Raising a Puppy: Mia the Blue-Nose American Bully Pit—39 weeks old

A day in the life with Mia the American Bully (Bully Pit) puppy. 39 weeks old, 67 pounds, 18 1/2 inches from the ground to the highest point of the shoulders (the withers).

A happy looking, thick blue nose American Bully Pit is sitting in grass and looking forward. Her mouth is open and tongue is out. It looks like she is smiling.

39 weeks old (9 months)

Bone Stealing

The face of a blue nose American Bully Pit is looking back. There is a brown brindle Boxer laying down on a dog bed and he is chewing a bone. They are on the porch of a log cabin.

You're not going to let me take his bone, are you mamma?

Store Manners

A blue nose American Bully Pit and a blue nose Pit Bull Terrier are digging there noses in a shelf of bones at a store.

Hey pups, that is what we call bad store manners.

A blue nose American Bully Pit and a brown brindle Boxer are digging into a shelf at a store.

Get your noses out of there.

A blue nose American Bully Pit is sniffing a bottom shelf of dog bones. There is a brown brindle Boxer looking up at the second shelf.

Uh guys, mom wants us to stop sniffing out the bones.

Practicing Food Respect

Mia needed practice at only eating her own pile when given the "get it" command. She is getting pretty good at it. It not only requires will-power, but a higher level of respect for the humans and the other dogs. It also reenforces the fact that she is not the ruler of the home. She does not get to make the call of who gets to eat what.

Three Dogs are sitting on a hardwood floor and they are looking forward.

Wait....

Three Dogs are standing on a hardwood floor and they are eating treats off of a floor.

Get it....

A blue nose American Bully Pit and a blue nose Pit Bull Terrier are sitting on a wooden porch and there are treats in front of them.

A blue nose American Bully Pit, a blue nose Pit Bull Terrier and a brown and black with white Boxer are standing in a parking lot. There mouths are open and there tongues are out.

Wait...

A blue nose American Bully Pit, a blue nose Pit Bull Terrier and a brown brindle Boxer are eating treats off of a wooden porch.

Get it... When the dogs are finished their pile they are not permitted to nose over into the other dog's space.

Three dogs are sitting in front of a girl in a purple dress.

Sitting pretty for a treat, waiting for a command.

Grooming the Pack

Mia is always cleaning her pack, humans and dogs alike. This video shows her cleaning Bruno the Boxer and then Spencer the American Pit Bull until I am busted with the camera. The manorisms she uses when cleaning her back are very submissive.

Out and About

A thick-bodied blue nose American Bully Pit is sitting on a rock and she is looking back. Her mouth is open and her tongue is out.

Happy on a hike

A blue nose American Bully Pit is standing in grass. She has her mouth open and her tongue is out. There are a lot of people and a body of water in the background.

Taking a walk at the park, Mia has learned to take all of the noises and activity in stride. Another dog owner brings over a red-nose American Pit Bull Terrier puppy to see her. Mia play bows at it, wagging her tail trying to get it to play with her. Silly Mia, you pups are on a leash. There are leash laws here. You will have to just say hello this time.

Poor Eyesight and the Unknown

A blue nose American Bully Pit is sniffing a fallen over fish tank on a hardwood floor.

Sara's 5-year-old betta fish had saddly passed away. She kept the tank in her bedroom upstairs. Mia is not allowed up there so she had never seen the fish or the tank before. The empty tank was now sitting on the dining room table. Sara had cleaned it out, but it still smelled a bit fishy. Mia had walked into the room, smelled the air, spotted the tank and began to bark at it. Her eyesight is very poor, but her sense of smell is very keen. She reacted by growling and barking. Not a reaction I like. "Hey, NO, come." I call her over in my momma bear voice and she lowers her head and walks slowly over to sniff it out.

Top down view of a blue nose American Bully Pit digging her nose into a tank.

Mia uses her nose to see what her eyes cannot. Her barking could very easily be misunderstood as aggression and therefore it is a reaction I am trying to train out of her. Barking and even growling is not always caused by aggression, but is very often confused as such. Mia does not bark at all unknown things. I take her all over the place and she sees all kinds of things for the first time, which she takes in stride. She is not a skittish dog. However, some things cause her to be wary, such as the glow in the dark skull with black eyes staring at her and the strong fishy tank where the fish had just passed away. She reacts with barking and even growling at it until she can will herself close enough to use her nose to see what it really is. I am careful not to sweet talk her when she does this as I do not want to tell her I like her reaction. I calmly and firmly encourage her to come investigate whatever it is. I am going to pay close attention to see what makes her react like this, but so far it seems she only does it at home when something new and in her eyes, creepy, appears. She has a strong guard dog instinct and she seems to be letting us know something is not right in the home.

A blue nose American Bully Pit is sitting on a hardwood floor and she is looking at a right side up clear plastic fish tank. The lid to the tank is on the floor next to her.

After Mia was able to check the fishy-smelling tank out with her nose she accepted it.

Puppy No-nos

A chewed up cardboard box on a hardwood floor.

I had to take the van (AKA Puppy-Mobile) in for routine service. The pups had to stay home. It didn't take long to drop off the van and get a rental for the day. When I got home a short time later I found a cardboard box that I had meant to take out to the trash all chewed up. I have no proof which dog did the bad deed, but my money is on Mia.

Raising a Puppy: A day in the life with Mia the Blue-Nose American Bully