Happy Independence Day, everyone!
This is the first day of my new (first, and only!) blog, and I've accompanied it with a picture of the boys earlier last night after a nice run through the bug-infested woods followed by a romp in the swamp... it may be the last time for a while we run 'em at this *undisclosed* location in Hopkinton.
The location is *undisclosed* even though it is public, because, despite the publicly-accepted opinion among pit bull aficionados, I run the boys off-leash several times a week. It is legal at said *undisclosed* locale, as well as at the ever-popular and also local Ashland reservoir. The problem with the Ashland "res" in my opinion is this: it is a well-known and heavily traveled trail where people, including residents, dog-walkers, and well-intentioned owners who have absolutely no control over their dogs, like to bring their pets and detach the leash, whether or not they have gained the relationship, control or obedience to make such an undertaking smart, responsible or even safe. There are simply too many dog-owners that frequent the Ashland res that fall under the latter category, and as many of us bully breed owners know, whether or not my "pit bull" does the attacking or is on the receiving end of an attack, guess who's getting blamed? Spark Plug is very reliable off-leash, has fantastic recall, and excellent social skills... All of those things combine to keep him trustworthy and out of trouble in any situation I can think of. Patches still has a little ways to go. He is my rescue adopted about 2.5 months ago. He has come a long way in that time, being a 14-month old male pit bull who came to us overly defensive, fear-aggressive toward strangers and very reactive toward other dogs. Patch has since earned his CGC (Canine Good Citizen), and is excelling with his obedience and trick-training (I LOVE tricks!). He is great with the dogs I have introduced him to, and they do great off-leash in small groups, but I wouldn't subject him to the madness that is sometimes the Ashland-res-crowd. If another dog challenges him, he is not the type to back down.
More to come on his progress!
Everybody, please be so careful with the fireworks and your dogs this week... More dogs are lost on the 4th of July than on any other holiday. Keep yours safe, and take precautions like shutting the windows so dogs like Patches don't attempt to jump through the screen... (NO body-awareness, this one.. lol). Happy 4th! Thanks for reading!
This is the first day of my new (first, and only!) blog, and I've accompanied it with a picture of the boys earlier last night after a nice run through the bug-infested woods followed by a romp in the swamp... it may be the last time for a while we run 'em at this *undisclosed* location in Hopkinton.
The location is *undisclosed* even though it is public, because, despite the publicly-accepted opinion among pit bull aficionados, I run the boys off-leash several times a week. It is legal at said *undisclosed* locale, as well as at the ever-popular and also local Ashland reservoir. The problem with the Ashland "res" in my opinion is this: it is a well-known and heavily traveled trail where people, including residents, dog-walkers, and well-intentioned owners who have absolutely no control over their dogs, like to bring their pets and detach the leash, whether or not they have gained the relationship, control or obedience to make such an undertaking smart, responsible or even safe. There are simply too many dog-owners that frequent the Ashland res that fall under the latter category, and as many of us bully breed owners know, whether or not my "pit bull" does the attacking or is on the receiving end of an attack, guess who's getting blamed? Spark Plug is very reliable off-leash, has fantastic recall, and excellent social skills... All of those things combine to keep him trustworthy and out of trouble in any situation I can think of. Patches still has a little ways to go. He is my rescue adopted about 2.5 months ago. He has come a long way in that time, being a 14-month old male pit bull who came to us overly defensive, fear-aggressive toward strangers and very reactive toward other dogs. Patch has since earned his CGC (Canine Good Citizen), and is excelling with his obedience and trick-training (I LOVE tricks!). He is great with the dogs I have introduced him to, and they do great off-leash in small groups, but I wouldn't subject him to the madness that is sometimes the Ashland-res-crowd. If another dog challenges him, he is not the type to back down.
More to come on his progress!
Everybody, please be so careful with the fireworks and your dogs this week... More dogs are lost on the 4th of July than on any other holiday. Keep yours safe, and take precautions like shutting the windows so dogs like Patches don't attempt to jump through the screen... (NO body-awareness, this one.. lol). Happy 4th! Thanks for reading!
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