just a few of my favorite things. . .
The way she thumps her tail when Maggie is getting attention. She may be in the other room but her tail thumps against the floor in rythmic joy. I hear it through the walls & it makes me smile.
The way she waits until Hurley & Maggie's wrestling over a toy dissolves into bitey face and then makes her move. She sneaks her snout into the mix, grabs the toy & does her best to retreat to a safe haven without being noticed. It is sneaky. It is quick. And she almost never gets away with it. Hurley or Maggie catch her within a few steps and she almost always relinquishes the toy without a protest. But those times when she decides to hang on? Those are magic.
The way running to the tent has become a routine part of any training. I think she does it because it makes me laugh.
That her favorite sleeping spot is a laundry basket full of clothes.
Zoomies. 'Nuff said.
Showing posts with label The Truth About My Big Scary Pitbull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Truth About My Big Scary Pitbull. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Celebrating Anniversaries
Tomorrow, I celebrate my first year in business at NoPo Paws. This month, Sadie celebrates her Gotcha Anniversary (we don't know the exact date we got her). Last year as I prepped and rushed to get the shop ready for its Grand Opening, I never realized these two major events coincided in the same month. But now that I have this year under my belt and am waiting with open arms to embrace the many years ahead, I realized that it was fate that these two major life events occurred in the same month. For this reason: without Sadie, there would be no NoPo Paws.
Before Sadie, I had had a couple easy-going labs: Suzy, the World's Most Perfect Dog, and Maggie, a happy, independent puppy. I didn't know what it meant to rehabilitate a dog; I didn't know training could be such a lifelong project; I thought Cesar Milan was a great trainer; I was a dog owner but not an impassioned dog lover.
Sadie changed all that.
Many people labeled her an aggressive pit bull mix in our first months together. But when I looked at her, all that I saw was a scared dog. She came to us unsocialized with a fear of people and the world in general. Yes, she may have snapped, growled and lunged at the things that frightened her. But at her core was this heart. A heart that wanted so badly to bond with people and enjoy life. A heart that just needed someone to believe in her. And in the process of working together to conquer her fears and encourage Sadie's heart to shine, she gave me the greatest gift in the world: purpose and a dream. I came to realize how fulfilling I found working with dogs and their people and thus started down the path that brought me to where I am today. The rest of my life will forever be changed because of her. My parents gave me the gift of life; my husband gave me the gift of love and partnership; Sadie gave me the gift of lifelong passion and purpose.
While Hurley may be the face of NoPo Paws, Sadie will always be its soul.
Happy Gotcha Anniversary, Sweetie. Mama loves you forever and ever.
In Sadie's honor and in celebration of our 1st Anniversary, my shop, NoPo Paws, will be donating 10% of our non-food sales to Born Again Pit Bull Rescue Apr 20-22nd. If you are in Portland, please visit us and support this wonderful rescue. For more information on the many events occurring in the shop this weekend, check out our website.
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Before Sadie, I had had a couple easy-going labs: Suzy, the World's Most Perfect Dog, and Maggie, a happy, independent puppy. I didn't know what it meant to rehabilitate a dog; I didn't know training could be such a lifelong project; I thought Cesar Milan was a great trainer; I was a dog owner but not an impassioned dog lover.
Sadie changed all that.
Many people labeled her an aggressive pit bull mix in our first months together. But when I looked at her, all that I saw was a scared dog. She came to us unsocialized with a fear of people and the world in general. Yes, she may have snapped, growled and lunged at the things that frightened her. But at her core was this heart. A heart that wanted so badly to bond with people and enjoy life. A heart that just needed someone to believe in her. And in the process of working together to conquer her fears and encourage Sadie's heart to shine, she gave me the greatest gift in the world: purpose and a dream. I came to realize how fulfilling I found working with dogs and their people and thus started down the path that brought me to where I am today. The rest of my life will forever be changed because of her. My parents gave me the gift of life; my husband gave me the gift of love and partnership; Sadie gave me the gift of lifelong passion and purpose.
While Hurley may be the face of NoPo Paws, Sadie will always be its soul.
Happy Gotcha Anniversary, Sweetie. Mama loves you forever and ever.
In Sadie's honor and in celebration of our 1st Anniversary, my shop, NoPo Paws, will be donating 10% of our non-food sales to Born Again Pit Bull Rescue Apr 20-22nd. If you are in Portland, please visit us and support this wonderful rescue. For more information on the many events occurring in the shop this weekend, check out our website.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Pervasiveness of Stereotypes
Love and a Six Foot Leash wrote a great post last week on the importance of words in advocating for pitbull type dogs. How sometimes the well-intentioned can do harm with a poor choice of words or with assumptions and generalizations. I believe we are all sometimes guilty of a poor choice of words, eliciting an unintended reaction. It was a post that made me self-examine; to think about the challenge of advocating for a breed (or rather a group of dogs, many of whom are mixes, who are classified as pitbull type dogs - see I was listening!) without assigning positive or negative attributes based on appearance only. To treat dogs as individuals; to describe them as individuals; and to recognize and constantly reinforce pit bull type dogs as a diverse group of canines.
I never thought her post would have such resonance in my own life. This week, I received a little writeup from a blogger with the Oregonian. He had stopped to inquire about a new business opening up across the street and stayed to discuss NoPo Paws with me - my background, why I opened the store, my pledge to donate 10% of my profits to animal rescue & welfare organizations, and my goals and plans for the future. I spoke about all of my dogs, how working through their issues made me want to volunteer with our local Humane Society and how that translated into this passion to spend my life & career helping dogs.
This was what he wrote:
"She got bit by the doggie bug four years ago when she adopted a pit bull mix named Sadie from the Oregon Humane Society. Fuller says the dog had “aggression issues,” and that prompted her to want to learn more about dog care and training."
It is the distillation of my comments on Sadie to "pit bull mix" and "aggression issues" that brought me back to Aleksandra's post. While not an inaccurate way to describe the behavior problems Sadie had, fear was such a bigger part of the picture than the aggression. As those who are familiar with fear-based aggression know, the difference is critically important. In all fairness, someone who has no experience with fearful dogs or the various forms that aggression and reactivity can take, this distinction may seem completely unimportant.
But what strikes me even more about this choice of words is how stereotypical they are. A pitbull mix with aggression issues. That sentence could have been about my lab with aggression issues; it could've been about my pitbull mix with fear issues. But it wasn't. I know there was no ill intent, no desire to sensationalize and no awareness of the stereotype being used. That's what makes it so dangerous.
What affects me personally is the image I know is formed in many people's minds when they hear "pitbull" and "aggression" used in the same sentence, where they are consciously aware of that image or not. And that image is so far from who my Sadie is, so far from who the overwhelming majority of pitbull type dogs are. I wonder how I could've better communicated her issues. And I regret that my dog, my precious Sadie, might just be another pitbull stereotype to a stranger reading this.
Sadie is my pitbull mix. We don't know for certain her breed heritage so pitbull/lab mix is a best guess. We were told she was a lab mix. But they didn't tell us about her behavior issues. She was unsocialized and had fear issues. She dealt with her fear by acting out - snapping, growling and otherwise warning people of her uncertainty and fear. We trained, we encouraged, Maggie showed and we loved. Through trial and error, tears and smiles, we made it through. While she is not perfect, Sadie is now a happy and mostly well-adjusted dog. Her favorite things are giving & receiving love and water. She really digs water. That is Sadie's story. She is not a stereotype; she is an individual.
Just to clarify, Maggie is the one adopted from Oregon Humane Society. Sadie was rehomed by a family who couldn't keep her and were going to take her to the local county shelter if she didn't go home with us.
I never thought her post would have such resonance in my own life. This week, I received a little writeup from a blogger with the Oregonian. He had stopped to inquire about a new business opening up across the street and stayed to discuss NoPo Paws with me - my background, why I opened the store, my pledge to donate 10% of my profits to animal rescue & welfare organizations, and my goals and plans for the future. I spoke about all of my dogs, how working through their issues made me want to volunteer with our local Humane Society and how that translated into this passion to spend my life & career helping dogs.
This was what he wrote:
"She got bit by the doggie bug four years ago when she adopted a pit bull mix named Sadie from the Oregon Humane Society. Fuller says the dog had “aggression issues,” and that prompted her to want to learn more about dog care and training."
It is the distillation of my comments on Sadie to "pit bull mix" and "aggression issues" that brought me back to Aleksandra's post. While not an inaccurate way to describe the behavior problems Sadie had, fear was such a bigger part of the picture than the aggression. As those who are familiar with fear-based aggression know, the difference is critically important. In all fairness, someone who has no experience with fearful dogs or the various forms that aggression and reactivity can take, this distinction may seem completely unimportant.
But what strikes me even more about this choice of words is how stereotypical they are. A pitbull mix with aggression issues. That sentence could have been about my lab with aggression issues; it could've been about my pitbull mix with fear issues. But it wasn't. I know there was no ill intent, no desire to sensationalize and no awareness of the stereotype being used. That's what makes it so dangerous.
What affects me personally is the image I know is formed in many people's minds when they hear "pitbull" and "aggression" used in the same sentence, where they are consciously aware of that image or not. And that image is so far from who my Sadie is, so far from who the overwhelming majority of pitbull type dogs are. I wonder how I could've better communicated her issues. And I regret that my dog, my precious Sadie, might just be another pitbull stereotype to a stranger reading this.
Sadie is my pitbull mix. We don't know for certain her breed heritage so pitbull/lab mix is a best guess. We were told she was a lab mix. But they didn't tell us about her behavior issues. She was unsocialized and had fear issues. She dealt with her fear by acting out - snapping, growling and otherwise warning people of her uncertainty and fear. We trained, we encouraged, Maggie showed and we loved. Through trial and error, tears and smiles, we made it through. While she is not perfect, Sadie is now a happy and mostly well-adjusted dog. Her favorite things are giving & receiving love and water. She really digs water. That is Sadie's story. She is not a stereotype; she is an individual.
Just to clarify, Maggie is the one adopted from Oregon Humane Society. Sadie was rehomed by a family who couldn't keep her and were going to take her to the local county shelter if she didn't go home with us.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Positively Pitbull Stories by Oh My Dog
Last week, we Sadie had the pleasure of being featured on Oh My Dog, a blog I've been following since I entered the wide world of pet blogging. This is our first post/feature/mention on someone else's blog and I was tickled pink when Maggie from Oh My Dog told us that we were to be her very first positively pitbull story. I'm so proud of my girl!
Click here for the post.
When her story went live on Friday, I sat her down, showed her the laptop and read aloud. I would like to think that she was as excited as Mom but well, she knows the story and Choco the wonder puppy was so much more cuddly than boring old click, click, type, type machines.
I can't wait to see what precious pup is featured this Friday on Oh My Dog - what a great idea! Inspiring me to finish up my Passion for Pitbulls page that I've been working on. Coming soon!
Click here for the post.
When her story went live on Friday, I sat her down, showed her the laptop and read aloud. I would like to think that she was as excited as Mom but well, she knows the story and Choco the wonder puppy was so much more cuddly than boring old click, click, type, type machines.
I can't wait to see what precious pup is featured this Friday on Oh My Dog - what a great idea! Inspiring me to finish up my Passion for Pitbulls page that I've been working on. Coming soon!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Truth about my Big Scary Pitbull; Creature Comforts
The truth is that my Big Scary Pitbull is neither that big nor that scary (Sadie asks that you please, please, please do not share this fact with the postmen, UPS drivers or pizza delivery people). The truth is that she is a spoiled princess. Sadie feels that she must always have the comfort of a blanket, dog bed or other creature comfort during her frequent napping. Last night? Well, while Choco-dile, the Wonder Foster, was napping on the couch with my "Dogs Don't Belong on the Couch" hubbie, Maggie had commandeered the tiny corner of the blanket hanging off the couch. This left nothing for Sadie but the bare, cold, hard carpet. I know...practically torture! So she improvised:
Or when you dare to take the dogs on your honeymoon and forget the dog beds?
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| Hmmpphh! Fine! Basket of clean laundry suits me just fine. |
Or when you dare to take the dogs on your honeymoon and forget the dog beds?
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| I don't care if there are elk in the woods to run after. Take me home to my bed! |
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