Doc Meets Rescue Ink

This was a super-busy weekend--yesterday Tucker went out on a walk in the Inner Harbor with his pit bull friends to show some support for Pit Bull Awareness Day. Today Doc and I went to Baltimore Humane Society to do some demos and a B-More in Control class during the Rescue Ink visit to the shelter.

It was tons of fun, and the Rescue Ink guys hung out to do photos and autographs.

Doc and I didn't get an autograph--Doc probably would have slobbered all over it anyway--but we did get a photo with the guys.

Funny thing to note: When Doc first got out there, he was his typical Doc self. All hyped up and excited to be meeting people and doing things, so he was pulling and kind of nuts when he first got out there. I think that one of they guys was afraid I wasn't going to be able to handle him, because he ran over and tried to help me . . . admittedly, I was kind of worried about some of the other dogs who seemed to be milling around . . . but anyway, he tried working with Doc, but the trick to Doc is less is more. Touching him gets him more excited, and sometimes just getting his focus is the way to go. So several people had hands on him, which meant he was having a harder and harder time containing himself, and he kept turning around to lick faces, figure out why he was the center of attention, etc. Hilarious. But we did finally get our photo. And Doc went with me off to the parking lot and stayed in a nice, calm down afterward, believe it or not. Silly pit bull.

More on Broken Dogs

So I posted earlier that Button has two busted knees . . . how busted, I don't know, but there is likely one very torn ACL and one may be partially torn. He's been on limmited activity and some NSAIDS while I figured some things out, and now Button's going on an adventure.

After doing a ton of reading, agonizing, and a good deal of crying, we've decided to adventure into the world of "conservative management" and holistic vet treatments. I've talked to my traditional vet about this, and while he's obviously not sure what kind of result we may expect from it, he said it certainly can't do any harm to try. And we have an appointment on Wednesday with a local holistic vet that works in a conventional practice--she specializes in acupuncture, and she works with herbs as well. The goal is to make our next 8 weeks of confinement and rest for Button as stress-free and comfortable as possible. Regular vet will provide us with the good old Western pain meds that we've known to grow and love, and perhaps the holistic vet will have some treatments that complement what the regular vet does. I'm also hoping she'll have some ideas and tricks up her sleeve to help calm some of the demons in his head . . . . Poor Button has made leaps and bounds since we took him in, but he still has so much insecurity and frustration. Just this morning I took him outside for a walk, and a guy across the street was using some kind of powertool saw thing. Button's ears went back, the corners of his mouth turned up, and he army crawled his way into the corner near the fence. He hasn't done that in forever. Poor kid.

News from Missouri

Just saw this slideshow from Riverfront Times posted up at the Pit Bull Forum, thought I'd pass it along.

This story, too, from St. Louis Dispatch.

I don't think I've mentioned it here before (because I was under gag order) but it seems like everyone who's been part of this thing has been blogging, Facebooking, and posting about it, so . . .

I actually went to St. Louis for a weekend in August to help care for these fight-bust dogs. I wanted to see with my own eyes what the aftermath of one of these busts looked like. Nothing glorious or pleasant about it--lots of shit scraping when there are 500 dogs housed in one place. But there were a lot of really nice dogs taken in out there. A few that made me profoundly sad, since I knew this would be, quite literally, a dead end for them. One in particular touched me, and I just learned on Friday that she was euthanized. I'm sure she didn't pass her temperament test, and frankly, it's a testament to the temperaments of any of the dogs that make it out of there and into homes or rescue that they managed to keep it together for so long in that environment--bunch of gamedogs, taken from the only lives they'd ever known on chains in a yard, in confinement for months. Good luck to those--Kiva and Fanny and Jakob and Faye and Camilla and all the others that I've been reading about as they move on to new lives and learn about the world.

Floyd Boudreaux's Family Sues

The Boudreaux family, members of which were acquitted of dog-fighting charges last year, has filed suit against the Lousiana SPCA.

The story states, among other things, that:

The state trooper who investigated the case testified at the Boudreaux’s criminal trial that he believed the SPCA would house the animals and did not know the dogs would be euthanized.

A representative from the SPCA testified that no one person at the nonprofit animal welfare group made the decision to kill the animals but that there was a general assumption that the dogs would be euthanized.

Dalton said the killing of all 57 of the Boudreaux’s dogs has effectively ended the family’s legacy of breeding the “Eli” bloodline.

He said the raid and subsequent killing of the dogs was so distressing to Floyd Boudreaux that he “had a heart attack five days after it happened.”

All of the Boudreax dogs were killed before this trial even went to court. This story says the dogs were killed within 24 hours of seizure.

It'll be interesting to watch this case unfold.

Really Don't Have a Lot of Time to Respond to This

But you can read it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Probably the one and only comment I'm going to spend time making right now is that painting anything with too broad a brush--whether it be pit bulls, dog owners, or bloggers--results in some really blurred lines when you get up close.

Last Day to Vote for the Mobbies!

This is the last day to cast your vote in the Mobbies, the Baltimore Sun's contest to recognize Maryland's Outstanding Blogs. I was nominated in the "Misfits" category, and so far this blog is at number four. If you read this blog, and you like it, please cast a vote--how cool would it be to have a pit bull blog among the top 3 in that category?

An Atrocity

This is not really for the faint-hearted. I'm not faint-hearted at all and it really did me something awful. So really, don't click through if you're sensitive about these things. But Westword, the paper in Denver that I linked to in an earlier post for some good and solid reporting on the pit bull ban in that city, has posted photos of piles of dead pit bulls that were allegedly taken on "Pit Bull Row" of the municipal animal shelter where pit bulls are euthanized there. Piles.

Click here, if you want to see the post.

One Year Has Come and Gone

Last night Button and I were laying on the bed upstairs, and I looked over and saw Reba's ashes in their little polished wood box on the shelf. And I realized that it's been a year--one whole, awful year--since she has been gone. Button never got to meet her, so he has no clue the significance of this, but I hardly thought I could live without Reba . . . but somehow I have and I think maybe Button is part of the reason it was possible for me to stop crying every night over losing the one being that has been with me through every single job change, apartment change, house purchase, relationship (both good and bad), and crisis I've ever had in my adult life.

He got here in January, just a few months after Reba left us. And every single day, every single minute, he's occupied my mind because of all of his issues . . . behavior, temperament, health. I've hardly had time to think about much else.

But that doesn't mean I don't still dwell on her time with me and smile or laugh, then cry a little.

Maybe Bitchy old Reba intervened in some cosmic something to make sure I brought Button here to make sure I keep my head straight. Or maybe she made sure he got here as punishment for all the days I refused to feed her from my plate or sleep on the bed when she was wet or refused to get up when she started singing in my face at 7 in the morning.

I miss you, Reba. Why did you leave me here with all of these bad dogs?

Button Has Odd Taste

For a dog, anyway.

Mobbies--You can Vote Til Friday!

So looks like voting for the Mobbies is Oct. 9 a 5 p.m. That's this Friday!

You can vote once per day if you'd like, and if you like this blog, why not show your support and vote for it? How cool would it be if a pit bull-related blog made it to the top 3 in the "misfits" category?

1,000 Animals

A story from Houston about a guy who just forfeited 1,000 animals to the SPCA. He sold them at local flea markets, apparently. Needless to say, they were not in good condition.

1,000 animals.

Not 100. 1,000.

Damn. I can hardly wrap my head around that number.

Dog Fighting Surges in UK, Despite Pit Bull Ban

Dog fighting is on the upswing in Britain, according to this BBC story, despite the fact that pit bulls and other so-called "dangerous dogs" have been outlawed there since 1991.

The story says that kids are using, among other things, mixed breeds to fight, and are engaging in some unusual practices such as going to the top of a building, putting two dogs in an elevator, pressing the button, and letting them go at it till they reach the bottom floor. Strange.

Proof that when you try to eliminate the symptom without addressing the underlying problem, you don't cure the disease.

Please to Join Us

Some of you folks reading this may be familiar with National Pit Bull Awareness Day. This is the day designated by Bless the Bullys as one pit bull owners should use to remind the world that all pit bull owners are not alike--sure, there are some really bad apples, but there are also many, many, many of us who are responsible and smart owners/advocates. We take the responsibility of dog ownership seriously and keep our dogs in control at all times. We are not the "criminal element," as some lawmakers have tried to portray us, nor are we ignorant, negligent, or sociopathic, as some media outlets would have you believe.

Rather, we're teachers, entrepreneurs, accountants, editors, dog walkers, students, waitresses, and dog trainers. We live in your communities, and you may barely even notice that our dogs exist because we don't let them roam at large, we don't let them sit in backyards barking, and we socialize and train them properly so they aren't scaring you when we walk them down the street.

Anyway, Pit Bull Awareness Day 2009 takes place Oct. 24. B-More Dog has decided to expand it a bit, by making that whole week sort of a Pit Bull Awareness Day week, which we're marking with a few events.

First, we have a happy hour/silent auction taking place Oct. 19 at Bad Decisions bar in Fells Point. We'll have a bunch of cool stuff you can bid on, drink specials, and lots of friendly pit bull lovers and owners from around the Baltimore area to schmooze with. For details, please check out our Facebook event page here.



On Oct. 24, B-More Dog members will be heading out into the greater Baltimore area to spread the good word about us and our dogs. If you're looking for a way to celebrate the day yourself, check our post from 2008 listing 10 ways you can do your part on Pit Bull Awareness Day.

On Oct. 25, B-More Dog will also be offering a special Pit Bull Awareness Day Edition of our B-More in Control workshop. From noon to 1 p.m. we'll be offering our PowerPoint presentation B-More in Control, followed by lots of cool pit bull-centric demonstrations and discussions. We'll have agility dogs, weight pull dogs, a Rally-O course demonstration, and a narcotics dog presenstion with Star the Staffybull from Mutt Magic Training. Lauren Bond from B-More Charming School for Dogs will also do a training presentation for us. And Baltimore Humane Society is providing us the space to hold the events.

Join us, if you can. Maybe you and your dog will find a new hobby. Details outlined in the flier below.

Good story on Denver pit bull ban

I really like this story from Westword in Colorado on the impact the pit bull ban, which has been in effect in that city since 1990, has had on dog bite stats in that city.

(Disclaimer: I do work for a similar kind of newspaper here in Baltimore, and I do know some folks who work at Westword. Does that make me biased? No more biased, I guess, than the fact that I'm a pit bull owner writing about pit bulls!)

I like it because it's not based on anecdotal evidence or opinions from talking heads. Instead, the reporters did what good reporters are supposed to do and collected data, analyzed it, and reported their findings.

Among the highlights here:

Bites from pit bulls have remained about static since the ban went into place, at about 12 per year.

Dog bites as a whole have dropped in that city, from 1,146 in 1990 to 305 in 2008, and officials say this is because of increased enforcement of the city's non-breed specific dog laws and spay/neuter efforts.

From 1995 to 2006, more people sought medical attention for dog bites in Denver County than anywhere else in the state.

Since the ban has gone into effect, the city has actually impounded more pit bulls each year, rather than fewer.

Of nine reported fatal dog attacks in Colorado since 1980, pit bulls were responsible for two. The rest of the list was populated by dogs of other breeds,