B'more Dogs

B-More Dog President Erin and Secretary Amie took their B'more dogs Doc and Oscar out for a morning of tracking!

Here's Erin laying Doc's track:


and getting Doc ready - he's wonderfully focussed on her!


So away they go!


Sniffing away


Doc alerts Erin to a found article by downing on it - great job, Doc!


and then it's Oscar's turn for a rare moment of focus from a scatterbrained boy


He loves to track and he's ready to go!


He's on the trail...


and heading towards the end...


while Doc shows his manners with an honor down across the field.


And so you can feel part of the action, a handler's eye view of tracking!

Does Your Dog Want to Donate Blood?

I brought little Mr. Tuckerdog him out for his first appointment with the Eastern Veterinary Blood Bank today donate a half-pint of blood, which distributes canine blood to east coast veterinary medical centers for dogs in need.

The whole experience probably took us about 20 minutes to half-hour, and they people who took the blood from him were super nice and spent a bunch of time with him first to get him comfortable. They petted him and gave him treats and made him feel safe, so he wasn't scared when they put him on the table.

They were very gentle, restrained him with a bear hug while I sat down next to him and fed him cheeze and peanut butter while the blood was being drawn. He was cool with the whole process.

I was very proud of my little man!

They ask that you come back 5 to 7 times per year to donate, and in exchange you get a free basic health exam, free blood screening (basic values), and free HW test. If you meet your full year of 5 to 7 visits, your dog is also eligible for free blood transfusion for life if he gets sick or in an accident.

From what they told me, there is a shortage of donors right now, so if you are in MD or VA area, check out this site and see if you might be interested in having your dog donate blood:

http://www.evbb.com/

They are totally pit bull friendly and told me they work with lots of very nice pit bulls.

So there ya have it. Tucker says go donate and save some dog's life!

I'm not sure how many of you make a habit of reading BADRAP's blog (if you don't, you should) but it has recently come to my attention that they are nominated for a couple of awards.
Best Animal Blog
and
Best Charity Blog

PETA is currently in second place in the best animal blog category (which makes me slightly nauseous) and I say we Pit Bull lovers unite and make a stand to move BadRap's Pit Bull positive blog up above their decidedly NOT Pit Bull friendly blog.
It only takes a moment to register and vote!

A pit bull champion at the DVG Nationals!

We were so incredibly excited to see that Ron Marshall of southern Maryland and his American pit bull terrier, Marshall's RCA (aka Whitehead), took top honors in the SCH II competition at this year's DVG Nationals schutzhund competition. Check out the results for yourself here.

This is the first time an APBT has been on the podium at this event, so this is big news not just for Ron and Whitehead but for the breed as a whole. This sport is dominated by herding breeds, German shepherds in particular (the breed for which the sport was created). So you often find yourself fighting an uphill battle when you're out there competing with an "alternative" breed dog--It can be tough to find trainers and judges who'll take you seriously if you're handling a pit bull in particular.

Hopefully Ron's accomplishment will make an impression on people who don't think pit bulls can do the work--great job, Ron!

Oscar says "het is over tijd"*!

(he already knows English and a little Scottish Gaelic - he's willing to learn Dutch for a good cause!)

Banning breeds doesn't reduce bites!



(*he says that's Dutch for "It's about time!")

Oscar got a kitten!

And the kitten got his bed!

Another pit bull conference--love it!

I'm loving the recent trend I've been seeing of pit bull groups putting on awareness conferences to talk about our dogs and their place in the world today. I just read about an intriguing looking one going on in Portland, Maine on June 14 called Judging the Innocent.

Among the topics to be discussed are: breed history, dog behavior, facts and fallacies about fatal dog attacks, dangerous dog laws, why breed bans don't work, and solutions to the "pit bull dilemma."

At $65 per person including lunch, sounds like a bargain to me. If you're reading this from Portland, Maine, go check it out and let us know how you liked it!