WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to JAMES BRADLEY, "Hello!?" on 06-23-05 08:35

 ->  WC> When he came into my hands we had one bloodless _discussion_
 ->  WC> over his taking a bath, nothing since :-)

 -> At first, I thought the discussion you referred to was
 -> with the x-owner. O-8

 WC> No, it was the dog.

LOL... I'm not sure which would have been worse!
 WC> I couldn't believe the dog could hold such a threatening stare for
 WC> 4 minutes.
 WC> I stared back as threatening as could be and didn't blink, Spanky
 WC> looked away first and the bath proceeded without further incident.
 WC> Since then he walks into the bath oon his own.

ROTF! Dad's cat is trained to pester people while they are eating at his table.
I have to eat, much as I am typing now, with my left elbow supporting my upper
body, on his couch. Up come Charles, looking for a handout!

I gave HIM the snake-eye, until he looked away! I'd hit my plate with my fork,
and he'd be back into hunting mode, and the game would be on again. Three or
four times, and he relented, and had to admit he wasn't the Lion he thought he
was.

 WC> BTW this sort of staring is confrontational and had Spanky been turned
 WC> just a tad more aggressive before I got him he would have ripped my
 WC> face off.
 WC> The only alternative to properly rehabilitating the dog would
 WC> have been to have him destroyed.

Well, dad's cat would have at worse inflicted some lacerations. Your
Stafford... Well, I'd hate to imagine!

You might have had a second or third chance with a mussel, but those would have
been even more aggressive on his part. (Having already established the throne.)

What counts, is it worked! 

 WC> You know it's in both the owner's and dog's best interest to
 WC> alpha train them.
 WC> The dog is happier and as the dog seeks to please the "pack leader"
 WC> they're much less trouble and therefore cause the owner far less
 WC> aggrevation.

I knew my guy could be a little belligerent at times, (A little like his owner,
hmmm... |-) so kids were aware that they shouldn't try to rough-house with him.
After that, not a problem. He only reacted to my nephew once, and I suspect
there was an over enthusiastic rib squeeze or the like, and his cheek and the
dogs bottom canine met. Never retaliation, or blood, just a "STOP
DOING THAT!"

 WC> As to Chihuahuas , one attacked
Spanky which he

I'll take a closer look at what the spiel chunker has to say. [Test - Chuhawa
Corrected - Chihuahua]

 WC> didn't seem to notice.
 WC> This is the one dog I didn't bother to defend my dog against,
 WC> I was laughing too hard 

LOL!

 -> him to guard quietly.

 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? (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!

 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!

 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? 

Like I mentioned, the hot-cold game; It was really his invention. I'd been a
musician since grade Three, so by the time I had graduated, I was already
making a living of it. There'd be amps attached to guitars, percussion stuff
all over... The ball had a better chance of falling behind a bass drum, than in
the open. As long as there wasn't a falling hazard, I'd let him experiment.
When I said something, he'd pick a new path. It was quite something to watch,
and like I said, he was pretty adept at it before he was his grown hight, NOT
full weight as in 18 months!

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!

 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.

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.

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

Why do you find that odd?

 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.)

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


--- Maximus 3.01