Pit Bulls For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Getting Started with Pit Bulls 7 Chapter 1: Pitting and Petting: The Pit Bull’s Past 9 Creating Canine Gladiators 9 Showing Off 12 Becoming America’s Sweetheart 15 Overcoming Pride and Prejudice 17 Growing in Popularity 18 The Michael Vick influence 19 The consequences of no-kill shelters 19 Breed-specific legislation 20 Finding the Middle Ground 21 Chapter 2: Sizing Up the Pit Bull 23 Toughing It Out 23 Building a Better Bulldog 24 The American Dog Breeders Association standard 25 The United Kennel Club standard 30 The American Kennel Club standard for the American Staffordshire Terrier 31 Strutting His Stuff 33 UKC conformation shows 34 AKC conformation shows 36 Chapter 3: Deciding whether a Pit Bull is Right for You 39 Making a Commitment 40 Making the Match 42 Getting to the Heart of the Matter (or Your Pit Bull) 43 Facing the Facts 45 Chapter 4: Shopping the Bull Market 53 Avoiding Bad Blood 53 Searching High and Low 54 Checking the classifieds 55 Buying from a breeder 55 Getting a dog from a shelter or rescue group 58 Checking the Bona Fidos 64 ADBA registration 65 UKC registration 65 AKC registration 66 Picking Your Pit 67 Part 2: Giving Your Pit Bull a Good Home 71 Chapter 5: Bringing Home Your New Best Friend 73 Puppy-proofing Your Home 74 Fencing In Your Pit Bull 75 Providing a Cozy Doghouse 77 Giving Your Dog a Comfortable Place to Sleep 77 Crates 78 Exercise pens 79 Shopping for Your Pit Bull 80 Toys 80 Food and water bowls 83 Collars 83 Leashes 85 Grooming supplies 86 Poop bags 87 Travel supplies 87 Chapter 6: Living with Your Pit Bull 89 Acting Like a Pit Bull in a China Shop: House Rules 89 Taking the Pit Stop Outside 90 When the Plumbing’s Broken 91 Trying Your Patience 92 Understanding Pit Talk 93 Becoming a Social Animal 95 Going to Kindergarten 97 Meeting the Children 98 Going for a Bull Run 100 Making a Splash 102 Hitting the Road 103 Finding a Pit-Sitter 107 Finding a Lost Love 108 Part 3: Training and Having Fun with Your Pit 111 Chapter 7: Coping with a Pit Bull Terrorist 113 Saving Your Home 113 Fighting Like Cats and Dogs 114 Cats 114 Dogs 115 Avoiding DogFights 117 Breaking Up a DogFight 119 Calming the Raging Bull 122 All in good fun? 122 Biting the hand that feeds 123 Dealing with Pit Bull Aggression 124 Plucking Up Courage 126 Corralling the Escape Artist 127 Digging Up Some Dirt 127 Tales from the Bark Side 128 Chapter 8: Training the Teacher’s Pit 129 Training Your Pit to Wag Her Tail 130 Working for food 131 Making ideas click quick 132 Getting the Timing Right 133 Following the Ten Commandments 134 1 Thou shalt not live in the past 134 2 Thou shalt not train your dog to be bad 134 3 Thou shalt not confuse 134 4 Thou shalt not speak in tongues 134 5 Thou shalt not use excessive force 135 6 Thou shalt not hurt thy friend 135 7 Thou shalt not beat a dead horse 135 8 Thou shalt not end on a low note 135 9 Thou shalt not go crazy 136 10 Thou shalt not lose your patience 136 Going to School 136 Getting the Right Stuff 137 Starting Basic Training 138 Coming to terms 138 Sitting bull 140 Staying power 141 Learning ups and downs 141 Walking well-heeled 141 Trying Every Trick in the Book 143 Chapter 9: Going Out to the Bull Games 145 Pulling His Weight and More 146 Training to pull 146 Becoming a S.T.A.R. 148 Being a Good Citizen 149 Staying in Step with Obedience and Rally 149 Overcoming Obstacles 151 Following His Nose 152 Getting a Grip on Schutzhund 152 Rounding Up a Herding Title 153 Taking a Flying Leap 154 Racing the Clock 154 Part 4: Keeping Your Pit Bull Healthy 155 Chapter 10: Feeding a Bottomless Pit 157 Starting with Dry or Moist Foods 158 Considering Raw 160 Boning Up on Nutrition 161 Eschewing the fat 162 Skin and bones 163 Feeding Time 164 Keeping Your Dog Hydrated 164 Chapter 11: Primping Your Pit Bull 165 Taking Your Pit to the Cleaners 165 Smelling Like a Rose 167 Debugging Your Dog 168 Making fleas flee 168 Ticking off ticks 168 Managing mange 169 Losing those lousy lice 170 Saving Your Dog’s Skin 170 Scratching the surface of allergic itching 170 Pyoderma and impetigo 171 Cooling down hot spots 171 Nailing Down Nail Care 172 Going in One Ear and Cleaning Out the Other 172 Keeping an Eye on the Bull’s Eye 174 Keeping Your Dog Armed to the Teeth 176 Chapter 12: A Clean Bull of Health 179 Examining Your Pit Bull 179 Gums 181 Body temperature 182 Pulse, heartbeat, and breathing rate 182 Establishing a Relationship with a Vet You Trust 183 Making Sense of Blood Tests 184 Giving Your Dog Medicine 185 Staying Up to Date on Your Dog’s Vaccinations 187 Puppy vaccinations 187 Rabies 188 Distemper 188 Hepatitis 188 Leptospirosis 189 Parvovirus 189 Coronavirus 189 Tracheobronchitis (kennel cough) 189 Lyme disease 190 Keeping Your Pit Free of Worms 190 Ascarids 191 Hookworms 191 Whipworms 192 Tapeworms 192 More worms 192 Dealing with Intestinal Parasites 193 Coccidia 193 Giardia 193 Preventing Heartworm 194 Chapter 13: Sick as a Dog 195 When Your Dog Just Isn’t Himself 195 Dealing with Diarrhea 196 Saying Vamoose to Vomiting 197 Coping with Coughing 198 Helping Your Dog with Urinary Problems 199 Understanding Endocrine Disorders 200 Hypothyroidism 200 Cushing’s syndrome 200 Investigating Immunological Problems 200 Banishing Blood Parasites 201 Ehrlichiosis 201 Babesia 201 Coping with Cancer 202 Looking into Lameness 202 An arm and a leg 203 From the hip 204 Doctoring Your Dog 206 Holistic medicine 206 Homeopathic medicine 206 Herbology 206 Chiropractic medicine 207 Acupuncture 207 Trying Home Remedies 207 Chapter 14: Pit Bull First Aid 209 ABCs of First Aid 211 Artificial respiration 211 CPR 212 Specific Emergencies 213 Poisoning 213 Seizures 215 Heat stroke 216 Hypothermia 216 Bleeding 217 Limb fractures 217 Bloat (gastric torsion, gastric dilatation-volvulus) 218 Insect stings and allergic reactions 218 Snakebite 219 Burns 219 Electrical shock 219 Chapter 15: Helping Your Dog Age Well 221 Eat and Run 222 Act Your Age 223 When You’ve Done Everything 225 Eternally in Your Heart 226 Part 5: The Part of Tens 227 Chapter 16: Ten Pit Bull Resources 229 Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Help the Pit Bull’s Reputation 233 Index 237