Family Dog

A few days ago, I saw another example of Buster's family behavior and figured I would pass it on and get oppinons.

When Buster was about 3, my daughter was born. When my daughter came home from the hospital, Buster seemed to be very aware that our family had a new member and his reaction was a plesant suprise. She had sever colic, and our house was tuned in to a quiet zone. He probably didn't bark for almost a year! It was a great thing to see, and my wife and I were very suprised by his ability to "tune in" to the new atmosphear.

Well that was almost 8 years ago, and things have settled down quite a bit since. I would hardley describe my house as a quiet zone now.

A few days ago, a friend of mine picked up Buster's rope to play some tug-of-war. Like most Pits, his is Buster's favorite game. After about 20-30 min of play, my friend got tired and put the rope down on our table outside, Buster went looking for his ball. My daughter who is now almost 8 wanted to play with Buster and I watched her go to the table and get his rope.

So, she walked up to Buster, ends in each hand and started taunting him to play with it. He refused. To some extent, she was bouncing it off his head and playfully asking him to play. He would just look away or at me and sit there.

What I believe is he knows that grabbing, tugging, or any type of behavior like that is inapproprate with her, which was just a bit of reassurance that he still treats her as the youngest member of the pack.

Personally, I thought he was going to take the rope and start to play but in retorspect, I am glad he didn't and I endorsed this by asking her to stop as soon as I saw him reject her effort.

Thoughts?

 

My oldest male is the same way. I could rough house with him wrestle and playbite w/ him but if my daughter got close he would quit. She would be so frustrated about this. She'd try and try to get him to play like this but he would never open his mouth to her. But he loves her and plays with her in other ways.

 

These dogs really are something special, aren't they? Most of them are smart enough to know the difference between a multitude of situations. My 5 year old gamedog is 100% perfect with my elderly grandmother. I was a bit worried at first but he matches her pace entirely. She has a few health issues so she is not physically very capable of an work. She's a two time survivor of breast cancer. She walks about a quarter mile an hour and loses her breath easily. Gauge just follows her about 3 feet behind at the same speed. He loves to sit right on her feet when she's on her couch watching television. He is now the honorary "foot warmer". He barks at strangers and that makes her comfortable because his bark is three times his 50lb frame. Having said this,he is extremely friendly with any strangers that actually are admitted to the house. She spends 8-10 hours alone with him daily. She really has perked up both emotionally and physically since Gauge and I started to take care of her. He's brought more energy to her and a color in her cheeks. She had lived by herself so long before this that she was extremely lonely. This really opened my eyes to the theurapudic aspect of owning animals. Just when I think I've seen everything new and amazing about a proper bulldog, I get to witness and be involved with something like this. I sealed my fate a long time ago, and I know that from now until I pass I will own a gamedog of some sort. This breed is heads above the rest when you own a real one.

Sincere Regards,

B

 

Some dogs, not all and not all breeds, seem to know the "weakest link" and know when to back down, to me that is a level headed dog, that is what you want in a working dog, a dog that can know the difference, and act or not act.

 

Gauge you could say is the foot warmer and at home therapy dog since he helps perk her up

 

Sounds like Gauge will add some time to her life or if not make the rest of her time more enjoyable. That's a great thing.

I have to say, I was somewhat suprised because Buster really loves to play and will play with her in other ways. He will fetch or run around with her, etc... Since she was born she has been very close to him, but not close with him if you know what I mean. I guess she dosn't see him as viable entertainment for some reason so she dosn't really spend a lot of time playing with him but he has been with in 15 feet of her since she was born. Our house is somewhat small and he is an indoor dog.

In any event, I thought it was worth mention and hearing the other storys made that true :-)