A day in the life with Mia the American Bully (Bully Pit) puppy. Mia's tenth week—16 weeks old, 31 pounds, 15 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
16 weeks old (4 months)
Mia! That's the new toy you just got yesterday! You just killed it!
Hey! Quit pulling all the stuffing out!
"Mommy, it wasn't me. The kid just brought that thing over here and went all at it. I did nothing. I swear."
Mia, that's the squeaker. Give me that!
No, you can't have it back.
What? What did I do??
Mia was walking over to say hello to me when I took this picture. Look at her posture. It’s another good example of what a dog looks like when approaching in a submissive manner. Her head is just about level with her back and her tail is swinging and held out almost parallel to the ground, not too high, not too low. She is focused on her destination, yet relaxed.
Every time the little boy comes to visit Mia follows him everywhere. "Oh boy! We are collecting pine cones! Wait for me! I can find that type of loot, too!" And so she does. Mia watches him pick up pine cones, then begins to find her own cones. She's very observant and super intelligent. The little boy watches her pick up a pine cone and realizes he wants it for the collection. He looks at Mia and says, "Drop it." And to my amazement Mia dropped it immediately and happily let him have it. I was amazed because we had only briefly worked on the "drop it" command, yet she knew what it meant instantly.
The next day...
…Mia discovers the pine cones they had collected on the bench.
"Loot! I found all the loot! Right here on the porch!"
She grabs one in her mouth and takes off into the yard to play with it. Mia, wait until the kid finds out what you have done with the collection!
Wooow, Mia! What's with that leg? It's straight behind you. That just does not seem right. I don't think dogs are supposed to bend that way.
Your other front paw is under your neck. You are one strange pup.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, Mia is spending more time outside. She stops and gets a really good look at the goats.
She slowly stretches her body closer.
And looks right at Sweet-Pea as she eats her breakfast.
Sweet-Pea head-butts the fence, which startles Mia. Yikes!
Hey, wait a minute. I'm a Bully Pit. You can't scare me. Mia walks back for another look as Jim-Bob stares her down.
Mia play bows at them and runs in a circle as she lets out a yip!
Do you guys play?
The goats do not blink an eye. They just stand there staring at her. "Oh, I guess not."
All right, then.
I guess I will just go find someone else to play with.
Mia had her best walk yet. She did more following and less leash chewing and sniffing at objects. Mia and Spencer walked on one side and...
...Bruno on the other. They sometimes all walked on one side, but there was more room when they split up.
I was able to hold all three leashes in one hand. That's my girl, Mia! Keep it up and we are going to be able to go all over the place.
We pass a storm drain that has water rushing through it. Mia is very curious so we pause and allow her to check it out. The older dogs have seen storm drains a lot and they ignore it.
After the walk all the dogs got back into the van.
They were exhausted.
Although it was sunny, it was cold with a high in the mid-20s, winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph. The dogs seemed to be a bit stir-crazy inside so we loaded up the van and went for a short walk around a local park. A car ride and a short walk would be better than nothing at all. After the walk I opened the sliding van door and reached for the step stool so the dogs could get in. To my surprise, Mia jumped into the van without waiting for the stool, and she lay down immediately with a look of relief on her face. Mia, I didn't know you could jump that high! I don't like you jumping like that at such a young age! You really wanted in that van badly. You are going to be a good jumper when you grow up. I am glad you have learned not to jump on people!
Often times Mia will try to take bones away from her brothers even though she has her own. We have been trying to teach her to only chew on the bone that is in front of her. Today I gave all of the dogs a brand new bone and all three dogs were able to lie down next to one another chewing their bones worry-free. Good girl, Mia. Now isn't that so much more relaxing to only worry about your own treat instead of how you are going to acquire everyone else’s?
Oh my Spencer-Puppy. These bones are just about ready for the trash can. I usually give the dogs the Merrick's G.I. brand bones that do not have end knots, as I’ve had great success with them not falling apart. You can see some old Merrick's G.I. bones on the top left side of the picture that the dogs have had in their toy bin for months, which are still in one piece. Today I tried a different brand. They only had these new bones for about 20 minutes and they are already split into sharp pieces. Time to order some more Merrick G.I.'s.
Raising a Puppy: A day in the life with Mia the Blue-Nose American Bully