Dinner is Served

This is what dinner looks like in our house…

 

What does dinner time look like at your house?

Attack?

Over the summer we replaced our dilapidated chain link fencing that separates our yard with our neighbors, with a nice redwood fence.  One of the reasons we did this is because the German Shepherd next door likes to fence fight with our dogs whenever she is out.

Since we’ve had the wood fence up, the GS jumps against the fence whenever we (humans or dogs) get too close.  It looks like she’s going to knock down the fence.  Finally after several months, enough is enough!!  I went next door to ask if they could put something up along the fence to keep her from jumping against it.

I rang the doorbell, and one of the neighbors answered.  She opened the door just wide enough, and the GS got out.  She started jumping against me and barking.  I think she was nipping at me, as I felt some pain in my forearm, in my hips area, and my rear.  I tried to remain as calm as possible, trying to not aggravate this dog any more at this point. Then another neighbor came out, obviously the alpha, she grabbed the dog by the scruff and she immediately stopped her behavior, and went into the house.

I checked my arm, luckily no punctured skin, though there was a small bruise, as with a bruise on my hip.  The neighbors agreed to keep the GS inside, and to eventually put something up so she will no longer jump against the fence.

 

I was a little shocked.  Who lets their dog out when someone comes and knocks on their door?!  I can only imagine if that happened with one of my 3 pit bulls.  Would I consider this an attack?  Maybe.  Sure, she was probably being “protective” because I came to their house, but that doesn’t excuse the owners letting her get out when they opened the door.  I think I’m just lucky that at that moment the dog didn’t decide to actually bite down hard.

Just a Walk Around the Lake

So this past weekend, we took a family walk around the local man-made lake.  We like to take the dogs, because 1 lap = 1 mile, and it can get them tired.

Unfortunately with our little pack, the two youngest cannot be walked together because the “middle child” can be a real jerk when he sees other dogs.  His behavior then gets the youngest pup to act up too.  This requires more training, but since they’re 6 months and 11 months old, we’ll work on it. 

For good exercise, we walk them separately.  I take the youngest dog and my daughter and we start off.  Now, when I say I take the youngest dog, he’s also the biggest in our pack, he’s 6 months old and 82 pounds (we weighed him at Petsmart).  He’s extremely gentle, doesn’t care at all about other dogs, just looks at them.  He’s amazing to walk.

We get a lot of stares when we’re doing our walks: 

1. I’m a relatively small woman walking a very, very large pit bull looking dog (though, I do get a lot of people asking what type of mastiff he is)
2. He’s a very rare color – his coat is blue (that greyish shade), and he has a white blaze and mask, but he also has tan points.  So, he has tan eyebrows, cheeks, chest markings, foot markings, and rear markings.

On this particular day of walking, we passed a couple in their 50’s (I would guess).  The wife was instantly gaga over the pup.  “Oh, my gosh! I have never seen such a beautiful dog in my life! What kind of dog is he?”  She kept gushing about his coat, so her husband actually took out his phone to take a picture.  “I have to get a picture, I’ve never seen my wife act like this over a dog before.”  From afar, my husband could see this.  To him, it looked funny, a random couple pulling out their phone to take a picture of our dog.  I’ve never experienced that before.

About half a lap later, a young mom and her one year old son stopped to say hi.  The mom thought he was so sweet.  Her son came close, though since they were eye-to-eye with each other, he was a little nervous.  Pup just wanted to lick him.  I turned the pup and told the boy to pet his back, and he did.  He was so happy.  About 5 seconds later, he smacked the pup on the top of the head (you know how kids are), and the pup didn’t react at all.  WOW, what an incredible breed, to not even react when a kid smacks him.  Here’s a picture from yesterday. Not related to the walk, but look at this gentle giant letting my 6 year old use him as a pillow while she plays video games with her brother:

Most people stop me just to ask what type of dog he is.  Mostly, its men.  He’s a very manly-looking type of dog.  I love to see people’s face when I basically tell them he’s a giant pit bull.  Most people have a positive reaction.

 

I love breaking barriers on what is known by many as a controversial dog.  In the middle of yuppyville-Orange County, CA, I can walk around with my giant dog, and get mostly positive feedback. Sure, there are those people who grab their kids and get out of the way, and there are those who pick up their little dogs as they pass (fine, we really didn’t want to meet you anyway).

Raw Food

After much consideration, we decided to introduce a raw food diet to our 2 younger pups.  We’ve been adding a little in with their kibble.  Our youngest absolutely LOVES his food!  He gobbles it down in no time!  The other one hates his kibble, but he has to eat his kibble before he gets his raw.

 

A few things we’ve noticed since putting them on the raw diet:

• Super shiny coats
• The skin irritation that my middle dog had behind one of his ears has magically cleared up, and hair is growing back.  He’s had this area that looked like mange for a few months now, and we weren’t able to clear the area up with home remedies, but the food did the trick
• Stinky breath has gone away (surprisingly)
• GREAT stools!  Sorry, that sounds gross, but you know your dog is responding well to the food if their stools are good.
• And size.  It seems like both pups (who are 6 months and 11 months old) are starting to bulk up, but not in a bad way.  My 11 month old doesn’t look as skinny as he did.  My 6 month old has grown to 82 pounds (we weighed him at Petsmart yesterday), he’s just enormous and looks amazing!

 

So, overall, we’re very pleased we made the switch.  Its actually a little cheaper than the premium kibble that we’ve been buying (and blowing through).  The only draw back is the “raw mouth” after they eat, so we  have instructed the kids to not let them lick their hands or faces directly after eating.

 

Have you ever tried a raw food diet?  What are your thoughts?

Happy 6 Month-day!

 

 

 

Happy 6 month-day to my little one!!  I can’t believe he’s already 6 months old, and pushing 70 pounds!  He’s gone quickly from the smallest, to the biggest!

Brothers

So the other night, the two youngest were getting a little rowdy, so I put the older of the two away for a little “time out” in his crate.  Within about 5 minutes, the youngest crawled into the crate next to him, and laid beside him.  Awww!  Such CUTE brothers!!

 

Someone loves to cuddle…

Its no surprise that pit bulls are known as nanny dogs.  I’ve already done a post about how our oldest dog loves to cuddle with the kids when they’re sleeping.

This past weekend, the kids did another “couch out” and it was so cute to see our oldest pup try to snuggle right in next to both kids. 🙂

 

 

Who doesn’t love a cuddle?

Just chill…

I just spent an amazing 20 minutes just de-stressing in my living room.

With 2 kids and 3 dogs, its not often to have an extended period of time of just silence in the house. 🙂

In my lap was the oldest dog, typically known as the spaz.  I don’t know why, but he just wanted to come sit next to me, with his head on my lap.  The younger 2 were on the floor and couch chewing on a bone.  No one was trying to take a toy from each other, no one was bothering anyone, no one was trying to lick someone else’s junk – just silence.  I wish I would have taken a picture, but that would have required me to get up, and I was enjoying my time.

So that was it, just 20 minutes of silence in the house, enjoying the cool fall breeze coming through the window.

And now, back to work! 🙂

 

How do you de-stress, and do your dogs play a part?

 

Chicken Soup for my Soul…

There have been a lot of negative news stories over the past couple weeks about pit bulls.  There’s even news this morning that in unincorporated areas of Riverside counties, all pit bulls have to be sterilized (I can go on on this topic later).  Its so nice to see a story that shows a pit bull in a positive situation.  Here, have a read, its not long:

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/rescued-pit-bull-saves-4-old-minnesota-boy-190823606–abc-news-lifestyle.html

 

Dogs can be amazing!  Its a good reminder to people to not judge a breed as a whole just based on what the media tries to tell you.

 

Are you Accountable?

This may come off as a rant, but I am so SICK of people not being accountable!

I am a dog owner.  I own more than 1 dog.  I make sure that my backyard fence is secure, that my dogs are not left outside unattended, especially when no one is home.  I walk my dogs on leashes.  I make sure my doors to the outside are shut and secure so no one can bolt out.

I think this all started this weekend when I came back to my car after my son’s soccer game, and found that someone had ACTUALLY parked like this, and LEFT THEIR CAR THERE!  Who freakin does this?!

I couldn’t get my stuff in my car, so I had to pull up.  Luckily, there wasn’t anyone parked in front of me.  When I pulled up, there was damage on my bumper.  SERIOUSLY, how can you be that self centered that you can’t notice that you’ve HIT another car while parking, and left your vehicle there like that.

 

I digress… back onto the topic of dogs….

 

There are a few dogs who roam around our neighborhood off-leash.

First, there is a lab/german shephard mix who gets out almost daily, runs around, and upsets all the other dogs in the neighborhood.  He must have a really bad vibe because he makes my dogs go ape-sh#$!  I know all of my neighbors know him as the “dog who gets out all the time.”   I once met the owner, and he was a very laid back, lets all let our dogs out and let them play, kind of mentality.  Um, no that won’t work.  Be accountable for your dog!  Put him in the house if he hops the fence daily! I’ve even seen a neighbor walking her own dog leash this guy and walk him home.  It just makes me so mad.

Then, there is a new “pack” who roams around, I’ve seen them twice; my husband 3 times.  Its some lab/pit/something else mix and a St. Bernard.  They have collars on, but no tags.  I don’t know if they’re someone’s pet who gets out and wanders around, or if they’re strays.  My husband was out front once, and they came up to him.  They seemed friendly with humans, but if I’m out walking my dog(s), I stand no chance of an incident happens with a 200 pound St. Bernard. 

This morning, I was driving home after taking my kids to school, and there was a large redish colored dog out, again off leash, wandering around.  I think my husband said that there is a really big ridgeback out here, and that may have been him.  He did have a collar and tags on, but again, come on people!  If I happened to be out jogging with one of my dogs, and came across him, who knows what may happen.  Could be nothing, could be something… who knows.

Now, you’ve seen my post about the pit-mix and the Doberman that were out that one day.  I haven’t seen them since, so I think that  may have been an isolated incident.

 

Is it too much to ask to be accountable for your dogs?!  I believe I have a right to walk my dogs in my own neighborhood, especially since one has major car anxiety and cannot travel to go somewhere to get some exercise.

 

Rant over – I feel better.  Enjoy your day! 🙂