ArtfulDodger

No doubt about it, what you got there is one of them medium sized spotted dogs with a pit bull kinda lookin head. Mighty nice dog ya got there, wouldn't mind puttin him over my medium sized spotted bitch an gittin us some younguns. :wink:

oops, forgot to log on, that was my post. (guest)

I have two pits now and I have owned pitbulls all my life. I have found them to be the best dog around as far as being great family pets. I have never had a people aggresive pitty and neither have my friends. They will never back down froim a challenge from another dog though, this must always be remembered. I hope the pit you have is from a reputable breeder. The reason I say this is because red nose red pits have a long and distinguished fighting history in the pit and because of this, unscrupulous breeders will often breed the hell out of a line with no regard for temprement. They'll mate grandfathers with daughters and the offspring with sons etc etc etc until the dog looks the part but have some serious mental problems. These are the dogs that end up attacking people and get splashed all over the news, doing the breed a HUGE disservice. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting a pit through a proven breeder. A pit has the potential to be a lethal weapon and although their predominant need is to be loved and to be near their human family, if they have mental problesm and snap one day you have got your hands full. Stopping a determined pitbull from destroying the frisbee would be nothing compared to stopping one from trying to remove your face. I have found that until your dog is about 2 years old, you are not seeing its true personality. By two years your dog will have worked out who he is in the world and will be a good, stable dog with no surprises. One of my dogs was as friendly as pie to all other dogs right up until she turned 20 months. Now if she sees a strange dog she wants to kill it but gets on very well with my other dog and cats. Don't let that scare you any, I just think a pitbull needs a firm, dominant owner and needs constant reinforcement of rules or they'll end up sleeping in your bed, squeezing you off the sofa, or just sitting watching you sadly with their faces just inches from yours. (oops, methinks it's happened already)

The age old neutering argument, does it or doesn't it make a male dog incomplete somehow?? People will argue blue in the face about this, especially females, but ask most males and they will say that castrating a male dog changes him more than they tell you. It is such a subtle difference that you can't really define it accurately, but the subtle difference shows in everything he does. If a change of behaviour is what you require then I am all for chopping the fella's nurries off, but he will also lose his male essence. Castrating will repress dominant behaviour, aggression, territory marking etc but these things are the things that make a male dog what he is. Intact male dogs have a certain cockiness, a blase attitude to life, an often foolhardy and energetic tilt on how they should behave. They like to scrap or act tuff, depending on the breed, and they all like to strut around like they own the neighbourhood. I think, purely my opinion here, that male dogs tend to be more fun and up for it than females. I think female dogs are often more aggresive than males too. I love female dogs, don't get me wrong, but as far as having a mate, one of the boys, a dude to do stupid stuff with, a male is better. The female will do all the stupid stuff with you but you can see she's only doing it to keep you happy, the male dog does it because he thinks the stupid stuff is as much fun as you do. When the testicles are removed, the cause/byproduct of these behaviours is removed and the dogs change. I'm very much against backyard puppies and families who think it would be cute to let their little pet have pups to the neighbour's mutt, so I'm all for castration of dogs and spadeing of bitches unless you can be absolutely sure that your intact dog or bitch doesn't get out of the yard unsupervised. In my case, if I had Reg's nuts removed he wouldn't be the funny, foolhardy, ever ready, indomitable hero that he truly believes he is. He'd still be a lovely pet but the "glint" in his eyes would be dulled. God, I'd hate it if it were done to me, there'd be no point to life??? :drinking: :cry: :drinking:

Couldn't see the pic at the web address either egg????

great photos by the way Hazel!! That pic of your cute dog tying to eat the camera could be used as a CD cover. You have an artistic eye.

very good point Hazel, the stomach of prey is eaten too. my dog's will eat anything but they LOVE meat and bones They both love eating cat shit too??

A Very pedantic topic! nothing is visible without some sort of light, parrot's feathers glow in ultra violet wavelengths, urine trails leave ultra violet traces, a snake's jacobsen organ allows it to test the air for chemicals that might mean prey. It all depends on what your definition of "seeing" is.

nothing is better for dog's than meat, I feel sorry for the dogs that are forced to eat rice and lentils bcause their owner is a vegetarian. Yes, I do know vege's that feed their dogs sheep food, I think it is cruelty personally. A dog is supposed to eat flesh, the warmer the better.

I feel it is only right that we men get a right of reply. It works both ways, dogs v women 1. A dog wont shut itself in the bathroom for hours "getting ready" to go out. 2. A dog wont get mad at you for some imagined thing. 3. A dog will always welcome your dirty socks and jocks when you throw them on the bedroom floor. 4. A dog doesn't care if the toilet seat is up. 5. A dog doesn't get jealous when you look at a woman out of the corner of your eye. 6. A dog wont tell you to brush your teeth and go to sleep when you stagger in at 4 in the morning and are feeling friendly and chatty. 7. A dog wont EVER ask "does my bum look big in this?" 8. A dog wont insist repeatedly that it's not hungry then eat half of whatever food you have bought for your VERY hungry self. 9. A dog wont mind if you fart, scratch your butt and burp while watching the football. 10. A dog wont mind if you just sit together comfortably and not talk. Ok, my work here is done. 8) for now..... :wink:

Hi Mozart If that is your dog beneath your name he definitely resemble a dogo argentina, if that's what you mean by argentine mastiff??? They are usually full white in colour but a black patch on an eye or ear is allowed apparently. They're great hunting dogs apparently. My friend has 2 pitbull/dane cross dogs, have a look at the pic of them on my website, maybe you could get a better idea of your dog's breed?? Great looking dog by the way.

I have game bred dogs specifically because, although they are predominantly family pets, they also get used for pig hunting. When i choose a pup or young adult, I take my time and go for the quieter, less domineering ones. I don't go for the best looking in the litter, I look purely at the dog's interaction skills. If the dog is game bred but can control itself around other dogs it doesn't mean the dog is a failure as a game dog, it just means he has more self control than the dog that explodes into action as soon as it gets a sniff of another dog. I need game dogs for pigging, they also need to be able to get along in a pack environment. I think you can pick a dog's personality quite accurately if you know exactly what to look for. My dog reggie is a quiet dog who plays with other intact males he meets on walks. I chose him after watching the litter for about 4 hours, some of his littermates were dog aggresive already so I went for him. Now, when he's on a pig, you can see that he is as GAME as any dog aggresive gamebred pit but once I've removed him from the pig and he has settled down knowing the hunt is over, he can lie quietly beside his huntingmates without fear of a fight. I have a mate who has a very dog aggresive pit that he uses for pigging too. I refuse to go out with him now because once the hunt is over his dog wants to fight with mine and mine never back down from a challenge. I need game dogs that can get along with other dogs. You can use this gameness for all sorts of things, it doesn't have to be for fighting. The thing you must always have in the back of your mind though is that bull breeds do love a good scrap and they are, as a rule, dominant type dogs, it's an unavoidable fact of life..

I think you can be a devout dog person and a devout cat person at the same time. I have two cats, or should I say 2 cats have me, and I also have 2 pits. The cats and the dogs get on really well and I've never had a problem. My older bitch doesn't exactly like cats but she's happy to ignore them and do her own thing. Cats are intelligent animals and they have learnt that my older bitch should be left alone or they'll get barked at. Now they shower all their love on me and my male dog reggie. The cats, especially one of them will seek reggie out and rub his face all over reggie's face before settling in between his front legs and sleeping. It's very cute and people who have a mistrust of pitbulls see it and usually have a change of heart. Cat smells are easily solved if you can build a cat proof enclosure outside the house that is connected to the house by an enclosed runway. The cats can then come and go as they please and you will find that they prefer to crap outside. The enclosure allows the cat to sun himself, scratch a post etc and doesn't need to be huge, as you know a cat spends most of its day sleeping and any excercise needed can be done in the house. Open your eyes to cats and you'll see a noble, affectionate, discerning and beautiful animal.

I have to agree with K on this one. A female pitbull is by no means any less agressive than a male. In fact in my experience (I've had 3 females and 2 males) every time it has been the female that is the more dog aggreesive one not the male. My friends report the same thing. My bitch at the moment is the typical human loving pitbull but she hates strange dogs with a passion. My male and her get along because he's been around since he was a pup and she knows he is here to stay, but as soon as she meets a strange dog she turns into the howling, snarling dog that pits can be when they really want to get at something. I stress tho that she LOVES people and she can be taught to curb here aggression once she knows a dog. I like to introduce her to friends dogs through the gate, they sniff each other for an hour or so and then, depending on the receptioon we allow them to meet under strict supervision. My males tho have all been very tolerant and even loving of strange dogs. I can't recomend a bull breed enough as a pet tho, I think they are wonderful breeds.

Pie??? Did someone mention pie??

Strewth K, no worries 'bout this bloke goin' walkabout. :) I think it's the social life taking too much time out of my net life. I hope the person who started this post has sobered up??

And I thought I talked crap. :o

Docking and cropping are purely for the "look" of the dog. They serve no other function than cosmetic and aesthetic. They are like the trimming on a beautiful cake, the mag wheels on a nice car, the glomesh purse for the slinky sequined ballgown etc etc etc. I totally agree that a docked and cropped boxer, for example, looks magnificent and I have owned a docked boxer many years ago so I am guilty too, but I have changed my view now. My boxer used to wag his whole body too, I think he was aware that his tail, a vital piece of equipment in dog body language, was gone and he had to compensate for its not being there by wagging like he's having a fit. Other tailed breeds live happily enough with that horrible swaying thing behind them, why do we humans have to mutilate our best friends to make them look like what we think they should look like? If you can't breed erect ears in the breed of dog you own, then maybe you should try a dog with naturally erect ears. If a tailess dog is what you're after try an english bulldog, it's the next best thing to being tailess. Unless there is a medical or psychiatric reason for a tail to be docked I think it should stay. This is not a personal attack on anybody with docked or cropped dogs. I believe it to be true for human circumcision, male or female, as well. If there's no medical reason to do it and you do it anyway you are just mutilating a child to serve a barbaric tribal ritual. This is my personal opinion and my opinion of others does not change because their opinions differ from mine. I LOVE YAS ALL!!!! :wink: 8)

[quote name='bk_blue']:roll: hmmmm I think someone needs to teach your mates new pickup lines! :lol:[/quote] I agree, these lines make me cringe in shame every time my mates use them. I have to wonder about ome women tho, these lines work alarmingly well. It's not as if my mates look like Brad Pitt or anything, they are just average Joes but they are average Joes with no shame whatsoever. I found that the humble "hello" worked very well last night at the new year's eve celebrations. :wink: I feel like I've just done 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. hehehhe

Oh yes, I forgot, I also feed the pigs to the dogs. An 80 kg boar can feed 2 dogs for a long time.

For a second there I was too frightened to comment, but, being me, I HAVE to. You see, although I am against torturing defenceless animals for any reason, and although I see no harm in eating dog meat if that's what your culture is into, I have a confession to make. I guess you could say that my taking my dogs out pighunting is torturous to the pig and to the dog. After all the pig does die as an end result and there is a good chance that the dog or dogs will be injured. There is a lot of squealing involved but I believe they're squeals of rage not pain, a big pig weighs 80kgs or more, is very nimble and very ferocious. They are well equipped to handle themselves so 2 or 3 dogs have a big job in controlling them. I don't sit and watch the dogs kill the pig, I or my friend will kill the pig quickly and efficiently in a no fuss way as soon as the dogs have him held. I won't go into details but I can tell you that the pig immediately slumps and dies. Am I as bad as a Korean butcher?? or am I preserving an ancient tradition of hunting with dogs?? These pigs are environmental vandals in australia so I don't feel any guilt about having them all killed off, me and my dogs are doing my country a service. :wink: Anyway, I await your slings and arrows and, should I at recover from the abuse I receive from this post, I will be back....Oh Yes, I will be back!! :wink:

working and job specific dogs are usually well bred, healthy and sound, not to mention very good at whatever job it is they do. I think it's because the breeders themselves have something to lose if the dog can't perform. In australia, and anywhere where livestock and dogs are worked, it is a matter of great pride for a breeder of a good working dog to be able to say to his mates at the next sheepdog trial "I sold him that dog" Usually the working dogs bear little resemblance to their show counterparts tho.

Who ever would have thought that leaving an intact male unsupervised in the yard with a bitch in heat would result in a mating???? Who could ever predict something like that??? The above must be read in the most SARCASTIC tone possible. Fila's are lovely dogs to look at tho,but I wouldn't want to stumble drunk into the yard where a fila lived!!!

Very sorry [b]HnDMarshall[/b] I find it easier and more politically incorrect to say "he, his" etc when typing on the net until I know for sure. I know for sure know. :wink: Dreamweaver, your life must be lonely with no alive dog you must be keen on getting another? May I suggest a pitbull, they are gorgeous dogs. I'm sold on pitbulls long ago.

I am violently opposed to puppy mills, pet shops and indiscriminate breeding of household pets without a licence and some sort of proof that the operation you are running is safe, kind to the animals and healthy. It must be proved that there is a willing and able market out there to be able to place all the offspring in good homes. I do however concede that [b]HnDMarshall[/b] has a point hidden in his rhetoric. That point is this : We love our border collies, great danes, rotties, daschunds, labs, newfies etc etc etc We all say that they should be kept exclusively pure without another breed being constructed out of them and another fullblood dog of different breed. What we must realise is that the pure bred dogs we rant about today were, 200 years ago depending on the breed, in fact the designer dogs of that era. Yes, usually they were bred for a purpose, not just for the 'cutsie pie' factor they seem to be bred for today, but that really only applies to a few breeds and most were bred because they developed a fancy at the time. After they developed the fancy they were bred to follow a standard, because we all want a pretty dog, and not to do the work they were originally bred to do. It's just like today, we have waves of fashion in dogs. Whoever heard of a sharpei 20 years ago?? Now, who hasn't heard of a sharpei? I love all dogs by the way, I'm not taking the pi** out of any breed, dogs are dogs in my mind, they're all as cool as each other. All dogs are descended from wolves, so every domesticated dog is, by definition, a designer dog. The only real purpose I can see for new breeds are if they can be used to do some sort of work. There are some very fine mixed breed pig hunting dogs in australia. They aren't recognised by any kennel club because they are bred purely as pigdogs in country areas, but they are all of like build, size, and colour. They are things like pitbull X German shorthaired pointer or staffordshire bull X whippet X beagle. These dogs have been bred because they are perfect for hunting pigs in australian conditions and I'm sure that if pig hunting stays alive and well, they will eventually be seen by the general public and become a recognised breed and household name. My point is that we all own designer dogs, unless there's someone reading this who has a canis lupus in his lap.