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Weekend Chats: Saturday 9 PM ET Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs Sunday 10 PM ET The Bull Pen

Posted by faustcorpus on March 08, 2003 at 21:03:57:

In Reply to: Re: Introduction posted by JamieR on March 08, 2003 at 08:13:06:

OHHHH Charater he is full of. We occasionally need to give ourselves a time out from him actually. He is still full of puppy energy and while he knows how he should behave, he doesnt always. We still are working with the leash at times, but it is getting less and less as each day passes. Another part of the problem is he wants NOTHING to do with outside. TOOO COLD!!! So we are not getting enough energy burn.

We currently have a HUGE tug by normal standards. I think the rope is about 6 inches around. And the knots are as big as my fist. We get lots of work with it in the house, working on grab and release, fetch and bring and then give. We also use this to work on basic commands in a high energy situation.

I am feeding raw beef and beef organ meat as well as a lot of fish. I also mix in my iguana salad (which is collards, yams, parsnips, green beans and squash) with some kibble (high quality Wysong or Wellness). Found out with feeding raw that he has a food allergy to poultry. We are doing great on what I have gotten to so far. Im also very picky about treats since learning that some contain propelyne glycol and ethyl glycol both of which are componants in anti-freeze. The fish and fish oil has really help with his skin. And since taking him off the poultry we have had no problems. I kinda hang on to the crutch of kibble. But I do use a better quality.

Cindy

:What a handsome boy!!! He looks like he has such character. It sounds like he had a pretty rough start in life, he's lucky he found you and your fiance. If he has basic obedience down, off lead should be a breeze ("should"..you know bulldogs...they have a mind of their own and are bull headed)!
:If you are thinking about starting protection training, I would do a ton of research on the trainers around you. Since Brutus could have been slightly abused, he should be worked in prey drive for a long time to build up more confidence. If the decoy progresses too fast, that could send Brutus into defense drive too soon and could very well ruin him. I have seen it many times. There are three stages of drive a dog goes through while in training, and this could take a couple years or more to achieve them. They are prey drive, defense drive, and fight drive. Most dogs never even get to fight drive except french ring, belgium ring, and some of the street protection trained dogs competing in events like NAPD. Do you have a tug that you could use to start him on prey. You could get a french linen tug, jute tug, or fire hose tug. All of them have the same texture as the different varieties of sleeves, to get him use to the feeling of the bite, and also the size of the tug helps, and will accustom him to bite deep with a full mouth. And most of all...it is fun for him!! lol I use small jute tugs while doing off leash obedience with my dogs. I keep it close to my chest, and the dog stays focused on me, then when the session is over, they get their reward!

:How has the raw diet been for you? I have tried it, but I just couldn't stick with it. Right now I feed a small portion of organ meat about 3 times a week, and fast my dogs one day, but as far as going back to all raw, I may try it again one day. lol
:Sorry for babbling so much!
:Take care,
:Jamie

:------------------------------------

::Welcome!!! Our first AB owner here that we didnt steal from Kingsnake!!!! WOO HOO!!!

::I own brutus a male AB who was probably trained for fighting with slight abuse. He was found as a stray and has tons of energy and full of spunk. Right about now we are estimating him (if my opinions of who i think his breeder is) at little over 1 year. We have done basic obedience with him and are looking at getting into round two. Right now both myself and my fiance are working our behinds off with work so we have just found new ways to work with what we learned in our classes. He has good days and bad days, but is overall a good dog. He seems VERY protective when out with me (or fiance) on walks, puts his body between me and anything he views as a threat. Heck he does it in the house as well. I am seriously considering training in protection since it seems to be his instinct. I also feed a raw diet. I am also in the Midwest located up here in the frozen tundra that is Wisconsin.

::Welcome!!!
::Cindy
::PS This is my boy.

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