I was watching the Animal Planet last night, a program that a dog trainer helps out the owner of a dog that has “problems”. The dog might be aggressive or is difficult to handle while walking or is unsociable with people and/or other dogs, etc. One of the dogs reminded me of a dog we had temporarily. Here’s the story. . .
Several years ago we had done our research and purchased the dog we wanted, a Kuvasz. About a year later we acquired another puppy that had actually adopted us (he kept coming over and didn’t want to go home, so we kept him). That is another story. Several months later, our neighbor got a puppy. He was part Pit Bull and something else, we think Black Lab but aren’t sure. He was small, smaller than most Pit Bulls and definitely smaller than a Lab. But he had the face of a Pit Bull and that growl, a very deep guttural growl. Well, that puppy, his name was Lucky Boy, would come over quite a bit and play with our 2 dogs. He would try to get the upper hand on our female Kuvasz. She just rolled him – I’m not kidding or exaggerating when I say this because I saw it. She literally put her nose to his side and shoved, he fell over and she rolled him across the yard! It was too funny. Lucky Boy realized he was not going to be the top dog in my yard after that. In many ways he was a great dog. He’d come over to me, wag his tail so hard his whole body shook and growl. His growl was scary if you didn’t know him but it was more of a “I’m happy” growl. Hard to describe. I would ask, “Is Lucky Boy happy?” and he’d growl while shaking his tail.
One day I was working in the garden. I used to call it my garden of rocks. As I worked in the garden I would toss rocks to the rock pile at the back of the yard. One day I kept hearing a muffled clunk sound after tossing a rock. After tossing several rocks I looked to see what was making that odd sound. It was Lucky Boy catching the rocks in his mouth! I didn’t think that would be too good for his teeth so I quit tossing the rocks and found a ball. Lucky would catch anything that was tossed. Anything. So you had to be careful.
We would take Lucky Boy on walks with us. The first time we took him he didn’t want to go. He pulled and pulled, acted like he wanted to go back home. Once he got the idea that we were just going on a walk, he loved it. I’ve never before had a dog that didn’t want to go on a walk! He was so easy to train on a leash. My dogs were not easy to train. They were much bigger and heavier and wanted to chase squirrels and cats and sniff at everything. Lucky Boy was happy to be out walking and didn’t give anything else his attention.
One day our neighbor came to us and said he was moving and could we keep Lucky Boy for 2 days while he got settled. We said we would. We never heard from our neighbor again. I was so scared about Lucky Boy. We really couldn’t keep him, we had 2 dogs and Lucky Boy really didn’t have the personality that would work being the 3rd dog in a family. I was pregnant too. I didn’t think I could trust him with a baby. I didn’t know of course, it was that I had to worry about my 2 dogs with a new baby and didn’t want to take on a 3rd dog as well. I called PAWS and asked if I should put an add in the paper to give Lucky Boy away. I was told that some people take stray and free dogs and sell them to the University for the vetrinarian program. I didn’t want that. I called the animal shelter and was told that if the dog wasn’t taken within a few days he would be put down. I didn’t want that either. I was in a panic. Lucky Dog was a good dog. What I had learned about him was that he was a dog that needed a lot of attention and wanted to be the top dog. In other words he would be better off being the only dog in a household. He got along well with my dogs, but he couldn’t stay with us for long periods of time before tension would build up. A friend of a friend took Lucky Boy. Last I heard this man loved the dog and spent many hours in a park throwing a frisbee with Lucky Boy. Lucky was good that way. He wouldn’t run off with another dog, chase a squirrel and fight with another dog. He just wanted to be with a person. He wanted a job. He wanted the attention and affection he could get when he was the only one. More people was okay, it meant more attention for him.
I don’t know if that is common with most Pitt Bulls and/or Black Labs but it certainly is something to consider. Pit Bulls have strong, solid bodies and I wouldn’t want to mishandle one. I have known a couple and they were good dogs. They are very intelligent and can be very gentle and loyal. All in all though, I don’t think I’m a good candident for a Pit Bull.
