Well, I used to travel quite a bit for work, (I am an out of work iron-worker) and I would have to leave my wife and children at home for sometimes a few weeks at a time. I actually grew up with dobes, so when we decided to get a dog, we got a Dobe. A dog that would discourage naer-do-wells. But once again BSL got in the way when we moved and I couldnt have my dobe anymore, I furtunately had a good friend at work who was willing to take him and kept him until he died just this past ThanksGiving.
So my beginning with Pit/Bulldogs began with "rescuing" my b-in-laws dogs as he would get poorly bred game dogs because of the "tough" image. He couldnt keep them, and nearly lost one to parvo. With help of family we nursed him back to health and several years later he is still a great dog, but is sometimes human aggressive. We kept one of his dogs here for sometime, but she was an escape artist and neighbors would call us "Isnt that your pit running up the road?" Anyway, we have been blessed to rehome the dogs we have taken in...
Now with the bulldogs. My wife's (Jenny) father, has a bulldog, and knew a guy at work with a bulldog. They came up with the brilliant idea of putting the 2 together and Hey! lets make some money. Stupid heads... I ended up being given one of these dogs, health problems and all, from demodex, to entropia, skin allergies, constant yeast infections in her ears...
And this is my Bella;
So Jenny and I began researching lines of bulldogs, and after a couple of years we found what we were looking for in Alabama, and drove 24 hours round trip from the greater Cinci area of OH. She has been shown to a conformation Ch. and we are working on a Gr.Ch. This is Lily;
So we have since been working with a breeder of about 11 years, with dogs of conformation and working titles, and have a few others of those lines, and since I no longer have a "real" job, I have more time to spend with kids and dogs to train towards conformation as my children want to show more, and work towards titles, Obedience, Temperament, and Weight-pull. Here are the pups we are working with, in order of age; Remi, Judge, Gidge, and Quinn.
We also are working with a lady in Cinci, who operates a Pit/Bulldog rescue and fostering program, and I am doing some work for PBRC to raise money for their annual charity auction, in the way of crafting leather collars and leads to be donated... The leather thing kinda is my full-time employment now which affords me the time to spend with my kids and dogs...
Whew, that was a long story and I made it through somehow... Thanks for bearing with me!