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Tag Archives: Kona

Leave my Babies Alone!

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

BSL, Dog, dog sitting, dogs, dogsitting, Kona, Lousy, Pasadena, pit bulls, pits

pizap.com13904298048481Maybe it is because I’ve had a headache on and off (currently on) for days.  Maybe it’s because I need to invest in Pepto Bismo I down the stuff so regularly.  Maybe it’s because I was snuggling cutie Lousy at the time I read the Facebook post.  Whatever the reason I blew my top.  Per a Facebook post by a dog group Pasadena is discussing passing a BSL (breed specific legislation) ordinance against “pit bulls.”  Oh no you didn’ (with finger snap).  Of course, because I’m a hysterical person, I, like many others, jumped to the idea that this means they weren’t going to allow pit looking dogs in their city.  Not on my watch Pasadena.  Not on my watch!  Luckily before I came on my blog to rant about it I did some research.  Turns out the BSL is specifically about spaying and neutering pit like dogs.  So I’m not so worked up as much as I was a few minutes ago.

First of all let’s address spay and neutering.  Do it.  ESPECIALLY if you have a dog breed that is unfairly targeted because of his/her breed.  There are way too many dogs in shelters and way too many of those are “aggressive” breeds (a term I don’t believe in but using to get my point across).  (I actually had no idea that so many dog owners were against spaying and neutering … perhaps they are just against being told they have to do it?  I’m not sure.)  Wouldn’t it be great if a gaggle of pittie owners could show up to the Pasadena council meeting with their “fixed” papers and say, “I don’t know what you are all talking about.  Go talk to the owners of those yippy chihuahuas.”  Should this be a breed specific law?  No.  Calling out one breed for one reason or another is ridiculous.  Unlike some other dog owners I’m a-okay with neutering and spaying laws (I actually thought there already was one … maybe that is just the city of LA) but I’m NOT okay with you demanding that of only one or two specific breeds.

NOW let’s talk about the breed of “pit.”  First of all there is no such breed.  Many breeds fall under what we consider “pit bulls.”  How would you decide if a dog had pit in him/her or not?  For many dogs I watch I get the comment, “it looks like he has some pit in him.” pizap.com13904325719081 Probably.  So what?  Let’s say you have sweetie Kona in front of you and it is obvious she is a mix of the “pit” breeds.  Then you would have one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met in front of you as well.  I love her so much I wrote a blog about her and her fellow pitties.  The reason you distrust pits (if you do) is because of what you have heard/read about them.  If I asked every single one of you what breed dog you have had an “issue” with I can almost guarantee other breeds would be more represented than those that we label as pits.  Pits get their negative PR from asshats like Michael Vick and others who raise these type of dogs to fight and kill.  That is a bad owner not a bad dog.  Even the dogs that were saved from Vick’s horrificness are living lives where they have proven to be sweet and kind animals.  

People who know pits will tell you they are extremely loyal and protective.  That they are cuddlers who want to be in your lap as much as possible.  That their big jaws that you may be afraid of give them the biggest smiles you have ever seen.

pizap.com13904329345771I’d like to convince you that pit babies shouldn’t be feared any more than any other breed.  I could do research and pull out stats on what breed has hurt humans the most and all of that nonsense but I don’t think it would matter if you truly are afraid.  I’m not suggesting that you go out and get yourself a pet you are fearful of.  I’m not saying that you have to love my sweet Kona or adorable Lousy.  I’m saying that you aren’t allowed to tell me I can’t have them as part of my family.  And although I personally am okay with breeding/neutering laws you don’t have the right to tell specific breeds that they have to be fixed just because you perceive them as scary.

Oh Pasadena.  I love you so much.  I wish I lived in you.  I go to you for everything from dining to doctors and yet your snobbishness is sometimes too much to bear.  Come on Pasadena.  Show me that you are classier than this and keep BSL out of your city.

(Pictures are of my adorable darlings that I have watched and loved that could be labeled as part pit bull.  Each and every single one of them a sweet doll.)

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Sweet Kona Girl – Repost

22 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Kona, pit, pit bull, pit mix

Today at the dog park Riggins, Asscher, Clover & I met a sweet pit girl.  She was hesitant but kinda and gentle and her face looked up at you with pure love.  This is amazing because of everything she had been through.  Although her back story is unknown by her current human mom she is afraid of chains and it is assumed she was chained up at one point.  She has scars on her face from other dog bites and, when dumped at the shelter, was emaciated as well as critically hurt due to a car hitting her.  Her current mommy’s organization raised money to get her out before she was killed.  As you can imagine a pit mix that needs a large amount of medical attention isn’t going to last in a shelter.  After surgery, food, and TLC she is a sweet girl who is happy to come up to you and get pets.

Her mom told me stories of how some people are afraid of her baby because of her breed while I explained folks were recently afraid of Riggins (of all the dogs I was walking) calling him out as, “the black one.”  As a reminder to all of us that it isn’t the dog, breed, or color that makes an aggressive/mean pet it is the owner I thought I’d share a post from earlier this year about one of the pit mix babies I’ve watched.

Enjoy.

Sweet Kona Girl

Posted on August 1, 2013by wendynewell

photo (19)Kona has been on vacay with us for almost a week and I realized I have never introduced you to her.  Shame on me!  Kona is her daddy’s little girl and a pit mix.  I’ve taken care of pit/pit mixes before but did a little research on the breed for you this time.

(All the knowledge I’m about to drop on  you comes from a Google search.  You can do a search and read numerous articles on the subject.)  The label “pit bull” actually covers a large range of dog breeds although isn’t a breed itself.  It targets those with a large head and square jaw like the American Pit

Pit actor and sitter! Source

Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.  The “Bull”dogs were originally used to control and bait bulls.  Crappy job but I guess someone had to do it.  The practice was banned in 1835, whew.  At that point some genius decided it would be good sport to put these dogs into pits with rats.  This practice was known as ratting and where the “pit” part of the name may have originated.  Side note – Riggins would LOVE to be in a pit with rats or possums

Helen Keller and her pit.  Source.

or squirrels or any other critter he could destroy.  As the dog moved into colonized America and Canada he/she where mixed with terrier breeds and used as farm and family dogs.  The Staffie Bull is known as “The Children’s Nursemaid” because of their protective and nurturing nature with children.  The breed, at their heart, is sweet, lovable and loyal.  It’s the assholes like Michael Vick that screwed it up for the poor sweet pits, destroying them physically and mentally by training them as fighting dogs.

Kona is a princess pit!  There is no doubt about that.  When she first came for a meet and greet her mom, dad, and 6 week old human sister came to check out her possible vacation home.  From the beginning Kona proved to be a team player immediately making herself at home with a pack that at the time, included Riggins, Bear, Jax & Dragon.  She happily hung out as Dragon tried to take her down by jumping over and over on her face!  Before the family left Kona’s new sister needed a diaper change.  I offered up my bed as a changing table and suggested Mom close the bedroom door.  She took me up on my offer and Kona sat guarding that door the entire time.  Loyal and protective of the new baby.

Kona is the first dog I’ve taken care of that sat by the door when she was dropped of and cried.  When she finally settled down she was happy to join us at the dog park to get her mind off of things!

image (26)Since she has been with us Kona has continued to be a sweetie.  She could also be described as needy and a scaredy cat!  Her first night I was in bed and one of the dogs heard something at the front door.  Dragon, Dexter, and Riggins took off to let the imaginary intruder know who was boss.  Kona, on the other hand, leapt into my bed on top of me and buried her face under my arm pit.  When I vacuum she shivers with fear in the corner (then pees on the newly vacuumed carpet).

Kona HAS to be with me 24/7.  Not just with me but on me.  Right now she is snoring next to my feet.  If I dared to stand up to get some water she would follow me to the kitchen, turn around and follow me back and plop down at my feet again!  She MUST sleep not just next to me but with some part of her body ON me.  If I have to leave her she cries and cries tugging at my heart-strings.

Kona, like all other pit breed mixes that have stayed with us, is incredibly cuddly and wants nothing but kisses and hugs.  I can’t imagine her biting a bull on the nose … unless the bull was a tiny stuffed toy!

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Dogs Rule

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Asscher, dogs, Dragon, Kona, Lousy, Riggins

RIGGINS - photo by Lori Fusaro

RIGGINS – photo by Lori Fusaro

Over the past few days I’ve come to accept something you may have already known. I’m a speciest. That’s like a racist or sexist but for species. Specifically I like dogs WAY better than people and hold them to much different standards. It’s kinda like when one of your “friends” posts something on Facebook and you think, “OMG what a looser … so annoying.” Then another friend posts something similar a few minutes later and you happily give it a “thumbs up” simply because of who they are. Let me give you a few dog vs. human examples:

Jax, like many dogs I watch, follows me around the house. If I move, he moves. I love it. I feel like Snow White being helped by her adoring animal friends. If a guy I was dating did that I’d last about 10 minutes before doing a pivot turn meeting him nose to nose and scream “stop being so clingy you freak!”

ASSCHER

ASSCHER

Riggins has very specific sleeping rules. He tends to fall asleep by himself and then wanting to come up and be with me on my bed in the early morning hours. Instead of just coming on up and helping himself to a pillow he stands by my bed puts his head and chin on the mattress and cries until I wake up. I then must get out of bed for him to be able to jump up and decide on his placement before I get to lie back down again. I do this all with nothing but love in my heart for him. I once wanted to punch my boyfriend in the face because he would set the alarm and then hit snooze about 5 times before getting up … all before I had to rise and shine.

I was driving home from a hike a few weeks ago and saw a man masturbating on someone’s front lawn. A very nice front lawn to a very expensive house. I was in awe. How could that be happening? A human couldn’t possibly be so disgusting. Yet there he was, humping the ground. I was horrified. The other day I wanted to take Asscher’s picture when she got that look at her eye and I couldn’t stop her from jumping up on me and humping away at my leg. I just giggled and pushed her off with an, “Oh Asscher … you are so silly.”

Asscher sometimes doesn’t want to hike. Just yesterday we were heading off just a few feet from the trail head and she stopped. She wasn’t moving. “Okay,” I said gleefully, “we will go to the dog park. Crazy dog! I love you!” If I went hiking with my nephew and he stopped hiking and sat down pouting he’d get a stern talking to and be dragged the rest of the way until he shaped up.

KONA!

KONA!

One night my neighbors little dog was howling and howling. I felt so bad for the poor little thing. Obviously his owner was being horrible neglective of his needs. I didn’t even think to get angry at the dog. It was all the owners fault … without a doubt. (This love for animals didn’t include the rooster this same neighbor once owned. Every morning, multiple times each morning, I’d threaten to kill it and eat that obnoxious bird for breakfast.)

When Lousy wants to crawl up on my lap while I’m typing or Dragon wants to chill out under my desk I’m happy to let them. If a child did that I’d suggest they were being creepy and tell them to go outside and play like normal children.

Kona loved to give me kisses and will happily lick me all over. If you came over and did that too me I’d slap you and immediately take a Silkwood shower to wash off your crazy.

LOUSY

LOUSY

When I’m eating Riggins will sit next to me and take bites off my fork that I happily hold for him (since he has no hands). I would NEVER feed you off my folk. First of all that’s weird and secondly I don’t want your spit on my folk.

So you see. The obvious conclusion is I dislike humans as a species. At least when compared to dogs. (Not all humans of course there are a few exceptions to the rule. A very few exceptions.)

DOGS RULE …. HUMANS DROOL (well dogs do too but when they do it it’s super cute)

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Don’t Try This At Home

07 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

depression, Discontinuation Syndrome, Kona, Lordy, Lousy, medication, Riggins

photo (1)

Puppy therapy!

Before I start my story let me tell you I know I’m dumb.  This was stupid.  I know better. Shame on me.  There … I think I’ve covered it.   This incident reminds me of the time I doubled up on my migraine medication because I was going to my birthday party later that night and needed to be able to see (migraines cause me vision problems) so I could finish creating my elaborate feathered hair clip.  What I ended up doing was going into a jittery caffeine frenzy with a migraine!

If you read this blog regularly you know that I went on antidepressants last year (long story that you can read more about here).  Recently I ran out of one (I take two).  Every time I saw the empty bottle I thought “I need to re-order these things” but that never turned into action on my part.  Now I realize I could make the prescription ordering procedure much easier by making it automatic but why would I do something so logical?  I had an empty bottle hanging around for a few days.  Then I ran out of my second medication.  Now I HAD to order some up for sure … except I didn’t.  For someone without a job I’m oddly busy!

Then I got weird.  I realize now (well I realized yesterday) that I was going through withdrawal.  You should NEVER EVER EVER EVER stop any medicine without consulting with your doctor especially those meds that zap around in your brain.  I had become beyond tired.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  Originally I chalked it up to excessive exercise for the few hours I was awake, but even with that it’s not normally to require 12+ hours of sleep a day.  For a bit I thought maybe I had a bug that only made me tired!  I also had become “fuzzy” in the brain.  I’d be trying to do work and then would think, “I wanna watch TV.”  Then I’d get up and watch TV only to discover I wasn’t paying attention and would go crawl into bed for some zzzzs.  Focus, which is usually a strength of mine, simply wasn’t there.

My brain felt weird.  Folks that are suffering from Discontinuation Syndrome describe it as “brain zaps,” “brain shocks,” or “brain shivers.”  Brain shivers is a pretty good description.  All I know is that it was weird.  Something was wrong and yet I still hadn’t put two and two together.  I blame the brain zaps!

Finally I realized I couldn’t tolerate situations that should have been easily tolerable.   Little things people said that I should have shrugged off struck me like a knife.  Yesterday I learned from Kona‘s daddy that Kona had a horrible skin irritation that required $300 worth of vet visits and medication.  I lost it.  The thought of poor Kona and the thought that I did that to her (I realize I didn’t … brain zap remember) made me lose it.  THAT’S when I finally figured out my brain was out of whack!  I immediately called in (well I scanned it in through my iPhone) my prescription.  I’m still out of sorts as everything in my system tries to re-balance itself.  I’m sure it will take a while to undo the stupid thing I did.

This was so horribly irresponsible of me.  I could have suffered seizures as a side effect and caused harm to my dogs or others if I was in the car at the time.  I could have had a harder time figuring out what was the cause and headed back into a darker depression.  I’m not going to let that happen again.  I’m keeping these things filled and when I decide it may be time to come off of them I’m going to talk to my doctor and follow his expert advice!

Learn from my stupidity.  Don’t try this at home!

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Sweet Kona Girl

01 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

dogs, dogsitting, Kona, pit bulls

photo (19)Kona has been on vacay with us for almost a week and I realized I have never introduced you to her.  Shame on me!  Kona is her daddy’s little girl and a pit mix.  I’ve taken care of pit/pit mixes before but did a little research on the breed for you this time.

(All the knowledge I’m about to drop on  you comes from a Google search.  You can do a search and read numerous articles on the subject.)  The label “pit bull” actually covers a large range of dog breeds although isn’t a breed itself.  It targets those with a large head and square jaw like the American Pit

Pit actor and sitter!  Source

Pit actor and sitter! Source

Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.  The “Bull”dogs were originally used to control and bait bulls.  Crappy job but I guess someone had to do it.  The practice was banned in 1835, whew.  At that point some genius decided it would be good sport to put these dogs into pits with rats.  This practice was known as ratting and where the “pit” part of the name may have originated.  Side note – Riggins would LOVE to be in a pit with rats or possums

Helen Keller and her pit.  Source.

Helen Keller and her pit. Source.

or squirrels or any other critter he could destroy.  As the dog moved into colonized America and Canada he/she where mixed with terrier breeds and used as farm and family dogs.  The Staffie Bull is known as “The Children’s Nursemaid” because of their protective and nurturing nature with children.  The breed, at their heart, is sweet, lovable and loyal.  It’s the assholes like Michael Vick that screwed it up for the poor sweet pits, destroying them physically and mentally by training them as fighting dogs.

Kona is a princess pit!  There is no doubt about that.  When she first came for a meet and greet her mom, dad, and 6 week old human sister came to check out her possible vacation home.  From the beginning Kona proved to be a team player immediately making herself at home with a pack that at the time, included Riggins, Bear, Jax & Dragon.  She happily hung out as Dragon tried to take her down by jumping over and over on her face!  Before the family left Kona’s new sister needed a diaper change.  I offered up my bed as a changing table and suggested Mom close the bedroom door.  She took me up on my offer and Kona sat guarding that door the entire time.  Loyal and protective of the new baby.

Kona is the first dog I’ve taken care of that sat by the door when she was dropped of and cried.  When she finally settled down she was happy to join us at the dog park to get her mind off of things!

image (26)Since she has been with us Kona has continued to be a sweetie.  She could also be described as needy and a scaredy cat!  Her first night I was in bed and one of the dogs heard something at the front door.  Dragon, Dexter, and Riggins took off to let the imaginary intruder know who was boss.  Kona, on the other hand, leapt into my bed on top of me and buried her face under my arm pit.  When I vacuum she shivers with fear in the corner (then pees on the newly vacuumed carpet).

Kona HAS to be with me 24/7.  Not just with me but on me.  Right now she is snoring next to my feet.  If I dared to stand up to get some water she would follow me to the kitchen, turn around and follow me back and plop down at my feet again!  She MUST sleep not just next to me but with some part of her body ON me.  If I have to leave her she cries and cries tugging at my heart-strings.

Kona, like all other pit breed mixes that have stayed with us, is incredibly cuddly and wants nothing but kisses and hugs.  I can’t imagine her biting a bull on the nose … unless the bull was a tiny stuffed toy!

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