New from Iowa

Well hello all. I am new to this forum and new to bully breeds. I have two pit bulls, male 4 1/2 months female almost 4 months. They are the most beautiful and smartest dogs I've ever had. I love the breed. I got them because I felt that I was saving them both from a bad life and new that I could give them the life they would have never gotten otherwise. I'm sure everyone understand what I mean with all the people that want to fight these wonderful animals. Well my males name is Keno and is a chocolate color although you can see a little dark brindle markings if you look up close. My female is brindle. I couldn't tell you what bloodlines they are from because I dont care about that stuff. I never asked for papers and dont want any because I dont care what qualities they were bred for. All I know is that they are the best dogs I have EVER had. I have had a few dogs in my days. I have been reading the posts on here for about the last 2 months now. Kinda sitting back and reading what everyone has to say. I can definately say that it seems that everyone here is a lot more knowledgable about the breed and their health than I am, but that is perfect for me becuase that means that I will be able to learn alot "which I already have from all the reading I have been doing."

Now that I have introduced myself, I do have a question. I am currently feeding Nutro/Natures Choice/ Large Puppy Breed/ Controled Growth, I have read in a couple other peoples posts that they say that they have fed their pits adult food for the entire time and have never fed puppy food. Why? I dont understand this, is there a health reason behind this. The reason I ask is because I want my puppies to be as healthy as possible. I have even started them on every day walks and playing with the flirt pole. I havnt started any vigorous working out though becuase I feel they are too young for that.

But anyways, thanks for reading my post and I hope to learn alot and share some stories and pictures with everyone here.

 

Hi and Welcome aboard, enjoy it

 

Where are you from in Iowa?

 

You from Iowa too Sid? I'm less than 2 minutes from Iowa, lol.

Welcome rverbeck, enjoy the forum.

I've never fed puppy food because it is not neccessary to do so. Most of the time it is simply a marketing ploy, and many times its more harmful then beneficial to do so. For example, feeding large breed controlled growth formulas as you are doing. The APBT is not a large breed, and large breed foods often contain nutrients to stunt the growth of large dogs so they do not develop joint/bone problems from growing too fast.

 

I left Iowa because there wasn't a safe place for an APBT. I lived in Boone, about 15 miles west of Ames, Iowa. A local cop there saw me walking my dogs one time and stopped and told me "if they ever saw them running around loose, they would shoot them on site". I told him not to worry because I would never let them run loose as long as there are stupid people and stupid cops runnin loose.

 

I live in Cedar Rapids. There are a lot of people around here that like to steal dogs and use them as bait dogs or fight them. Lots of people check the FREE adds and use those adds as well. No wonder why the breed has a bad name, becuase of people like that.

As for the dog food, my petstore told me that the controled growth actually helped with the growing becuase it had more protein and that adult food can make them fat becuase of fat levels. I wish I was smart enough to understand it all so I didnt have to go on hear say. I've read plenty of posts here and it seems like it goes both ways. Oh well, I'll just continue to watch their growth and health, continue the vet visits, and make sure they are getting the best nutrition possible.

Thanks all.

 

Keep up the good work, and if you have any questions about dog food nutrition I suggest you check out www.dogfoodanalysis.com, or if you have any basic questions there are plenty of members to pm. I was just in Cedar Rapids last weekend

And I've seen the media reports on this "bait dog" bullshit in that area too...and in my opinion thats what it is BULLSHIT. Most of these folks *claim* their American Bulldog/English Bulldog/Mastiff/Pit mixes (of course they just call them bully pits) JUST HAD to of been stolen for fighting because it left their yard when they let it roam and didnt come back for some time, normally with some scars. I wonder if it ever occured to these folks that stray dogs fight all the time, and their dogs probably just left! If you control your animals, this type of thing wouldnt happen, and the media couldnt make up false stories about bait dog this, and bait dog that. I was mentioning this to my mentor and he had a good laugh, along with a statement that went something like this :

"These people have their head so far up their asses with their curs, who in the world would fight a cur! You know what good a cur is for? Road work....the bulldog bites it once, the cur jumps, and you're dog has to chase it down the road for an hour!"

Basically for you who really believe this "bait dog" bullshit, and the HSUS dog-fighting myths...."bait dog" is something mostly invented by the media. No real dogmen would match a APBT and a cur breed, as its not only pointless, but its incredibly cruel for a dog who doesnt long to fight like the APBT. Of course,the media said it enough some street bred scum with 20 dollar dogs and a head full of crack resin actually believed it, and now you will find idiots trying it. Self-fulfilling prophecy I can assure you, this is not how it was done, or how it is done by those who still roll dogs. You wouldnt "train" Evander Holifield by throwing a bunch of 110 pound computer geeks in a ring with him, and you dont "train" a bulldog by putting it up against curs. "Champions are born, not made".

 

Hello & welcome to ya.

 

I grew up in Muscatine, but I don't live there anymore.

Far as the "bait dogs" phenomenon - I would not be a bit surprised if backyard dogfighters heard about "bait dogs" on the TeeVee and the light went on in their peewee brains "Oh! We gotta do that!"

So the media may have invented it, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

 

This is exactly what I have seen where I live in NY. I've always read and been told by my grandpa (who was a dog man) that the "bait dog" was a myth, for the same reasons you gave. But, wannabe gangstas have for the past 10 or so years here been stealing dogs from peoples yards, or getting them from the shelter, or classified ads for this purpose. Absolutely sickening!! I wonder if they'll start feeding their dogs gunpowder too, that was always a rumor spread about dog fighters...it was supposed to make the dogs vicious in the pit, lmao!

 

That is an old myth too that scum were stupid enough to try. Go ask a mma fighter if he wants to ingest some gun powder to become "vicious in the ring". LOL

 

All gun powder will do is give your dog stomach ulcers and make it irritable as hell

 

Please tell me you're not speaking from experience! lmao

 

Ya, I could see how the "bait dog" thing started with the media but I truely believe it exists now.

However, Thanks for the website on dog food nutrition. I appreciate it. Also thanks for all this information. I love it when people are so apt to help with questions. Just so you know, that dosnt mean that if I have a question, I wont research it first, becuase I like to do my own research cause I feel like in the process I learn more than I was intending, Plus I know it gets annoying answering all the same questions.

I'm glad I joined this forum, I can tell I will get a lot out of it.

 

You're kidding, right? How the hell would you do that? Amputating all four paws is not exactly a minor surgical procedure to be performed at home, and where the hell would you find a vet who would do that? "Hi, Doctor, my name is Jakkazz, I'm a backyard dogfighter, we'z having a hard time getting da lo-rider look here, so can you amputate my dog's feetz?"

Then again, should anything surprise us regarding backyard dogfighters?