How My Pit Bull Changed My Life

Tomorrow is National Pit Bull Awareness Day and in honor of pit bull type dogs everywhere, here is the story of my Sadie and her impact on my life.  A celebration of the bond between girl and dog and how my pit bull mix changed my life.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have picked up on a few details about my life.  I own a pet store in Portland, OR.  I have 3 dogs, who are my life, and one of them is a pit bull mix.

What you might not have gleaned from my stories & posts is how I got to be where I am.  You see, I wasn't always this dog-crazy person.  While I did have dogs throughout my life, before Sadie & Maggie I knew nothing about training, behavior, or nutrition.  I watched The Dog Whisperer, thought he was a fantastic trainer, and believed Iams to be a high quality pet food.  A lot has changed since those days!

We got Sadie from a family who needed to rehome her.  It was because they were moving, they said, their new apartment had weight restrictions.  These were also the people who advertised her as "Free Lab Mix to Good Home".  Their ad did not mention the pit bull part of her breed heritage.  It also did not mention the behavior problems that quickly arose once we took her home.  I do not resent nor judge them for how Sadie came to be with us; she is the one of the best things to happen to me and for that, I will always be grateful to fate for bringing together a family who needed someone like me to help a dog like her.

Sadie was a fearful dog.  She is the most sensitive soul I have ever met, canine, human or otherwise.  Sadie feels deeply.  She is intense.  She is also the most loving creature.  She is more than just one of my beloved pets. She is my heart dog and she is the driving force behind the person I have come to be.  And she wouldn't have been any of those things without also being a pit bull type dog.

From the moment I first saw the fear in Sadie's eyes, I knew we were meant to be.  I saw this dog who didn't know how to deal with the big, scary world and behind that fear, I saw an intense need to love and be loved.  Ask any pit bull owner and they will tell you the same thing : pit bulls love love.  They exist to please and to receive affection.  Her fear is not a typical pit bull characteristic, especially because it was people who scared her most.  But it is one characteristic that speaks to her as an individual; she was a product of her early life experiences, her breed heritage and her individual genetics.  And if there's one thing I would like to shout from the mountaintops, it is the wish that we could stop seeing pit bull type dogs as stereotypes and start seeing them as individual dogs with individual strengths & weaknesses. 

It took us years to help Sadie overcome her fears.  It took us months to even begin to get a clue on how to best deal with her challenges.   I am happy to say that she is no longer a fearful dog.  The gal who once would snap at every new person she met now seeks attention from strangers.  I never thought that she would be an ambassador for her breed but with each day, I continue to see a happy, well-adjusted girl who has left her fearful past behind her and I gain confidence in our ability to become a human-dog team who is capable of showing the world how wonderful pit bull type dogs can be.  She even spent her first day in the shop with me last week and was, dare I say, a better shop dog than Hurley!

Sadie changed my life by making me realize how fulfilling working with and for dogs is.  I consider her rehabilitation to be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.  She inspired me to volunteer at our local Humane Society.  She showed me how dangerous punishment based training methods could be and led me to learn more about dog behavior and to embrace positive training methods.  She also showed me that it's not just about treats or clickers but about forming that relationship with your dog where a simple look or quiet no can achieve more than any jerk of the leash ever could.  And through all that, I started to become the person I am today - a proud pet professional whose mission is to give back, to foster a community of responsible dog owners and to share my knowledge and experiences to help others who may be going through similar challenges with their dogs.  One of the other greatest accomplishments of my life has been opening my business - and without Sadie, I don't know if that dream would ever have dared to be dreamed.

I am not alone.  I am surrounded by a community of pet bloggers who are inspired by the dogs who have made an impact on their lives.   I think by the time you get so dog-gone dog crazy that you become a pet blogger, you are already well into the realm of being a responsible pet owner but in the real world, it's often the pit bull owners that are the best, the most responsible, the ones who "get" canine behavior.  Pit Bull Awareness Day, to me, is not just about celebrating the dogs but also about shining the light on responsible Pit Bull owners.  I am one of them and we are the majority. 

Hurley, Puppy Protector Extraordinaire

As all truly great Hurley stories go, it happened on a trip to the dog park with the Hubster.

Hurley encounters a 10lb Shiba Inu puppy soon after arriving at our favorite dog park.  Hurley loves him some 10lb puppy but the dog's person initially freaks out, telling the Hubster that Hurley's too big and that he will hurt her.  Though we know that one of Hurley's best qualities is how gentle he is with small dogs and puppies, the Hubster calls Hurley to walk on, understanding that not everyone wants to play with a 90lb dog.  Hurley disobeys (because he loves him some small breed puppies) and after witnessing his gentle play bows, the Shiba's mom starts to relax.

Good thing she does because soon after, an altercation at the dog park breaks out.  Now, when fights happen at the dog park, Hurley's M.O. is to run and hide, usually behind our legs. He gets as far away from the fighting and as close to safety (us) as he possibly can.  This is another one of his best qualities.

But not today.  Today he crouches over his new-found friend.  He growls each time one of the dogs involved in the altercation gets too close.  He protects her.  The dog who normally gets as far away from confrontations as possible stays in the middle of a fight to protect his tiny new friend. 

So we now have a new nickname for our lil hero, Hurley the Puppy Protector. 


This week, instead of focusing on the Really, Hurley? moments (and he did have a couple doozies this week), I'm going to bask in the glow of Hurley's moment of heroism.  He's one helluva dog!

This dog = awesome!

A Lesson in Tolerance

This is Quincy.  Here's what you need to know about him:  12ish years young tripod Chessie.  Yes, he's adorable - in that stinky breath'd old geezer sort of way.  He's pretty much a breeze to dog sit except for a teensy issue:  he doesn't share well.  And we're dog sitting him for 3 weeks.

M-O-M, why doesn't he want to play with me?

Unfortunately for Hurley, Quincy mostly hates sharing Mom's attention with him.  See, Q spent the first week at our house doing everything in his power to not allow my dogs to receive any of my attention.  Laying in doorways to prevent them from entering?  Check.  Body blocking them from getting closer?  Check.  Bared teeth?  Check.  Snapping?  Check.  Having to spend lots of time separated from us due to his behavior?  Check.


Fortunately for Quincy, my three are being exceedingly respectful.  Maggie's told him what's what a few times but has been more tolerant than I would have ever expected.  For her to ignore a dog who is snarling in her general direction is huge progress!  Sadie plays the peacemaker, continuously trying to make friends with Q.  She can't comprehend why he doesn't want one of her famous tongue baths.  Hurley ignores him, whining and pouting about his sad lot in life.  Q enforces a strict no-fun policy in his presence - no wrestling, no chasing, no fetch, no toys, no fun. 

Quincy's starting to chill out halfway through his stay with us.  He's much better with the girls but still struggles to allow Hurley close to me.  Hurley gives Q the widest possible berth.  He won't look at him, won't play with the girls when Q's around, squeezes himself as close to the wall and as far away from Q as possible, has given up his regular spot at my feet and, due to all of the above, has been perfecting his pouty face.

Why doesn't he like me, M-O-M??

Poor Hurley, right?  Actually, I'm glad he's having this experience.  The girls let him get away with murder.  Seriously, he continues to murder my tomato plants!  Why don't they stop him??  Sorry...got sidetracked.

Hurley's learning a lot of things by being around Q.   Tolerance.  Patience.  Respecting one's elders.  Letting bossy dogs be bossy without getting all upset about it.  All good life lessons. 

 

Even if he won't stop giving me this look.

Am I The Only Dog Parent Who...

Am I the only dog parent who expects a higher understanding of action/consequence than is possible from her dogs? One who totally understands they're probably not going to get what I'm trying to lay out for them but doesn't care?

Let me set the scene.

I had chopped up some zucchini from my garden-with-a-squash-problem and realized, though I do love me some beer battered fried zucchini, that 2 whole large zucchinis' worth was probably a bit too much for me and the Hubster.

So I chop 'em up further for an impromptu, let's practice 3-dogs-taking-turns-with-commands training session.  I zucchini'd each of them for sitting in turn.  Then I zucchini'd Sadie for a high five (Hurley & Maggie also offered one up).  Then Hurley (got another high five offered from Sadie & Maggie - 3 dog training is going so well).  By the time it was Maggie's turn, she was pretty excited and her high five knocked half of the zucchini from my hand.

Hurley & Maggie hoovered the floor.  Sadie just maintained her sit & looked at me for permission (I had been telling the two who weren't supposed to be high five'ing to stay).  That's my girl!  So I slowly fed her every remaining zucchini in my hand as Hurley and Maggie watched. She got about twice as many the other two stole from the floor.  I actually said to them "Look at Sadie getting all the rest of the treats because she's good."  I did not add "neener, neener, neener" and for that I am proud. 

Am I the only dog parent who does this?   While it was powerful for Sadie as she was amply rewarded for her behavior, Maggie & Hurley were also rewarded by the food they scarfed up.  Probably more rewarded than they felt punished by not getting the rest of the zucchini.  I mean, it is only zucchini after all.  I don't think Hurley even drooled over it.

Am I the only pet parent who does this?  In the moment, my sole (and snarky) purpose to teach Maggie & Hurley a lesson but it was Sadie who got the most out of it (unintentionally).

I really hope they learned their lesson. Seriously.

And this girl?

She's Awesome!