Here was his reaction.

On a not so good note, I found a tick on Ray’s ear.  I think I got it pretty quickly as it came off easily with no blood but I’m still worried that this is going to be a bad summer for ticks.  The other concerning occurance is the huge Diamond dog food recalls.  I don’t feed any of the affected products, but if you do please be very careful.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

by

Training Pays Off

Well, I’ll be darned.  All that training is starting to pay off in the best possible way. 
Ray learns very, very quickly but sometime because he learns a certain behavior will get him a treat, he might not completely understand what I am asking him to do.  It kind of reminds me of that video of Mr. B where he gets his commands mixed up. (I can’t find the specific link but the blog itself is full of greatness.)
When we first started practicing “down” Ray was by-golly-not going to do this on the hard floor.  Actually he still doesn’t- he will only do it on a soft surface, so I started taking him to his mat or to the carpeted living room to practice this maneuver.  Since there is a coffee cart type of table in there that we keep treats on, he parks himself in front of that cart and he will now hurl himself to the family room floor whether he’s asked to or not, just to get a treat.  Often when asked to sit, he will proceed to ‘down’ from there as well.
When we started practicing “leave it” he “got it” after two tries so if I make some type of motion as if I am keeping the treat, he snaps his head up and makes immediate eye contact with me.  It is a little unsettling and completely endearing to see his choco-velvety eyes so attentive on me.  The downside is he seems to be missing the treat on his paw which I want him to “leave.”
The other day we were practicing “come” in the back yard.  Ray would wander over to the fence and I would say, “Ray-Ray, come!” in my happy voice and after the first try he got it but I soon realized he began manipulating me.  He would walk over to the fence and then turn and look at me with his smiling eyes as if to say, “I’m at the fence, Mama, are you going to call me for a treat?”  Ray doesn’t really do the Pittie smile a lot and his tail wagging is fairly laid back, but he gets a sparkle in his eye and I know when he is enjoying himself and I also know when he is doing something in hopes of scoring a treat. 
So the other evening, Kevin said that Ray never comes to him when called.  I asked if he was using his happy voice and saying “Ray-Ray, come!” while using the hand motion to which he grumbled something unrecognizable.  Today, however, I got a text from him saying, “what do you know…I did the Ray-ray come thingy and he came! Looks like all the hard work has paid off.”
It only took 12 years of marriage.
by

School’s Out

Well, we wound down our last two Puppy II classes and now are on Spring Break, or Summer Vacation.  The next class offered in our series is called Real World and at this point, I don’t think Ray is really ready for that and our instructor agreed.  We’ve learned a lot in the past couple of months and honestly have not practiced all of it and much of that which we did practice needs more work.  We’ve had some great outings lately but have also had some “blips” which I want to work on.  Being that Ray is celebrating 21 weeks of life this week, he is young enough that we would benefit from more at home and at-large practice before enrolling in the next level class.
In Puppy II, there were only Ray and Caymus in two of the classes and actually last week Ray was the sole attendee.  Since we knew it would be a Ray-focused class, Asia came with me and we learned and worked on some great training tips for her to use in her interactions with Ray.  I think it was exactly what the two of them needed as he gets to be too much “puppy” for her sometimes and then her frustration mounts.  With Asia expecting, we want to make sure she is comfortable being with Ray and handling him even when he gets rowdy and giving her the tools for success.
Happy to greet you from right here.

Now go away so I can catch a cat…I mean cat nap.

We will definitely miss seeing everyone from the teachers to the other student(s) to the folks who were in Puppy I with us and we occasionally got to see after class.  Last week after his great solo class, Ray was about to settle into the back seat when we saw Juno’s moms.  It turned out that they stopped by to say Juno (who Ray adores) wouldn’t be in class that evening, so we were bummed that we didn’t get to see her.  They hadn’t seen Ray for several weeks either and M always swears that he is on steroids because one week he looked like a puppy and the next he was ripped.  Ray was happy to see them both as well, but the little prince preferred to greet his subjects friends from the comfort and dare I write, relative safety of his back seat. 

I think the self imposed assignment going forward will be to select specific things to work on each week and continue to incorporate them into our every day lives as well as more frequent and varied walks.  We also have the safety net of knowing Marjorie or Jodi could come do individual sessions if needed so we feel pretty confident going forward with the continued support.