I haven't blogged about Muncie and his training in a long time (I know I've been bad). He has come a long way since the last time I posted and I am so very proud of him. He is still afraid of dogs but he's snarking a whole lot less and his recovery time is so much faster. He will even look at other dogs with interest now, rather than fear.

His trainer took him off the Halti/Gentle Leader (over the snout) harnesses a few months ago and put him in a regular walking harness with a martingale collar. This has really helped his recovery time. Here he is walking with his trainer, sporting his new red harness (goes good with his yellow, orange and red bandanna don'tcha think?) Too bad I can't walk that relaxed with him.

Alas; it is still me who is Muncie's biggest problem! If only I could learn to relax and not panic when I see another dog coming our way. I need to stop putting a death grip on his leash because that is nothing but a signal to him that he needs to go into panic mode. Thank God his wonderful trainer is a patient person. :-)

Muncie's Training Journal

Or maybe a better name would be "My Behavior Modification". The "Click to Calm ~ Healing the Aggressive Dog" book I got for my birthday (Thanks Karen) recommends keeping a journal, so here is mine.

Meet Muncie, cute isn't he? He has papers that say he is a purebred American Pit Bull Terrier but something about him is "off". He's features speak of a mixed breeding; he's eyes are round and kind of buggy (not almond shaped like an APBT), his head isn't quite that wedge shape, the ears are too short and his neck is too long. His paws, oh his paws they are not short and compact like a Pit Bulls. No, the toes are long and thin. Can you guess what he might be mixed with? Here's a hint, his breeder also bred Chihuahuas. Yep, I suspect what I've got here is a purebred Chia-Pit; while I've got a dog the size of a Pit Bull he has the personality of a Chihuahua and he has aggression issues.

His displays of aggression have always been towards other dogs (that's the Pit Bull in him) but they stem from fear (and that's the Chihuahua); they are downright ugly at times. A 60 pound dog lunging and snarling is never a pretty sight, in public where I'm trying to change the image of the Pit Bull into a positive one, it's worse. Lucky for both Muncie and me; we have a wonderful trainer. Karen Pearce, she's been training for some 30 odd years or so (dogs, horses, you name it she can probably train it). She has a gift and I'm thankful that she's here to guide me through this.

What is a MARbullS

I suppose an explanation of the title of my blog would be a good idea. Especially if someone happens to stumble across it and wonders what it means.

So what is a MARbullS?

MARbullS (noun): Middle-Aged Rebel bull breed Supporters

It started out as a joke by one of the younger members of our dog club; but the name stuck and now many are proud to be called MARbullS.

Course it is sort of a rite of passage since in order to become a MARbullS you have to be 40 or older. Strange though; I noticed that the MARbullS are the ones with all the good ideas on how to make our club run better and run it they do. Meanwhile the younger crowd just sits back and follows along.

Funny how that works!

My first post!

Okay, so I was surfing the web this morning. Looking up Pit Bull information and I came across someone else's blog. I thought to myself; I should start a blog. I mean why not everyone else has one, right?

So here I am with my own blog now. Welcome to all who stumble across it.