abker17

:evil: :evil: That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!!! You can bet I'm writing to them. :evil:

Great pictures!!! :D :loveu:

Welcome!!! :D Your dogs are beautiful!

YAY more pittie pics!!! :iloveyou: SO cute!

[quote]:::KNOCK::: ::::KNOCK::: HELLO! Fellow pit bull owners...may I ask a question? (Besides that one) Why are we (We being the Pit Bull owners as a whole on this board) arguing against one another? I'm seeing names that once were united are now fighting each other. NOT COOL! We need to reunite and work together for the betterment of this breed.[/quote] I TOTALLY agree!!! :D Maybe we need some more pit pics to loosen everyone up? :wink:

Okay I can tell that this is going to turn into a huge fight, one that I'm going to stay out of. BUT I did want to comment on one thing: [quote]Most surprisingly, I see in other threads that a person who fights dogs is tolerated and encouraged by many of the regulars here. [/quote] DO NOT even get everyone started on that one again. First of all, "that person" does not fight thier dogs persay, although to many people it's all the same. And many people do disagree with it. Please get all the facts before posting a comment like that.

:bday: Happy Birthday Zoe! :bday:

[quote]Do you think it is legal for our newspaper to run it with credit to the author of course? I would love to osee this story in every major newspaper in America. [/quote] I agree, and I encourage you to send it in!

Ok this has GOT to stop. Personally I can BARELY get anything out of Primmy's posts. Primmy will you PLEASE just come out and say DIRECTLY what ever the h*ll you mean, for some of the members here that haven't taken 10 courses in logic. :o Honestly all your posts just keep re-iterating the same things over and over in the most confusing way possible, why don't you just say exactly what you mean?

Sad story. :( "His Name is Sam" After I was discharged from the Navy, Jim and I moved back to Detroit to use our GI bill benefits to get some schooling. Jim was going for a degree in Electronics and I, after much debating, decided to get mine in Computer Science. One of the classes that was a requirement was Speech. Like many people, I had no fondness for getting up in front of people for any reason, let alone to be the center of attention as I stuttered my way through some unfamiliar subject. But I couldn't get out of the requirement, and so I found myself in my last semester before graduation with Speech as one of my classes. On the first day of class our professor explained to us that he was going to leave the subject matter of our talks up to us, but he was going to provide the motivation of the speech. We would be responsible for six speeches, each with a different motivation. For instance our first speech's purpose was to inform. He advised us to pick subjects that we were interested in and knowledgeable about. I decided to center my six speeches around animals, especially dogs. For my first speech to inform, I talked about the equestrian art of dressage. For my speech to demonstrate, I brought my German Shepherd, Bodger, to class and demonstrated obedience commands. Finally the semester was almost over and I had but one more speech to give. This speech was to take the place of a written final exam and was to count for fifty per cent of our grade. The speeches motivation was to persuade. After agonizing over a subject matter, and keeping with my animal theme, I decided on the topic of spaying and neutering pets. My goal was to try to persuade my classmates to neuter their pets. So I started researching the topic. There was plenty of material, articles that told of the millions of dogs and cats that were euthanized every year, of supposedly beloved pets that were turned in to various animal control facilities for the lamest of reasons, or worse, dropped off far from home, bewildered and scared. Death was usually a blessing. The final speech was looming closer, but I felt well prepared. My notes were full of facts and statistics that I felt sure would motivate even the most naive of pet owners to succumb to my plea. A couple of days before our speeches were due, I had the bright idea of going to the local branch of the Humane Society and borrowing a puppy to use as a sort of a visual aid. I called the Humane Society and explained what I wanted. They were very happy to accommodate me. I made arrangements to pick up a puppy the day before my speech. The day before my speech, I went to pick up the puppy. I was feeling very confident. I could quote all the statistics and numbers without ever looking at my notes. The puppy, I felt, would add the final emotional touch. When I arrived at the Humane Society I was met by a young guy named Ron. He explained that he was the public relations person for the Humane Society. He was very excited about my speech and asked if I would like a tour of the facilities before I picked up the puppy. I enthusiastically agreed. We started out in the reception area, which was the general public's initial encounter with the Humane Society. The lobby was full, mostly with people dropping off various animals that they no longer wanted. Ron explained to me that this branch of the Humane Society took in about fifty animals a day and adopted out only about twenty. As we stood there I heard snatches of conversation: "I can't keep him, he digs holes in my garden." "They are such cute puppies, I know you will have no trouble finding homes for them." "She is wild, I can't control her." I heard one of Humane Society's volunteer explain to the lady with the litter of puppies that the Society was filled with puppies and that these puppies, being black, would immediately be put to sleep.Black puppies, she explained, had little chance of being adopted. The woman who brought the puppies in just shrugged, "I can't help it," she whined. "They are getting too big. I don't have room for them." We left the reception area. Ron led me into the staging area where all the incoming animals were evaluated for adoptability. Over half never even made it to the adoption center. There were just too many. Not only were people bringing in their own animals, but strays were also dropped off. By law the Humane Society had to hold a stray for three days. If the animal was not claimed by then, it was euthanized, since there was no background information on the animal. There were already too many animals that had a known history eagerly provided by their soon to be ex-owners. As we went through the different areas, I felt more and more depressed. No amount of statistics, could take the place of seeing the reality of what this throwaway attitude did to the living, breathing animal. It was overwhelming. Finally Ron stopped in front of a closed door. "That's it," he said, "except for this." I read the sign on the door. "Euthanasia Area." "Do you want to see one?" he asked. Before I could decline, he interjected, "You really should. You can't tell the whole story unless you experience the end." I reluctantly agreed. "Good." He said, "I already cleared it and Peggy is expecting you." He knocked firmly on the door. A middle-aged woman in a white lab coat opened it immediately. "Here's the girl I was telling you about," Ron explained. Peggy looked me over. "Well, I'll leave you here with Peggy and meet you in the reception area in about fifteen minutes. I'll have the puppy ready." With that Ron departed, leaving me standing in front of the stern-looking Peggy. Peggy motioned me in. As I walked into the room, I gave an audible gasp. The room was small and spartan. There were a couple of cages on the wall and a cabinet with syringes and vials of a clear liquid. In the middle of the room was an examining table with a rubber mat on top. There were two doors other than the one I had entered. Both were closed. One said to incinerator room, and the other had no sign, but I could hear various animals' noises coming from behind the closed door. In the back of the room, near the door that was marked incinerator were the objects that caused my distress: two wheelbarrows, filled with the bodies of dead kittens and puppies. I stared in horror. Nothing had prepared me for this. I felt my legs grow weak and my breathing become rapid and shallow. I wanted to run from that room, screaming. Peggy seemed not to notice my state of shock. She started talking about the euthanasia process, but I wasn't hearing her. I could not tear my gaze away from the wheelbarrows and those dozens of pathetic little bodies. Finally, Peggy seemed to notice that I was not paying attention to her. "Are you listening?" she asked irritably. "I'm only going to go through this once." I tore my gaze from the back of the room and looked at her. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing would come out, so I nodded. She told me that behind the unmarked door were the animals that were scheduled for euthanasia that day. She picked up a chart that was hanging from the wall "One fifty-three is next," she said as she looked at the chart. "I'll go get him." She laid down the chart on the examining table and started for the unmarked door. Before she got to the door she stopped and turned around. "You aren't going to get hysterical, are you?" she asked, "Because that will only upset the animals." I shook my head. I had not said a word since I walked into that room. I still felt unsure if I would be able to without breaking down into tears. As Peggy opened the unmarked door I peered into the room beyond. It was a small room, but the walls were lined and stacked with cages. It looked like they were all occupied. Peggy opened the door of one of the lower cages and removed the occupant. From what I could see it looked like a medium-sized dog. She attached a leash and ushered the dog into the room in which I stood. As Peggy brought the dog into the room I could see that the dog was no more than a puppy, maybe five or six months old. The pup looked to be a cross between a Lab and a German shepherd. He was mostly black, with a small amount of tan above his eyes and on his feet. He was very excited and bouncing up and down, trying to sniff everything in this new environment. Peggy lifted the pup onto the table. She had a card in her hand, which she laid on the table next to me. I read the card. It said that number one fifty-three was a mixed Shepherd, six months old. He was surrendered two days ago by a family. Reason of surrender was given as "jumps on children." At the bottom was a note that said "Name: Sam" Peggy was quick and efficient, from lots of practice, I guessed. She lay one fifty-three down on his side and tied a rubber tourniquet around his front leg. She turned to fill the syringe from the vial of clear liquid. All this time I was standing at the head of the table. I could see the moment that one fifty-three went from a curious puppy to a terrified puppy. He did not like being held down and he started to struggle. It was then that I finally found my voice. I bent over the struggling puppy and whispered, "Sam. Your name is Sam." At the sound of his name Sam quit struggling. He wagged his tail tentatively and his soft pink tongue darted out and licked my hand. And that is how he spent his last moment. I watched his eyes fade from hopefulness to nothingness. It was over very quickly. I had never even seen Peggy give the lethal shot. The tears could not be contained any longer. I kept my head down so as not to embarrass myself in front of the stoic Peggy. My tears fell onto the still body on the table. "Now you know," Peggy said softly. Then she turned away. "Ron will be waiting for you." I left the room. Although it seemed like it had been hours, only fifteen minutes had gone by since Ron had left me at the door. I made my way back to the reception area. True to his word, Ron had the puppy all ready to go. After giving me some instructions about what to feed the puppy, he handed the carrying cage over to me and wished me good luck on my speech. That night I went home and spent many hours playing with the orphan puppy. I went to bed that night but I could not sleep. After a while I got up and looked at my speech notes with their numbers and statistics. Without a second thought, I tore them up and threw them away. I went back to bed. Sometime during the night I finally fell asleep. The next morning I arrived at my Speech class with Puppy Doe. When my turn came, I held the puppy in my arms, I took a deep breath, and I told the class about the life and death of Sam. When I finished my speech I became aware that I was crying. I apologized to the class and took my seat. After class the teacher handed out a critique with our grades. I got an "A." His comments said "Very moving and persuasive." Two days later, on the last day of class, one of my classmates came up to me. She was an older lady that I had never spoken to in class. She stopped me on our way out of the classroom. "I want you to know that I adopted the puppy you brought to class," she said. "His name is Sam." by Chris Benton Please Spay or Neuter your pet.

[quote]But is it actually blue?..or is it simply the refraction of light through the atmosphere that leads our eyes to see blue?..[/quote] :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: And your doggies are beautiful!!!

[quote]The essential difference with pit bulls, however, is that they have been intentionally bred to be oblivious to the normal dog language and to not respond to the normal ways that dogs settle these little disagreements[/quote] [quote]Pit bulls are unique, because they are quite likely to be missing the equisite canine interaction skills that most other breeds have.[/quote] BULL SH*T. [quote]Most dogs know how to inhibit their bites. Horrific looking dog fights (between non-pit bulls) quite typically don't result in any injuries at all. This isn't because the dogs COULDN"T put holes in each other, they could but they don't.[/quote] This MIGHT be true in some cases, but I for one have a dog agressive border collie who once she's in a fight WILL NOT back down. No matter how submissive the other dog is, she ignores it and doesn't stop. I'm happy to say we have her dog agression very well under control now, but saying that other dogs (non pitties) don't back down when in a fight is ridiculous.(sp?)

:bday: Happy Birthday! :bday:

I use both, but primarly(sp?) hand signals.

Yay Welcome back!!!!! :D :D Can't wait to see pics!

I just saw an example of this today at my shelter. A lovely chocolate colored pit bull, was labled as a lab mix, probably because she was chocolate colored. But I took the dog out for quite awhile, and got a good look at her and there is just no way that this dog had any lab in her. So I agree, people should know what they are getting into.

Today I went to volunteer at the shelter for the first time in awhile. It was great, I got to take out a chocolate colored femal pit bull named Mea. She was an excellent example of the breed (although they had her labled as a pit lab mix, there's no way there was a spec of lab in that girl, she was all pit) She had a HUGE tounge to go along with that pittie smile, she really was a trip I spent most of my time at the shelter running around with her. :lol: I REALLY hope she gets adopted, I'm going back on Saturday hopefully and I'll try to get some pics if she's still there. I also took out two little hound mix pups. It's been awhile since I've played with a puppy to be honest, I forgot how much fun they are. :lol: They were the cutest little things, and I even got to name them. Rowie (Yes, after our Rowie-the-pooh's Rowie, I love that name. :P ) and Choo. Then I took out a beagle mix with a family that was looking to adopt. (Adopters have to have a volunteer with them when they take out a dog) And although he put some nice size scratches down my arm while I was getting him out of the kennel, I have to say it's definatly worth it. The family didn't adopt him right then, they wanted some time to think it over but I'm hoping they'll be back to get him. Despite having a lot of fun playing with the dogs, it was sad because the shelter was so packed. Mostly with hound mix puppies, and all about the same age. :-? They only had one open kennel. Luckily they're building a new SPCA funded by donations and the city, which will have twice as many kennels. I think it should be done by next autumn. That will probably cut in half the number of dogs that have to be put down. :) Also in the hour I was there, 1 dog got adopted (A beautiful merle Aussie) and a kitty. So they seem to be doing pretty well.... Anyways thanks for letting me spill all my happiness all over you guys. :lol:

That sounds like a great idea DAL, good luck with it! :D [quote]I can tell her to sit a dozen times, but she wont until she gets the hand signal..[/quote] Abby's the same way and I've also taught her to respond just to the hand signals. Some dogs just seem to learn better that way. My friends spaniel responds better to verbal ques. Differs from dog to dog it seems.

Good luck and have lots of fun! :D

[quote]It shows a picture of a pit bull (maybe snarling, maybe not) and implies that pit bulls have high energy. [/quote] :o PLEASE. Come now Primrose, does that dog look like it is MAYBE snarling? :roll: The dog IS snarling it is VERY obvious of that. [quote]it makes no distinction as to what is being snarled at (dog/person/otherwise), but simply shows a mean-looking dog. the average person is going to see it and think about all the bad things they've heard about pit bulls. they are not going to consider what the dog is snarling at, or what the message trying to be conveyed is. quite simply they will see a vicious pit. that is a negative image. period[/quote] Well said! And you can bet I'll be complaining to the company about this.

I just read this, I really hope Buck is ok. :( Sending lots of well wishes!

I agree, great critique Sizzle! :D And either way, Divina is beautiful! :D

Ok I did the copy paste thing and now I can see them! :D Very cute! The first one I've seen before, but with a caption that said "This is Fluffy. He is the destroyer of worlds." :lol:

I've got some of those. :lol: I don't really think they help the doggies breath smell any better, but hey they like them so....

I can't see either. :( Send 'em to me? :puppydogeyes: :P