mydogroxy

i do try to say "slow" or something to that effect, but admittedly i'm not very consistent with it. i'm going to start though. as for the hair loss and taking off the collar at home, roxy never wears any kind of collar inside the house. she only has one on if we are going for a walk. on the prong, she doesn't even pull, it's just the simple rubbing of the collar on her neck that does it. the only thing that hasn't caused her some sort of skin/hair trauma is her flat collar. and i WISH we had some place outside without distractions. I WISH!! we live in a very urban area, so there's not much room first of all. secondly, our neighbor has three dogs, whom roxy does not like (and vice versa). she leaves the dogs loose during the day and the minute we go out, they're at the closest window barking up a storm. on top of that, in an effort to help the dog situation (they got into a few scraps through the chainlink fence) our neighbor put up a 5 foot privacy fence. only problem is there's about a one foot clearance between it and the ground and another one foot gap in the back corner, where one fence meets the other. needless to say, we don't go outback much.

i just wanted to let you all know how things are going with roxy and her behavior (if you haven't read, there are a few threads about her and fear aggression/shyness, dominance). the past month or two, she has been a completely different dog. she is much more accepting of strangers, taking only a moment to check them out before she rolls over for a belly rub. she will even go up to friendly strangers on our walks and allow them to pet her with no cowering or backing away. we have no introduced her to any other children yet, as we really have no access to any! she met an 8 year old boy through her crate (he's not too keen on dogs) and though she barked, it was not threatening and her hackles weren't up. she has also been much more submissive and obedient and rarely tries to challenge me when i give her commands. i am very pleased with her and i thank all of you for your continued support. :D

roxy is an apbt. thanks for all the advice, and i'll give it a try, but i'm sure most of it will not work. haha. she already knows sit (she's very well trained except for this) and like i said before, the only treat she responds to outdoors is liver. which also makes her crazy with excitement! i try not to deter this excitment because it's extremely useful when we see other dogs (she's very dog aggressive, so if she's excited over the treat, she's not paying attention to the dog). she's also veeerrrry strong. i have tried tugging on the lead, but she pays no attention. i'm going to try turning around abruptly, but there are instances where she decides she doesn't want to move, and nothing short of dragging her down the block will maker her go. i'm going to try with the treats though. thanks. (by the way, i'm not a big fan of prongs, chokes, OR gentle leaders in general, but she packs a lot of power into her little frame. when she's on the prong she doesn't pull AT ALL, but the natural rubbing alone gives her a bald neck and a bald dog, i do not want :o )

i need some advice about pulling. roxy is not a terrible puller, but we take long walks (usually around an hour) and by the time we're done my arm is a little sore and i've lost a little patience. we've tried several methods with great results, BUT she has such fine hair there's always a problem. both the choke and prong collar made her throat go bald. her harness gave her some baldness on her chest. i've tried working with her on the regular collar and treats, but the only treats she'll pay any attention to outside, also make hergo wild. so it's kind of defeating the purpose. at this point obedience classes are out, as she has little tolerance for most other dogs. i haven't tried a gl yet because i've heard that in some dogs, it gives them bald spots on their muzzles. i'm leaning towards giving it a try though. any suggestions?

you can also buy premade raw from [url]www.aplaceforpaws.com[/url] i just started roxy on barf and ordered from them. she absolutely loves AND the prices are totally reasonable.

that website is definitely geared toward the dog fight fancier. a lot of those pictures are fighting dogs (past and present) and the stories on there are also about fighting dogs (i didn't read them though).

what a coincidence, we almost named roxy brooklyn too! we got her from brooklyn so it seemed fitting, but we went with roxy instead. roxy's nicknames are: rox, roxydog, roxinthebox, poopy, poopers, pooperdooper, stinky, pretty girl, tuff girl, tuffstuff, stinko, puppers the cats: simba's nicknames: timba, kimba, timbers, grouch, plus he has his own personalized songs i sing to him midnight's nicknames: micknight, halloween cat, scaredy cat, middy mami's nicknames: mamma, mamicat, mammcat, tinyhead, smalls gouda's nicknames: gouds, fatstuff, fat cat, chubby

i'm just going to add my two cents here (yes, i know, a little late :o ). i don't own a pit bull simply because she is a pit bull. there are a variety of dogs i would love to own (dachshund, chihuahua, boston terrier, bull terrier, to name a few), but i just happen to have a pit bull. i would think that relatively few responsible pit bull owners get pit bulls simply because of their breed. they get them because they've done research and found them to match their lifestyle. they get them because prior experience proved them to be great dogs. they get them because they're so darn cute! are there hassles to owning roxy? of course. most of them come from having to constantly defend my decision to have her. they do not have locking jaws, or jaws with scissor action, or an extreme aount of pressure in their bite. they can be dangerous, but most times they are not, just like any other breed.

i think she'll take to barf quite well. she already had a meal of beef, veggies, and yogurt a while back (just one meal, she was in between foods) and she like cooked chicken, so we'll see. the shipment should come tomorrow.

well, i just put in roxy's first order for premade barf. it should be here by wednesday or thursday. i'm so excited!

i'm thinking about buying that sweater with the crown on it for roxy. i'd like to get one of those little hoodies, but they don't carry big enough sizes for her. you must have spent a fortune, some of that stuff is expensive!

haha! that's great! i plan on buying roxy a bunch of stuff soon too. peng1zrule: i don't think anyone's agoinizing here. we just like to spoil our poochies!

absolutely the cutest stuff ever! [url]http://trixieandpeanut.com[/url]

i'm going to agree with kiwi. a ten year old should have better sense than to torment a dog. the poor dog was just protecting itself, not acting out of aggression. i don't think this is a case where it should be pts.

i don't know too much about ab's but i can tell you they are very closely related to pit bulls. many of them look exactly the same except for size (although we do have 120lbs pits now). they are generally mostly white in color. and they are absolutely adorable!

the dog is an american bulldog. i've never seen a tethered dog doing schutzhund either, but i'm no expert.

i know you're supposed to change food over time, but i've found that for roxy it just doesn't work. when i've changed her food in the past, mixing the two (in the correct proportions) had always caused prolonged yuckpoop. now i just make the switch and everything is good.

crested! i saw a chinese crested last week. it was sooo cute, bigger than i expected!

no they're not being trained to fight. it's a sport called schutzhund which is centered around protection.

oh my god! i'm so sorry! hopefully since you've taken action right away and been extremely thorough, the odds may be a little more in your favor. good luck.

i think initially, it's definitely because the dog is a pit bull. and then that brings on a whole set of assumptions about you (me). when i walk roxy we see the same people over and over again (they're sitting on their porch or what have you). i know these people think i'm bad news with a dangerous dog. it's crazy. i find that there's no inbetween for me. people either are horrified by roxy and the notion of a pit bull, or those who stop me to tell me how beautiful she is and turn around several times to get a second and third look.

I LOVE THE JUMBONE COMMERCIAL! i sing the song allll the time. hahahaha.

good question. the man we got roxy from was the owner of the bitch. there was some time however, that she and some of her littler spent living with the owner of the stud dog (why i don't know). at three months, she and her one remaining brother were sent back to the original guy, because he was "having trouble" controlling the kids with the dogs. we got roxy a short time after. we do know that she was abused in the home with children. we can't be sure, but we also suspect that the man we got her from may have mistreated her too (he only keeps one girl dog because he "doesn't like females"). there's also a world of difference between the way some people treat their own dogs, as opposed to ones they have no real interest in. we'll never know the real extent of what happened to her, but we know for sure her first few months were rough.

carol, i don't think you're picking on me at all. and yes you are right, i have a million and one concerns about roxy's temperment. the only reason i continue to work with her is because her instabilities are a result of neglect and abuse as a puppy, rather than poor temperment as a result of poor breeding. she has been improving since we got her and has infact made great strides in the past few weeks. if there ever came a point where she ceased to improve and was a danger to anyone, i would have no qualms about putting her down. it has crossed my mind before, in certain instances where she has gotten out of hand, but her improved behavior gives me hope. in my opinion, there is a great difference in dogs with issues because of prior treatment and those with inherent issues. others may disagree...

hahaha....i didn't even notice that doglover!