For those of you who may not know, I'm the proud owner of a pit bull. Almost everytime I say what breed of dog I own, I have to defend my choice because these dogs get a pretty bad rap. But I'm okay with that because I know what a loving dog she is. Completely useless as a guard dog but a fantastic family dog!
Anyways, my husband and I are rat-sitting this weekend because my mother-in-law doesn't want rats in her house. They're fancy rats that you buy at the pet store. They're kinda pretty. One's white and black, the other one is white and brown. But they're still rats. So you'd think that my "vicious" pitbull would be eyeing them, sniffing them, trying to get at them or whatever. Nope! She takes one whiff of those things and bolts to the other room. My 50lb pitbull was afraid of little 1lb rats. It was absolutely hilarious to see.

That's quite the lovely canine you've got there. I've always been a Pit Bull fan - I admit more for their looks than anything. They're just the right size, with short coats that don't need expensive grooming, and a strong, stout build. Once you get past their beautiful appearance, they reel you in with their warm, loyal personalities. It saddens me the entire breed has suffered a bad reputation at the hands of a few idiots who put the dog's best interest aside in favor of cruel (and illegal) activities. Left to it's own devices, the breed makes a wonderful family dog, as your situation obviously attests to. But people are easily hood winked by the media which has done nothing but perpetuate senseless fear of the Pit Bull - hence you're need to constantly explain yourself.

I was once in a similar situation with a Rottweiler I owned for several years, bless her soul. She only had one eye, which didn't help folks get past their irrational fear of her. She was an excellent guard dog who kept an "eye" on the place, but overall was a great big clown that got along well with everyone. Other than foster dogs, I still haven't found a permanent replacement for her.

I don't know where the rat attraction comes from, but my sister keeps them as pets too. I suppose they're ok if you can't keep a dog or cat for whatever reason, but they're personally not my cup of tea. She even goes so far as to cremate them as soon as they die, which happens after a few years, and no sooner are they cold than she goes out and purchases another one. Photographs of said rats are framed and hung on the walls, and urns of their created remains adorn her mantle. Perhaps she was a rat in a former life?

Pitbulls are great, i think.

Personally - I have a Schäfer (or however you get those "Æ's" working).
I don't have a picture of him, but we call him Kastro, he's about 7 (HUMAN) years old. So quite old.

I'll post up sometime.

Nice looking dog. I have no problem with pits. It's those dang Chihuahua's ya gotta watch out for, those little ankle biters will eat ya alive!
Since you are from California, are you aware of the new law they are trying to pass about all pets over 4 months of age have to be spayed?

Now rats, no way. Sorry. Vermin.

Hey,

I quite like pit bulls. One of my dad's pals was a dog breeder so I have seen a lot of dogs in his home. He had a pedigree pit bull and 7 Rhodesian ridgebacks at his place...And he had horses, dobermans, great danes and Rottweilers at his summer house.....

I used to wonder on how he would maintain his dogs until I visited him. His home is set in a forest and his summer home is at the outskirts of the forest while the residence is inside the forest.

Now he has only 7 dogs left. A beagle, a Dane, a doberman, labrador and a few strays.

I have 2 strays one is a dalmation mix and the other is supposed to be a fox terrier mix

Pit bulls are very ferocious but I have seen the most darling of pit bulls and dobermans including a doberman named daisy. The dog breeder I was talking about was bitten by his pit bull and had to take stitches but he still kept the dog and loved him till the dog got old and died

Heh, I've gotta agree with you there sheepdog, I can't stand little yappy dogs. I did hear about the bill they're trying to pass since I subscribe to a pitbull rescue newsletter. It's kinda hard for me to decide whether I'm for it or against it since I can see both sides of the issue. On one hand, the pound and humane society are filled with stray dogs and other animals that will be euthanized if they can't find a home simply because someone didn't want to spend the extra money to get their dog or cat snipped. I think that breeders and trainers will have to apply for exclusion priviledges which might prevent backyard breeders and puppy mills. On the other hand, I think the cat population problem is 10x worse, and there's no law in effect for them. The law doesn't give exclusion to working dogs and their owners, who mostly can't afford going to a breeder. That's the other thing, if specific people have exclusive rights to breeding, then the price will skyrocket, especially if there's less selection at the pound. I'm lucky that my dog was spayed before we got her, but I would have done it anyways. As much as I love her, I can only deal with one dog at a time right now, maybe two, and I would have hated having to give away her puppies, especially considering how misunderstood and misused her breed has become.
As for the rats, well... they're supposed to be really intelligent. I know my neice would love having something bigger, but my sister-in-law lives in an apartment, so their choices are limited. We got her a hampster a few years ago, but it only lasted about 7 months before it died. She's had Nibble, the black and white rat, for a couple years now and Princess is probably a year or a year and a half. They're kinda fun to watch and Nibble will actually come when my neice calls her. I just try to think of them as mice with pointier noses and longer tails. The secret of NIMH has become a favorite movie and we've already bought tickets to watch Ratatouille at the El Capitan.

"It's kinda hard for me to decide whether I'm for it or against it since I can see both sides of the issue."

Yes, I do understand what you mean. If I look at this in the short term, in many ways it would be good for me as a breeder, cutting down on back yard breeders and the scads of poor quality pups they produce, either accidentally or on purpose. Especially since I have to take the blame for all the mistakes they make. But I have to look at the big picture. With the starting of restrictions on one person's right to breed their dog come, more restrictions will soon follow. Very soon almost no one will be allowed to breed dogs.

The big problem with this bill is that it simply will not work. The people that are causing the shelters to fill up are not the kind of people that are going to abide by this law. It's just going to make it harder for ethical breeders and those who abide by the rules to continue to breed. Not to mention the infringments it will make on your rights to privacy, personal property rights, and other freedoms. Imagine how it will feel when the doggie police come knocking on your door demanding to be allowed in your home to inspect your dog!

And what happens if it did work (which it won't) when so much breeding is restricted, and dogs become difficult to get? First off, prices will go through the roof. And when breeding can't be done in this country, you better believe dog breeders in other countries will be happy to ship them here by the boat load. With all the screams about puppy mills here in the states, can you even begin to imagine the animal suffering if China is allowed to mass market dogs???? There is no way the Chinese government will step up and regulate the industry like the USDA does in this country. They can't even protect their own humans and young children in sweat shops in those countries.

Why go as far as China? One of the local news stations did an expose of puppy mills in Mexico. I guess it's for the people who are even too cheap to buy a dog from one of the many local backyard breeders. I, unfortunately, know several people who paid over $1000 for their dogs and figured that if they were stupid enough to pay that much for a dog, then there have to be other people out there who are willing to do that too. Not that some dogs aren't worth that much, but if you're just looking for a housepet and really don't care about lineage or specific traits and appearance, then there's really no need to buy from a breeder. My cousin got his Great Danes from a show dog breeder, but they weren't the right color, so she knocked a couple hundred off the price. He was glad because he just wanted some Great Danes and they're kinda difficult to locate at nearby shelters in his area. But he would have been just as happy to get his dog from a rescue site.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's the kind of law that really only applies to people that follow the law. And the people that don't follow the law won't be the ones suffering under it. They'll be raking in the dough from inflated prices, just like the Mob did during Prohibition. It saddens me to think of what people will do for greed.