->  WC> Taught Spanky not to bark in two weeks, by request.
->  WC> Now he alerts with a very low woof.

-> Smart breed! I told you, the Our Gang dog was a pit? 
   
Yup, that dof was a Pit Bull.

-> (Hence the Spanky,
-> Buckwheat, all sorts of kid actors around him/her every day.) That dog, and the
-> Benji dog (Was also the dog on Petticoat Junction.) were the only two I know of
-> who didn't have doubles on set for other actions.

->  WC> Hey it's been hard on me taking care of Spanky but it's a commitment
->  WC> I take very seriously.

-> I could think of no better a pair! I don't believe your injury responds well to
-> physical therapy, but I just KNOW Spanky and you are good for each other!

Right on both counts.

->  WC> I know most people are just plain too ignorant to take my council
->  WC> on pack leader training and keeping it up.
->  WC> Should I ever stop so training the dog first he'd mope, then
->  WC> he'd challenge and after that he'd be dangerous.
->  WC> So finding him a another home was never really an option.

-> I just wish all owners (Actually, Pit or not!) had half the head on their
-> shoulders, as you do. Even a horse when broken, is JUST looking for a leader!

Hey, I just picked up on this stuff  as I went along.

->  WC> It seems you're in better shape than I, I couldn't possibly handle
->  WC> gardening or lawn maintanance.

-> It's something I am *just* beginning to do again. I think in the past twelve
-> years, I might have wielded a lawn-mower twice. Dad lives next door in a half
-> duplex, so he usually cuts the shared lawn areas. I felt good enough after
-> double digging my garden area this spring to put some seed in the ground.

-> Sure the weeds are growing stronger than the seed, but with a bottle of
-> Round-up, and judicious rest breaks, I'm giving it a go. If I start missing
-> laundry days again, I'll know I have to let the lawn take it over. I won't go
-> down without a fight though. <-;


->  -> blowing in the wind, and he had to get his nose into it.

->  WC> They are curious critters.

-> Do you think, because of their curiosity, they tend to be smarter, or because
-> they are smart, they tend to be more curious? 
                                     
Well Spanky is endlessly curious and I really think the
way I've raised him has maxed out his intelligence.
Last night Spanky sensed I was stressed out and he came up
and gave the side of my face a bath with kisses.

-> Dad still calls him the best dog he has ever had, (He was readily adoptable.
-> ;-) and he grew up on a farm with MANY dogs at any given time.

->  WC> Two times it's come up while walking the dog a mother vicously struck
->  WC> her child near Spanky.
->  WC> Spanky drew his lips back displaying an awesome set of teeth and
->  WC> snarled very convincingly though in neither case did he advance on the
->  WC> individual.
->  WC> BTW he wasn't snarling at the kid but gave the mother a withering
->  WC> stare.

-> NICE!                                        

I had no problem with it and he wasn't punished.
Spanky was off lead, he didn't advance and the child abuse stopped 
abruptly in both cases :-)

->  WC> One woman had her arm drawn back for strike two however froze and
->  WC> reconsidered, kid never got the second blow 

-> VERY nice! 

->  WC> Spanky is VERY protective of children.
->  WC> Spanky has also been poked straight in the eye by a preschooler,
->  WC> he withdrew for a few moments, went back to be friends again
->  WC> without holding a grudge.
->  WC> We're both proud of our dogs.

-> And I'd like to think for good reason. What I think is most important, is
-> addressing the dominance, and accommodating (as much as is safely possible)
-> their character. From there, you've got the most loving, trusting, content
-> creature on the planet.
                          
Yup, to bad the media never makes this point instead of concentrating on
the horrendous attacks ill raised Pit's can be responsible for.

-> For instance, I was well aware how food was an issue, so we had some trials how
-> kids were not going to steal his dish. About three feet, and he would get
-> possessive, and off to be by himself he'd go. I never pushed the issue, but he
-> knew the consequences, and he liked to play with kids, except that once *only*
-> but he was taught by his mother the pecking order. I could always remove his
-> bowl myself without nothing more than a dumb look, but his dominance of his
-> dish was always exercised.

-> Company's comin': "You bringing the kids?"
-> Up comes the dish. As soon as the initial alarming was over, and I invited the
-> friends in, he'd dart straight to the missing bowl. I know I could have
-> restricted the time he had food on the floor, but that would intensify his
-> search for diner tables, and carrion. It was hard wired into him before we ever
-> met, and it would have taken a huge amount of effort and time to reverse the
-> behaviour.                                                  

With Spanky I or anyone else can remove food from his mouth
right up to his morning turkey neck treat.

->  WC> My Pit Bull oddly enough has been the ideal companion dog for the
->  WC> disabled .

-> Why do you find that odd?              

Well it's not the breed I would have chosen.
Choice was made for me.
Dog came with the girlfriend.
I threw out the vicious one and kept the Pit Bull.
I'd have put a smiley except it's all too true.

->  WC> Yeah, spanky _nests_ too, instictual what can you do?
->  WC> I've lost some linen sheets to this but hey I can't punish him for
->  WC> being a dog.

-> Exactly my point.

->  -> can tell my adrenalin is going to this day when I talk about
it. Elbows an
->  -> A-holes is the tamest I can describe it.

->  WC> My adrenalin still goes if I recall the Pit Bull attack on my dog.
->  WC> The dog was in kill mode and saliva flowing profusely from it's mouth
->  WC> as it attempted to kill Spanky :-(
->  WC> We both got lucky that day, Spanky lived and I got the use
->  WC> of my hand back in some months.
->  WC> Could have killed both of us.

-> I was thinking of that as I sent my last post. A friend lives in a hamlet. As
-> such, there are cattle farms nearby. Stray dogs are taken VERY seriously, for
-> the cattle's' sake, and for the dogs'. One dog, wasn't only tolerated, but
-> welcome by all, because of his nature. If Ben didn't get along with a cow, or a
-> human, there was something wrong with that being, and it wasn't because of Ben.

-> Now, I knew T. Rutherford would nip a horses ankle all day given the chance, so
-> he was well supervised while there, and kept on a lead if the cattle were
-> inside his vision. Visiting another friend who was boarding horses, I put him
-> in a laydown-stay. I could tell he was just *itchin'* to exercise those horses,
-> so I put a piece of string on his back, and he just knew he was on his lead.
->  (The lead was in the car, but I knew I could hurry him into
Dave's workshop
-> fast enough.)                               

Spanky LOVES horses, he goes apeshit to meet them.

-> On the way out, no problems! He found something *only* mildly smelly to rub
-> into, and he was behaving well enough that day, that I trusted him to run about
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