Posted on 04/16/2009 5:47:41 AM PDT by meandog
Any dog who can pretend to snore while keeping one eye open on the sly is a keeper for sure! And as far as her new family is concerned—not to mention the entire neighborhood—Scarlet the pit bull is more than just a keeper. She’s an inspiration. Wes and Melissia McBride of Rolla, Missouri, were on the Best Friends website hoping to find a dog to adopt. At first, they thought perhaps one of the Vicktory dogs, but most of them are still not ready for homes. When they contacted Best Friends, the adoption staffers pointed them toward Scarlet on Adorable Adoptables. Melissia says that one look at Scarlet’s picture was all it took—oh, and it didn’t hurt one bit that Scarlet’s description said she is a snuggler! It was time to come out and meet her.
If they had any doubts whatsoever, they were laid to rest the moment they laid eyes on Scarlet. To set the scene, Scarlet came riding up in a golf cart for that first “meet and greet.” As soon as she saw them, Scarlet ran over and jumped up to pass out some slobbery kisses! It was love at first sight both ways.
And it has been love at first sight ever since. Back home, Scarlet and the four kids in the family (ages seven through fourteen) are inseparable. She knows when their school bus arrives and everything. When the kids get home, Scarlet is there, ready to say hello. All the other school kids love her, too, as does the rest of the neighborhood and every customer who sets foot in the store where Wes and Melissia work.
You see, they bring Scarlet to work, where she feels obligated to greet every single stranger as though the person was a favorite aunt or uncle. You can’t help but love this girl! "She’s a real spokesman for her breed," says Melissia. People who used to have negative feelings about pitties are changing their minds after a few minutes with Scarlet.
Scarlet came to Best Friends years ago as a survivor from Hurricane Katrina. Only a youngster back then, Scarlet has been biding her time, waiting for the perfect home. Looks like she finally found it! Congrats, Scarlet. You deserve to have an entire town fall in love with you.
(((ping)))
sorry, but the cutesy photos shouldn’t impress. by treating the dog that way, you’re simply telling it that it has a high rank in the pack. you think you’re playing, but the dog thinks it is marking out a privileged position.
some day comes & you don’t want the dog doing that, the dog gets confused & rips someone’s face off. it’s happened enough times by now.
in fact, that last photo graphically proves my point. the people are playing snowman, but all the dog is doing is rubbing his back against this new central object, marking it as his property. he is saying “i don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s mine”
Yup. What you said. And for all the reasons that you said.
Like you, I predict a dominance behavioral problem down the line. This will not end well: it could end in tears.
The Dog of Peace is not a dog to make basic training mistakes with.
Uh, Rrrrright....just like all returning veterans are destined to be right-wing terrorists like Tim McVea, eh?
You’re absolutely right.
The dog starts to believe and act as the dominant figure in the “pack” if it is allowed to do what the owners are making it do, in those photographs. And this is especially true for a dog trained to behave in such a way, as is the pit-bull.
> Uh, Rrrrright....just like all returning veterans are destined to be right-wing terrorists like Tim McVea, eh?
Comparing Pit Bull Terriers to returning veterans is a nonsensical thing to do. Nice try, tho’.
At risk of explaining the obvious, the photos show fundamental training errors being made. Nothing to do with returning veterans and everything to do with poor training practises.
> Thanks to Cesar (The Dog whisperer) Mulan, I’ve started recognizing dominant behavior in dogs that I had previously written off as ‘cute’ or ‘friendly’.
He sure is a talented dog trainer, ay! I think he’s fantastic: best thing to happen to dogs on television since Lassie.
You can determine everything about this dog's training regime from these photos? I sure can't...(BTW, I would agree every owner should correct dominance attempts by dogs). I don't know, however, why the dog is against the snowman (his leg isn't being raised so I dispute the "marking" claim)...perhaps he was walking when the digital camera (usually set about 1500/sec in auto) caught him that way.
You're reading too much into the images, imo.
how funny you posted that before my next message. a better defensive post I have never seen!
...
It wouldn’t be so dangerous with an alsation, for example, because they are smart dogs, and would understand their environment better.
> You can determine everything about this dog’s training regime from these photos?
Not everything, obviously. But you can tell alot.
> I sure can’t...
That is indicative.
Can you see the Dog-of-Peace recumbent upon the furniture? Can you see the Dog-of-Peace recumbent upon the People, who are supine? Both of those are generally Bad Ideas. The Dog-of-Peace should be recumbent upon the floor: that is where she belongs. Never on top of the People. Never on the People’s furniture. The Dog-of-Peace belongs at the very bottom of the Pack.
> I don’t know, however, why the dog is against the snowman (his leg isn’t being raised so I dispute the “marking” claim)
The Dog-of-Peace, in this instance, is a She. Females don’t raise their hind legs to mark their territory or to assert their dominance.
> You’re reading too much into the images, imo.
If the Dog-of-Peace is allowed to sit on the furniture, as is depicted in several of the images, that is a fundamental training error. It would be a fundamental training error for any breed: even for German Shepherds.
Right on. This is true for all dogs of all sizes and most people just don’t get it. Some breeds more so than others. It is tragic when someone combines that ignorance with a large powerful breed know to have dominance issues.
Look, if you want to keep up this “Dog of Peace” crap
you’d be better off posting to someone else
because I’ll write you off as a kook.
The most people-aggressive dog I ever owned was a pure black 75-pound German Shepard Dog bitch I named "Hanna" (for Hanna Reitch, the famed German WWII test pilot). She would not let anyone near my automobile nor in the door of my home unless I permitted it and the lone time that I saw her actually give even the slightest hint of slinking was when she was in heat and a sheriff's deputy friend came over with his 95-pound K9 "Roger" who put her in her place with just a low growl and a bad eye (I'll let you guess the reason he was there but won't admit to anything as, though my deputy friend has been long retired, he could have gotten in a lot of trouble).
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