A Tired Dog is a Happy Dog

Well its been awhile since my last post. I hope you all read Vals blog a couple weeks ago. Where to start...

Well Showlows about 30 pounds and it seems like she's getting more and more energy everyday. She is completely caught up on her vaccines, having 4 sets of her K9Combo, her Kennel Cough, and Rabies, as well as her last Parvo virus Vx. She is 100% healthy and ready to take on the world...literally.

Raising a puppy isn't easy its a full day commitment. Her and Baby have really became quite the duo.Whereas Baby would love to lie around all day, Showlow has unlimited amount of energy thats hard to keep up with. This prompted us to think of getting her into agility. Showlow would be amazing at it, she always wants to play fetch and recently she has been interested in the frisbee. She hasn't learned how to catch it midair yet but will go retrieve it, and it shouldn't take her long till shes jumping in the air catching it.We have lots goin on in our life but we will be getting both ShowLow and Baby their CGC awards (Canine Good Citizen). Her and Baby do play a bit rough but they do seem to care for eachother and miss eachother whe they aren't together.

We plan on taking Showlow to the Canine Carnivale this October 29th for Pitbull Awareness Month put on by the amazing MayDay Pitbull Rescue here in Phoenix. Feel free to message me for more info or check out their website at www.maydaypitbullrescue.org

The best advice I have to give on raising puppies, pitbulls or otherwise is this. A tired dog is a happy dog. A happy dog is a good,obedient dog. Tire your dog out before any training. Take them for walks, let em run around until they go lateral. Until next time. Be a responsible pitbull owner. Spay/Neuter, Vaccinate, Train and show the world that pitbulls make wonderful pets.

-John

" Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody."

Hello everyone and so so sorry it's been so long since our last post. However, we are here now and ready to UPDATE!

John and I both had this dream of our pups playing in water

because it's just so damn HOT in Phoenix.

Baby was not interested in water at all. 

She hates taking baths and any other activity that 

deals directly with water other than drinking it of course. 

 John trying to give baby a bath in the baby pool <3 ha. 

 This is her "I hate water" face

So when we brought home little Showlow we knew right 

away that we wanted to introduce 

her to water ASAP. 

Since we got Showlow Memorial day weekend

and this is ARIZONA, we knew the weather would be on our side. 

Lucky for us John's mom has a decent size baby pool & 3

cute pups for Showlow to play with too! 

To say the least our visit went GREAT! 

I'll let the videos and pictures tell the rest, enjoy!

 Gma trying to get Showlow in the water

She loved it!

 Max and Showlow

it's not the best quality but I think you get

the idea.

Once again these amazing dogs made me feel like a proud mama. 

She had so much fun and cooled down from the heat.

stay tuned because once I finish John will be doing his own post on here. 

until next time.

-V

It has been quite some time....

Well It has unfortunately been awhile since we've been able to post on here, but a lot has happened with our newest addition, little miss Showlow.. I assume this next blog post will be quite large, couple things it will entail... Showlows first playdate with Max,Sunny, and Rev, as well as her first playdate with Oliver... Her first experience with a pool, No shes not yet completely house trained.... Also... How big she's getting, and just owning a pitbull puppy...what to expect... Stay Tuned...

Some Updates

Well it certainly has been awhile since we posted anything regretfully. Well to make up for that its most likely that this blog will be kind of long and have a lot of information. Well since we don't know Showlows actual birthday, due to our educated guess shes around 14 weeks right now, and she has definitely grown. She was about 13 lbs two weeks ago and is def at least 15 now, getting quite heavy luggin around. Shes had two sets of her K9Combo Vx, and her first Bordatella Intranasal Vx, her next set will be another Combo and her first Rabies shot. poor girl.

Word of advice to anyone getting a new puppy. If you don't want to house train don't bother getting a puppy. House training isn't easy, its very frustrating and it takes quite awhile to achieve 100% success. We will take her right outside, she will both poop and pee, and we take her in, less than 5 minutes she will do both right on the floor. I swear she poops more than she eats, shes a garbage disposal. Yet she is wonderful and we are grateful we have both of them everyday, even when they frustrate the hell out of us. She has learned that when she goes outside she is supposed to go to the bathroom. What she hasn't learned is that she's not supposed to go to the bathroom inside. This is partly due to her being soo small/young, as a puppy she can't hold it like Baby can, so its kind of out of necessity, but also out of not knowing any better. Very Frustrating, but it only gets better with time.

In other news, Baby and Showlow get along perfectly, and Showlow is already learning some commands, such as sit, but there is always work to be done. We need to bring her around as many other dogs, large and small that we can to socialize her at a young age. Unfortunately Baby didnt have any experience with large or small dogs, was never played with, was just left to fend for herself in this disgusting AZ heat. There is a lot of work to be done with both dogs, Socialization being the most important. The only way to benefit these breeds are to raise healthy, obediant, socialized, friendly dogs. There will be no other way to smash the bullshit BSL and stereotypes against bully breeds. Well theres a little rant for now.

Was going to post pictures but apparently the pictures from my phone don't work on the computer even after I saved them onto the computer. Some bull.

Alright well till next time, which will be sure to have pictures of them, as Showlow is getting huge.

John 

Happy Happy Pups!

Hello, Val here. We haven't had the 2 dogs interact too much since Showlow is being treated for Roundworms and Coccidia. But today we decided to let them play a little bit. We first took them in the backyard and let Showlow sniff around and then John sat in a chair and held baby because we noticed that if we let her go she tends to forget how big she is and accidentally tramples little Showlow. Showlow continued to run up to baby and bark and play. You can tell that Baby wanted to play too, but we just couldn't risk her stepping on Showlow. Once Showlow is a little bigger that won't be a problem. After they played out back, we brought them in and let them play together on our bed. This way they were mostly laying down and we wouldn't risk Baby stepping on Showlow. This for me was just the happiest time. Since we got Showlow I have been a little worried about how Baby would react to her.  Baby has been the only dog in the house and I was worried she'd be territorial. I should have known better though, she is truly one of the smartest and sweetest dogs in the world. She did great with Showlow and at the end of the play date in the bed she was relaxed & HAPPY. I've seen baby get excited to see us when we get home and excited for a bone or treat. But today I felt that she was truly happy that she had a playmate. This in turn made me extremely joyful and all my previous worries went away. Dogs naturally run in packs, and it brings them contentment and peace to have other pups in the pack. It broke my heart to leave Baby every time John and I left to work. But now I know that once Showlow is a little bigger she won't be alone all day, she'll have someone to run and play with and nap with. Can't wait to watch those 2 grow up together. Until next time, PUNISH THE DEED NOT THE BREED and please help us promote responsible pet ownership and help us fight Breed-specific legislation.

here are some pics from our play time today, enjoy! 

Quick Update

Alright so I dropped off ShowLow at my work before I went to school and went straight there after school to find some news regarding her diarrhea of late. I just realized that I didn't mention before that she had diarrhea, well she did and I was already under the assumption that she had some kind of worms, as many puppies do, especially neglected, abused ones.... So a Fecal Smear, Float and Giardia Test were done at my work. The Giardia was negative but the Fecal tested positive for Roundworms and Coccidia. Both quite common in puppies, as the Roundworm larvae passes down through the mothers milk. So after a small dose of Ponazuril (for the coccidia) and an Iverhart Max... Which is a heartworm preventative but most importantly it treats Roundworms, Hookworms, and Tapeworms, so it is commonly used as a dewormer especially in puppies due to the very high safety level on these compounds. So little ShowLow got her medicine today as well as her first vaccine just as a precaution, If the mother wasn't vaccinated which I assume she wasn't its a little added protection. So Dr. B. thinks she is about 6 weeks, so she will need to be booster in the coming weeks. In two weeks I will also have to pick up some Panacur  and deworm her with that as an added precaution. Little Showlow is doing great currently, has only had four bowel movements as opposed to yesterday when she went nearly every 30min to an hour because the food she ate went right to the worms and passed through her. Her latest BM actually is part solid and has improved drastically since yesterday. Shes on the road to full health! Oh and in case people didn't know Coccidia is a protozoan parasite that causes Diarrhea in dogs. It is usually found as part of the dogs Normal Flora, but during times of stress/immune system compromise.... It can lead to an overgrowth.. which is what happened in our ShowLow.

 Pictures to follow soon.

Till next time.....

We're Back with Major News!

Ok everybody, I know its been a long time since there was anything posted but the time in between posts will be much shorter.

Ok so for about a month or so Val and I have been getting more interested in getting a puppy. A playmate for Baby, that would grow up with her and keep her company. So over the past couple of weeks we've been going to the pound in the aims of rescuing a dog that would surely be put down and give it a second chance. For one reason or another we didn't end up getting a dog from the pound, be it financial, not the right fit, or timing what have you. One of my coworkers Aunt Fawn pitbull also just had puppies and we were close to getting one of the boys to add to our family until..... Yesterday we get a call from Val's Aunt letting us know that someone dropped off a little black and white pitbull puppy in her yard in Tucson. Immediately  we were interested, we tried to get a picture sent to us but we couldn't, so as kind of a spur of the moment decision, and with what her aunt told us, we just drove down there last night to pick her up. She was everything we wanted and much much more, we didn't get home till after 1am and didn't get to bed till after 3:30. Last night we introduced Baby  to our new little girl just to gauge her reaction, we did it inside our house and didn't do it optimally.
       So we got up today went to Petsmart got her some things, then went to our parents house to show her off. We are happy to say that we already found a name that fits her. We recently found out that our paradise city...ShowLow has a BSL and dangerous dog laws in place. We've brought Baby their twice without knowing this information...ooops.... Anyway as a testament of fighting BSL we named our little girl Showlow... We find that it fits her quite well and we're both happy with it.

Ok so we did a meet and greet round two, I took Baby for a good 20min walk got her tired a little bit then Val met me with Showlow on the corner of the block, out of the house, so there is no protective behavior from meeting in Babys house...

I am pleased to announce that it went quite well. Its moments like this that make you feel just wonderful. Cant wait to bring our little lady into work and get her the works, dewormer, fecal check, ear medicine, All vaccines, microchip etc... Exciting times.

Heres some pictures of her and Baby when they met.

Enjoy! and till next update Punish the Deed not the Breed!!

Tired from her walk.

Haven't done a post in awhile, so heres a pic to hold you over till my next post.

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Doesnt wanna get up

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Baby

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The Problem with many Bully Breed Owners

So last weekend, one of Val's uncles came to town to visit and spend some time with us. We urged him to bring one of his dogs because Baby has had 0 experiences with other dogs that we've seen or heard before we got her. We heard a couple things about her being fine with some smaller dogs like yorkies or chihuahuas, and was even fine with my sisters toy poodle, but never heard anything about her and other dogs her size. Well he brought Duddy who is a 7ish old NM brown pitbull, with an extremely easy going temperament. Since it is in our best interest and Babys best interest to get along with other dogs we had a short meeting between Baby and Duddy.
           It all started fine even though Baby was extremely anxious to get to Duddy, a lot of whining, whimpering, and other tense energy filled the room. At first Baby sniffed Duddy from head to toe with him just sitting by Vals uncle with an anxious look on his face. It was all fine until Baby decided to sniff under him, his stomach, when that happened he moved quickly and Baby quickly responded with some tense energy that was aggressive. We then separated them because the line has been crossed and we had to think about what exactly went wrong and why it didnt work out.
          I've probably mentioned it before but when we got Baby we know that her owners got foreclosed on and she lived under a house for at least a month, as well as went from house to house(or apt) and never really had a single home, not only that but with other pets as well. On top of that we know that she had at least one litter if not two or more of puppies so her maternal protective instinct was a bit more honed than a dog whose never been a mother. Adding all of these things together plus the fact that this has been her home for 5 months as the queen of the household led us to believe that she was exhibiting signs of over protectiveness, as in (this is my house and I have no idea what you're doing here).
        This all leads me back to my Title of this blog. Above all else you need patience with pitbulls and bully breeds. You can't expect any breed of dog to be stable, obedient, calm, without the training, patience, and calm assertive energy. Obedience is a must for all dogs, they must receive the love like a son or daughter, but you need to know when to give it. You can't expect dogs to be perfect, especially when you don't know their past. Because Val and I will be starting a pitbull rescue in the future it is imperative for Baby to get along with other dogs and as the owner of a protective dog to work with her, to train her, to understand that we are the alpha leaders of the pack, she needs to develop her trust in us but the only way she can do it is if we show her how. Our biggest mistake of this introduction of Duddy was that it was inside her home, a place where she feels loved and secure. In order to properly introduce a new dog into the pack it is optimal if it is done outside of the home and I would say not even just outside, but at a park or some middle ground where neither dog would feel that they need to be protective over it.

 This introduction was just the beginning to Babys socialization and obedience and we will keep you updated all along the way with things we've learned as well as adorable pictures of our little miss Baby.

Baby got Spayed!

Well sometimes there are perks to working in a Vet hospital. So after a couple of months of waiting for my SNAP voucher we finally got it and on Friday March 18th I dropped Baby off at my clinic at 7:15 on the way to school to get spayed. We did a PreAn panel on her and her blood-work came back quite good. While she was under I made sure she got micro-chipped because soo many pets could be reunited with them soo much easier than without. At my clinic, We use Sevo, one of the safest anesthesia gases on the market and nothing but the best for my little pitty.


Anyways, So I went to work on Friday then took her home that night. As is expected she was quite out of it, and thats even when using less than her recommended dose of bag solution. Since our Baby girl had at least one litter before we got her so she does have some saggy teets, for lack of a better term. This cxed the large blood vessels that run through the mammary tissue to bleed a bit more than usual, so we had to wrap her up, and by the next day she was fine. She hasn't once attempted to lick, scratch, or otherwise mess with the incision site which is a big plus. We do have some pictures of our little girl the night after her surgery and will post them up shortly.

It has been awhile since the last blog post, but we will make the effort to make them more frequent. Thanks for reading! and Spay and Neuter your Pets!


John

Without Patience there is No Training.

 Val and I took Baby for a walk at Steele Park today on Indian School, which was something we've always wanted to do since we got her. Knowing that we would encounter more dogs and more people skateboarding, bicycling, running etc... we were excited if still a little nervous. When we got Baby we both knew that she hasnt been "trained" or socialized with other dogs, cats, or people. We weren't nervous though because she has done wonderful in our hands and is getting better every day. As far as dogs go she seemed very trainable, and we heard stories of little yorkies or chihuahuas getting into the front yard where she was previously to our house and doing fine, as in no aggressive behavior towards those animals. Not like it really mattered to us because we believed it is best to treat the situation as if there has been no interaction between her and any other animal or person. Im kinda getting off tangent here...

             Anyways... So we took her to Steele Park and instantly she was fascinated by the ducks and their quacking. Shes never seen a duck before, only pigeons and doesn't give a damn about them even if their eating all her food in the backyard. So we encountered a couple of people walking dogs and Baby was less than perfect. Whenever she sees a dog she still gets very attentive and anxious to get to that dog, Now we have no idea what would happen, but by her body posture and the signals she's putting out a lot of work needs to be done. She does seem better with smaller dogs as when we first got her and had her about a week she met Oliver and after a couple minutes seemed fine with him. We are in desperate need of Stable dogs to socialize her with, because her entire dog to dog experience is with dogs behind fences who are barking and growling at her and generally extremely unstable.... we do live in Phoenix..... With any bully breed, you will be sure to see Stubbornness... We have the Gentle leader for Baby which does do wonders but when she doesn't want to sit or lay down she just won't do it.. She knows those commands for sure but is stubborn as all hell. Repetition is the key . Take your dog for a walk every single day, tire her out, use positive reinforcement, Make sure she knows you are the pack leader. Do not let her lead you, lead her.  Most importantly do not give up. Bully breeds are extremely stubborn do not give up, things will improve.

Heres Baby after her bath today...

A Fresh Start

Hey Hey, Val here.. welcome to our blog. We decided to start this because Bully breeds such as Pit Bulls, Bulldogs, Etc.. are extremely misrepresented and also very close to our hearts. In this blog we will document our life with the Bully Breeds. We will share our adventures, training techniques and experiences with stories and pictures. Currently we have only one dog. The lovely miss Baby. (pictured below). However, we will have many more dogs to share on our journey, we plan on adopting more as well as fostering in the coming months.  We hope you enjoy! Stay tuned... :)