gooeydog

Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who's been mauled by dozens of pop ups everytime I've gotten on this site for the past couple days :drinking: There's a banner at the top that comes down over the rest of the screen, then there's always one or two more boxes that pop up everytime I clikc something :o

[url]http://www.shreveporttimes.com/html/96DD3C30-A9AE-449F-AFA8-F0E01421BA11.shtml[/url] I just love their "signs of dogfighting" and "how to recognize it in your community" sections.... [quote]Dogfighters often walk the streets with their dogs "to build them up," [/quote] So now anyone who happens to take their pit bull for walks around their neighborhood is doing so to "build them up" for fighting? [quote]Ropes, boxing bags or other items hanging from trees also could indicate a dog owner is using the items to strengthen the dog's jaws for dogfighting[/quote] Boxing bags??? [quote]Dogs left unattended in back yards are another sign.[/quote] Sheesh... we've got about 3 dozen dog fighters in my neighborhood, then. Who would've guessed that lab mixes would be the next "in" fighting breed :lol: [quote]Back yards where many dogs are tethered with heavy chains and locks. Chains are put on dogs to help them build strength and endurance.[/quote] Soooo.... since I occasionally use a heavy cable to tie out one of our dogs while I work in the yard or play with them, is it to be assumed that I'm only doing so to "build strength and endurance"? Here I was thinking it would only keep them from running into the street and getting ran over :roll: (Yes, I realize it said back yards where many dogs are chained, but would someone just driving by notice the difference?). [quote]Buildings or homes where people are seen taking large numbers of dogs. But no dog feces, dog houses or other pet gear are outside. This could indicate the building is a site for dogfights.[/quote] We have five dogs (only two pit bulls) that we take in and out of our house daily, with the occasional foster as well, but no "supplies" outside because that's not usually where our dogs are. [quote]Small animal crates in yards. This may indicate kittens, puppies or other small animals are being used to bait fighting dogs.[/quote] We also store our extra crates/carriers out by the side of the house, some under the porch, where we can get to them easily. [quote]People who show off dogs having obvious injuries and scars and wearing heavy, metal-studded collars.[/quote] Both of our pit bulls have scarring and or injuries that could easily be mistaken as injuries from us fighting them, and the oldest also wears what some would consider a "heavy" collar (though it's not metal studded). [quote]Homes with dogs and medical gear such as hypodermic and suture needles and antibiotics.[/quote] Since my mom works at the vets, we have lots of "general" care things around the house... antibiotics, syringes (which we need for Haley anyway), cauterizing sticks, we even had an IV setup at one point (we used to rehab reptiles, so it was a lot easier than having to take them to the vets everytime they needed them). This one was my absolute favorite: [quote]Also look for wagons loaded with weights. Owners train dogs to fight by making them pull weights.[/quote] Poor, poor fighting dog (and those are some annoying weights, too :o )... [img]http://www.seemesmile.com/photos4/2373994a.jpg[/img]

Goo- one window (broke the glass), three sets of window blinds (broken off to make a "window" for her to more easily see out the window), two window sills (tore to shreds by her nails when she'd climb up to look out fore-mentioned window), one table (fixed up ok with some sandpaper), some socks, numerous blankets (we learned quickly and gave her one of her own), a couple remotes (hey, those buttons are hard to push when you don't have fingers :lol: ). Annie- several rugs from her fondness for peeing on the floor whenever the opportunity presents itself, knocked a few things off shelves/tvs trying to get to toys that were put up there when she was getting too annoying with them. Casey- shoes, socks, she used to go into my room while I was at school, raid the trash or steal something, then lay on my bed and chew it up :o :-? Joey- several leashes, underwear, trash, a few school papers (we didn't realize he'd been paper trained until I came one day to find he had "soiled" a paper I'd left laying on my bedroom floor :roll: ) Haley- a table and numerous other things at her previous home, several boxes of my mom's cigarettes (she was looking out for her health :lol: ), a box of blank CDs, a storage box, numerous boxes of tissues.

If you look for info on "bear baiting", you'd probably find a good bit of stuff on the "bear fighting". Here's some that may help you out... [url]http://www.workingpitbull.com/aboutpits.htm[/url] And some more... [url]http://www.moloss.com/001/breed/def/e001/[/url] If you look at the pics on the pages above, you'll see that bulldogs have done a bit of evolving throughout the past couple centuries... the used to be taller and more athletic than many of the current bulldogs.

Haley has had several drains in her stump, one when it was first amputated, then two more when it filled with fluid and junk after she banged it on the ground. She actually wouldn't have needed the last one if she hadn't pulled the one out and chewed it up :o Haley also had a cone, but her owner would start to feel sorry for her and take it off, then Haley would pull the tube out :roll: Just a warning... better to have to keep him "coned" then to have him need another drain put in. About his not drinking... depending on what type of anesthesia used, he may still be feeling the effects of that, and not feeling well enough to eat or drink. If you're really worried, you can take a turkey baster and suck some pedialyte (or pedialyte/water, or just water if you want), then squirt it a little bit at a time into the back corners of his mouth (it shouldn't run out as long as his head isn't tilted down), and he should get that down. Don't give him any more than a baster-full in one sitting, and if he starts hacking, he probably got some down the wrong hole :lol: so let him sort that out before you give him any more. Pills... I know there's some diagrams online about giving pills, and they'd probably be more help than this, but... open his mouth (I usually put the hand with the pill on the top jaw, free hand on the lower), stick the pill back on the back of his tongue as far as you can (without him gagging and struggling), then close his mouth, hold it shut and rub his throat as behle directed (this makes them want to swallow). Open his mouth, check around for the pill, and watch him for a few minutes afterwords for him to spit it out. If he does, start over again, but you may have to shove the pill a little farther back this time. Don't underestimate the amount of time a dog can hold something in their mouth... Goo once walked around for 20 minutes with a pill in her mouth before she walked out to the kitchen and spat it out (I think she was trying to sneak off where I wouldn't see her, but I happened to come out for a drink :o :lol: )

My parents used to raise/show Lhasas when I was little/before I was born, they had two sisters (purebred Lhasas) and a Lhasa mix that my dad had had since before he and my mom were married (my uncle also owned two other Lhasas, and my grandmother had one, too :lol: ). They were good dogs, and the Lhasa x was a "spare" babysitter when I was growing up, followed me everywhere. They were all PTS right around the same time when I was about 10 or 11, Maggie, the mix, was over 16, and the others (Sally and Mandy) were 14. They are great little dogs, and I'm sure your new <cough> foster is going to be a good addition to your bunch :lol:

I don't mean going faster than they can K, just to speed up, keeping them beside you... the momentum of you going forward at a fast speed will be too much for them to get enough momentum to lunge to to side with enough power to pull you over. Of course, you wouldn't want to try this if the distraction was going to be around for a while, but where I take our dogs, it's usually just a momentary distraction. I also say "[i]faster[/i] when I speed up, and they get very intent on speeding up, so that may be part of the reason this works for us. The key to it is to speed them up before they see the distraction, and make it a big game, like a race :lol: ... I suppose that it could be considered a distraction in itself :wink:

I sometimes use a bike to exercise our dogs if I don't have much time, or if I just feel like taking them for a run. I don't use anything that attaches to the bike (I just don't like the idea of me not being in control of them in case something would happen, like a dog running up, or them getting spooked over something), but I also usually take them at night, when there are very few people out. Something I can tell you is that if the dog sees something it wants (ie: another dog, cat, bunny, anything they want, but you don't want them bolting after), it's better to speed up than to slow down, as the dog can't run forward at a fast enough speed to keep up with you, and lunge sideways at the same time. No advice on harnesses, I just use flat collars. If you're going to be running him on concrete or pavement, make sure you check his pads every 1/2 mile or so at first, and if you notice even a little wear, head home... all it takes is a little spot for the surface to get worn to start wearing the rest pad down, and it goes very quickly after that.

I spent a lot of time yesterday looking around online for alternatives to pulling the tooth, found all sorts of things.... root canals, fillings (are they the same thing?), crowns, pretty much whatever they can do for people, they can do for dogs. The problem is that the stuff is [b]expensive[/b]. A person on another board had their dog's canine tooth capped off when it broke, it cost them $1200. I imagine it'd be even more for a bigger tooth, and that's IF I could find a vet who does it anywhere nearby. I have some money saved up in case something happens to Goo and she needs medical care, but I don't think it's wise to use nearly all of it to fix one tooth, when she's getting into old age, where other more serious problems may crop up (I also don't see my parents agreeing to letting me pay that much to get her tooth capped). I'm going to check around with the vets at the clinic, maybe one of them does this type of work (in which case, it'd be cheaper, since my mom gets a discount), but most likely if it's too damaged to stay in, it'll have to be pulled. :-? She has had a tooth pulled before (years ago, she was only about 2 or 3), the small "canine" right in front of the big canine, and it didn't seem to bother her much, but that was a much smaller tooth. If she does have to get this one pulled, I think I'm going to ask them to use the anesthetic they have that can be reversed by another shot, and wakes the dog up within minutes of getting the reversal shot. They used it on Haley before, when she was getting a drain put in her stump, and it seems to have less lasting effects than the normal anesthetic, plus if something goes wrong, they can bring the dog back up to consciousness quickly. The other dogs are also supposed to be getting dentistries when they go in for their vaccs, but they're all much youngher and don't mind going to the vets, so I'm not nearly as worried about them :oops:

I was thinking the same thing about the pain threshold, she may not act like it hurts, but it may still be bothering her. I checked the tooth again, more closely and in better light, the "meaty" stuff I was seeing earlier is not soft, I think it's actually enamel, and that maybe she didn't chip it down as much as I had thought. My mom talked to her vet when she took our cat in for his vaccs today, and he said that if the root isn't exposed, it should be ok until she goes in for her vaccs (she'll be going within a couple weeks, probably sooner), just to keep a close eye on it for any signs of infection and on her for for any signs of discomfort. So, I'll update if anything changes, or when I know when she goes in.

I was just checking out Goo's teeth (I usually check them lightly and brush them every week, then check them over well every other week or so and scrape off any tarter I see building up before it becomes like concrete), and her big molar on the right is broken. It looks like the point broke off, and there is "meat" (white and a little slimy) exposed. My mom said she's going to have to take her in for a dentistry, and it will probably have to be yanked out. She's been eating fine, playing, and acting pretty much normal. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this happen, was the tooth pulled, and did the dog have any problems afterwards? (That is a BIG tooth, and if I was her, I wouldn't want it ripped out my head :o ). Thanks in advance for any help or advice :lol:

Billy G, has it ever occurred to you that your dog might benefit more either from you actually taking the time to teach him to not go into the street (through boundary training, etc) or from you keeping him on a leash (especially since he's a pit bull, and chances are that if he's "going into the street", it's not unlikely that he'll one day meet another dog in the street, resulting in a fight); rather than "whipping" him for doing something only you understand. Dogs don't automatically grasp the concept of roads being a dangerous place... to him it's just another interesting place to check out. Widl Turkey/DK fairy, congrats on the new pup :lol: Be aware though that you may have problems in the future with him and your other dogs... what breeds (or mixes) are the other two, and how old are they? With any multidog same sex household, there are bound to be a few problems here and there, but ABs are big strong dogs who may not take"NO" for an answer when it comes to your other dogs wanting to be in charge. Watch how things play out as he matures, and be ready to either do some "rearranging" of their current ranks, or even to keep them seperated should the problems be that serious (as he matures, you should consider seperating them when you're not at home anyway, because should a fight break out while you're not home, one or more dogs could be seriously injured or even killed). What degree of tolerance are you looking for between the bird and the dog? It's not hard to teach a dog to control themselves even around "high value" prey items when someone's right there, but can be much harder to get the dog to leave them alone when you're not right there to enforce the "rules" (case in point, Haley was doing well in leaving the cat alone until last night... when the cat came out of the bathroom and she jumped him. I've been really careful to not let her catch him alone, but I wasn't home and my mom wasn't paying attention. Both seem to be ok, the cat's a bit ruffled, and Haley has a lot of scratches on her face, but none really bad.). The info Cassie gave you on introducing cats to dogs is good, and could possibly be used for the bird, too. Another thing you might try is giving time outs (or obedience drills, though he may be a bit young for that) when he gets too "rough" with the bird, starting with a 5 minute time out, then 20-30 min, then the third time, he gets seperated from "birdie" for the rest of the day... it's up to you to set the boundary for "too rough" though. Another thing that might work is to redirect his prey/play drive onto a more appropriate "toy", if everytime he starts to bother the bird, you tell him "no" and hand him the same toy, he should eventually start getting the toy for himself when he feels the urge to bother the bird coming on :roll: . The destruction... either get a crate, or buy a baby gate (when he's older, you may need two, one for the bottom half, one for the top) to block him into a room or area of the house. Provide lots of toys, water, comfy bed (though he may eat it :lol: ), etc. This way, he can't destroy things while you're away. When you're at home, anytime you catch him with something he's not supposed to have, hold up a toy he likes and call him over to you. When he gets there, "trade" his toy for whatever he has, and praise when he makes the trade. You could also just tell him "no" when you catch him with something-not-for-puppies, then give the toy and praise when he takes it. Either way works, but if you don't want him picking things up at all, the second way may be better. For his biting at you.... bully puppies mouth a lot, and if he was taken from his litter too early, he'll likely be even worse about it until you teach him what's ok and what's not. When he just does normal puppy mouthing, tell him "no", and hand him a toy instead. With time and repitition, he'll start getting the toy himself when he feels the urge to mouth people. For the nipping when he doesn't want to do something, follow the advice others have given, about keeping a leash on him in the house, making him "earn" priveleges, etc. You should also start working with him on obedience, as once he's got the basic commands down, they'll be a big help in getting him under control without confrontation. An example: rather then having to pull/push him off the couch, you could just come in to the room and tell him to "come" or to "heel" either command should bring him up to you, you give him a treat for obeying, then you're free to sit down. Enough repetitions of this, and he should automatically get down and wait for his treat when he sees you... then you can start phasing out the treats until he just gets down anyway, with maybe a treat once in a while. Everyone in the house should work with him on his obedience, even the kids can (if they're too young to do much else, they can at least tell him to "sit", then treat him when he does). "Down" is a submissive position, so putting him in a down/stay when he's acting like a little heathen will help to get through to him that he needs not be so rowdy in the house, or not get in your face while you're eating, etc. Do NOT take the advice about pushing him to the ground and holding him there... it may work now, but before long he's going to be a lot bigger, and he'll probably be stronger than you. Dogs aren't stupid, and they know when they can or can't win a fight, so while that may work now, it's not something you want to have to rely on when he's older. On pit bulls and ABs, some say APBTs (pit bulls) came before ABs, others say ABs were before APBTs. Some say they're related, some say they're not. Both are bully breeds, though I believe ABs typically fall under the "mastiff" heading, whereas APBTs are terriers. From what I've seen/heard/read, the "average" AB is generally less outwardly dog aggressive, but are still dominant, and will fight if challenged (there are some outwardly dog aggressive ABs, not not as many as there are APBTs). The AB is also more aloof to strangers, whereas the APBT should see everyone it meets as a new friend. That's not to say that there aren't aloof APBTs, nor that there aren't super-friendly-to-everyone ABs, those are just generalizations. ABs have more defensive drive, most APBTs have very little (that's why they make poor guard/protection dogs). The two breeds have a lot of similarities, but also some differences.

Even after rereading the article several times, trying to see where I may have misunderstood something somewhere, it still reeks of anti-pit bull sentiment. There are so many mistruths in it that it's hard to know where to begin... [quote]This is what pit bulls are deliberately bred to do, attack without provocation, hang on to the death[/quote] Since they're referencing an article about a dog attack for this quote, it should be pointed out that until the past 20 or so years, pit bulls were bred to be the exact opposite of the description above (at least in their mannerism towards people, which is what the article was about anyway), and even now, the majority of pit bulls are NOT dogs who will "attack without provocation", but instead usually will not bite/attack without MORE provocation than many other breeds. Yes, there are "freaks" out there which have no problem biting a person, but they are by far the minority, and these "freaks" can and do occur in every breed. Also, they make note in their post of how pit bulls "hang on to the death", which proved NOT to be the case in this attack, where two children were able to scare/"manhandle" the dog off of their friend. [quote]To deny pit bulls' genetically-determined behaviour is irrational, and legislators should not be influenced by irrational people. Nor should they be listening to "experts" and trainers with markets to protect who soft-pedal the danger so they won't offend any potential customers.[/quote] The above statement just SCREAMS ignorance, bias, and closed mindedness to me. I love the way anyone who disagrees with them is either a (to quote them) "not too bright controller", or has an ulterior motive such as protecting their "market" (whatever that may be). [quote]And pit bulls are extremely muscular with unnaturally powerful jaws[/quote] Unaturally powerful jaws, huh? Bet they pulled that right off the cover of The Globe :lol: :roll: [quote]Pit bulls were only created in the last century for the underground dog-fighting business[/quote] Hmm... that would mean they've only been around since after 1903.... too bad there are historical references to the breed that go back past the mid 1800s, not to mention that they were first accepted into a kennel club in the 1890s. They're also wrong in stating that they were bred for the "underground dog fighting business". Dog fighting was an accepted sport when the breed was brought to the US, though that wasn't the breed's only purpose. [quote]Legislators must realize that outlawing the breeding of these dogs is no more unfair than outlawing the owning of assault weapons. [/quote] Ahh yes... the PETA solution.... outlaw breeding until they're extinct. What breeds will they kill off next after the APBTs are gone? After that? [quote]And no civilized society should permit the suffering that pit bulls are subjected to.[/quote] So in order to end the suffering pit bulls are subject to, we are to let them all die out so there are no more that will suffer.... see above (about other breeds). [quote]They are beaten and isolated to make them tough. They are kept in pens and on chains and isolated from all other animals because of their strong prey drive. They are dumped at pounds and SPCAs when their brainless owners tire of them once the macho appeal has worn off, where they are killed. It is not only the danger to children that some breeds pose that AAS objects to - it is the suffering of fighting and protection breed dogs that makes us equally angry. [/quote] And we're actually supposed to believe that A. outlawing the breeding and/or ownership of "pit bulls" would stop these problems (and that the "brainless owners" wouldn't find another breed to inflict abuse/suffering onto... after all, if they can't "love" another breed, they shouldn't have a dog)... and B. that AAS really cares about the "suffering of fighting and protection breed dogs"?? [quote]Of course not every pit bull is true to its breeding, and some are perfectly nice dogs - but they weren't bred to be nice and the risk is too high.[/quote] The first half of this statement could be made true if they changed it around a bit to "Of course not every pit bull is true to its breeding, and some are [color=red]NOT[/color] nice dogs"... the second part is completely false (considering that I'm speaking (typing?) only in the context of HUMAN aggression in APBTs, not DOG aggression). It's also interesting to note that they have compliments from Ingrid Newkirk; the president of PETA on their site... she wrote an eerily similar "letter" to the world several years ago on the subject of pit bulls. [url]http://community-2.webtv.net/PRECIOUSFORD/IngridNewkirkPETA/[/url] Here's another on pit bulls by a PETA member [url]http://www.peta.org/liv/c/tragedy.html[/url] Another about how BSL can be a "important tool in preventing the tragic exploitation of these breeds" [url]http://www.peta.org/mc/facts/fsc19.html[/url] And the statement we were disagreeing on earlier, this is how I read it... "the breeds of choice for heartless homeowners, car lots, body shops, and grow-ops, are Rottweilers and German shepherds, dangerous [color=red]when desocialized[/color] because of their size and because they have been bred to protect, but if socialized young and treated humanely, [color=red]they are [b]not[/b] inherently high risk[/color]. But Vancouver has [color=red]a lot of miserable pit bulls[/color] living in yards and in cages too [color=red]and they [b]are[/b] inherently high risk[/color]. Inherently IMO is a tendency brought on by genetics... to me they're saying that rotties/GSDs are NOT inherently dangerous, but are made so by poor treatment... pit bulls ARE inherently dangerous, no matter how they're treated.

The fan thing may not be related to her not liking things being "confined"... it doesn't take much for a dog to become afraid of fans, and once they are, it's a hard fear to have them get over. We have a box fan (the square ones that stand on the floor) in almost every room upstairs, and Goo used to always stick her tail in them when she'd sit down beside them, or knock them over on herself, or one of my nephews would knock it over by her (accidentally), and scare her. She's also never been a fan (sorry for the slight pun :lol: ) of air being blown into her face/ears, so that makes things even worse. She's very wary of the fans, and if I put one in a doorway, or even against a wall near a doorway, she won't go near it. I actually used to use one to keep her out of my window when we'd have a nice day, because the guards only cover the window when the glass part is down, and I knew she wouldn't go near the window if she thought the fan might turn itself on and get her. A few months ago, I noticed she hadn't touched her dry food in a week or so (she has dry food all the time, but only picks at it), and started checking it out, thinking maybe there was something wrong with it. I took the food out, dumped it, and gave her fresh, of which she ate some while I was pouring it, then I put it back in it's normal spot. We repeated this sequence of events several times before I finally noticed that my fan (which I rarely turn on)was sitting in such a way that when she'd go over to eat, her tail would tap against it and freak her out, so she completely avoided the food bowl. I moved the fan, and she ran right over to eat :lol: I know that was a little OT, as Goo's not claustrophobic, but she is fanaphobic I guess :lol:

The White English Terrier is the breed you'll most often hear was mixed into the bulldog to create the APBT. There were strains of APBT however, which had the occasional different breed (whippet, greyhound, and other terrier breeds) thrown into the mix as well, not to mention that some dogs were more bulldog than terrier, and vice-versa. It's also important to note that the "bulldog" then was different from the "bulldog" of today, much legger and athletic than their current counterparts.

Read it again Marysmomma... the person said that rotties and GSDs are NOT inherently "high risk", and that their problem stems from neglect/lack of socialization, then goes on to say that pit bulls ARE inherently "high risk". Implying that while good care/socialization will ensure that "other" breeds that are considered "dangerous" by some will end up not being "high risk", there is nothing that can be done for pit bulls, because they are inherently dangerous and "high risk". This is not the first time they've spoken out for BSL and breed bans, and after reading some of their other pieces, it may be more clear to you what their position is on pit bulls. This was from several months ago... [url]http://forum.dogomania.com/viewtopic.php?t=4612[/url]

Suuuure :roll: Advocates for themselves and their own personal agendas... [url]http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/2802[/url]

Goo- Isn't bothered by them. She actually gets excited, because it's not uncommon for me to take her down to the patio where we sit and watch the storms come up through the bay (it's covered, so we don't usually get wet at all). She will come and bother me if the tv's on, and the little "thunderstorm warning" beep goes off though, and there have been a few where she'll come and bother me, like "Hey, do you hear all that stuff!?" :lol: Annie- There are a thousand and one things that are more important to Annie than being afraid of thunderstorms, she doesn't care about them one tiny bit. Casey- Afraid of them. If someone's around, she'll pace around them or try to climb on them, if not, she'll just go off by herself and hide. Joey- Of course he's afraid of them, he's afraid of everything :roll: He'll just hide in his crate until they're gone. Haley- Doesn't care about them, though I think she does wonder sometimes what the noise is.

Two things that I can think of are: 1: put her into avoidance. Make something unpleasant happen every time she goes up to the door and barks/carries on. That can be getting squirted from an upstairs window, having a loud sound go off, or you scolding her (some dogs might actually see this as a reward though, so you have to be careful). I used this on Goo after she went through my window... I taped one of those alarms people carry (I guess in case they're mugged or something), with the string/pin that can be pulled out to make it go off, to the curtain, then tied the string to an eyehook in the wall. Everytime she got up in the window, she moved the curtain, and the alarm would go off. I'd hear it and come in to chew her out about it. I felt horrible about yelling at her so much at the time, but it only took 4 or 5 times before she was completely avoiding the window. For Goo, the unpleasant thing was me coming in to yell at her, it worked for us because she's really soft and sensitive to me, so my being so mad at her was among the worst punishments possible for her. The alarm was only there so that I could hear her getting in the window, and was taken down as soon as she had learned to stay down. One thing to be careful about if you do this is timing the "punishment" so that she knows it's for barking/carrying on, NOT for just coming up to the door. You don't want her to be so scared that she's afraid to walk up to/through the doorway, either. 2: The other way would be to just make her sit everytime before she comes in, or maybe to make her ring a bell instead to let you know. She can't sit and jump up at the same time, so if sitting gets her in, she should completely stop jumping. If you're worried you won't see her sitting there, put in a doorbell and teach her to use it, or just a string that leads to a normal bell inside. If it were my dog, I'd try to use the second way first, and only try the first one if all else failed, as it's not hard to mess up and confuse the dog or create worse problems. Now after realizing what type of screen door you were talking about, if you can't get her to stop jumping, you could also just go buy a window grate and put it on the outside of the door. That would keep her from ripping the screen.

[quote]how long do they go thought their cycle?[/quote] On average, 3 weeks, but some will seem to be out of heat, yet are still breedable, so 4 weeks is the accepted "safe" amount of time for a dog being in heat. During this time you'll need to keep her away from all unaltered males, even if they're on leash or seperated by a fence, as dogs can breed both while on leash or through fences. You won't be able to leave her outside at all unattended, as many males will go to any trouble to get to a female in heat, jumping fences, or knocking down gates/doors. [quote]how often do they get their cycle?[/quote] It depends on the individual dog, but on average, every 6 months. Some may go as often as every 3-4 months, others only once a year. [quote]what can you do to prevent blooding everything up[/quote] For now, you can try those doggy panties (they won't keep dogs from breeding though, so don't think they're a fix all), but she probably won't like them much, and may rip them off. Otherwise, keep a couple old towels around to wipe the floor up as she goes. A permanent fix to this would be to have her spayed after this heat cycle.

Courtnek, I just sent a PM about it, with a couple questions for you, too.

This isn't exactly proven scientifically, but I think too that weather can play a big part in dogs getting ear infections. Goo and Haley both get them a lot anyway (both have allergies and really sensitive skin anyway), but I notice that a lot of the time, their ears get bad when it's wet (rainy) or really humid outside. I guess it's the moist environment the humid/wet air creates. Haley's had a few ear infections since she's been here (most during the first couple months, before her diabetes was under control), but Goo hadn't had any since last spring. Just in the past two weeks we've had tons of rain, Haley had an ear infection that took a week to get rid of, and the day after her last cleaning/medicine application, I came into my room to find Goo picking at her ears. Grabbed the flashlight to peek inside, and sure enough, lots of smelly gunk in there. Hers is just clearing up now. I check all the dogs' ears at least once a week, so it doesn't take long to go from a clean ear to an infected one. We get panalog (I think the brand name changed, not sure what to) from the vets, and it helps to work the junk out, but Goo had a few infections years ago where she needed antibiotics also. See what the vet says, but it does sound like an ear infection.

I'm pretty sure "hooch" was a purebred, I remember reading something about the dog a while back. We had a DDBx puppy come into the vets about 2 months ago for a bath (she had demo and needed to be dipped), and she was THE most adorable dog I have ever seen (aside from my own, of course :lol: ). She was probably around 6-8 months old, and about 70 lbs, but the whole time she was in the tub and I was bathing her, she just sat there like a little kid who was being punished, with this pouty little "monkey face". After she was done, while all the other dogs bark and carried on, she just sat in the corner of her kennel with her sad little face (of course, I had to keep "visiting" with her :roll: ). She didn't drool nearly as much as some DDBx do, but I still had a few slime trails on me by the time I went home :o

Over the years, a lot of people in this area have gotten "pit bulls" (though by looking at them, some are definitely mixes, if even part APBT). Since I'm around the same age as most of the people who are gettign these dogs, and know a lot of them, I used to get asked sometimes when Goo was going to have a litter of pups, how much they'd be sold for, and if I'd let them breed their dog to her. Most of the time I'd tell them no, that she was fixed, and that she was too old to have pups anyway, and that would be the end of that. There were a few occasions where I went along with it all for a while, and we'd talk about all the possibilities, then I'd offhandedly ask if they thought it'd be a problem that she's fixed :lol: One owner, apparently not too happy that I'd wasted their time when they could have been out finding someone else to go into the business venture with called me an idiot for having a dog that couldn't make me any money, and also referred to Goo as "ruined", lol. I don't know that Goo would agree with that, but she'll never know anyway :wink: I never did hear about their dog having (though I guess since it was a male, it wouldn't have "had" them anyway) pups, so maybe they were so fed up with trying to find a dog to make some cash off of that they gave up :D

There are a lot of dual registered dogs that are out of what you're calling "AmStaff" lines (and then if their offspring are only registered as APBTs, then you'd have an APBT with "AmSTaff lines behind it)... so I guess you could call that mixing the two breeds, but it's not actually mixing the breeds as in taking one APBT and one AmStaff and throwing them together to get huge blue pups... you can get that from quite a few APBT lines now anyway. Again, the reason AmStaffs are "bigger" is because they're not conditioned to the point that most pit bulls are (discountign some conformation lines of APBTs, in which those dogs are just as out of shape as the AKC ones). You can also track down a lot of gamebred dogs when you go back in the "extra large APBTs" peds, that doesn't mean that the gamebred dogs had anything to do with producing those huge mutts.