The Pit Bull Owner Who Hurts Us All

A few months ago a man walked into the store with a drop dead gorgeous black and white pit bull. What wasn't too pretty was the man had about 15 feet of heavy duty chain as a leash and the owners attitude turned me off the dog altogether.

For starters, I have a woman with an Australian Shepherd I have worked with for a few years. The dog has made great progress; however, he will still show dog aggression occasionally. Well sure enough, the Aussie barks at the pit. The pit owner turns around and tells the Aussie owner, "I should turn my dog loose to teach your dog a lesson." This statement is very irresponsible and upset the woman to no end.

What kind of crap is that? Then the man lets his dog pee on everything in sight. He took the dog to lunge, bark and scare the cats that are up for adoption. Then he brought the dog up to the glass wall of my training room and let the dog lunge at the reactive Aussie. The man was told to leave and I was furious at the actions of the man!

A man in my class went on a rant about how dangerous pit bulls are and that they all need a bullet in the head. After a long discussion set that statement straight! The man did have a point though, most people see the type of person with the black and white and that remains their impression of the APBT. It doesn't matter how well your (my pit bull family) dogs are behaved, what titles, our how much the dogs love our children. This one bad experience had a big impression on my class. Fortunately, I was able to share with them the great love of an APBT and what these dogs are about, did I get through? I think most of them yes, a few others no. It seems to me for every one person like the guy with the black and white we need five to undo the damage. That man didn’t want a dog, he wanted a penis extension. He wanted to boost his ego in front of his girl friend and used the dog to do it. Little does he know he came across as a fool and a jack ass in front of a large group of people. Sad thing is it is at expense of the APBT breed as a whole.

I applaud all my responsible pit bull friends. You have so many battles to fight and you people fight them with class, integrity and responsibility. Thank you all for your dedication, love and support for such an awesome breed. It is truly an honor to be in your fight to own such remarkable dogs.

Something About Cooper

Patience, consistency and timing, in dog training, these three things are of vital importance. Patience; remember that they are dogs. They don’t understand our language and some take a bit longer to learn our language than others. Be consistent; changing techniques will only confuse your dog and make it harder for him to learn your language. Timing try to time rewards right when the dog performs the action you want. Mark that behavior and reward it. That way your dog will know exactly what he did and will have a better understanding of what made you happy enough to reward him.

Here is a story of a dear friend and her big blue pit bull. A dog who you can’t help but love at first sight. This is a special dog to me, through him I have met and made many friends with Alamo City Bully Breeds United and Big Dawgs. Thank you Cooper for enriching my life with not only you, but your owner and the rest of the ACBBU board of directors.

A few years ago I went to a pit bull meet up to meet some prospects for training. I was introduced to the leader of the group who had a huge blue pit bull. This dog was dragging her from one place to the other. He was an extremely friendly dog who would practically knock you down to say hello. I couldn’t help but notice the big goofy Cooper.

Shortly after that first meeting, Cooper brought his owner to class. No, really Pamela was literally dragged to class by Cooper who proceeded to whine, bark and wear the stool on his head. Pamela shared with me that she wanted Cooper to get his CGC, ATT and be a therapy dog. I remember thinking to myself; we have a lot of work to do. If there is a dunce hat for doggy obedience school, Cooper owned it. Week after week Cooper brought Pamela to class. I think he repeated beginner once or twice. Pamela was determined and came back with Cooper each week.

Then we started seeing we saw small changes, Cooper was enrolled in intermediate, and advanced classes and then came a Saturday I will never forget. Pamela, came in with a sad face and handed me an envelope. As she handed it to me she said, “It’s about Cooper”. What could this big goof ball have done? My heart pounding with dread, I opened the envelope. What I pulled out made me cry, Cooper had earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen. He has since gone on to pass the American Temperament Test with flying colors. We have pretty much scratched the therapy dog for now as we are concentrating on weight pulling.

Recently we drove to Dallas to enter Cooper and my Chula in a weight pull competition. This was a long ride for Cooper and when we got to our hotel Cooper was done riding in the truck. I watched in horror as he tried to push his way past Pamela to get out of the car. With her window down, she was laughing and told me that this is what she went through every time she came to class. Are you kidding me? Talk about patience! For over two years every time she came to class she dealt with this pushing, whining, stomping all over her dog and she kept coming? Wow! that is dedication, I don’t think I could have dealt with that. You go girl.

Recently I had the pleasure of walking Cooper around a lake at a local park. It is as if a switch was thrown somewhere deep in the Coopie brain and he suddenly understood loose leash walking. He understood ‘watch me’. He was HEELING! Who is this dog? What happened to Cooper? I’ll tell you what happened to Cooper. His owner stayed patient and stuck with it. She didn’t expect perfection over night, she worked her dog week after week. We laughed and we cried together over this dog. His training equipment consists of a martingale collar, a thin leather lead, clicker and treats. Due to the patience of his wonderful owner Pamela, her consistency in a training method that may not always show instant results, her consciousness of her timing, and her dedication to her dog; Cooper is now a very well rounded pit bull. He happily offers good behaviors because good things happen when he does. I would never have dreamed the big goof ball would be competing in a Rally Obedience class, but his owner did. He is entered to compete in October. Good luck Cooper and Pamela. You two deserve a metal. I am so proud of both of you and honored to have you as part of my pack of doggy friends.

Proud Moment

Today I recieved a plain brown envelope in the mail. To my surprise Chula recieved a medal for the IWPA regional 80 pound weight group. All the hard work we put in last year has paid off. Hours of pulling on hot south Texas mornings, miles of pulling a drag sled has shown in her performance. While we started this sport as a way to tire out my crazy lab mix. After going to our first weight pull show we were hooked. She is now registered with IWPA and the UKC. We only need one more pull for her to title in IWPA and one more pull to title with the UKC. I'm so proud of my black dog.

Pitiful Pearle Makes Four

I just don’t understand people. Try as I may, why would someone get a puppy and then toss it aside like garbage when something goes wrong? Meet Pitiful Pearle, fourth and according to my husband my last dog. Yeah, right!

I didn’t want a fourth dog, three is more than enough to keep me busy. However, with the help of one very persistent shelter worker, I have my fourth dog. It started out with my friend telling me about the cutest little Chihuahua that she needed to find a foster home. I told her lovingly to keep looking. We played this game for a week when my friend told me, “Just remember tomorrow at 8:30am.” Wait a second, what happens? Am I supposed to be there? She then told me that the little Chihuahua was to be put to sleep. No fair, dirty pool this was just plain mean! After cussing under my breath, I told her to bring me the dog.

Sharrel, met me in the parking lot, with a little carrier. I couldn’t wait to see this little dog she had be raving about. When the crate came open, a crusty, scabby, hairless little puppy walked out and looked at me with the most soulful eyes I’ve ever seen. All I could do was utter, “Oh, you pitiful little pearl.” This was the ugliest dog I have ever seen to say the least. After exchanging meds, food, toys and crate, I was on the way home to explain to my husband this ugly little puppy. We had already discussed how much trouble could one Chihuahua puppy be. We agreed that four more tablespoons of food wasn’t too much. What we didn’t know was yet to come.

The first night Pitiful Pearle (her new name with an e added to it for fun) tried to attack Hondo. She apparently had to fight for most things in her young life and didn’t know that food, soft places to lie and water come freely here. The next night, I went to move her to a crate and the little stinker attacked me. I called the agency I was fostering with, explained her behavior, and suggested she go to an experienced home. They laughed and told me that is why she was with me. I was not amused; I was not keeping this puppy!

As she began to heal, I had to take her back to the shelter for shots and more meds. While in the clinic, she became a shell of the dog I had at home. She hid in a corner and shook, she knew were she was and I believe didn’t want to stay. After her shots, she had a reaction, and then a few days later she had a reaction to the meds. The meds changed her behavior to a little beast with needles for teeth, which she would use without hesitation. I talked to my husband and mentioned how afraid she was at the shelter. At that moment, we knew we were keeping her. We have gone through a lot with her. She will still try to push Hondo around, although she is finally figuring out that food comes every day, twice a day even. We have had emergency surgeries, and allergies to all vaccinations.

The hair has grown back and she is a beautiful little black Chihuahau, filled with, love and life. She is determined and stubborn, the two qualities that kept the little puppy alive for two weeks on the streets. Alert and stealthy is her other qualities that today can even get her in trouble. She is an awesome little girl, who has found her forever home. Meet our new member of the pack, Pitiful Pearle.

A Dog Show; No Bully Show

Today I went to a dog show, no wait it was a bully show. Today was indeed very educational. There is a big difference between a dog show and a bully show. A dog show is very organized and gorgeous dogs trot around the ring as the judge scrutinizes the shape and body of the dog. We wait with abated breath trying our hardest to pick out the winner. The handlers are dressed in their finest yet not taking away from the dog. I know of handlers that try to color coordinate their outfits to the dogs they are showing. The dogs are judge on breed standard and should be able to do the job they were bred to do.

Now the bully shows, come as you are in the show ring. No need to dress up, in fact just attach a tow chain to the dogs spiked collar. If the dog is groomed great if not no worries just take him on in the ring. The dogs are drug around the ring, as most of them couldn’t trot if they wanted to. You think I’m exaggerating? Oh no, these dogs couldn’t stand in the stack position for more than two seconds let alone trot proudly around the show ring. When in the stacked position the dogs would just collapse into splayed out mess. I must hand it to the judge; it must be very hard judging a bunch of pancake dogs. Speaking of the show ring, there are no mats, it is just a roped off area. The funniest thing of all was that there was a beer can in the middle of the ring and no one picked it up. Not a judge, ring steward or contestant had half a mind to kick the empty Bud Light can out of the show ring. What kind of job can a pancake dog do? Be a doorstop? A rug holder downer? Don’t get me wrong I love all dogs and even found a few of them not bad looking. In fact the ones I liked got the gate pretty quick. I found it easy to pick out the winner. Find the dog with the worst confirmation and that was the winner. My friend Pamela and I got pretty good at picking first, second and third. It cost $15 to get in the gate, most AKC and UKC shows are free, it cost to park, again free at most shows. I didn’t pay we hiked in. It cost to set up a booth or tent to hold your dogs. Most people there were young and I would think have a hard time making ends meet. Yet they are paying $3,000 or more for a dog. If I paid $3,000 for a dog, you’d better believe it would be a top notch Catahoula that could walk into a UKC ring and tear it up. It had better not only be able to stand for the judge, it had better be able to herd cattle all day and tree coons all night. Today was an educational day. I’m not meaning to offend the bully people, I just don’t understand the breed standard. Or the wanting to breed a dog that can’t do more than lay splayed out like a pancake.