Bunny or bunneh?

[azurelunatic]

http://www.livejournal.com/community/nanowrimo/1066725.html

I seem to have a NaNoWriMo bunny ready to go. Before November, I need to do the following:

• Get Crossover to a point where I can ditch out for a month


• Research all I can on pit bulls, including their proper care, feeding, and training, their historical background, and the nasty business of raising them to fight and the culture around dog fights


• Read up on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the real history. Both.

The Little Fayoumis and Sis are providing the skeleton for Julian and Mom. I'm not sure where Uncle Marcus is coming from, yet, but he's starting to look like himself. Maybe he's coming out of the Before.

Comments

[moniqueleigh]

If you need any help with the pitties, let me know. My parents had a couple of them when I was young. If trained properly (like any other dog), they're the most wonderful, loyal, loving dogs you could ever have. I miss my 70-lb lap dog. *sad smile* Little Bit came to us as a teeny puppy & never quite twigged to the fact that his full-grown self was a mite too heavy to be draped across my legs.....

[azurelunatic]

Any anecdotes about the breed that you have would be excellent. I've never lived with a dog, I've never been introduced to a pit bull to remember, and I'm trying to write a novel that involves taking one in. Heh.

Do you have any website recommendations on home dog training?

[moniqueleigh]

I need to see if the folks have any pics of our Pits. I really haven't checked sites for Pit info since we haven't room for a dog just now (other than the roomies' dog). Next time I talk to my folks, I'll ask if they've seen any good sites/books.

Dunno if it's true of all Pits or just ours, but Little Bit was ferociously racist. For some reason (remember, we got him as a puppy), he decided that people with dark skin were "Not Trusted." I remember once when a car full of black boys (mostly teens IIRC) drove up to the house asking for directions. Little Bit went tearing around the yard & tried to climb in the car with the boys! Poor kids! They were scared witless (probably were raised on stories of "mean bulldogs") -- tried to roll up the window with the dog trying to eat them.... Thank goodness my dad was able to haul him out of the car.

But Little Bit was scary to white folks too. My grandparents wouldn't get out of their car unless my parents or myself were there to hold off the dog. He knew who they were & really just wanted to love on them, but he was Not a Small Dog. :) Hee!

Ooo! He was very smart, though! My parents live beside a fairly busy state highway, with a rather sudden drop from a hill at the south end of their yard. Log trucks, etc., often come barreling down that road, & Little Bit always looked both ways (twice to the south) before crossing the road. :)

He hated my little brother though. I think we got LB when I was 4 or 5. Bill was born a few months after I turned 7, so as far as the dog was concerned, Bill was sort of an intruder into our family. Didn't help that Bill tried to beat the dog with a large stick on more than one occasion... Stupid little brothers. Yes, I sided with the dog. *nods*

He would guard the door outside Mum's bedroom until Daddy got home if Dad were out late (hunting or whatever). As soon as Daddy got home, Little Bit would trundle off to the barn.

That's about all I can think of just now, but feel free to ask any questions. You'll probably spark more memories.

[azurelunatic]

Was he woofy? Slobber a lot? Tear up the house? If taking him on walks, did he walk along briskly, loiter, or run so fast you'd be dragged if you didn't run to catch up?

[moniqueleigh]

For these sorts of questions, you'd probably need to talk to a pit owner who lives/lived in town instead of in the boonies. :)

He was very vocal when non-immediate-family drove up, more-so if they weren't extended family. He was totally an outside dog, so not so much on tearing up the house. I seem to recall he did slobber a bit, not like the dog in Turner & Hooch, but more than dogs that don't have jowls like Pits.

We lived out in the back of beyond, so there really was no need to take him on walks. My parents' yard isn't fenced: they're surrounded on 3 sides by woods & across the highway (4th side) are more woods. But if you went walking & the dog decided to come with, it was sort of a mixed bag whether he'd dawdle behind, follow right alongside, or run ahead.

[moniqueleigh]

I wanted to give you a better idea of where I grew up, but my parents' address isn't available via Google Maps. Instead, I give you their town. Their house is roughly 3 miles north of town.

[moniqueleigh]

Ooo! And somebody on baaaaabyanimals has a Pit. I'll link you to her most recent post so you can also squee over the cute puppy!
Bailey

[nilo.livejournal.com]

Are you going to be opening a dog ring???

[azurelunatic]

Nope! But my protagonist is going to be raining on the parade of one, causing them to come after him in a most unfriendly manner.