Well so much for me posting about anything important, but again my life is rather consumed with this.
Slade noticed this morning that the dog, because he gets upset to be left alone, shows that he knows people are leaving him by doing a 'protest whiz.' The first morning the boys were leaving back to school this year he went on a pile of their books. Yesterday when we were getting ready for church it was in our room. I know his methods of communicating are limited, I just wish he knew we have gotten the message.
One thing that is hard is that he has to constantly be underfoot, which sometimes has the advantage that I have to be watching him anyway so he doesn't do any of the above, but it is hard when I am going down the stairs or cooking.
And the most amazing thing of all is how he shows that he knows Slade is the master. I remember Bo did this with my dad. My mom and us kids would fawn all over him all day but my dad would come home and he would plant himself by dad for the rest of the night. His favorite time of the week was jumping up to lick him when he slept in on Saturdays. Good times.
And Slade is the brutal disciplinarian with Harry, but he is the owner, so he gets all the Kudos. Slade bought this torture collar for walks and doesn't put up with anything (I was going to say he doesn't put up with something particularly crude, and that would be true, also). But Harry definitely prefers him.
Saturday was movie night and we watched (unfortunately) Karate Kid II. Afterward Sadie got up to show she had learned some moves and was doing karate chops on her dad. Harry was visibly upset and got in between Sadie and Slade and paced around. Great, he is protecting Slade from a six year old girl. Slade didn't appreciate when I joked that maybe he looks like he wouldn't win the fight.
I am pretty sure it has something to do with the history of the breed. No matter how vicious they were to bulls and bears in the pit they had to also be fiercely loyal to their owners especially because as they were lower class city dwellers (the big bull baiting pits were in London) they probably lived all in close quarters.
It is very endearing and why I chose him and wouldn't have a substitute, but I am starting to at least see the advantages some dogs and particularly cats that are willing to have their own lives.
The only really frustrating thing about this is that the woman I bought him from , Rhonda at luvabulldog, told me that he was potty trained. She of course denies this, she's not exactly what you would call an honest woman. But you never know what you are going to get when someone is selling animals over the internet.
She claims that she never said he was potty trained, but of course this is ridiculous, because I would have never bought him had she not said this. Everyone I know knows that the reason I missed out on a puppy that I wanted really bad was because my health wouldn't permit an unhousebroken animal, so I was very careful to look around until it seemed that I had found an adult dog who the owner claimed was housebroken. Obviously this woman said whatever she needed to say to get my money. She even told me that there was a health guarantee, and then when there were actual health problems because she had neglected him, she wouldn't pay even a small vet bill.
Terrible experience with this backyard bulldog breeder, and I hope no one else makes the mistake of buying one of her puppies or one from the Babb woman who for some reason got involved to at first tell me that Rhonda should pay my bill but then freaked out when Rhonda said that it was Babb's dog and so she went away pretty fast.
Shady bunch, these backyard bulldog breeders. To anyone read this, do your homework, and avoid Babb and Rhonda at luvabulldog - they don't.
7 comments:
I have a vague memory of someone in the family talking about a 'pee flashlight' where it detects old deposits? Anyone know who? John was that you or was it Jacob and Stephanie?
I don't think I was the one to mention it but I do remember a show (20/20 or something similar)using a "pee flashlight" to show how bad hotel rooms were. It made me never want to be bare foot in a hotel room ever again - there were pee stains EVERYWHERE.
I can't say I recall for sure, but it seems to me that a standard UV light picks up the pee stains, no?
I have a UV light from when my cat was peeing all over the house. It shows everything. Definitely vacuum before you use something like that. I think I bought it at Petsmart. You can borrow it if you want, but the light isn't quite as strong as it used to be, even with new batteries. It is interesting what you say about Harry being attached to Slade. Rush has always had such a needy personality and for some reason that rubbed me wrong. I tended to avoid him and not give him as much attention as Glen. Ordinarily he would get more attention from J. He still came to me more though and I think alot of it had to do with the fact that I provided the food. Who knows...
Yeah I think it is the dog/owner thing that is really strong with bulldogs, many dogs are like this but bulldogs worked very closely with them and probably defended them from the other animals occasionally.
My mom said that when her dog is worried there is another person around he tries to mark her shoe--this is my owner and you can't have her.
And I have heard that cats like women dogs like men. My dog loves me, but according to Slade, he doesn't respect me.
BTW Stephanie, I would like to borrow your light, I should probably wait until I am sure there is not fresh production. I might be waiting a while. Thanks for the offer.
And if you guys want to just stop by and see him, feel free, I have felt like things were in such a mess that I felt stupid formally inviting company, but you guys can stop over any time if you are curious to get to know the dog after so much hype.
He is still a bit puppyish, so while I am quite confident that he would never do anything out of hostility that would hurt anyone, he can be a bit imposing. Usually only if rough play is engaged in by someone else, though, which our kids have done regularly.
If he would have ever bitten anyone it would have been me, because I regularly do things that make him pretty mad, my guess, trying to get some better grooming going. Or Slade for discipline. But he really is quite hillarious, and anyone who doesn't mind a bit of a doggy smell would probably have fun over here getting to know him.
Thanks also to the rest of you that knew about the UV lights, that's pretty good taht I can throw up a post and get info, it is better than just a public board even.
And S,
I do remember one of those, they shined them on the bedding and everywhere. I would be quite nervous if they ever shined them on any of my childrens' underwear, clothes, rooms, anything, really. The main thing with me is when humands can detect it somehow without super-human appendages. Who knows, maybe in this market the buyers bring one along! Is that how you found yours, JP? Standard recent buyer procedure?
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