I like Wilbur very much (that’s me you hear laughing at him), though my cat does not seem to agree. We may be able to work that out, but in the event that we are not I want to help find him the best possible home. He deserves it.
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Wilbur is cooool. I hope you adopt him. Cats and dogs get on eventually…eventually.
The cat picture is very funny. The cat looks much more vicious than the dog.
We actually have a unique situation where one cat is afraid of dogs, and the other one will walk right up and smack a dog in the face — which is what happened when Wilbur came for a visit. His reaction was not great. I continue to walk him and try to help him find the right home.
We had to have my big golden mastiff put down last year. I say ‘we’ – she wasn’t mine, but the friend who owned her asked my opinion and, as she’d lost the use of one of her rear legs and in such a big dog the disability was seriously affecting her quality of life, I told him letting her go was the most merciful thing to do. She was so loyal and loving she would have stayed with us for as long as the medicine would keep her alive, and at 13 she lived a lot longer than dogs of her breed normally do.
I have to admit that when I first read about your intention to adopt a pit bull, I was a bit worried.
They’re banned over here, which is a shame for the dogs that are OK but, because a lot, if not most, of the rescued dogs of that particular breed are bred to fight, I can understand why families don’t want to take the risk. Another friend has a Staffordshire Terrier, which was bred to fight and rescued by the police and the RSPCA. He’s a fantastic pet and has not been a problem around my friend’s two young children. You wouldn’t want to break into his house, though.
Ironically, the only time I’ve ever been attacked by a dog, it was a labrador. The dog’s owner was always harsh with it and you could tell it had behavioural problems.
All of which just goes to show, I think, that just like kids, how dogs are nurtured is all-important; and even if they do get a bad start in life, they can be turned around, but only with great care.
Wilbur is definitely a Staffordshire Terrier…not a run of the mill pitbull. He really is a sweetheart — even the cat thing could have been gotten over with time because he got along with cats that were friendly to him. But he’s a bit bull-headed. Nine months later they still haven’t been able to teach him to sit. My main concern was his lack of athletic ability. He’s a little body builder with no endurance. In the cool weather he’s fine but on a not particularly hot day this summer, he laid down in the middle of a pretty short walk…more than once. I want a hiking buddy/walking buddy that forces me to get out of the house a couple times a day and that was just not going to be lazy old Wilbur. Though, now that I’ve got Maybelle here, I will say…if Wilbur was ever in desperate need of a home he’d be welcome to crash here for awhile. Luckily they love him at the pound and he loves them so he’s not stressed out, or in any danger.
Congratulations on your new addition to the family.
I miss my mastiffs. The other one – the dark-coloured one – has emigrated to Singapore with my friend (the dog didn’t go on his own), so I haven’t had any four-legged friends to play with for quite a while. I would have recommended you get a mastiff, as one of the many advantages of dogs that big is that you don’t have to bend down to cuddle them. Wouldn’t have been any good for you though – the male one would walk forever, but the other one would just stop, sit down, and as she was twice my weight, the only direction she would go is home.
Oh man, it’s been rough year for you and dogs! Is Singapore even big enough for a mastiff? I highly suggest heading on over to your human society (or whatever it is you have on your side of the pond). A friend of mine and her family just got a St. Bernard puppy! Adorable and Mastiff like. All those big dogs are too drooly for me, though…and stubborn. The herding breeds work well for me. They like to listen and I like to boss them around.
No way, I’m not going anywhere near my local animal shelter. That would be a terrible idea: I’d end up adopting about 40 dogs, and then I’d have to buy a farm.
Aww, a St. Bernard puppy. Adorable. If I ever grow up and start acting like a responsible adult, I’ll get a mastiff and a Great Dane.
Those two mastiffs couldn’t have been any more different in character. The female was a pedigree pooch. I remember the day my friend bought her, she cost as much as a small car; and over the years, not only was she very spoilt but she also needed a lot of operations – she had bad knees from the start – so she ended up costing my friend a lot of money. He may even have spent more on the dog than he did on his ex wife.
She also did that thing where she would vigorously shake her chops and send her doggy drool flying all over the place. The ex wife was OCD about having an immaculately kept house, so she would do a lot of foaming at the mouth, too.
Once, when I took her out for a walk (the dog, not the ex wife) she saw a squirrel and that was it, we were off, there was no stopping her. I had to stand there under a tree while she barked at the squirrel, we didn’t get going again until she got bored. Ha, and I just remembered there was one time when we came round a corner and walked straight into a cat. I swear the cat jumped several feet in the air and had an expression on its face, like, ‘What the f*** is that!’
The male dog, though, he came from an animal shelter after his owners divorced. I mean, really, you’d think one of them would have wanted to keep the dog, as he is just so loveable.
He doesn’t like other dogs. When he sees them he goes nuts, he rears up onto his back legs as if he’s about to pounce, but despite be very heavy and very powerful, he was obedient and easy to control. Never had any problems with him.
The only dogs I don’t like are small, yappy things like Jack Russells. It made me laugh when we’d see a Jack Russell on the other side of the park – those little dogs are crazy; as ever, there’s a fine line between brave and stupid.