Maestro is a spaz

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 01:31:54 -0500

Maestro is a spaz

Maestro conquers celery #corgi #celery

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:31:01 -0500

Maestro conquers celery #corgi #celery

Maestro tries to figure out his new toy!

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:44:46 -0500

Maestro tries to figure out his new toy!

Maestro plays with Brother! Thanks Secret Santa for the gift!!!...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:44:45 -0500

Maestro plays with Brother! Thanks Secret Santa for the gift!!! He loves it!

Beach dog

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:25:07 -0500

Beach dog

Just puttin’ mah feet up

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:13:45 -0500

Just puttin’ mah feet up

This can’t be comfortable

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:45:14 -0400

This can’t be comfortable

corgiaddict: bounce, bounce, bounce

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:21:15 -0400

corgiaddict:

bounce, bounce, bounce

Good boy

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:20:53 -0400

Good boy

ROPE!

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:18:15 -0400

ROPE!

Smilin’

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:43:07 -0400

Smilin’

Photo

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:03:03 -0400

kyshyren: corgnelius: “Lemme go! i gotta save Princess...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 01:06:08 -0400

kyshyren:

corgnelius:

“Lemme go! i gotta save Princess Zelda!”

OH MY GOD. fhgndjfgnjfdk ~~so my goal this halloween find a cute onsie for charlie~~

Photo

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:41:35 -0400

A corgi’s destiny

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:40:40 -0400

A corgi’s destiny

Be sad

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 21:48:52 -0400

Be sad

Cheez it torture

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 21:45:46 -0400

Cheez it torture

Car sleeps

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:26:49 -0400

Car sleeps

Fell asleep chomping Pringles

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:59:21 -0400

Fell asleep chomping Pringles

Great, moving post written by a good friend of...

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:01:15 -0400

Great, moving post written by a good friend of ours!

feminerdism:

virginia-bluebell:

STOP BLAMING THE DOG START BLAMING THE OWNER!

I have some things to say about breed bans, the stigma against aggressive dogs, and yes, even the phrase “don’t blame the dog, blame the owner.”

I have an aggressive dog. This is him:

We named him Strider after meeting him (and falling in love with him) at the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter two years ago. For those who don’t know, that particular shelter kills dogs after 60 days. Strider had 20 days left. We couldn’t leave him.

We don’t know what kind of dog he is. The shelter guessed that he was a lab mix (although we suspect they were just thinking “What’s that dog white people like?”) and our vet guesses that he’s a mastiff mix. He’s probably not a pitbull (they’re illegal in Denver). Whatever. I don’t particularly care what he is. He’s 75 lbs, athletic, very soft, and loves to fetch, wrestle, and snuggle but is afraid of water.

He also has scars on his ears and neck. You can kind of see from the picture that both of his ears have been split in the past, and they both have jagged scars going from the tips almost all the way to his head. When we met him at the shelter he was so anxious his fur was falling out in clumps. Denver has a history of illegal dog fighting rings, and while we’ll never know for sure where his scars come from, I’d say that’s as good a guess as any. It’s very clear that before we got him he did not have a happy or safe life.

When we first got him he was very eager to please and friendly with everyone in our household (we lived with 6 roomies at the time). But after about a month, that window of trust closed and he started to exhibit aggression to anyone outside of our household, both people and dogs.

We got a trainer, who diagnosed Strider with fear aggression. Basically, he was looking for a family unit and now that he has found his family he perceives anyone outside of it as a threat to him and to us. I have no fear walking him in the dead of night because I know this dog will literally protect me with his life. And I don’t mean he just barks and growls ferociously. When Strider feels threatened, he attacks like he means it.

When we first realized his aggression, we did two things: 1) We immediately got a trainer who specializes in aggressive dogs, and 2) We bought the most humane, safe muzzle we could find. We did not take him back to the shelter. We did not have him euthanized. We made a conscious decision to try to rehabilitate him.

Strider wears his muzzle any time he is around strangers. This includes when he is at his group training class, when we have a new person in the house, and when we are on walks. He wears it at class because that is where we work on managing his aggression. He wears it around new house guests because he literally has to be trained to trust every new individual who is going to interact with him through a training routine we have developed over time with our trainers. And he wears it on walks because our neighborhood is full of children and off-leash dogs who don’t know not to run up to a dog like Strider and put their hand in his face.

After two years, Strider has made a noticeable improvement. Living up to his name, he has made great strides in getting over his fear aggression (lame pun, I know). In fact, it has been such a gradual change that sometimes I don’t notice until a friend points out just how far he has come. Then I actually get a little choked up. I’m seriously choked up now, just thinking of what he has been through, and how amazing he is now. I love my dog. He takes a lot of extra work and there are times when being his parent can be very challenging. But I do not regret for one single fucking minute that I chose to give him a second chance. I adopted him with the intention of saving his life and I’m not going to quit before I’ve done that.

Training Strider has taught me a few things about dogs and how our culture perceives them.

For one thing, I completely, 100% disagree with breed bans.

Strider is probably not a pitbull, or if he is, he’s not a purebred pit. He’s not a purebred anything. He’s not a doberman, a german shepard, or a rottweiler. And yet he cannot be left unmuzzled around children. He cannot be left to play unsupervised with other dogs. He has to be specifically trained to individual people in order to interact normally with them without his muzzle on (but once he bonds with someone, he trusts them forever). Why should a city ban one of the pitbulls in the photoset above, but not Strider? I will freely admit that he’s much more likely to bite (or at least he was two years ago) than one of those pitbulls.

By the same token, even an aggressive “bully breed” can be rehabilitated, just like Strider. So many people look at dogs that may growl or snap and say “Whelp, time to put him down.” I’ve literally had people see me walking Strider with his muzzle on and, without preamble, ask me “Excuse me ma’am? Why don’t you just kill your dog?” in those words. Meanwhile Strider is obediently lying at my feet just where I commanded him to while I tell said person that I believe in second chances and that my dog is worth saving.

So I think breed bans are bullshit. Any breed can be aggressive. Any dog can be gentle.

Which brings me to the saying “Don’t blame the dog blame the owner.”

Please stop relying on this as your one-and-done catch-phrase for explaining why breed bans are ridiculous. Because if someone blamed me and my partner for Strider’s aggression, I would be seriously offended.

“But no, we’re not blaming YOU. We’re blaming whoever had Strider before and gave him those scars!” Whatever happened to Strider, it was over two years ago. He has lived for two years under my care and training, working daily with me, my partner, our trainers, and the other dog owners in our training class to get better. And he has gotten better. But he is not completely “fixed” yet. Two years, and he still tries to eat the vet at every appointment. Two years and he still attacks any new person who walks in the house without being specifically trained to him beforehand. Two years and I still will not walk him unmuzzled because some random kid or dog might run up and startle him. If someone met Strider now, knowing nothing about him, they might think, “This poor dog! I blame his owners for the fact that he is growling at me. They must be terrible people!” when in reality I am doing everything humanly possible to help him get over his aggression.

You cannot rehabilitate an aggressive dog overnight. It is a long, long process that takes a lot of dedication and time. The rehabilitation process may take much longer than the abuse lasted. I know Cesar Milan (LOVE HIM) makes it look fast and easy, but what you don’t see on TV are the months of intense training that follow Caesar’s initial miraculous visit.

Besides the people who openly ask me why I didn’t just kill Strider and adopt a new dog, I have the people who—never having worked with an aggressive dog, mind you—inform me that his muzzle and training regimen are cruel. His muzzle (the Jaffco latex muzzle) is the most humane we could find. It allows him to bark, pant, drink water, take treats, pretty much everything except bite. It is his most valuable training tool because it allows us to work with him around new people and dogs without the risk of them being hurt or him being put down. It allows him to make mistakes and then to immediately fix those mistakes. The muzzle is the reason he has gotten as far as he has. So if you have no experience with aggressive dogs and you see someone walking a muzzled dog, leave them the fuck alone. Do not question their training methods or their affection for their pet. Do not talk about shit you do not understand.

tl;dr After two years my dog is a fucking miracle of rehabilitation. And yet I still have to deal with people who a) Tell me I should’ve just put him down instead of working to heal him, b) Tell me I’m cruel for muzzling him, c) Blame me for his aggression because clearly if I’ve had him for two years it must be my fault that he’s not perfect, or d) Assume he’s a pitbull and use him as one more example of the evils of the breed.

Any dog can be aggressive. And I stand by my decision to keep Strider.

(He tried to look all noble and dignified but then he had a snow-stache).

Mr. Maestro's Magical Misadventures

Maestro is a spaz

Maestro conquers celery #corgi #celery

Maestro tries to figure out his new toy!

Maestro plays with Brother! Thanks Secret Santa for the gift!!!...

Beach dog

Just puttin’ mah feet up

This can’t be comfortable

corgiaddict: bounce, bounce, bounce

Good boy

ROPE!

Smilin’

Photo

kyshyren: corgnelius: “Lemme go! i gotta save Princess...

Photo

A corgi’s destiny

Be sad

Cheez it torture

Car sleeps

Fell asleep chomping Pringles

Great, moving post written by a good friend of...