Sarahstaff

Well, this is certainly a loaded topic. In humans, I am very strongly pro-choice. I think women have the right to make that decision for themself. And it doesn't have to do with when "life starts". The egg and sperm are each alive before then even come together. They only die if they do [i]not[/i] unite, so if perpetuating life is the only criteria, then a woman should stay constantly pregnant so no egg is wasted, and a man can't win (too many spermatazoa... not enough eggs). [i]Broccoli[/i] is alive, and I don't believe that gives it a right to life. Anyway, off that hotbed and onto animals... I definitely think that abortion is the best choice in most cases. If my little Tully (my only intact pet) were to get pregnant somehow, I would have her spayed instantly, aborting the litter. I do not want to be responsible for a litter of mutts (nothing against mutts, of course), and if I can't manage to keep her from getting pregnant, then I shouldn't have an intact bitch.

[quote name='pLaurent'] No, I think it's all those "ugly rosettes" your dogs have won. Offends her fashion sense! :roll: [/quote] Hey, I forgot all about the "ugly rosettes"! Let's have a reprise: [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/etukcrosettes.jpg[/img] Yep, look at all those rosettes Elmo won from the Altered class. Definitely the mark of an irresponsible owner. Note: he [i]was[/i] the only altered SBT entered, so the black & green for Best Altered Male, and black & turquoise for Best Altered of Breed; don't really mean anything. The black & yellow, for Best Altered in Show was an exciting win, though. (he didn't deserve it- he won on personality) Hey, I'll drink to that! :drinka: Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder! :drink1: :iloveyou:

[i]Hey[/i]! Are you accusing my cat of being [i]fat[/i]? He's just fluffy! :lol: Okay, maybe a little pudgy.

[quote name='xfiled'] No, what I see she writes is how horribly irresponsible many of the owners and breeders of Pit Bulls are. I don't think she slurs dogs and their owners as much as she really hits home with some of her comments and that makes people uncomfortable. Carla[/quote] Oh, that explains why she always used to find reason to criticize [i]me[/i] for anything I did... to a laughable degree, where people would say "Why does she hate you so much?" Obviously it's because I'm horribly irresponsible, competing with my dogs in obedience and agility... er... what she always said "pit bulls" should do. :question: Admittedly, that behavior did not surface on this board, but I'm sure it was just a matter of time. She "hit home" about as much as the guy who once accused me of being a puppymill. (er... as the owner of one dog, a neutered male? This was before I had Tully.) Laughable, and kind of sad. :drinka: Wow, I had no idea how many drinking smilies there are on this board! :drink1: What does it all mean? I like this one. :drinka:

:lol: Why does everyone think my cat is so huge? :lol: He [i]is[/i] a big cat, but Tully isn't a particularly large dog, either. She's a bit under 16" at the shoulder, standard height for an SBT. She's very compact, though, weighs about 35 pounds. I think the cat weighs about 16.

Okay, actually it's a Staffybull and a rather large cat.... Tully and her bud, Garbanzo: [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/tullybonzooncrate2.jpg[/img] [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/tullybonzooncrate.jpg[/img] I hadn't really intended the crate to provide pet seating, but hey, whatever works....

Have one on me, Jetta! :drinking: And I remember my 21st just fine... it's my 22nd birthday that's kind of hazy. Actually, that whole year between 21 and 22 is a bit fuzzy.

[quote name='Mutts4Me'] That girl who wants a Siberian tiger for a friend is in Ohio, and Ohio is one of the states without laws prohibiting that kind of thing. [/quote] Waitaminute. In Ohio, they have strict laws regulating ownership of "pit bulls", but tigers are [i]perfectly legal[/i]?! What a state.

I gotta reemphasize the point that's already been made, that trainability isn't necessarily the same thing as intelligence. BCs [i]are[/i] very smart, and are very trainable, so they are often listed as the "smartest breed". But another breed could be equally intelligent, or more intelligent, but less trainable. I don't know that my Staffybulls are the [i]most[/i] intelligent breed, but they are certainly very intelligent. They are not as trainable as a BC, but are very good at adaptive intelligence. For instance, one place I've exercised Tully has a swinging ranch-style gate. You push in one way, then pull the gate open to leave. There was no learning curve for Tully. Apparently, she saw how it was done, as she ran happily through the gate, then pulled it open with a front paw when she wanted to leave. (she tends to use her front paws as hands, as much as possible without an opposable thumb- thank [i]doG[/i] she doesn't have an opposable thumb- I suspect it is because she sees humans do things with their hands, so she does too. Dogs are not supposed to be able to learn by observation, but that has not been my experience.) The very fact that I'm able to work Elmo at the highest level of obedience and agility, despite his having received no formal training until he was nearly 4 years old, is proof of his intelligence. He missed a lot of early brain formation time, but has been able to compensate because he is quite intelligent. Actually, the fact that he is not quite as smart as Tully makes him easier to train. He can't think of as many different ways to do things. The biggest challenge in working with this breed is that they [i]think[/i]. You can't just show them a behavior, and have them repeat it until it's memorized. They will keep offering you variations, trying to come up with the best possible version. And doG help you if you laugh at a variation. They are natural clowns, and [i]will[/i] repeat it if they know you found it funny! So, quite intelligent dogs, but not as trainable as some other breeds. And Staffies are not the only free-thinking breed, just the one I have the most experience with. I don't really think it's possible to directly compare breeds and say "this breed is more intelligent".

Today is Elmo's 8th birthday. He still gets mistaken for a puppy on a regular basis. :lol: I'm so happy to have my sweet baby boy to share my life with me! Here he is on Monday, after the day's agility trial: [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/elmosQQ.jpg[/img] Not bad for an old man!

Hey, primmy... [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/tttp.jpg[/img]

[b][i]TALK TO THE PAW![/i][/b][i] [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/mbkcjump2004.jpg[/img] :lol: [/i]

Here's a good article about grass awns, BTW: [url]http://www.sportingdogclinic.com/Articles/Pubs/awns/Pub_awns_T.htm[/url] For those unfamiliar with the nasty things.

A foxtail is a kind of grass awn. A grass awn is the prickly outside part of the seed... when they dry up, they are very dangerous, they can bore in and migrate through a dog's body. :o Scary! (and undoubtedly very painful to have in the eye)

I am a bad dog mom. :( My lawn had gotten way out of hand. I left my mower out last winter, and it was dead... I hadn't gotten around to replacing it. The lawn went to seed, and on the sunny side of the yard, the awns got dry, prickly and nasty. Danger! I found a lump on Tully's face on Sunday. Took her to the vet on Monday, the vet determined that it was a foreign body... she could see the entry wound inside Tully's mouth. We figured grass awn. I didn't want to do surgery, so took Tully home to heat packs and antibiotics. The nasty little grass awn came out Tuesday evening... I'm lucky, those little bastards can travel, this one just bored straight through her cheek and came out. This morning, I let the dogs out in the yard for a few minutes. When they came back in, Elmo was squinting, wiping his eye, and crying. I had some steroidal/antibiotic eye ointment around, I put some in. No help, so I called the vet and told them my dog was in pain and needed to be seen quickly. Half an hour later I was at the vet's office. The tech and I were holding Elmo while the vet looked in his eye, and we were discussing the fact that Elmo has always been a big baby, and this might not be much of anything. The vet wasn't finding anything. Suddenly, "What's that?" she said. She went and got another tech to help hold Elmo absolutely still while the vet fished in his eye with the forceps... and pulled a honkin' huge grass awn out from behind his 3rd eyelid! "He is not a baby, he's very brave!" the vet said. We were aghast with how painful that must have been. The vet couldn't believe she could get that out with Elmo not even tranquilized. Elmo was very happy to be rid of the nasty thing, and licked everyone. He always has so much trust that humans will make things better.... The vet thinks Elmo will even be able to compete in his obedience trials this weekend. I stopped at Home Depot on the way home, bought a new lawnmower, and attacked those nasty awns as soon as I got home. Beware the grass awns! They are evil!

It is both hilarious and frighteningly accurate. Maybe a [i]little[/i] exaggerated, but not as much as you might think.

Big dogs can certainly compete in agility... just ask Morgan: [url=http://www.morgandane.com/home.asp]Morgan's site[/url] Start slow with your young'un. There's lots of low impact stuff she can learn. You could start with [i]very low[/i] jumps. But do check with your instructor.

[quote]But no matter how much he pulls, that is great news and quite an accomplishment that Elmo got two utility legs. Does that finish his title or are you still in the hunt for that third leg? [/quote] Sorry, I inadvertently lied. I didn't mean to say that he got 2 legs, he only qualified once. We still need the other 2 legs. I was quite pleased with him for getting his first leg on only the 3rd try, though. One of our local obedience judges was quite jealous about that! (uh... I [i]think[/i] he was only pretending to be miffed) And as long as I'm bragging I'll mention that it was his best ever AKC score, 188. (though I think the judge might have been unnecessarily charitable... ie; he only docked Elmo 1/2 point on the directed jumping. The first judge took off 3 points on that exercise, and I didn't think Elmo performed it any better the 2nd day) Kind of funny, when us 3 qualifiers went back in the ring, we all knew what the placements would be. The Terv was sloppy, and the other dog was... well... a Border Collie, so that left 2nd place to Elmo. ;) Elmo was in serious contention for High Terrier in Trial, but the Airedale edged him out. I've seen that Airedale work, so it was no surprise. Anyway, I agree that having a dog trained for competition doesn't mean the dog has decent pet manners, particularly the leash thing. Both my dogs pull terribly, which is of course why I don't walk them on a choke chain... they would literally choke! I'm just too lazy to put forth the serious effort needed to teach my dogs not to pull on the leash when they are excited. It doesn't matter when we're in obedience/agility, because then they aren't [i]on[/i] a leash! I can make them stop pulling for a while if I really get on them, but it's easier to just let them pull as long as they aren't strangling themselves. I can hold them easily enough.

[quote name='Cassie'] I think it was nice of them to give you some advice, these people probably have not been following your agility career and thought they were giving you helpful advice. :wink:[/quote] As Gooey mentioned, the funniest part to me was that they thought my grey faced fellow was a puppy. Being that they were at a dog show, it might have been reasonable to guess that the people showing would know a little bit about dog training. I wouldn't go to a car show and tell people how to change their oil! (and no, I wasn't offended, just thought it was funny)

:rofl: I was at a dog show this weekend with my Staffies. My Elmo was running agility on Friday- he runs in the highest level of agility. On Saturday and Sunday, he competed in obedience- Utility, which is the most challenging level of obedience. So, I had the little wonder dog out on Friday, and was walking him around. We walked by the food concession, and Elmo, always looking for a handout, tried to pull me over there. The people working there started talking to Elmo, so I let him pull me closer. "You need to put one of those choker chains on him to stop him from pulling," one of these people said. I think I just shrugged, not really wanting to discuss dog training at that moment. "No, really," she went on. "It sounds mean, but when he gets big... have you had one of these before?" "Well, I've had this one for four years," I said. :lol: He qualified in Utility this weekend, too. Yup, better get a choker chain on that out of control dog.

[quote name='Nancy B'] This has happened to me a few times with Mason at dog shows or agility trials. Child apearing out of nowhere just his head height suddenly hanging from Mason's neck. I found it very unnerving....we don't have kids and Mason has had little exposure to them. I also have done that silent thank you to his breeder for breeding dogs with great temperaments! Oh yeah...it always seems that those same parents who let their kid run up to a strange dog and grab it weren't all that concerned until they realized that their kid had latched onto a Doberman. Really dumb, like only a Dobe could be a danger to a kid who feels free to run up and grab a strange dog.[/quote] At an agility trial I was at recently, there was a kid going up to dogs like that. She latched onto a friend of mine's Rotties, which was safe enough, but my friend told the kid's father he needed to stop her from doing that. Apparently, he was unsuccessful as the kid wound up being nipped by a Border Collie.

I really don't have a problem with your buying a pup, as long as you buy from a good, responsible breeder. My Tully came from a breeder. I thought my first one was going to be from a breeder, but it didn't happen that way. I'm sure glad it didn't... Elmo is a once-in-a-lifetime dog, and my soul mate. I love my T-girl deeply, but she doesn't own my heart the way Elmo does. My point was simply that, just because it's your first bully, doesn't mean a breeder is the [i]best[/i] way to go. It may be the way you [i]choose[/i] to go, and that is fine, but you could do just as well to get a rescue. It's just a matter of your personal choice.

This was [i]my[/i] first bully: [img]http://elmothesbt.homestead.com/files/ElmoAdProof2.jpg[/img] (THis is an ad I placed in a SBT annual a couple years ago)

[quote]As much as it hurts me to say this, bans will be good for them in the long run. BUT I think it should only be in big cities where fighting most often happens[/quote] Bans won't stop that. Bans will only stop responsible owners from having them. The lowlifes will continue to have them, and fight them. They aren't obeying the law anyway, why would they listen to one more? See Kat's post about the state of the breed in the UK. They've been banned in the UK for a long time (can't remember how long, sorry, but it's over 10 years), and they still break up fighting rings. Whatever the answer is, it is not bans.

One of Tully's nicknames, for quite a long time, has been "Weasel". In fact, someone thought it was her name once, as I kept calling her that. (they complimented me on it... I had to admit it was just a nickname). I often refer to the dogs collectively as the weasels. Or, [i]you[/i] weasels, when they've been particularly destructive!