I personally believe that bully breeds have gotten a terrible rap. Yes, a number of news stories have shown the devastating impacts of dog attacks and when they occur with strong jawed and muscled animals, they are terrible and devastating.
But the biggest problem is the owners.
There I said it. The owners are the biggest issue. More and more people treat their pets like baby dolls. They play dress up and buy cute collars and outfits. They buy presents at Christmas. They love to baby them. But they don't exercise or discipline them. They don't take on the dominant role in the pack (the human and animal pack). Then, after the puppy or dog is not so cute and cuddly anymore. After they take over the dominant role from the humans. After they growl, bark, bite, show aggressive behavior - then they are abandoned, neglected, shoved in the basement, left at the animal shelter.
65% of all puppy owners give up their puppy within the first year. Last year, 11 million dogs under the age of 1 were euthanized in shelters across the United States. Grow up people! Take responsibility for those who depend on you. Take accountability for your behavior and their response to your behavior. Be the grown up in the relationship between you and your pets.
But, alas, I've digressed from the the topic. This is Obie's story. A less than perfect dog who has been given another shot at life.
On July 5, 2006, my husband Chris found a dog in a cornfield on his way to work. Yes, we stop for animals on a fairly routine basis - it's a wonder we've never had 100 or more animals. This dog came right up him and while he was very skinny, he appeared to be in good health. He brought him home and for some reason I was home that day. He told me that there was a dog in the backyard and not to let our other dogs out back.
Our three other dogs were elderly females ranging from 11 to 13 years old. I did NOT want another dog at that time, and we already had the two cats as well. So while I was working to find out if this little bugger was lost (not likely, he was more likely dumped) and then worked to find him a new home. He worked on my 4 year old daughter to get the sympathy vote to become ours. My daughter is a bit of a dog whisperer. She has loved animals dearly since she was a baby and this wild boy somehow knew that he should buddy up to her.
He was dominant, wild, and aggressive to everyone but Audrey (and sometimes Chris). I remember her hugging him around the neck and he was cuddled up next to her while I worried that he would turn on her.
He stayed. She loved him. Our oldest dog Lady loved him. He wouldn't listen to me, but he stayed anyway.
It was about a year later when I finally bonded with him. Our dog Lady had been put down. She was my baby, my dog, my cuddler. I went out for a walk with Obie and we ended up walking for hours. He knew she was gone. She was the only other dog that loved on him. The other two dogs pretty much ignored him. He and I walked a lot at night after that.
But he was still wild, and aggressive, and dominant. Something had to be done. Fence fighting, chasing bikes, the children would run by our house as fast as they could. We only had a 4 foot fence and he would run around the yard with his hackles raised and his ears back. He was a pretty fierce sight.
We did a lot of research and knew that a regular training class wouldn't work. We really wanted Cesar Millan, but hey we're Hoosiers, so that wasn't going to work. So we started looking for options. We finally found an in-kennel training facility that addressed behavior issues. It wasn't a close drive and it wasn't cheap. But we were going away on vacation and would have boarded the dogs for 2 weeks anyway, so we took that cost into consideration. We went to First Friend K9 and Obie was trained on site for a month. That was hard, we didn't really see him until it was over, but we talked to his trainer every few days. He has/had a lot of fear aggression, but he also thinks nothing of going up and trying to attack the biggest dog in the place. After four weeks, we went to pick him up. He was a brand new dog! Wow, what a change. They spent a few hours training us. We had to learn all of his commands and what was and was not acceptable. Then Obie and I were off to their Novice Training class as part of our continuing education. We finished our eight week class and he changed. And I am a changed human being. We bonded as owner and animal. We loved our experience with Bruce and his trainers at First Friend that we've even taken Envy there for puppy class and we are all going back for Novice class (Obie gets to go too, so he can go along for the car ride and work on his socialization issues).
He isn't by any means perfect. He does need an e-collar for correction, although he no longer wears it all day. He still has significant dog-aggression issues and because we rescued him, we will never know why. But that is going to continue to be work in progress. Obie will always be a work in progress and amazingly he does continue to progress. He even eventually came around to having Envy in the house - albeit with lots and lots and lots of cookies.
Maybe one day he will actually be a Canine Good Citizen, likely not, but I won't stop trying. We owe it to him to have a good life. For the 11 million dogs this year who won't.
He was dominant, wild, and aggressive to everyone but Audrey (and sometimes Chris). I remember her hugging him around the neck and he was cuddled up next to her while I worried that he would turn on her.
He stayed. She loved him. Our oldest dog Lady loved him. He wouldn't listen to me, but he stayed anyway.
It was about a year later when I finally bonded with him. Our dog Lady had been put down. She was my baby, my dog, my cuddler. I went out for a walk with Obie and we ended up walking for hours. He knew she was gone. She was the only other dog that loved on him. The other two dogs pretty much ignored him. He and I walked a lot at night after that.
But he was still wild, and aggressive, and dominant. Something had to be done. Fence fighting, chasing bikes, the children would run by our house as fast as they could. We only had a 4 foot fence and he would run around the yard with his hackles raised and his ears back. He was a pretty fierce sight.
We did a lot of research and knew that a regular training class wouldn't work. We really wanted Cesar Millan, but hey we're Hoosiers, so that wasn't going to work. So we started looking for options. We finally found an in-kennel training facility that addressed behavior issues. It wasn't a close drive and it wasn't cheap. But we were going away on vacation and would have boarded the dogs for 2 weeks anyway, so we took that cost into consideration. We went to First Friend K9 and Obie was trained on site for a month. That was hard, we didn't really see him until it was over, but we talked to his trainer every few days. He has/had a lot of fear aggression, but he also thinks nothing of going up and trying to attack the biggest dog in the place. After four weeks, we went to pick him up. He was a brand new dog! Wow, what a change. They spent a few hours training us. We had to learn all of his commands and what was and was not acceptable. Then Obie and I were off to their Novice Training class as part of our continuing education. We finished our eight week class and he changed. And I am a changed human being. We bonded as owner and animal. We loved our experience with Bruce and his trainers at First Friend that we've even taken Envy there for puppy class and we are all going back for Novice class (Obie gets to go too, so he can go along for the car ride and work on his socialization issues).
He isn't by any means perfect. He does need an e-collar for correction, although he no longer wears it all day. He still has significant dog-aggression issues and because we rescued him, we will never know why. But that is going to continue to be work in progress. Obie will always be a work in progress and amazingly he does continue to progress. He even eventually came around to having Envy in the house - albeit with lots and lots and lots of cookies.
Maybe one day he will actually be a Canine Good Citizen, likely not, but I won't stop trying. We owe it to him to have a good life. For the 11 million dogs this year who won't.
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| I love this picture of Obie and Oscar above him. He's a good boy. |
;)
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