by xallen » August 20th, 2008, 4:14 pm
Hi.
I'm Lori and I'm the accidental owner of pit or pit cross. She's somewhere around one year old, and is a gorgeous black and white. Lucy fell into my life a few months ago, and has since become a part of the family.
About 4 months ago, someone dumped her and her pups off in the rural area where we live. The pups all disappeared, she killed a chicken down the road at my parent's place, they wanted to shoot her because she's a pit and they didn't want anything else to get killed (they have ducks, chickens, rabbits, miniature sheep, and a houseful of kids). I felt that she killed the chicken out of hunger and felt bad for her and took he home with me, determined to find a good home for her. I called her Sweetie, because she is, but had no luck finding her a home. As soon as I said "she looks like a pit" folk's eyes would glaze over. I really didn't want to keep her as I have cats and raise angora rabbits and I couldn't imagine having a dog with such a strong prey drive. I also have 3 other dogs, and 3 kids and worried about the fact that she's a pit who's history I know nothing of. I've heard that a lot of dog fighting goes on around here, and I was afraid that she may have come from a bad place. She seemed sweet enough, but I didn't want to deal with bad genes or a bad upbringing.
However, after trying for a couple of months to find a home for her, I became quite attached. No one wanted her anyway, so I decided that Sweetie needed a real name and would be mine. My kids helped me pick the name Lucy for her and it suits her very well.
She is always with me (I don't entirely trust her out of my sight), and has proved a very eager to please dog. She has taken to training very well, and is extrememely well behaved right up until that prey instinct hits. Once or twice we've been out walking and she's spotted a possum or armadillo and all reason just flies out the window. She'll hit the end of here leash and seems absolutely oblivious to all else. All of my other dogs are allowed to run free when we walk (we live in a rural area, no neighbors or cars to worry about), but poor Lucy is always on leash. The couple of times I've tried to let her off, she's run straight to my parent's a half a mile through the pasture and I find here running up and down their fence ogling the chickens. I sometimes use a 50ft. long line to allow her more freedom when we walk (and also for training stays and recalls), and have recently ordered a muzzle to try out. I think that if she'll accept, it it will allow her the freedom to run like she wants to, without me having to worry about her running off and getting a lamb.
I have managed to teach her to leave the cats alone (never underestimate the power of Bil Jac liver treats), though I'd never leave her in a room alone with one.
She is so good with the kids, her patience with my two year old is one of the things that made me fall for her. He thinks they are best friends and she is so sweet to him. She lets him lead her around by the collar and will sit on command from him. At first, she'd come and bark at me anytime he was upset and would not stop barking at me until I tended to him. I'm happy to say she no longer does that, but she does still look out for him.
Anyway, I'm hoping to learn a lot from this site, and am particularly interested in learning more about dog body language. I think understanding her better will go far in helping with more advanced training.
Last edited by
xallen on August 20th, 2008, 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.