Myka
February 2nd, 2008, 08:00 PM
Hey guys! Time for an intro!
I grew up in a small town, and when I saw a slew of some very nicely colored/marked Pit / Mastiff cross puppies hitting the little pet stores I decided to find one for myself! I found out who the lady was who was selling them, but most of the puppies were already sold, and the rest had died of a Parvo outbreak. I was pretty bummed. That winter I heard she had a new batch of puppies that were Pit / Boxer crosses...even better!! :D
So I went and looked. What a sorry place, and sad little doggies. :sad: The place was a crack shack in the old red light district. They bred and sold these puppies to help feed their drug addictions (this was well known in the small town). There were several Pit X dogs of different ages roaming the filthy house. The mother of the puppies was very friendly, and didn't mind us digging through her litter of 11 three-week old pups. The poor mother dog had back to back litters (the first one being 13 pups), and was fed Maintain dog food ($11.99/bag, and the cheapest on the market). She was missing hair, and was a bone rack, but seemed to have a very good nature. I felt so bad for the poor pups who were likely destined for future druggies, and low lifes.
I picked out a pup based on "temperament testing" and color/markings, and arranged to take the pup to the vet for a pre-purchase exam. The vet was familiar with the pups this woman produced, and said most had good temperaments, but there were often Parvo outbreaks in that house that killed most of the pups. She suggested I take the pup home when she was only 5 weeks, so I could get some better nutrition into her, and hopefully avoid the Parvo outbreak he was sure was going to happen.
So I went and picked up my pup at only 4 1/2 weeks because the lady said "Welfare Wednesday is coming up so they will all be sold", so I went on the Tuesday and paid $80 for my pup. I put her on some good quality puppy food, and a vitamin/mineral tablet for a month. She had "flat feet" (toes didn't have any arch), which the vet said was a direct result from poor nutrition. All the pups in the litter were very small for their age. After a week I finally decided on a name for her, "Myka".
Here she is at about 8 weeks I think (sorry it's blurry):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Myka-1.jpg
The house I got her from had a Parvo outbreak 2 weeks after I brought Myka home, and all the remaining pups died. :sad: The following spring brought the third litter of back to back puppies! :eek: The house ended up catching fire, and killed all the dogs. I think there were about 18 of them including the new puppies. :cry:
Myka blossomed on the new food, and vitamins, and her toes got their arch back. She learned how to sit quickly, and I socialised her a lot. She went downtown with me several times a week, and went to the park to play with kids and other dogs. She went to obedience classes, and agility classes.
Myka is now 9 1/2 years old, loves going out for hikes, walks, and car rides. She loves swimming. She's very well trained. She understands stand, sit, down, stay, in, out, back up, under (say a chair or something), up, off, ok, go, go play, find a toy. I'm sure I'm missing some. She will listen to stay, sit, down, and stand from as far away as she can hear me (a few hundred meters). She knows tricks like Bang! (play dead), shake a paw, roll over, sit ghey (I hope no one's offended with that...I think it looks silly when big tough looking dogs sit "pretty" haha), bark (loud), woof (quiet), sneeze (yep she sneezes on command).
She loves opening Christmas presents:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/th_Oscar-Dec252006009.jpg (http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/?action=view¤t=Oscar-Dec252006009.flv)
When she was about 1 1/2 she started disliking other dogs, and even with the help of a trainer we were unable to train this out of her. She is fearful of other dogs, not aggressive. It's a pain in the butt as I always have to be aware of any dogs approaching when I'm out on a walk. She doesn't go after other dogs (on leash or off), but she will snap at dogs if they try to sniff her. She's actually defensive, not offensive, and will play a bit with similar sized dogs on leash, or if I put a muzzle on her. She would rather just ignore other dogs though! Everyone that ever meets her LOVES her, even if they don't usually like dogs. I think at her age now there's really nothing to be done, but if anyone has any ideas, I'm game to try them out. She was socialised right from a pup, and played with a lot of dogs/puppies when she was young.
This morning was Myka's first raw feeding. She took it quite well, and hasn't had any diarrhea.
So this is her!
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Mykasunglasses.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Myka-2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Sept2007.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/03_01_99.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/MykaOct2005003.jpg
I grew up in a small town, and when I saw a slew of some very nicely colored/marked Pit / Mastiff cross puppies hitting the little pet stores I decided to find one for myself! I found out who the lady was who was selling them, but most of the puppies were already sold, and the rest had died of a Parvo outbreak. I was pretty bummed. That winter I heard she had a new batch of puppies that were Pit / Boxer crosses...even better!! :D
So I went and looked. What a sorry place, and sad little doggies. :sad: The place was a crack shack in the old red light district. They bred and sold these puppies to help feed their drug addictions (this was well known in the small town). There were several Pit X dogs of different ages roaming the filthy house. The mother of the puppies was very friendly, and didn't mind us digging through her litter of 11 three-week old pups. The poor mother dog had back to back litters (the first one being 13 pups), and was fed Maintain dog food ($11.99/bag, and the cheapest on the market). She was missing hair, and was a bone rack, but seemed to have a very good nature. I felt so bad for the poor pups who were likely destined for future druggies, and low lifes.
I picked out a pup based on "temperament testing" and color/markings, and arranged to take the pup to the vet for a pre-purchase exam. The vet was familiar with the pups this woman produced, and said most had good temperaments, but there were often Parvo outbreaks in that house that killed most of the pups. She suggested I take the pup home when she was only 5 weeks, so I could get some better nutrition into her, and hopefully avoid the Parvo outbreak he was sure was going to happen.
So I went and picked up my pup at only 4 1/2 weeks because the lady said "Welfare Wednesday is coming up so they will all be sold", so I went on the Tuesday and paid $80 for my pup. I put her on some good quality puppy food, and a vitamin/mineral tablet for a month. She had "flat feet" (toes didn't have any arch), which the vet said was a direct result from poor nutrition. All the pups in the litter were very small for their age. After a week I finally decided on a name for her, "Myka".
Here she is at about 8 weeks I think (sorry it's blurry):
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Myka-1.jpg
The house I got her from had a Parvo outbreak 2 weeks after I brought Myka home, and all the remaining pups died. :sad: The following spring brought the third litter of back to back puppies! :eek: The house ended up catching fire, and killed all the dogs. I think there were about 18 of them including the new puppies. :cry:
Myka blossomed on the new food, and vitamins, and her toes got their arch back. She learned how to sit quickly, and I socialised her a lot. She went downtown with me several times a week, and went to the park to play with kids and other dogs. She went to obedience classes, and agility classes.
Myka is now 9 1/2 years old, loves going out for hikes, walks, and car rides. She loves swimming. She's very well trained. She understands stand, sit, down, stay, in, out, back up, under (say a chair or something), up, off, ok, go, go play, find a toy. I'm sure I'm missing some. She will listen to stay, sit, down, and stand from as far away as she can hear me (a few hundred meters). She knows tricks like Bang! (play dead), shake a paw, roll over, sit ghey (I hope no one's offended with that...I think it looks silly when big tough looking dogs sit "pretty" haha), bark (loud), woof (quiet), sneeze (yep she sneezes on command).
She loves opening Christmas presents:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/th_Oscar-Dec252006009.jpg (http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/?action=view¤t=Oscar-Dec252006009.flv)
When she was about 1 1/2 she started disliking other dogs, and even with the help of a trainer we were unable to train this out of her. She is fearful of other dogs, not aggressive. It's a pain in the butt as I always have to be aware of any dogs approaching when I'm out on a walk. She doesn't go after other dogs (on leash or off), but she will snap at dogs if they try to sniff her. She's actually defensive, not offensive, and will play a bit with similar sized dogs on leash, or if I put a muzzle on her. She would rather just ignore other dogs though! Everyone that ever meets her LOVES her, even if they don't usually like dogs. I think at her age now there's really nothing to be done, but if anyone has any ideas, I'm game to try them out. She was socialised right from a pup, and played with a lot of dogs/puppies when she was young.
This morning was Myka's first raw feeding. She took it quite well, and hasn't had any diarrhea.
So this is her!
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Mykasunglasses.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Myka-2.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Sept2007.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/03_01_99.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/MykaOct2005003.jpg