-=> RICHARD WEBB wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 RW> HI Wayne,

 RW> On Sat 2038-Apr-03 14:37, WAYNE CHIRNSIDE (1:123/140) wrote to RICHARD
 RW> WEBB:

 WC> Skinhead owner goes a long way toward explaining that animals
 WC> behavior.

 RW> YEp, our first ROtt, Roxy which we adopted off the streets
 RW> of NEw oRleans belonged to a crack dealer, she saw him
 RW> gunned down.  Crack dealer's cousin who fought pit bulls
 RW> took her in, but she wouldn't fight, so he turned her out on the
 RW> street.  I"ve told the story in this echo before though, it's a long
 RW> sad tale. WE gave her the best years of her life, and even with the
 RW> heartworm she lived to a ripe old age before hte strokes
 RW> robbed her of enjoyable and useful life.

 WC> Well I fibbed just a little on the Pit Bull I owned.
 WC> He actually growled twice in his life.

 WC> Once at the woman who struck her kid
 WC> and me when I FIRST went to give him a bath.

 RW> YEp, you've got to be assertive, Caesar's "calm assertive."
 RW> IT actually works.

Yeah, I'm kinda glad it works that way.
Dispite his gentle ways Spanky was all but an invulnerable
and had I brought him up another way could have been a real terror.

 RW> Roxy, as I said was adopted off the street.  Being a blind
 RW> man there was one thing we had to get straight right away
 RW> since we lived inner city.  That was that any time I
 RW> demanded when I noted she'd picked something up off the
 RW> street I be permitted to inspect what she had.  IF it was
 RW> safe, it would be returned to her.  IF not ...

 RW> This was especially important as I was a townhouse dweller,
 RW> no real yard to take her into for relief, so walks were the
 RW> order of the day, either to vacant lots or other places,
 RW> with the fanny pack with the baggies, etc.

 RW> So a couple weeks into this she was doing alright with the
 RW> "let daddy see it" which means open mouth and drop whatever
 RW> she had into my hand.  She'd figured out what blindness
 RW> meant, that if she picked it up on the street and held it
 RW> quietly I"d never know she had it.  Then when we got home
 RW> she could go stash it near her food bowl, retrieve it when I was
 RW> upstairs in my office.  But, the didn't think about my
 RW> lady being home.

 RW> SHe picked up something on her nightly before bedtime walk
 RW> on this evening, and held it quietly.  When we got home my
 RW> lady says "she's got something in her mouth."  I went to
 RW> make her let me see it, as usual, but she decided she was
 RW> going to assert herself.  I reached for it, she bit down on
 RW> my fingers, and I proceeded to thump on that dog for awhile
 RW> with hands and feet, spraying blood from my hand all over
 RW> the place in the process.  She was cowering in the corner
 RW> finally, lady was grabbing me to pull me back and see my
 RW> hand.  After that dog never argued when I did the "let me
 RW> see it" thing.

I never got bit by Spanky except once as a joke.
Just a tiny little pinch with the small front teeth to get my attention,
it was the canine version of a practical joke.

Nobody ever got bit by Spanky.

 RW> Schotze otoh has been with me since she was first weaned, as we bought
 RW> her from a breeder in MInnesota.  SHe's never
 RW> disputed my status as alpha in this pack.  Every once in
 RW> awhile she tries to assert herself as alpha female over my
 RW> lady, since Kathy is wheelchair bound often, and not real
 RW> strong nor agile.  

Heck I'm largely bedridden these last 16 years and my Pit Bull
served as a companion dog for the disabled.

I'd often wished I could take him around to old persons homes and
hospitals as companion dogs sometimes are to cheer up the infirm and elderly.

British Staffordshire Bull Terriers are a disappeared breed as eveyone seems to
want
the bigger and badder variety the American Staffordshire.

Quite a strikingly beautiful animal and smart like you wouldn't believe.

At times when he tried to communicate with me and if I didn't
catch on right away to what he was trying to get across to me
he gave me a look like what's up stupid?

Invariably I'd figure it out after a while.


RW> HOwever, Kathy doesn't back down, and she knows that
 RW> if she challenges Kathy at all I'll be on her
 RW> like white on rice.  There are the usual "this is my spot in the bed
 RW> mommy, I"m alpha female" every night, but she moves
 RW> when Kathy grabs the choke chain and gives it a gentle tug.

Yeah, I found out you couldn't let the Pit Bull sleep on the bed
at face to face level or he'd begin to challenge my authority.

That said this terror of a Pit Bull got into the trash in the kitchen five
times
in twelve years and that was the entire extent of his misbehavior.

OTOH the neighbors where SHOCKED when observing Spanky having picked up a pork
chop 
bone outside he was choking on having caught in his throat when I reached down
hs 
throat and dislodged it.

I came away from that without a scratch.

Man that dog was SMART and had excellent judgement.

I was ALWAYS so proud of him.

 RW> Schotze's main problem right now is not enough exercise, and that's a
 RW> tough one for us.  I"m hoping to find a used

Yeah due to limited mobility I tried to find a decent home for him at age 
six but all I found were people wanting an attack dog or one to hunt
wild boar.

Forget that.
He was far too quality an individual to waste on such stupidity.

 RW> treadmill so that I can help her alleviate some of that.
 RW> WHen I"m not totally worn out at the end of a day we'll go
 RW> for a late night ramble once in awhile, but not often
 RW> enough, and that's one resolution that with warmer weather
 RW> coming I"m trying to do better at this year.


 WC> Kinda a dramatic deal with a dog that could rip your face off 18
 WC> inches from your face but after that I was alpha male and pack
 WC> leaded and why he looked to me
 WC> to free him from that monster Amstaff Pit.

 RW> YEp, know the feeling.  Schotze could take a person out
 RW> quite easily, but when it comes to this pack she knows with
 RW> no doubt that the old blind man is alpha male.  SHe has her
 RW> little games she tries to play every once in awhile, but
 RW> when push comes to shove and I cut it off she knows that
 RW> it's not to be pushed further.
 WC> Oh yeah, BTW, I too am rather fond of Rotties.
 WC> Generally rather sweet tempered and rather intelligent.

 RW> YOu bet.  When Kathy was very sick a couple of years ago she had a bit
 RW> of a problem with wet clothing, but she'd be too
 RW> weak to get up often.  When she'd need to be changed to dry
 RW> clothing and dry bedding Schotze would be lying in there on
 RW> the bed with her.  Schotze would come into my office and bug me until I
 RW> went back to check on Kathy and found her
 RW> situation.

 RW> Rotties are also the only dogs I know that pur when they're
 RW> petted like a cat.  MIne does for sure.


Spanky used  used to crack me up when dreaming, he'd woof a sound like a puppy
under water and I'd even taught him not to bark as to not disturb the
neighbors,
that took a whole two weeks of _requests_, he was really quite the 
accomodating gentleman.

I always used to say if you judge me by the behavior of my Pit Bull
you've really way too high of an opinon of me.

People should be as sweet and as well behaved.

I never replaced him as there never could be a replacement for that guy.
Remarkable fellow and my best friend ever.

I lived in a bad drug neighborhood so I used to walk him a few blocks away
so people wouldn't get used to the fact he was a marshmellow.

However when I walked him down the bad streets I short leaded him, this amoung
the
few times he was ever on a lead I short leaded him as to make him appear badass
and people invariably drew back away from him.

What a joke, he'd do nothing more than walk up to give them a lick
had I not restrained him.

Really an incredibly tough dog with the gentlest of attitudes.

The British Staffordshire Bull Terrier really is strikingly beautiful IMO and
remarkably intelligent.

We could communicate our thoughts by merely making eye contact.

Such a shame they only live an average of 12 years. 

The police one time gave me a hassle for walking him off lead so I walked
him ocassionally on a cat lead I could have snapped without half trying.

Heck that animal could have snapped the heavy leather lead I had for him
had he desired to without much effort.

An incredibly powerful breed of animal and believe me when that AMSTAFF clamped
down on my hand when I loosed Spanky from it's grip I believed every bit of
their two
thousand pound per inch bite force.

The sweetest thing.

There we were both nursing our wounds from that encounter, his far worse than
mine.
he'd been laying at the foot of the bed when he got up and walked up to my face
and gave me a wet one on the cheek and laid back down.

He was thanking me for saving him from that monster dog.
I literally teared up.

It was worth the pain for I had him another two years before I had to have him
put to sleep.


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