Some Humor and Fun – Charlie Dog Takes Out Jeff D.
Friend of the Spirko family Jeff D (not sure he wants his last name published so I will leave it at D) stopped by the TSP homestead. Charlie decided to have some fun, it really is a good thing Charlie is a friendly dog. Can you imagine what would have happened if this was an attack vs. just Charlie playing!
FYI for drive by visitors that don’t call first! Charlie doesn’t like strangers until they are introduced, he is part of our security protocol. But as you can see once introduced he is as friendly as they come though a bit rough in his play.
This is the “dangerous pit bull” that has been so hyped up by the media. Sure he will defend his home and his family but would not any good dog? The truth is simple dogs of any breed are a product of their upbringing. Charlie is a clown, he gets into trouble but he is as friendly as they come.
We just got DNA results on Charlie, he is part Stafford Terrier, part Bull Terrier and part Pointer. So basically a pit bull and pointer mix. Oh the horror, oh the terror of a dog that licks you so viciously, plays with such reckless abandon. Something must be done, pit bulls must be stopped, won’t someone think of the children, won’t someone think of the Jeff!
Enjoy, it is pretty damn funny!
I seem to recall a podcast from awhile back where you were against pit bulls. What changed your mind? My family has a blue nose and she is sweet as can be, she just likes to jump on everyone till they pet her.
No I was not against pit bulls. I do remember one time I said something like, “attack like a mean ass pit bull” and some over sensitive types thought that was against pit bulls, is that what you mean. I have said and continue to say I would never leave a Stafford terrier alone with another dog. The AKA concurs! I also would not leave any of the aggressive bull breeds unsupervised with other dogs or children until the dog is known/trained. I would say the same about German Shepard though.
I would trust Max with a child or a kitten or another dog as long as the other dog was dumb enough to provoke a fight. That doesn’t mean I would trust all German Shepherds
We had a young pit show up in Arkansas and found her a home. I didn’t trust her with Blackie, because Blackie was old and kind of a dick, I was concerned that he would provke a fight, one he would loose. That is not anti pit bull it is common sense.
That’s a great video.
On dog behavior, sometimes even your most trusted dogs can do things that you wouldn’t think. We had a 1/2 lab 1/4 German Shepard 1/4 Collie named Pearl who at the ripe old age of 8 years old suddenly snapped at a kitten and killed it when it got too close to her food.
She had never acted aggressive before and never even chased cats. I was horrified.
I had a blue healer once who kept attacking our oldest dog who was 11, I had to physically pull her mouth of our old dog. Then, we had 2 female border collie German Shepard crosses that wouldn’t stop fighting so we finally ended up having to find them other homes.
I couldn’t figure out where all this aggressive behavior was coming from, and then one day I was feeding my chickens their corn based grain (I had just learned about GMO’s) and I noticed that they would fight over the food, and I mean enough to get bloody. I had been raised around chickens and I never seen them act like that.
So we switched everybody’s food, the dogs get meat based non GMO food and the chickens get our own special blend of non GMO grains and I could not believe the difference! No more fighting over food and no more aggressive behavior.
After seeing that I have to wonder if a lot of the aggression we see in this country and some of the senseless horrible crimes aren’t due to the toxins that are in GMO corn and other foods.
The food response is something we work on a lot! We feed the animals together and really work on that. I give our dogs treats and bones when we first get them, lots of them. I take them away, I give them back, I give one dogs bone to the other and vise versa.
I have done this to the point where you can take a bone from any of our dogs and they don’t even resist it. You can ask them to sit, shake and lay down, give it back and take it back in a few minutes.
They don’t get aggressive about food because they have been basically programed to understand there is no shortage of food, that food is freely given, that even if taken it will be returned, even if another eats some you are going to get more.
Is this 100%? No, but it works well. When I was a teen I remember how the entire family cringed if any visiting child got even close to a dog with a bone or a treat. When I got my first dog as an adult I resolved it would never be the case in my home.
This is the type of behavior my animals exhibit even around yummy people food! https://www.flickr.com/photos/31004140@N03/13900382301/sizes/o/
They all wanted Dorothy’s bowl, somewhere I had a picture of Ralph eating it and the two dogs just sitting there, but can’t find that one.
Like I said it isn’t a guarantee but I have done this with every dog we have owned, and we have never had a dog growl at anyone over food, not even once.
Ah ha found it!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150322988605240&set=pb.62357930239.-2207520000.1397832298.&type=3&theater
Note Max as Ralph gets the spoils, he and Blackie were taken care of later.
Awe, cute moment of the day!
A good friend had 2 (male & Female) pits for several years. The dogs were totally bonded with each other until one day they got into a fight over a rawhide bone & ripped each other to pieces in the living room. He had to put them both down.
Ok Jack, I went back and researched the episodes to see if I misheard. After listening to your response in 207(the car days) I stand by my question/comment.
In regards to a question on what type you have and what would you recommend for home protection you said you didn’t like pit bulls because you thought there was a real problem with the breeding and what they were bred for and that you wouldn’t want them around kids. I agree with the kid comment but, I feel that way about any unknown dog and kids, even the ankle biters. If you go back and listen from 10:05 to about 10:30 you’ll hear what I’m referring to. It also happens to be right after you said you didn’t like Doberman’s.
Personally I wouldn’t trust ANY Pit Bull around kids, known or unknown. People who have young kids and get a Pit Bull are extremely foolish.
It’s just not worth the risk.
Jack was right about the breeding problems. Genetics cannot be ignored.
When I was in the car, not everything came out quite right.
Look everyone it is not all about breed. Yes that has a little to do with the “killer” dogs. Every dog is defferent just like every human is defferent. A pit bull could be a super sweet dog , just like a poodle could be a killer. I am so sick of the whole breed argument. If you raise a dog correctly and socialize it correctly and train(most important I think). Then the dog will be fine. A child or person for that matter should never be left alone with a strange dog.
All of this is of course in my opinion. Everyone knows what is said about opinions.
And this is what my old dug up comment was about. I don’t like pits as trained “attack dogs” nor dobermans for that either. Once that behavior is taught it is quite hard to pull them back from it. To me for true “guard dogs” the Shepard is hard to beat. I am speaking of both the Belgian (Malinois) and the German variety. These dogs have a ton of control even when set on an attacker. They respond well to commands and they release when called (if properly trained).
I would not want to train a pit for such duty, but I don’t want to train a St. Bernard or say most “large hunting breeds” for it either.
Charlie and Max are not trained to attack, never will be. They are trained to obey, they are trained to respect our animals, they are trained to not harm people who are introduced. In general even a stranger could conceivably walk in during the day and if he/she was calm, spoke to the dogs and looked like a friend they would likely be fine.
What they do not allow is anyone who is not properly introduced on the property in the dark. That is not a problem though, it is one of their jobs on our homestead. They know friends come in the front gate, that they are welcomed. Some idiot trying to get over the fence might end up in a real bad way, all I can say is sorry about your luck. And while everyone hypes the vicious pit bull, (roll eyes) if you were that guy in the dark, I would worry a shit ton more about the 130 pounds of German Shepard! Well actually I would worry more about ME knowing you are there because of the dogs, trust me I am a bigger problem if you mean us harm on a dark night.
Max can go from puppy that wants his frisbee thown to fearsome defender of the pack in about a nano second, it doesn’t make him dangerous, just a loyal pack member damn good at his job.
Frankly a good livestock gaurdian dog “on duty” is likely more dangerous to the stupid than a pit or a Shepard or a dobe, etc.
Very well said and this process has worked very well for us too. We have five dogs, they do their “job” of protecting the homestead, but are not a danger to known and invited people ever. If we feel any guests might be uncomfortable with them, we secure them in a part of the property or home so as not to impact our guests.
Charlie can be a bit much for kids (rough play) so those with little ones we do as you say above but more we control him and make him mind his manners.
Though I have to say when people complain about our animals like about hair or them simply being in the house or what ever (and it is rare) my response has simply been, they live here, you don’t.
I do keep them in when the pool man is here because they scare him and I have hired him to do a job. But if you come to my home, we have dogs, if you don’t like dogs, don’t come to my home.
Does that make me a dick? LOL
You got to love a overgrown lick monster.
Pit bulls are notorious for having degrading relationships with other animals in the house. It is usually slow enough that the owner is in denial until a bloody mess occurs. Even then, I’ve seen owners try to convince themselves it was a one time thing. I’ve seen it work out for years, and I’ve seen it go bad after years. JMO, but pit bulls deserve a loving home and family without other dogs to deal with day in day out. They also are one of the breeds that are easy to train in some regards and are extremely difficult in other regards, so I always push for people that own them to take actual puppy classes from a professional who has long term bully breed experience.
As for the 207@10:00 reference, I’d have to agree that the answer is off IMO. German shepherds are used because they are programmable in ways other breeds reject. That is a trait that has only been preserved in a handful of lines, but the non working lines have not been degraded as much as most other former working breeds.
Dobermans take a certain demeanor of handler for any use. They tend to be emotionally codependent and have to be handled firmly but never roughly. For protection, the american lines have gone to crap by and large. That tide is turning in breed selection, and even the American lines make amazing alert dogs and are incredibly good with small children. The protection drawback is that in the process of getting them to prance the show circle, they lost a lot of protection drive and expect the handler to protect them.
Pit bulls have extensive animal hostility issues, but have consistently scored on par with labs in temperament testing with humans. Issues they have with small children is they are notoriously not gentle/graceful enough.
I have had three GSD. IMO, they are one of the best breeds. The dog is not needy, a little aloof, and though they are not the type to let children trample on them, GSDs have a rock solid temperament with kids and cats.
Yeah, Charlie is a real Killer 😉
http://all-in-one-truck.smugmug.com/Other/Misc/i-P7sWdgb/0/M/Charlie-M.jpg
can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this argument with people. dogs are 100% who you raise them to be.
that said, some breeds may take different forms or amounts of training to become “raised” a certain way, but the statement stands.
if you’re still of the impression that “pit bulls are killers”, you are ignorant. what the media doesn’t really clarify is that MANY pit bulls are some of the most affectionate dogs out there(again, depends on how they were raised).
rescued my dog Snax from the pound, and he is a 50/50 pitbull-boxer. Best dog I have ever had. Ever. EVER. He loves to play, loves to meet new people and dogs, and loves to cuddle.
just look at the video of this killer: http://thedailyprep.com/happy-thanksgiving/ 🙂
great vid Jack,
-dan