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Post by mcgregor on Feb 10, 2009 8:15:21 GMT -5
The concept of little dogs as guards relegates to their being verbally loud as they bark, small dogs have very high pitched vocal cords, hence the lhasa aspo merely warns the owners of intruders; they are not there to attack.....my beloved lhasa Steveie Wonder was blind but knew his way around; would bark incessantly as someone knocked on the door; oh GOD! my ears and im deaf since the age of 4 wearing a hearing aid, he almost used to bark that aid flying out of my ears.....lhasa s are wonderful dogs though but really tough at heart......I rescued Steveie Wonder from a groomers that was looking for a home for him , he was a show dog for one year,fooled everyone; no one knew he was blind until the day they finally found out and disqualified him.... he was shceduled to be put to sleep if no home was found for him so I adopted him .... great little impish love......I miss him , rest in peace dear Steveie.......
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Post by RealPitBull on Feb 10, 2009 10:57:49 GMT -5
For me, I don't promote APBTs as 'guard', 'protection', or 'watch dogs', because to the general public those terms imply wanted/expected aggression of some sort on the part of the dog. This breed wasn't meant to be anything but friendly towards humans. Dogs of the guard, protection and watch type tend to have a more suspicious nature, which is not something you want to see in Pit Bulls. Can Pit Bulls ever be good at these things? Well, they can be good alert dogs, for sure (well, some of them anyway). They may also protect you should it really come down to physical harm being done to their owner. But *as a rule* this is NOT the breed you want to be going for if you are looking to protect yourself or your property. Breeders that promote their dogs as guard dogs, etc are really suspicious and probably do not have the best interests of the breed at heart. As far as GSDs - they absolutely are bred for bite work - Schutzhund was created specifically to test the GSD and help breeders select the best stock. Gameness: I understand the point of eliminating that term from breed descriptors. I don't know that I agree with it or that it will ever happen, but I absolutely get what you both are saying in regard to its use. For me, I'd like to see the *model* of the 'traditional gamedog' used for future APBTs. I'd like to see breeders striving to keep the dogs physically able, keep that willing attitude, and the drives all intact. Future APBTs that are not gametested will NOT be the same as the traditional gamedog - that's just how it goes. But there are plenty of non tested dogs out there - from generations of non tested dogs - that are totally cool in my book. I've always said that if the worst that happens to the breed when gametesting is completely eradicated is we get a bunch of AmStaffs, I'm a-ok with that (Althoughhhhhhhhh there are some pretty gnarly AmStaffs out there right now - that look too big n' fat to get up off the couch, let alone do any work.) What can we do to test the dogs and keep them where they should be, physically and mentally? I think a variety of dog sports would fit the bill (and YES I recognize NONE of them are close to equalling the test of the pit....OH. WELL.) I think it would be cool if the breed clubs came up with some sort of overall testing system (ala SchH for GSDs), and promote its use for testing APBT breeding stock. Maybe even deny litter registration from parents who don't pass the test in some capacity (boyyyyy would that make me happy! ) What I would never want to see used to gage any sort of quality in breeding stock would be SchH or any of the bite sports. The dogs traditionally used for those sports, the breeds those sports were developed around, are soooooooo entirely different, temperament-wise, than the APBT, that when used as a means to test temperament of the APBT, I fear would begin to drastically change the overal temperament of the breed.
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Post by bamapitbullmom on Feb 10, 2009 12:25:45 GMT -5
Dogs of the guard, protection and watch type tend to have a more suspicious nature, which is not something you want to see in Pit Bulls. I completely agree with that statement! And even though, for the most part, I describe Cajun as a squishy, human adoring pit bull, which he is, like most dogs he will alert bark and exhibit quite an impressive display when there is a strange noise outside at 2am when everything should be quiet. He also has proven quite adaptable to my anxiety issues and during the onset of a panic attack once, I had pulled to the emergency lane and stopped at the top of an exit ramp off the interstate to get myself under control. There was a "homeless" guy soliciting change near the car and he was peering into the car, really seedy and scary. Cajun reacted by growling and eyeballing him and once the guy backed off, Caj gave his attention back to me. He has always greeted anyone who approaches the car as he does anywhere else, coffee spilling tail wags and flirts. He knows when something isn't right. It's not something I encourage or correct, I just try to keep him out of situations where he feels the need to defend his area. After all, he is a dog. And dogs behave as dogs do. The breed really does get into hot water when aggression or suspicion of strangers is allowed or encouraged. It's just not in their nature unless they feel threatened and only then do I feel that any dog has a right to react accordingly though preferably under the direct supervision and proper handling of their owners, unfortunately owners which "get" that are in the minority.
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Post by RealPitBull on Feb 10, 2009 12:33:31 GMT -5
Excellent post, Jessica, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I just am very careful to when speaking about this breed because when I see words like, "protective" thrown around to describe them I think it sends the wrong message. I like to say that the APBT is not a guard or watch or protection dog, but it is totally acceptable (and to be expected) for the dog to react to a real threat - not 'imagined' or 'perceived'. Luca alert barks, too. My other guy never did (worst watch dog evAr!!!)
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Post by emilys on Feb 10, 2009 17:02:04 GMT -5
I agree with you Mary, 100%. I fear the breed clubs are lost causes though. For the AST club it's a huge deal that they established an award just acknowledging performance achievements (I got a very nice certificate for Lulu) and they deserve credit for at least thinking about it. But... establish criteria for breeding? A code of ethics (even a voluntary one) for breeders? fuhgeddaboutit. They all still crop their dogs ears despite what the standard says, and that's completely cosmetic and trivial...
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Post by RealPitBull on Feb 11, 2009 10:56:33 GMT -5
IA code of ethics (even a voluntary one) for breeders? fuhgeddaboutit. They all still crop their dogs ears despite what the standard says, and that's completely cosmetic and trivial... HAH. Ain't that the sorry @ss truth. Sometimes I wonder what the heck the 'safeguarders' of the APBT/AST are doing. Maybe too busy chasing ribbons and selling pups to care about greater issues......
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