Raising a Puppy: Mia the Blue-Nose American Bully Pit—32 weeks old
A day in the life with Mia the American Bully (Bully Pit) puppy. 32 weeks old, 59 pounds, 18 1/2 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
A day in the life with Mia the American Bully (Bully Pit) puppy. 32 weeks old, 59 pounds, 18 1/2 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).
32 weeks old (7 1/2 months)
If you look carefully you can see the gift Mia brought for Uncle Tim, who is an autistic man. She brought over a tree branch and gave it to him. Tim loves all of the dogs. He always lowers his head to let the dogs lick him in the face, but he does not like getting his legs licked, which Mia and Bruno love to do. We call them the leg-lickers. Uncle Tim draws the line at not only leg-licking, but when Mia tried to follow him into the bathroom with her toy, Tim kicked her out. "Hey, no! You go on out of here!" Mia wiggled her entire body at him, but she listened and backed out of the room allowing him to close the door. Good pack leader skills, Uncle Tim.
In this video Mia and Spencer lick Uncle Tim. Tim lowers his head so Spencer can lick him in the face. Mia licks his arm. Then Tim acts like a good pack leader and tells them that's enough.
The pack waits inside the van for the command to leave for our walk.
It's still morning so the heat of the day has not fully hit us. It is in the mid 70s F, but when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds it proved to be too hot for anything other than a short walk. Today was nothing compared to the hot days that lie ahead. We are going to have to stick to shaded parks.
The dogs are happy to climb back into the van, which has the AC on full blast.
Even when we are out of our normal routine, Mia adjusts to the new eating placements, which shows she did not just learn the spot to stand when she eats at home, but general feeding -time manners.
She is also learning that she must eat her normal dog food despite our special chicken or grass fed beef on top of kibble days. The days she decided not to eat her normal dog food I simply picked up her bowl when she walked away and put it in the refrigerator. She had to wait until her next meal to eat. This only had to happen a few times with me NOT adding other things to her food such as parmesan cheese, for her to realize if she was hungry she better stop holding out for something better. Yes, I was spoiling her. I had fallen victim to those eyes and those cute floppy ears and in return I was creating a problem that would have been very difficult to handle when we traveled or were otherwise pressed for time.
Mia! I thought you were the smart one. You have to back up and go around the pole. You and Bruno both do not get that concept. Spencer is the only one who actually gets it. He usually avoids poles to begin with, but when he does get caught up in a pole he knows he must back up and go around on the same side as the leash.
The kids were driving the golf cart around and stopped for a little to talk. Mia trotted over, climbed up and sat down ready for a ride.
Mia is a very social little girl. She always wants to be with people, especially small children. She can often be found following the kids around or right at my feet. When she was just a small pup I quickly learned that when I could not find Mia I often just had to look straight down.
Mia is not only submissive and friendly, but she is an awesome guard dog. She is the first to alert us if she sees someone off in the distance that does not belong. No one can sneak up on the property without her noticing and letting us know. If a new car is coming down the driveway or a person is walking across the field she will bark. Her tail and the hair on her back will go up in full alert mode.
When we walk outside she looks at us, turns back to the thing she sees and shows us what direction it is coming from.
She watches us for some kind of signal. I walked over. She looks at me and notices I am not alarmed by anything.
She looks back and her tail lowers. Things must be ok.
What Mia lacks in her eye sight, she makes up for with her awesome sense of smell and her keen hearing. Bruno will also bark if he sees things that do not belong off in the distance, but Mia seems to have more of the natural guard instinct in her. Spencer on the other hand rarely barks, but rather silently points when he sees wild animals such as the fox or a groundhog. He is usually not alarmed by humans unless the other dogs in the pack are in the process of barking. As friendly as Mia is, if there was a true threat I have no doubt that Mia would step up and defend her family as the natural guard instinct is strong within her. You can never strip a dog of its natural born instincts. Guard dogs will always have an instinct to guard just like hounds will always have an instinct to sniff things out. You can teach a dog not to bark, but you cannot remove the guard in them. The best guard dogs are the well-balanced, submissive, obedient, happy dogs who listen to commands and generally love everyone, because when there is a true threat the dog will feel it and you will know that you can trust their instincts. If someone with bad intentions were to come into the house the dogs would know, and since they are normally friendly with people we would not dsmiss what they were trying to tell us. Stephen and I were going to take a walk across the field and the kids were in the house. I had asked "Should I lock the door?" Stephen had responded "No, it will be ok. Mia is in there with them."
Mia! You were just busted with your paws up on the table stealing a pizza crust from that plate. "Hey! Get down from there!"
MIa jumped back down and looked over. She had the nerve to whine as she sat there staring at the second crust that still remained on the table. It was a complaint, a beg. Please can I eat the other piece?
"No-No!" Mia laid down. Her reaction of laying down without running away with her tail between her legs was a sign that the correction was not too much. She was not afraid, but she knew getting the crust was off limits. Walking away from the area would have been best and perhaps we should have sent her away, but laying down was acceptable.
Maybe if I just hang out on this side I can sneak back up when they are not looking. "No, No" that won't work either, you sneaky puppy. Mia looked back at me and then laid down on the other side of the table. I had said it a little more sternly this time and she didn't think about it again.
Mia! I didn't even notice that you stole the paper towel and tore it up! She must have done this deed before we caught her with her paws on the table trying to get the crust. My guess is she had jumped up onto the table to get a paper towel, as she had done so many times in the past, and realized there was somethine even better up there. Pizza crust!
Raising a Puppy: A day in the life with Mia the Blue-Nose American Bully