… sometimes just by doing nothing to dogs.
I have a house guest this weekend. Canine. Female. She’s angelically sweet, adores (and is submissive to) the other dogs, and wants nothing more than to love on and be loved.
Unfortunately, in her 1-1/2 years, she’s had not one second’s worth of training. She’s boisterous, destructive, un-housebroken, doesn’t know a single command, and has borne at least one litter.
She’s absolutely gorgeous and when I put her in my backyard kennel (which fronts on the local makeshift soccer field), she was immediately surrounded by neighborhood boys admiring her for all the wrong reasons: “That’s the most buff pit bull I’ve ever seen!”
Because of course she has to be a pit bull on top of her other disadvantages.
I finally had to move her inside for fear that someone’s admiration might turn into kidnapping and heaven knows what fate. (I already caught one teenager trying to get into the kennel.)
She’s with me for only three days until she can be transported to a rescue in another county. On Friday another woman pulled her (with her owners’ cooperation) from a garage where she had spent her whole life.
The family that owned her thought they loved her (and the seven other dogs tied up or running around their house). They were aware enough to be adamant that the dog — Perro Loco — not go to anybody who would “fight her.” They seem never to have abused her. But OMG, how much harm you can do to a dog just by doing nothing to a dog!
I hate to admit it. But sweet though she is, I can’t wait to get her out of here. I only hope the out-of-county rescue (which supposedly has an excellent pit bull rehabilitation program) can save her from the typical pit bull fate.
That’s so horrible. How can people adopt (or buy) a pack animal like a dog and leave them in a garage? I just don’t get it at all. I really hope that her new home is good for her and that it will work out.
Damn…she’s just my type
“Unfortunately, in her 1-1/2 years, she’s had not one second’s worth of training. She’s boisterous, destructive, un-housebroken, doesn’t know a single command, and has borne at least one litter.”
As much as I hate to say this, isn’t that what some individuals do with their offspring? No “training” and then bemoan the fact when “They are more than I can handle!”
Good luck to the Girl.
You write a lot about dogs (which is fine – I loved my family dogs). I wonder if you would be willing and able to write about a ethical method to disrupt a JBT’s working dog (JBTWD). Earlier you showed (for laughs) a JBTWD attacking a JTB (probably because the dog triggered on something). I would like to be to distribute false triggers (so the dog triggers on everything making it useless for JBT work) or carry an ‘anti-trigger’ (if such a thing exists). Is there a humane way to do this? I completely understand if you are not willing/able to answer in this venue.
Got a dog just like that. Never properly socialized, had at least one litter of puppies. Beautiful, classic rednose pit bull. Other than an unfortunate incident with our cat, has shown no signs of true aggression. She came with my daughter when she moved back with us. My daughter got her from someone that didn’t know how to treat her and she was afraid of everything, but still boisterous. She (the pit) now tolerates people in the family, and only growls at me on occaision. Usually just befor she puts her head in my lap for petting her. I hope you dog gets a good home with people that truly understand and appreciate pitbulls.
ff42 — Provocative monkeywrenching question! I don’t know of any anti-triggers (nice wish) and I’m not sure what sort of trigger could cause JBTPDs to become so useless they’d be abandoned. (They already give nearly 50% false positives for drugs, but cops actually like that.)
But I’ll be thinking on this one. If anybody has any ideas, I hope they’ll chime in.
In WWII Germany, if I remember, one trick used by people smuggling refugees out of the country was to carry a hankercheiff that had been soaked with a mix of rabbit’s blood and alcohol. The dog would smell the blood and go for a closer sniff, then the alcohol would ruin the dog’s sense of smell, and it would miss the hidden people it was smelling for.
Ellendra — Hm. Intellesting … if it works. I may have to try something like it on the local canines. Any idea where you heard that?
I think I read it in a biography of some of the smugglers when I was 10. I can’t recall the name of the book, though.