Where it all begins......

Puppyhood.
There's a lot of talk about genetics influencing behavior and yes behavior has something to do with genetics but if a behavior is not reinforced by the environment to occur or occur again and again then behavior is really less dependent on genetics. An example is this pup shown here... - Ted. He was brought into the shelter with a foxtail stuck in his mouth that swelled up quite a bit. He was an only pup at least from what we can tell. He's with Our Pack, literally, working on being a social little guy. During the first 12 weeks it's so very important to heavily socialize your pup with dogs, people, kids, etc. Of course don't stop after that, continue with socialziing. I have seen genetics be the blame for undersocialized dogs. While it's true that some dogs may be too damaged to be helped, in most cases we see our dogs turn around nicely with good socialization and training. And yes, sometimes even with good socialization and training dogs may still have some issues. I would however like to see prevention of dogs coming into shelters because of behavior problems. If folks work with their dogs early on in life we may see less dogs being surrendered to shelters and that would be a good thing!

Puppy Playtime

Puppy Playtime is so important to a pup it's as important as food! Without proper socialization dogs simply don't learn social structure and bite inhibition. It's important however that one has a balanced and well socialized, well matched, appropriate friend to play with. This is important so that good lessons are taught to the pup, not inappropriate rude behaviors.

Training is also very important but I would never put training over the importance of socialization. It's fairly easy to teach sit, down, stay, at almost any age. These behaviors are used to replace inappropriate behaviors in teaching house manners. So training is definitely necessary for a dog to live a happy life and is a must.

However, for a pup to learn the skill of communication with other dogs and through that gain confidence is invaluable. A confident dog is less likely to react to other dogs in various scenarios. A dog that has acquired bite inhibition through play is less likely to do damage later in life IF he ever does bite in a very stressful moment. Many things influence whether or not a dog is reactive to other dogs throughout his life but socializing can be a very helpful tool in setting a dog up for success.

These two dogs were introduced the canine way, in other words not face to face before they knew each other. For example let dogs hang around (not staring at each other) or walk side by side before greeting. Bree is shown here playing with her buddy after hard work at training class. Her lessens learned from this nicely balanced pooch buddy will we invaluable throughout her life.



This is the best way to have a play session end....calm and relaxed. When you get to this point call it a day, tell your pup with calm praise how great she did. Pups like small children tend to get cranky if play goes on and on especially after the point shown here. So pack up, say thanks and go home for a long nap! Enjoy!



Marthina

The Three P's - Partnerships, Policies, PEOPLE helping Pit Bulls

We can sit back and blog about policies gone haywire and how shelters don't give pit bulls a fair chance or have unrealistic expectations to only put up the perfect dogs. We can rant and rave and work to change those policies but if we don't have the people or resources to help the dogs how are they better off? It takes People and a committment of time and energy, it takes cooperation between rescues and shelters. It takes good sound policies on both sides. I know we aren't the first to have this program but I think it's an important tool that has the potential to help more dogs...and isn't that what it is all about? I've been on both sides of the fence and each has their challenges, but the common ground is both need people. It's easy to forget that the shelter staff need to feed all the animals (yes there are usually cats, rabbits and sometimes even livestock and other animals at some shelters), clean kennels, tend to sick animals if they have a medical ward, do laundry and then start all over again. Then I come in as a representitive of a rescue and say why isn't this young untrained goofy pit bull who is jumping in the kennel available for adoption, but sorry, we can't take him/her because we don't have any foster homes available. Yes donations and money are an absolute necessity, but unless there are people to work with the dogs what will be gained? Many shelters have good solid volunteer programs to help with socializing the animals and even volunteer trainers that help. They are INVALUABLE but once again there are many animals that need their time and energy.
This is Miss Bubbles - We are partnering with Humane Society Silicon Valley to help this young energetic teenage pit bull mix find her forever home. We do not have an available foster home and socialization with all kinds of people and dogs is vitally important at her age. So how do we help? She will be an Our Pack Dog but she is"living" in her own special suite at the new Animal Care Center that HSSV has just opened but we are dependent on a group of Our Pack Volunteers to take time out of their busy lives to get her out and work with her on her manners and socialize and expose her to the outside world.
These things don't happen over night! It takes hard work and trust on both sides and like any relationship it takes compromise at times. But we have a chance to help a dog, even if it is only one dog at first...baby steps. How could we not try!

Play Time

Too much seriousness in the world right now...how bout some pitty play



and just one more of some major squeeking



That's all folks!

Puppies - Nature/Nurture ?

It’s been said recently the genetics don’t CAUSE behavior they just allow it to occur when the environment dictates it. It’s sort of funny to me when I hear some orgs say, “they’ve been bred to fight” while never mentioning what effect the environment might have or have had on the dog. It just can’t be ALL genetics nor do I thing it’s always ALL environment. I do know from experience however that with a good environment a dog has a much better chance than with a bad one. Therefore, we at Our Pack think it’s a bit of both - nature/nurture – that influence a dog’s behavior.

The thing that we have control over most is the environment that the dog will be in. Therefore, we try to provide the best and most positive environment to sort of “guide” those genetics in the right direction so to speak.

Lately we’ve seen lots of Pit Bull puppies turned into shelters. We were thinking it might be a good idea to get dogs started off on the right paw and get him/her out socializing and training right away while providing a positive and structured but fun environment for him/her to grow in. It seems to me that lots of Pit Bull puppies are out there right now only to come back around if they’re isn’t a proper environment for them to mature in.

The AKC now has a program called the AKC Puppy Star Program. Check it out. It’s a sort of a junior CGC program. The AKC has realized that many puppies don’t get a good start in life and this creates a problem. Not to leave genetics completely out of the picture but heck, at least we have control over the dog’s environment, so if you have a pup give him a good start , bond with him/her and get him out there in the world and let him know it’s a fabulous place.

http://www.akc.org/starpuppy/

Pit Bulls; Puppies, Cuddling, Training and Just stuff

It's been a quiet week, I guess we are all getting over the holidays, but we have two events coming next week. We have our event at Chevy's on Almaden in San Jose next Thursday,

and then we'll be at the Grand Opening of Doggieville in Mountain View next Saturday Afternoon

You'll have to go to the website to check out the details, but we'd love to see you stop by for either or both events.

We've been looking at some dogs to bring into our program, so keep all paws crossed that we will find some gems.

Thanks to everyone who keeps coming to our Sunday Training Classes, we all have such a great time and we hope everyone enjoys it just as much as we do.

Here's Anna showing how she has them under control

Well, OK, Not so much but now look at how well she gets them lining up!

and of course here is Miss Tink (Anna's furbaby) who is tuckered out from all that trainingAnd then unrelated to anything here's a cute cuddly picture that just make me smile

Happy 2009 to all of our wonderful friends and families who put up with all of our silliness!

Mary and the rest of the Our Pack Gang!

Another Side of a Vick Dog

Some organizations have called the Vick dogs and other fight bust dogs "killing machines". "They are bred for unstoppable violence", it's been said.

One thing folks that DON'T work with Pit Bulls, live with multiple Pit Bulls or have experience living and working with fight bust dogs (meaning they don't really understand them) fail to point out that Pit Bulls are biddable, willing to please and listen to what their owners want from them. Leo here wants to please and do the right thing in his pack.

Leo also LOVES to play with other dogs. He will listen to me in a flash when I say, "e-a-s-y Leo". He has been one of the best dogs with this lil pup Opal. She LOVES his puppiesh, full of life and happy to be a alive attitude. It's almost as if he's enjoying the time of life he missed - being a puppy. He's now having the fun of being a kid that he missed when he was younger. A very important part of a dog's growing up is learning social structure.

I want to mention that to have good, safe and fun play like this it's best to manage your dogs and be a leader to them. Set them up for success. As said above Pit Bulls take direction well. Use that. Use it to guide them. Dog to dog play is fun when well managed and supervised.

Thanks Leo for coming from where you did and you're still so willing to show our lil one the ropes. What a good hearted soul!

Play on......and be who you are Leo ......we love you just for that.......



Marthina

Size Doesn't Matter

Well at least in the case of Dexter and Opal our littlest addition.
Here they are livin it up - Enjoy!

So....You want to get a puppy.

I want to preface this by saying that I am not anti-breeding, but with breeding comes responsibility. Too often that is not what we see. Here is an all too familiar story of where those puppies come from that are advertised in the newspaper:

This is Cally. She was 5 years old and had at least 5 litters of puppies. I would guess she helped her owner earn some extra cash in the process. Were they advertised "home raised" ? Did she ever get to leave the yard before she outlived her usefulness and ended up at shelter along with her mate who was so badly infected he could barely walk? Did she ever play or go for walks? Did she have any toys or get to at least romp in the yard? Her demeanor told us the answer to all of those questions was NO. Many people tried to work with her and gently expose her to new things. She made progress but every new experience caused her stress. She was depressed in the kennel and would barely eat unless someone hand fed her. We took her for walks and tried to get her to see new people as a happy experience. One young man looked at her for the longest time. When we asked him what he saw his answer was: "sadness... all I see is a very sad soul" Who would adopt her? Where are we going to find a home for a frightened pit bull with saggy boobs who had never got to experience life? How long would she linger in a kennel until she slowly gave up? In the end the decision had to be made. She got to spend her last minutes on the couch with the people she had learned to trust who loved her dearly. There was no pain, no fear just incredible sadness as she silently went to sleep.

Run free sweet Cally.