Tag Archives: dogs

Virginia Livin’

Leave a reply

“Are we there yet?”, says Luna and Mika.

We got in yesterday at around nine o’clock in the evening and checked into our hotel in Chesapeake, VA.  The dogs were relieved to finally be some place that didn’t require being loaded back up in the car for a few more hours on the road.  They were able to lounge and relax for the rest of the night while we went and visited family for dinner and catching up since it had been a few years since I had been down to visit and it was a first for my wonderful husband.  We didn’t get back to the hotel room until a little after midnight and let the dogs potty one more time before retiring for bed from a long and uneventful day of travel down here.

Today, the dogs got to chill in the hotel while we ran around with family to an sushi buffet and other errands that were planned.  We’re now back in the hotel and they’re all relaxing while I blog.  Tomorrow, we’re planning on going back over with the crew and taking a nice walk after the weather cools down a bit in the evening so that our pack can be introduced to Logan and do a little bit of training and prep work to see if Logan is ready to do his CGC test along with some other activities with my darling little sister.

We’ll be leaving here on Thursday morning and heading up to Washington D.C.  We’ll be staying there until Saturday before heading back home to Michigan.  We’d like to do the tourist thing while we’re in D.C. and hit some of the dog-friendly locations while up there and get some good photos of the pups while having a little bit of fun for the two of us.

It truly has been a wonderful vacation so far and makes me not want to return to the reality of our life, but sadly that will eventually have to happen.  It’s a shame that it’s so darn soon.

 

Life. Love. Happiness.

Leave a reply

There have been a lot of changes in my life in the last two weeks and it has caused my blog to suffer a bit of neglect while I settled into what has become my new life.  Everything that has happened in the last two weeks is a new path to follow to hopefully better my life.

On May 21st, I posted about Luna’s birthday.  Well, that’s not the end of the story.  That day, my then fiancé and I shared our wedding vows together at the local court house surrounded by friends, family and Luna.  She truly was the reason we struggled to make it because neither of us could imagine life without her or one another.  It was a truly beautiful moment and one that was nine years in the making.  The love of two people and one little pit bull is a beautiful thing.

We opted to do our reception at a later date (July 2012, tentatively) and instead did a simple dinner after the ceremony to commemorate that particular moment in time.  We enjoyed a quiet meeting of the families at the Outback Steakhouse that was literally right next door.  My dad walked the hoard of nieces and nephews over since they were entirely too full of themselves to load up in the car for a short jaunt because they were having entirely too much fun running amok on the lawn of the court house.

The next big thing to happen is the place where my husband and I work was sold to a different company.  We are there through the duration of the transition (120 days) and possibly up to a total of a year through a subsidiary company that will take over our paycheck payments.  It’s a whole different ball game from what we are used to but it’s going to enable both of us to work a crap load of overtime and bank every available penny possible as we hunt for our dream property to start our family with ten and eleven hour shifts and up to six days a week.  It’s brutal on me – my knees and hips ache regularly after a day there – but its income until I can get my boarding/training facility dream a reality.  It’s a scary prospect, but at the same time I can’t be too picky about the fact that I am employed when there are many that aren’t.

Other than that, nothing else has been tremendously life altering.  We had our ADBA Fun Show on June 2nd and it went off without a hitch.  It seemed like everyone had a good time.

My wonderful boy, Ryker, took Best of Show under judge Mike Norrod and took Best Brindle under judge Dave Wolf – both gentlemen have quite a few years in the breed – and it was an honor to place under them.

Lyric took first in the female treadmill class and Best Overall by beating out the male winner.  She topped out at almost 14MPH in the 2 minutes she hauled fanny on the slat mill.  I’m so proud of my little Tinker Toy.  She’s really starting to come into her own and I would have never imagined the brain transplant she seemed to get after her emergency spay.

But, other than that, nothing much has really been going on.  Training has been put on hold for a while because of other things and we’ve been living the life of a newly married couple.  <3

Nine Years & Counting

Leave a reply

It’s hard to believe that nine years ago today, the most beautiful being to grace my life was born in the filth of an impoverished home that didn’t want her there.  The runt of the litter became the light of my life and has been my canine soul mate for the last many years.

She entered my life at the tender age of 4.5 weeks old.  She was riddled with what seemed to be every parasite known to man.  Her little wormy belly and sad pathetic eyes let me know that pulling her out of that situation was the best possible thing for both of us.  She grew like a weed (once we took care of those nutrient sucking parasites) into the phenomenal little girl I’ve loved and shared my life with.

Even at nine years old, Luna continues to go above and beyond what you’d expect for a dog her age.  She rules the roost in our house over four other dogs.  She continues her career as a sport dog by weight pulling, dock diving, obedience and dabbling in agility – even with an injury at two years having threatened to end her career before it began.

I would have never believed that the tiny puppy who rode on my lap for months would become the dog who held my heart in her little paw.  The dog who helped me live when I thought my world would end so many times.  She is my heart.  She is my soul.  She is the rock and the bond that has held my soon-to-be husband and I together.

We love you Luna.  Here is to many, many more years.

My Why of Pit Bull Ownership and The Pit Bull Problem

Leave a reply

I often get asked a ton of questions when people find out I own pit bulls.  The questions typically range from “Oh, my God!  You own baby killers?  Aren’t you afraid they will hurt your kids?” to “Oh, how awesome!  Do you breed and can I get one of your puppies?”.  (Truth be told, I absolutely hate both of those example questions, but I get them both all too frequently!)

I filter through the questions now like a pro.  I almost have to at this point since Luna will be nine years old in a few short weeks.  I stay honest and try to keep my answers to the point and void of emotion.  Why do I do that? Well, let’s face it…we all love our dogs, but people who own pit bulls need to realize that the breed has developed a bit of a problem because of its popularity and because of that popularity there and the problems associated with it, there are people who abhor the breed with a passion.  There are far too many hands in the cookie jar when it comes to these dogs – breeder, rescuer, and pet owner…we all play a part in the problem and we need to play a part in the solution.

The question that I get asked the most is one that still makes me think long and hard on an answer for.  Well, I’ll start with the tale of the first time I was asked the infamous question, “Why did you pick the pit bull as your breed of choice?”

We were at the Novi Pet Expo and Ryker was just a youngster at the time.  We’d gotten him one of the silly clown collars to wear to keep him occupied trying to capture and also to look bloody cute.  He succeeded at the latter, but not so much the former.  While he was busy rolling around on the ground and looking like a nerd we had woman came up to our booth and looked over the pseudo barriers at the silly looking puppy rolling around on the floor.  She had scars all over her arms and a couple on her face and she was apprehensive near the dogs.

She asked me that fateful question after relaxing a bit realizing neither Luna nor Ryker had even the slightest bit of bad body language toward her.  I don’t remember exactly how I answered her in a way that made her feel comfortable telling me she had been attacked by one nearly three years prior by a dog that looked similar to the wiggling, brindle idiot on the floor next to me.  It made me sad and angry knowing these facts – going through all of that by a breed I love and cherish.  This woman, through all of this, didn’t hate the breed.  She blamed the dog that did it and the owner…not the breed as a whole.  She was still rightfully scared of them but not so much that she asked to pet Ryker who willingly threw himself at her and presented his belly.

It was truly an eye opener that despite all of the bad examples showing up in the newspaper nearly every single day that there is still reason to work to salvation the breed’s reputation.  Now, to get back on the topic since I rambled off a bit.  Why did I pick the pit bull as my breed of choice?

To this day, I can honestly say that I never pictured myself owning the breed.  They weren’t even on my radar.

I saw myself owning a Malamute or a Siberian Husky truthfully.  Those two breeds reminded me of wolves and the closer to my favorite totem animal and I drooled over having one.  I realized that I was absolutely out of my mind after doing research on both breeds that neither was suited for me or my lifestyle.

My first on-my-own, real experience with a pit bull in my adult life made me fall head over heels for the breed.  Angel was a deaf, solid white girl with bright green eyes.  She needed a place to rest and heal before being placed and I was apparently the ‘perfect’ place.  I didn’t know she was a pit bull at first and once I found out I was enthralled and, admittedly, a little scared at the time.  She wasn’t with me long but I knew at that time I found my breed.  The stability, the temperament, the energy level, the avenues I could pursue with them was endless like my imagination.  I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things I could do with my very own pit bull.

Sure, I knew the horror stories about the baby killers and people maulers.  I also knew the realities in the breed. These dogs are NOT for everyone and they have their flaws – like the fact that a good portion of these dogs do not prefer the company of other canines or small and fuzzy creatures.  Let’s face the facts – these dogs ultimately became the best dog-on-dog combat animals bred by man, but that same selective breeding allowed for human stability unmatched – when properly selected FOR that temperament.

That being said, there are far too many people that I see and hear about with these dogs that makes me want to cringe.  They don’t deserve these dogs.  Only about 60% of those who own, breed or rescue these dogs need to be doing that in my opinion.  That number may be higher or lower, but far too many people get these dogs as an ego extension and don’t realize the hard work that goes into making a good bully breed ambassador.

There is far too much greed in breeders (not all, but many). Sadly, it isn’t just the BYBs trying to make a living.  Some ‘responsible’ and well known breeders have fallen off the wagon by producing too many or subpar dogs.  They have put aside health testing or even titling their dogs.  It’s a shame really because people should look at the ethics of a responsible breeder and know they truly want to improve and help the breed and not just keep reproducing the same crap over and over again.

Many rescuers are just as guilty as the breeders they abhor.  I’m sure everyone has heard the same mantra:  ‘Don’t Breed or Buy While Shelter Animals Die’.  The want to believe that the ‘No Kill’ philosophy means saving every animal that graces their doors.  The reality is so much more different that it’s sad.

Since the ‘No Kill’ philosophy is based on saving animals that are adoptable dogs that are shy, fearful, aggressive toward people or children, unmanaged aggression toward other animals (the kind of unmanaged that may mean a re-direct or inability to change the dog’s direction through focusing on something other than the other animal/dog) shouldn’t be on the list considered adoptable – especially with pit bulls and their mixes.
Many rescuers see a sad face and want to save the animal, but the reality is that if it isn’t safe, is scared to death of the world around it (which may likely mean a fear biter) or too sick to treat, the kindest option is humane euthanization.  It sucks, but rescuers are the cleanup crew for the stupid pet owners and of the world and they need to be strong and save only the best knowing that stable dog may die if they save the dog cowering in the back of the kennel.

Pet owners are the final problem and in many cases, the biggest one.  Far too many people go out and get a dog and don’t research the breed and this isn’t any different for new pit bull owners.  They go to the pound a local rescue group or even a breeder and expect this magical creature that they’ve been told about only to learn that there is a lot of work that goes into these dogs – training, socialization, exercise, etc. – and more often than not, it causes new owners to get into a bit of trouble for their lack of research (or sometimes media reaching trouble if they didn’t pick out a stable dog).

This isn’t to say that there aren’t pet owners who don’t do a ton of research and many who do some research but learn and continue to grow over time (I can name a good many I know who continue to learn and grow even after minimal research), however the alarming number of media stories happening because of a ‘pit bull attack’ needs to stop and until people face the realization that the pit bull might not be for them then we’ll continue to have this issue.

I am no expert in the breed and I’m continually learning, reading and schooling myself to better the lives of my dogs, however I ultimately chose this breed because I wanted a dog that could do everything (and researched, and researched…and researched some more) – a phenomenal sport dog and family companion.  I’ve succeeded with the dogs I have now and gone above and beyond my expectations and work to set new goals and tasks to keep their minds busy and me learning new things and couldn’t ask for a better breed for my lifestyle and what I want to accomplish in life.

The Only Constant Is Change

Leave a reply

Well, it’s been a few weeks since my last update but a lot has changed in the past few weeks.  For the sake of our dogs and our family we opted out of transferring to Kentucky.  We were only given a little over two weeks of notice to pack up, find living and move before having to report to work at our new job.  It was hard enough finding housing for five dogs, but when you told them what kind of dogs they were…yeah, didn’t happen.  Ah, well.  It’s in the past and we won’t give up our dogs when we have other options in our future.

In that time frame, the place where we’re currently working is pending sale.  A buyer is finally looking to buy the place.  We are riding through the transition and transferring to the original parent company in twelve months or so.  This will mean a few changes over the course of the year, but we’re staying in Michigan (for now).  We’ve started hunting for property finally that will allow us to finally have a nicer set up for us and our future growing family.

Bruce and I have been talking about going to the court on May 21st and finally signing the paperwork to make us a legally married couple after nine years and a few months of being together.  What was the reason for the date you ask? Well, it’s Luna’s birthday.  She will be nine years old and what better way to commemorate our time together than the glue that has held us so tightly for nine years.  I never would have pictured myself where I am nine years ago with her and Bruce…or for that matter, Mika, Duo, Ryker and Lyric!  I wouldn’t change it for the world – even with the hard times we’ve faced in the past or those we may suffer through in the future.  What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, or something like that.

We’ve had some plans and goals change with the prospects of the upcoming changes to our life and job situation and it will be interesting to see how they play out over the coming years.  We’re rushing headlong into the unknown and it’s thrilling and downright frightening at the same time.  I won’t deny that I’m absolutely terrified that things will go terribly wrong, but I will continue to hope for the best for myself, Bruce, the dogs and…well, you can take a guess at what else.

I am truly blessed to have so little but have so much at the same time.

Love. Life. Dogs.

Leave a reply

**Warning: Post gets incredibly vivid on descriptions and may not sit well with sensitive stomachs.**

You never know how your life is going to change when you get involved in what I affectionately call “the Dog World.”  Little did I know what lay in store for me getting into showing and (quite possibly) breeding purebred dogs.  The trials and the tribulations involved in having intact animals in my home and the quandaries associated with them.  Such was the case just a little over two weeks ago when what I thought was going to be a routine vet visit for a urinary tract infection or bladder infection on my darling little pistol, Lyric, turned out to be so much more.

I took Lyric to my phenomenal vet, Hoover Road Animal Hospital, on Tuesday, March 6th.  She’d urinated in her crate three times in the span of about an hour and a half.  [Note: We crate and rotate due to compatibility issues with a couple of the dogs – makes life simpler when they’re not crabbing at one another and it was another dog’s turn.]  The first time she did it, I wasn’t incredibly concerned because she’s always been a dirty dog and not had a problem urinating in her crate but after the 2nd (and eventual 3rd that happened not even 20 minutes after changing out her blankets and cleaning out her crate one more time!) I was incredibly alarmed.  The first time, her urine smelled fine.  It smelled like normal dog pee (yes, I know…weirdo knows what their dog’s urine smells like) but the final two times before we made the end of day trip to see our vet, her urine smelled off.  Pungent and almost infection-smelling – but it wasn’t watery, it was heavily concentrated.  Quite honestly, it was gross smelling and I had a hard time handling the smell. (It quickly became one of a handful of smells I can’t stand and almost make me want to vomit.)

Doc took her temperature and it was incredibly high – like concernedly high.  He gave her a fever reducing injection and we talked about our options.  Since she’d urinated on their floor, she had no more urine left to give a sample, but he didn’t want to send us home without starting her on antibiotics simple because we couldn’t run an analysis. So, armed with a prescription for cephalexin we went home.  There was concern that it wasn’t a bladder infection or UTI but I was told to come back if there were any changes – unfortunately, those concerns became incredibly valid not even 24 hours later.

We started her immediately on the medications after picking them up from the pharmacy (Yay for $4 generic prescriptions at Kroger for dogs now!). The following afternoon when we’d come home from work, I took her out on our potty run (we couldn’t see anything that morning since we leave for work at 4am most days) and she was oozing pus out of her vulva.  We made the call to get her back in immediately and an eternity later and a bazillion worrying tests later (okay, so it wasn’t that many, but I never felt so worried in my life over this little hellhound) the determination was pyometra and the fix was an emergency spay.

My life and hers changed so quickly. Never would we have expected to have her show career cut off at the knees by Mother Nature, but I’m glad I still have my girl and she’s safe and sound and on the road to recovery.  While Mother Nature had other plans for her, forcing us to drastically change ours, it also opened up so many more opportunities that wouldn’t have existed prior to that.

It is really true that when one door closes, another opens.  I’m eternally grateful to everyone who has been so supportive of her and me during this entire ordeal.  I would never wish this on anyone in a lifetime – it has become one of the scariest things I’ve gone through since making the decision to maintain intact dogs – and since we’ve had to walk through a new door and onto a new path in life we walk with uncertainty in our plans ahead but keeping in mind that we have each other and hundreds of new things to try, train, and excel at and a gratefulness that my little demon princess was not ripped from my arms and taken across the Rainbow Bridge before she’d had time to finish her reign of terrier terror on this plane. I ultimately learned to never distrust my senses in knowing that there wasn’t something quite right with my dog and her behaviors and am blessed to have such a phenomenal bond with her and the rest of the Wolf Moon pack.

To many, many more years of learning and living together, Lyric.  I love you with all of my heart and while we may walk a new path, we will do it together into eternity.

Responsible Breeding and the American Pit Bull Terrier

Leave a reply

The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is idolized as ‘America’s Dog,’ but yet this dog dies by the hundreds and thousands in shelters across the nation.  ‘America’s Dog’ has become ‘America’s Epidemic’ because of the mass amounts of puppies being pumped into this world by irresponsible breeders who are only looking for the next buck that they’ll make from the puppies they produce.  The end result for many of these dogs is the back room where they will be euthanized by either lethal injection or gas chamber.  If you have never sat through a mass euthanization of unwanted dogs, cats and other animals it is truly depressing.  These animals know, despite the cooing, pets and kind words that they are going to die.  If you don’t believe me and don’t want to sit on the real thing, there are many videos out there on Google on the hard work that shelter staff must go through when an animal’s time is ‘up.’

You will hear the same mantra every single day by those who spend countless hours cross posting, fostering, volunteering and saving these dogs and other animals from an uncertain fate to not “breed or buy while shelter animals die.”  These people live the day to day of cleaning up after those individuals who do not give a flying rip where the offspring of their beloved Fido that they just had to breed to make a buck.  As an appreciator of purebred dogs, I find this utterly appalling that they have to go through this.  The reality of the matter for breeders and other fanciers is that we must police our own.  We are our brother’s keeper for the fate of ‘America’s Dog’, the APBT.

The term breeder is not a favorable description in the rescue community and with what they go through, it doesn’t surprise me either.  The difference between your ordinary, run of the mill “breeder” (also known as a BYB, backyard breeder or puppy peddler) and the responsible breeder is a set of morals and ethics when they produce a litter.

  • Responsible breeders take the time to verify the parentage of their dogs through DNA-profiling.
  • Responsible breeders health test their dogs against potential genetic disorders like hip and elbow dysplasia, cardiac conditions, thyroid problems, luxating patellas or other potential genetic hazards and allow the risk of these issues to be minimized versus blindly breeding and having some unsuspected puppy buyer from suffering with hundreds and thousands of dollars in veterinary expenses.
  • Responsible breeders screen potential puppy buyers extensively.  Their questionnaires and contracts leave little to the imagination and has the intention of bringing forth a home that will maintain the dog for the 12-15 years it will live there properly.
  • Responsible breeders show their dogs in conformation and working events like weight pull, obedience, agility, rally, dock diving, etc. and encourage people who want offspring from one of their breedings to do the same through reputable registries like the UKC, AKC and ADBA.  (All of the above mentioned sports, including conformation are open to altered dogs with the United Kennel Club (UKC) for APBTs with permanent registration and all sporting events are open to rescue dogs of unknown lineage through their Limited Privilege Program.)
  • Responsible breeders encourage spaying and neutering (and often offer incentives) of dogs that are not considered breeding quality.
  • Responsible breeders microchip/tattoo their puppies and register them prior to the puppy leaving for its permanent home.
  • Responsible breeders take back a dog or puppy that does not work out in its original home and cares for it until it can find a more suitable, permanent home and realize that not every home, no matter how well-screened and hand-picked will work out.

The above mentioned points are just a few of the checks and balances that breeders impose on themselves to ensure that they are breeding to improve and not continually pump out animals that will likely end up in a shelter or on a euth list.  There are many more, but it would take many more blog posts to even begin to go into them.  For a general code of ethics for responsible breeders, I suggest going here.

While the rescue community often seeks to lynch those who breed, they lump all breeders together – those that are responsible and those that peddle.  The two groups are not interchangeable because responsible breeders work to keep the offspring they produce out of shelter system by breeding infrequently and screening heavily for proper placement and they also often help out rescue groups.  Ultimately, without purebred breeders…responsible purebred breeders, we will lose breeds and the domesticated canine population would die out in 20+ years with nothing but spayed/neutered animals around.  While it’s not the brightest outlook, it’s the reality.  We ultimately need responsible breeders for all breeds to continue to breed high quality dogs and shelters, rescues and adopters to help eliminate the overpopulation problem that is occurring now while we work to eliminate two main problems in canine society – breed specific legislation and puppy peddlers.