ricey

the more I understand about humans, the more I love my dog (all dogs, big, small, purebred, mongrels, smelly, clean, hyper, chilled, focused, scattered, calm, anxious; yep, all dogs). Just so much better behaved than a lot of humans. I guess I'm just a misanthrope, but I'd much prefer to spend quality time with a dog. Dogs have no shit, no agenda, just want a fun time. And they trust us....

Yeah, just had a really close look at Keisha's sterilization certificate. The date is 20/08/2013, not 2008. However, as she was at minimum 18 months when she was sterilized, that still makes her 12 years old. Plus, she is doing fine; just got her latest blood tests back: liver- fine; pancreas- fine; kidneys- fine; RBC count- fine; white blood cell count- fine. My vet checked her HR, temp, resp rate, auscultated her, and palpated her abdomen; all fine. What can I say, except that a boy loves his dog.

14 months now since Keisha was given 1 to 2 months to live. Still going strong. Just had a look at her microchip certificate; it lists Keisha's birth date as 15/08/2009. If that is correct, that means that Keisha is one month shy of being 14 years old. She certainly does not look like she is fixing to die anytime soon. Love this dog more than any of you could possibly imagine (but I guess all of us dog folk do recognise how much we love our dogs). ricey

Hey all, thank you all for your messages. Keisha is still with us and going strong. It is now 5 months since her splenectomy, and she is still prancing about like a pup. I just bought another 3 months' worth of pig's ears and raw hide chews. Perhaps she will die tomorrow but I am an optimist. Go girl! Love you to bits! ricey

Keisha had her spleen removed 4 weeks ago. She had a haemangiosarcoma that ruptured, causing a big intra-abdominal bleed. She survived the bleed, and the surgery. A week after the splenectomy, she chased and caught a big black rat in the backyard. Phuck I love this dog! There's nothing like an old family red American Pitbull terrier when it comes to indomitable. But, she is not indomitable this time. Dogs just don't come back from haemangiosarcoma. Best guess is she has 1 or 2 months at most. The usual story is that she will get a secondary in her heart, liver or lungs. This will rupture, causing a catastrophic and fatal bleed. However, at the moment she is frolicking about like 6 month old puppy. Jo and I are taking as much pleasure as we can with Keisha as she is right now. Previously I had made sure to keep her weight at 33kg, but that is not important now. Now is the time for kangaroo liver treats and pig ear chews. A few of my favourite quotes: "Do you know what love is? Sure I know; a boy loves his dog" "Beware of pitbulls; they will steal your heart" "American Pitbull terrier; anything else is just a dog" I am dying inside right now; this dog brought me back from the brink and I really don't know how I am going to cope without her

thanks for the suggestion of cemetaries; there is one around 4 kilometres away, and also Perth's main cemetery (Karrakatta) that is about 10k away. A nice stroll through Karrakatta, visit and tend the graves of a few old friends who will never grow old sounds rather charming (and Keisha will love the new smells). But I won't be able to let her off-leash; I tried for 3 months to get her used to wearing a Baskerville Ultra Muzzle, with no success. ricey

Yes, i have hired the the private dog exercise area at Morley Vet a couple of times (Morley Vet is my vet of choice, Dr Rodney Sundra is Keisha's vet). Both times, Keisha just stayed by my side and sniffed the dog smells and had her tale between her legs. I guess she was overwhelmed by all the dog smells, much more so than when we are out on walks. At the Morley vet dog exercise area I had her favourite chew toy with us and I tried to get her excited with it by dangling it under her nose and amping her up, then throwing it. She wasn't having any of that, just stayed glued to my side with her tale between her legs. One of the few places that she seems comfortable with is the Bayswater community garden, which is fully fenced, but right next door to the Frank Drago soccer grounds which is an off-lead dog exercise area. Funny thing is, there can be dogs in the soccer grounds barking at her but Keisha doesn't seem upset by them. I guess spending so much time in kennels she has realised that dogs can't get to her through Cyclone fencing. ricey

My lovely girl Keisha is an 11 year old spayed old family red APBT; she has been with me for 4 years. When I adopted her, I knew some of her back story (and it wasn't real pretty). Keisha had been in and out of dog refuges since she was 18 months old, and had a long list of failed foster homes and at least 2 failed adoptions. One of those failed adoptions was by a young dickhead male who got her into fights with other dogs; "my dog is tougher than your dog" scenarios. Yeah, so she has a lot of mental scars, and some physical ones as well. Fortunately, the dog rescue got wind of Keisha's situation and compulsorily "re-acquired" her. When I adopted her, Keisha had been in kennels for months. There aren't a lot of a lot of people who want to foster a fear-aggressive dog that can't be socialised with other dogs. However, Keisha is the most lovely of dogs with humans and people comment on how calm and relaxed she is in my backyard. We have hosted parties and other events and Keisha has been perfectly behaved, especially with children. My 95 year old mother-in-law who lives with us adores Keisha, and it is reciprocated. But.... She is not real good around other dogs and that limits where and how I can exercise her. I have found a few fenced areas where I can safely let her off lead, but these are not always available. My backyard is quite big, but not as big as your typical off-lead dog exercise area. So, any suggestions as to how I am going to exercise this athlete of a dog? I have used my nearby light industrial area for walking (no dogs there, and the couple of guard dogs are easy to avoid). I've used multi story car parks (again, no dogs there and any that are, are locked in cars). Oh, and I have accessed a respected and competent dog behaviorist to assess Keisha, and was told that these behaviours have been so well entrenched that it would be very difficult to ameliorate them. Regards, ricey

I use a Black dog front attach harness when walking Keisha (rescue American Pitbull terrier, 32 kg). After having spinal surgery 4 years ago, I really could not have coped without the Black dog harness, and I am just so happy that my dog behaviourist (Danielle Breusche) clued me up about them. Both of us (Keisha and me) are so much happier on our walks.

Hi sandgrubber, I read (and re-read) the whole article referred to in your original post and I thank you for posting it. Although I am heavily involved in dog rescue, I have never been comfortable with the rescue mantra of "early spay and neuter is mandatory". One size does not fit all, and it would seem that there is good scientific evidence that early neutering can be harmful. While I agree that spay and neuter programmes do a lot to limit the exponential increase in unwanted dogs, I don't want the remaining dogs to suffer unnecessary repercussions from too early neutering. I expect that I will be flamed by my rescue colleagues for questioning mandatory early spay and neutering, but that's to be expected. I have wanted an intact male American Pitbull Terrier puppy for some time now (I have no intention or desire to breed from this puppy, just a desire to keep it intact for health reasons). The registered breeders of any breed can handle intact male and female dogs without (mostly anyway ) unwanted litters and I am sure that I can too. Cheers, ricey

Cream kelpie cross is what sprang to my mind. I'd suggest that she would be best registered as a kelpie cross, for her safety's sake. If she is part dingo (and she looks quite a lot different to all the dingos I have met- all 4 of them lol), I'd suggest that it is a very small part of her that is dingo. Do a google on cream kelpies (images); you'd see a lot of dogs that look like your girl. Of course, there is more than a touch of dingo in kelpie blood lines anyway... There is also a post topic on DOL that is titled "How to tell if your dog is a dingo?" which quickly became a bun fight; here's the link Cheers, ricey p.s. enjoy your dog, as it matters little what she is or isn't (until the dangerous dog Nazis decide she is a restricted breed, and come knocking at your door)

My girl Keisha is a 9 year old rescue old family red nose American Pit Bull Terrier; these dogs are known for their allergies. I tried for 2 years to keep her allergies under control by washing her weekly with Aromesse Dermacton shampoo bar. This worked to a degree, but never really fixed the problem. I removed chicken from her diet and this helped a little bit. I put her on a single protein diet, feeding her Prime100 SK-D Kangaroo and Pumpkin and this helped a lot. However, she was still chewing at her butt and paws, and her armpits were still red and sometimes raw. I finally gave up and spoke to my vet about Apoquel. He advised me that cytopoint injections would be a better option. As I trust my vet completely, I had Keisha have her first cytopoint injection. The next day, the redness was gone and she stopped chewing her butt and paws. My oh my, she was so much happier and relaxed and comfortable. This lasted for 7 weeks until she started chewing her butt again so I took her to the vet for a second cytopoint injection. Same story; the next day the redness was gone and she wasn't chewing her butt. I am ok about having Keisha injected with cytopoint every 6 to 7 weeks in spring and summer (her allergies usually settle in autumn and winter). Cytopoint is not cheap; approximately $155 per injection. With your dog, an injection might only last for 4 weeks, so that's nearly $40 per week. I have been lucky with Keisha in that each injection lasts 7 weeks (8 weeks is a max). If I need to have her injected 3 to 4 times a year, I am happy with that. The improvement in her quality of life is worth it. Cheers, ricey

Yes, Ivy is a goddess and I worship her still. Ivy arranged (and paid) for so many eastern state Pit bulls to be rehomed in WA when the anti pit bull madness struck Victoria, NSW and Queensland. Ivy will never get a mention in the Australia day honours list for her work, but shit she deserves to.

Hi juice, was this dog one of the ones that came through my yard on the way to Ivy in Kalgoorlie? If he was, then he was and is still safe. Cheers, ricey