Jack: Then and Now

 

It seems a little strange to be making a post like this when we’ve only had him for about four months, but the changes in my dog have been so dramatic in that time, that it’s most certainly called for.

Remember this picture from when I first introduced him to you?

 

Here he is now, with Jenna (who has grown a little, but not a lot) for size comparison.

My teeny little puppy is now bigger than my seven year old!

Or, how about this picture of him sleeping on Alexi…

Now, a more recent one of him trying to sleep on Alexi…

Yes, my dog has transmogrified into a moose.  A moose who thinks he owns the couch, and since he now weighs over fifty pounds, it’s a little hard to disagree with him.

He’s still the same happy, loving puppy we brought home a few months ago though, just a lot bigger and a little better behaved.  He knows all of the basic obedience commands, and actually listens to them most of the time now.  Even when he’s excited he will sit if you tell him to sit.  His butt may only touch the ground for ten seconds, but the important thing is that it does touch it.

We’re now working on the training that he just did not have the impulse control to master a few months ago, things like wait (stay), leave it, and drop it.  He’s doing well so far (he’s a really smart idiot, remember?), and once he has it all mastered he’s going to be an awesome dog.  He’s just so funny and cute, it would be impossible not to love him.

He’s become really attached to Jenna, in fact I believe that, under the right circumstances, he would die to protect her.  Say, if a bear attacked while they were out on a walk in the middle of the city.  Because, you know, that happens all the time around here.  If a person attacked however, he would probably just wag his tail and lick the attacker’s ankles.

In the mornings, Jenna uses him as a pillow (or vice versa) and they watch TV together.  When she gets up to start getting ready for school, he cries in hopes that his pitiful-ness will make her feel sorry for him and bring her back to the couch.  It rarely works though, because I’m a mean mommy and insist that the puppy will survive without her.

He cries a lot actually.  I think it’s a trade off because he doesn’t bark.  At all!  He can bark, he just doesn’t.  I could probably count the times I’ve heard him do it on one hand and have fingers left over.  So instead of barking, he whines to get your attention.  That’s fine with me, the crying is easier on the ears, and no trouble to ignore when the situation calls for it.

Now I’m sure you’ve heard people defending pit bulls by saying that they’re not people aggressive, just animal aggressive.  It’s partly true, they’re not people aggressive at all.  Shelter workers will tell you that most of the pits who come in from horribly abusive situations are still quite loving towards people, as evidenced with the Michael Vick dogs.  I would go so far as to say that they’re not really all that aggressive toward other animals either though.

Most types of terriers can be aggressive towards other animals, as their breed was refined to help control pests and other animals on farms.  Yet I recently read a study (I’d link it but unfortunately I didn’t bookmark it) that tested for aggression in known breeds of dogs.  While pits were found to be more animal aggressive than some other breeds, they were not among the breeds to be found the most animal aggressive.  There were a handful of breeds that ranked above them.

So really it comes down to a nature verses nurture thing.  If you socialize them from a young age, you’re not going to have any problems in the future.  Since we have so many animals in the house, we’ve been working with Jack to desensitize him to the presence of animals, even ones as small as a hamster.

While he gets excited when he sees the other animals, we’ve never seen any form of aggression in him.  My main worry at this point, is not that he’ll attack another animal, but will get too excited and hurt one by playing too rough.  He has no idea how big and strong he is right now, so we’re working with him on that too.  Every few days one of us will get a grip on Jacks collar, while someone else will bring one of the other pets to him (cat, guinea pig, hamster, no one is exempt from suffering through Jack training).  If he sits calmly, we bring the animal closer for him to greet, if he gets up, or gets excited, we take it away.  He’s learned really quickly that the best way to be able to check out the other members of the family, is to be calm and relaxed.  Now his furry siblings usually end up getting a lick or two at the end of the training session, much to their dismay (puppy slobber, ewww).

Eventually this training will trickle down, and he’ll understand that when we meet other dogs on our walks, or at the vets office, he should approach calmly, and he’ll get to greet and maybe even play.  He’s still just a puppy though, and sometimes it’s hard for him to repress his excitement.  It will improve with age, especially since he has the training to back it up.

I honestly feel that training is the key with any dog, no matter if they’re a Chihuahua, or a Great Dane.  If you want to have a happy dog, and a relaxed home environment, spend fifteen minutes a day on positive reinforcement based training.  You’ll be amazed at what your dog can do, and how much easier it makes life.

 

 

As you can see from the pictures, Jack is starting to look less like a plain terrier, and more and more like a pit bull terrier.  It doesn’t bother me at all, I think he’s still awfully cute with his floppy ears and permanent smile.  As his chest and head start to broaden though, I’m noticing more and more that it’s bothering other people.

And that just stinks.

For one, it just makes Jack’s day when he gets to meet someone new.  He LOVES people, and wants to make friends with everyone he meets.  When people go out of their way to avoid him, he’s missing out on socializing opportunities and the training that goes with them.  The more people he gets to meet and greet, the more he’s able to learn the proper way to behave around people.  If you don’t give these animals a chance to learn how to act in the presence of a stranger, then you’re just adding to the problem.

I’m not saying you should approach every pit you see running around without caution, but if the owner is there controlling the dog on a leash, then it’s typically safe to approach.  And if you think that the ankle biter you passed a block down is safer to walk past than a pit bull, you’re insane.  Any dog has the potential for aggression, and a Shih Tzu’s teeth will make you bleed just as fast as my Pit Bull’s will.  The difference is that I have my dog under control when we’re out walking; Owners of small, “harmless” dogs, don’t always take the care they should.

Just use some discretion and common sense, that’s all I ask.  If a dog looks well behaved, and is accompanied by a human who looks well behaved as well, then chances are good that the dog poses no threat, no matter how big and strong they might be.

Jenna is totally baffled when she sees a grownup cross the street to avoid walking too close to Jack when we’re out.  How can anyone be afraid of a happy dog, wagging his tail, and being loved by a seven year old?  How scary is a dog that serves time as a couch pillow every morning?

He’s not, and I hope that in her lifetime the stigma goes away, that people start to get it, because I think she’s going to be a life-long pit bull lover too.  Until then though, I made her a shirt to wear:

She loves it!

Now doesn’t he look vicious?

Hugs,