#pitskys

[thinmintoreos]

Tried to draw my pup once

[marshbarks]

my dog is so good at being mildly inconvenienced and looking at me like i just personally wronged him AND called him a slur. like... no... i asked you to get off the blanket so i could fix it because your silly ass was sliding off the bed and you were about to fall

[kawikalo]

Well, it's been over a year since my last post. I never got my gf to make me my superman embroidered cap. I read her the post and maybe, just maybe, she'll do it this time. I'll update you in about 12 to 13 months. Check post: (https://www.tumblr.com/kawikalo/726431759620866048/wed-aug-23-2023?source=share)

I just put my christmas tree last night along with the lights. It's not complete, we're still deciding on this year's "theme". This is my Pitsky, Gandalf the Grey who loves sitting around the tree and just look at the lights blink.

[dreammcatcherr]

Here's my dogs.

Love them. LOVE THEM.

[riveraphotoblog]

Doja

[atrophyofc]

I love Marco so much, he may not chew down a rawhide as quick as Baby, he’s a little hyper too but oh man, he loves as much as Baby did and demands my attention.

[hockeymusicmore]

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[pomegranateseptember]

Fun fact:

The twins are Siberian husky pit mixes.

Siberian huskies are known to be aloof and not the most obedient pups around.

They don't really that much care about making you happy or getting praise.

"good boy" and "good girl" are just things you say from time to time.

So, when they do something that pleases you, listening and actually doing it, how do you let them know you appreciate it?

I don't know what anyone else does but I've just started saying thank you.

See, when looking up things about the breed, I realized that, with dogs especially, intelligence is equated with obedience and especially trainability. Any article will tell you they're great at finding trouble to get into, they find limitations to be just another fun challenge, outwitting you and the steps you take to keep them safe is a blast.

But they aren't the most obedient dogs.

Evidently a husky trait is to decide whether a person is worthy of their respect. And they don't always have the same respect for every member of the house either. (ask me how I know) Given that, if they don't respect you, they won't listen to you, or especially be in any way obedient, and not caring about your opinion contributes to that.

If they decide that you are worthy of respect, hey, congratulations! You have a dog who will acknowledge you when you speak to them!

I don't mean that sarcastically, that's a great thing.

We, and by we I mean I, had to establish more of a pack dynamic with my dogs, especially after we got the second of the twins. Peanut butter adapted pretty well, he and fluff became fast friends, and staffie was pretty accepting of them and their shenanigans. But when cocoa came into the picture...

Let's just say her previous homelife left a lot to be desired.

She didn't get a lot of affection, there wasn't really any one-on-one attention, absolutely no training because they were outdoor dogs, and feeding time? Free-for-all that had no structure or boundaries.

We adopted her at 4 months and a few days, but 5 weeks after we adopted her brother peanut butter. They recognized each other immediately, which was fantastic, and they both loved that they had a real sibling to play with. But feeding was annoying, mostly because she was aggressive, possessive, and jumpy. She inhaled her food then would try to get into the other dogs' bowls because she had been raised in an "eat as much as you can now" environment.

I don't place harsh blame for that on the people we got her from. That was a litter of like 10 pups and they did not think their girl was pregnant, so the pups were a surprise they weren't prepared to deal with. They did the best they could with the circumstances, and although they could have done better, ten pups when you'd only had one dog before is a lot.

(I came from a family who occasionally bred walker coon hounds, I've dealt with litters of pups many times. Imagine having fifteen and every single one of them surviving, which is *always fantastic*, and having them all for 6 months! I appreciate how much those people did for the pups, especially since it was an unexpected litter)

It took several weeks for cocoa to understand that she wasn't losing any food during meal times. It took a few months for her body to adjust to that. After that was straightened out for her, she got to where, sometimes, she'd just nibble at her food, not finish it, even if she was in the middle of a growth spurt, because she knew she got fed twice a day, no matter what.

As for establishing a pack dynamic, that was easy. Give her the most affection for a few days, make sure she sees that she is the most important four legged fur baby in the house, and voilà, mom is the best person ever. I get nibbles and hugs and cuddles whether I want them or not, and she figured out how to tickle me.

Yes, my husky pup can tickle me, and she finds it hilarious.

She's a brat of epic proportions.

She's 55 pounds of fun and mischief in a chocolate wolf package.

And while she may not always be a good girl, she is very loved and very appreciated.

With their attitudes, they don't care if they're a good boy or good girl, and those just seem to make them want to find trouble. Maybe it's manipulative (it is)

Anyway, equating intelligence to obedience is a dumb thing to do and I won't let anyone tell me my dogs are dumb or stupid just because they'd fail every single obedience course and laugh about it. When they listen to me and especially do what I ask or tell them to, I say thank you. I appreciate that they're listening to me and that gets a much better response than "good girl" or "good boy" ever has.

Oh, and as for respect and mischief? Perfect example: hub told peanut butter "paw", and peanut butter looked at him like he was the craziest thing he'd ever seen. He got down and came over to see me. I had taught him "paw" before and decided to be a bit of a bitch about it, uh, er, I mean, I decided to show him no, peanut butter isn't dumb. I pat my palm and said "paw", pat my palm again, and peanut butter put his ENTIRE FRONT LEG on my hand, then looked at hub with a hilariously smug grin.

I laughed my ass off 🤣

[but-i-might]

In case anyone wondered how big kilo is now

[hemlock-reads]

Thinking about readerdoghybrid having extreme inter-dog hybrid aggression due to being rescued from a tortuous life of dog fighting. Your body being riddled with scars. A pitsky (pit bull and Siberian husky mix) hybrid. Thankfully your tail and ears hadn’t been touched. Though half of one of your cute hears was bitten. Leaving you will a chewed up looking scar.

John price had brought you home from a rescue. The staff warning about your aggression towards people and especially other hybrids. Telling him that you were to be put down due to your behavior.

John came to find out that you could still live with people. He just had to gain your trust. Had to treat you with softness and kindness you deserved. After a few months of “training” and love. You were happy as you have ever been.

You spoke more often. Your thoughts spilling out of your mouth. You were an intelligent hybrid. You thought everything was finally going to be okay…

Until two years later, john decided to buy three more dog hybrids. What could go wrong?

[heart-of-copper-dog-training]

Purebreed vs Rescue

A common debate among the dog loving community is purebred dogs vs rescues. Several things contribute to this and of course I'm going to talk about my own opinion on them.

First, I'm going to say that while there is such a thing as a bad breeder, there are also ethical breeders who genuinely care about the health and welfare of their dogs, as well as the temperament and purpose of the dogs they are breeding. To buy from these breeders is not a bad thing if you know what you need in a dog, have a specific purpose in mind, or simply want to know the most likely temperament and health from puppy to adulthood because it is much more controlled. I also contend with certain breeds of dogs being bred to more and more extremes (french bulldogs, bulldogs in general, any dog with high health issues due to their need to conform to "standard") because these are NOT ethical. They may be well cared for and have a certain temperament, but I can't support dogs that can barely breathe and often have expensive surgeries and/or die due to aesthetics.

Buying from an unethical breeder is something I will never agree with. I'd say your average dog owner knows what a puppy mill is, but many don't understand why a backyard breeder is not much better. Supporting those who breed simply because they have two dogs that are technically purebred (getting an akc registration is actually easier than you'd think) is supporting over breeding, even if the dogs are well cared for. These dogs are at best minimally medically tested with random temperament, and at worst, simply purebred with no testing in any way. Please do your research before buying.

Pet shops carry unethical dogs. Whether fad breeds or "rare" colors (i.e. nonconforming or not even possible colors like a silver lab which is a mix of a Weimaraner and a Labrador), an ethical breeder will not supply these shops.

Fad "breeds" are also something I struggle with. Many of these doodle mixes have become a bane on the dog world. They are cute and adorable, but often mixed with breeds that cause incompatible drives leading to heavy behavior problems being bred into them right from the start. Doodles are worse off due to their cuteness and being marketed as "great beginner dogs" which often translates to new owners as "needs minimal to no training/socialization". While doodles do bring in clients, I would rather they not. Same goes for many of these "purebred" crossbreeds, such as shepskies, pitskies, etc. These dogs are selling for high prices with breeds that should not mix and can cause at best challenging but high drive dogs and at worst a bit of a nightmare for most dog owners.

All that said, I support ethical breeders. I support buying a dog for a specific job (service, sport, search and rescue etc). And I support new owners looking for a more predictable dog with the lifelong support a breeder will bring to that dog. Buying responsibly is not a bad thing, and is what keeps some of these breeds alive.

Now, let's talk rescues. Rescue culture is interesting. Back when I was younger, we just called dogs from shelters/streets/oopsie litters mutts. Sometimes we got lucky and got a purebred from a shelter, and we'd say that was a lucky find (by the way, there are purebreed rescues and many dogs in shelters are purebred, often due to guardians not knowing the demands of a breed or overbreeding). The culture around mutts has shifted to become a more positive one. Now we say "rescue", seemingly referring to any dog that is not directly from a breeder or pet shop is a rescue. I have personally rescued dogs off the street. This is not a humble brag, just a statement of facts. Of those I picked up, several were in poor health and needed medical treatment, and many were just a little dirty and skinny in need of a bath and food. Of these, I kept none, but rehomed all of them.

I'm not here to gatekeep the term rescue, but to put some context into it. While I support adopting from shelters, there is a new culture of calling all dogs in a shelter a "rescue" even if the dog was born there, an owner surrender, or never in any medical/physical/mental trauma to begin with. This culture shift was to aid the shelters in moving dogs and encouraging guardians to "adopt not shop" wasn't enough. They needed to have people feel good about their dog in a way that was more than just "I didn't buy a puppy" so they shifted to calling all dogs rescues. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, but it leads to a ton of misconceptions.

Shelters are a traumatizing environment for dogs. Many dogs who are in a shelter long enough suffer mental trauma and can appear as though they were abused. It's very easy for a shelter or future guardian to talk about their dog in a way that personifies them (again, sometimes helpful, sometimes not) and paints a tragedy around a dog who probably was never abused but actually just needs help working through the trauma of just being in a shelter.

Why is this a problem? Well, it's because I meet guardians who assume nothing can be done, that this is "just the way she/he is" because "they were abused". They "hate men" so therefore "a man must have hurt them". So while they love their dog, they never seek the proper help for their dogs' mental state and the dog carries that trauma with them. But they do get to carry that badge of honor saying they "rescued" a dog, whether or not any abuse took place.

I have met puppies from a breeder (I actually have a client right now with this issue) that started from a breeder but was (in this specific case a covid puppy) undersocialized. These puppies turn into adult dogs that are fearful, skittish, and scared of things they weren't ever exposed to in a positive way. Things such as men in hats, tall people, people who are not in the household. These dogs duck and cower and bark. These dogs would appear to be "abuse cases" if they appeared in a shelter (and many of them do, because these behaviors can become overwhelming and guardians can feel too ashamed to return the dog to the breeder or worse, got it from an unethical breeder). Maybe their temperament was poorly bred, too, which compounded things. These dogs would end up in a shelter with a sob story and probably be adopted by kind hearted individuals who want to save the dog and tell everyone they rescued the dog.

This weird culture over having a "rescued dog" badge of honor leads many guardians who really would do better with an ethical breeder to adopt a shelter dog instead. And, as much as this pains me to say, shelter dogs (abused or not) are not for everyone. Shelter dogs can be a huge challenge. They have trauma, whether from the environment or the past, whether they are undersocialized or oversocialized. They will often come with behaviors that are not for the feint of heart, and certainly not for first time guardians. But people feel guilty buying from an ethical breeder and feel the need to defend their decision.

Marginal dogs are often adopted out to inexperienced guardians. Even going to an experienced guardian or trainer can cause rescue burn out. A family feeling the pressure of adopting and "rescuing" rather than getting a dog that is more practical for their lifestyle will adopt these dogs and sometimes get lucky, but often times end up with a dog they have no idea what to do with and may quickly return, leading to a revolving door for some dogs which adds to shelter trauma. A family who gets enough behavior problem dogs from a shelter without knowing where to find proper help ("this is just how they are because they were abused") WILL burn out and WILL make shelter dogs look like "all shelter dogs are bad dogs" and "all shelter dogs have behavior problems".

Shelter dogs are a big, beautiful unknown. They can be diamonds in the rough, or they can be a new learning experience for an upcoming dog trainer. They can be the inspiration for some to LEARN about training and behavior in dogs. They can be a therapy dog (Copper, who inspired my namesake, was such a dog), they can be a service dog, a sports dog, a working dog. They can be an anxious dog, a dog with separation anxiety, a dog with aggressive behavior towards certain triggers. They can be beautiful or funny looking (in the cutest ways) and graceful or clumsy as Scooby Doo (looking at Pancake right now). They can have past health issues that come back to haunt new owners or be more healthy than most purebreds.

So what does all of this mean? Who's better, purebreds or rescues?

I think the more important question is: what do you want in a dog, and what are you prepared to handle? Once you know that answer, you will know who is better for YOU.

Stop shaming ethical breeders. Stop shaming shelter dogs who have behaviors their guardians don't have the knowledge or resources to handle. Stop shaming those who bought from an unethical breeder unknowingly because they were never given the chance to learn. Stop shaming guardians who turn to breeders after having a bad experience with a shelter dog.

Educate. Show sympathy and kindness. Show them resources for any of these guardians. Why are huskies a challenging breed, and what can guardians do with a shelter dog that needs more help?

Dogs are dogs, and we love them. But we are doing a disservice by simply slotting them into "breeder vs rescue". We are ignoring the nuances of what these terms mean and we are not educating those who need it most to help those dogs who need it most.

We need to focus on our mutual love for dogs and educate those who do not have the knowledge, background, or resources to find it themselves.

As always, be kind to yourself, to your dogs, and to others. It is free to be kind.

[marshbarks]

the husky (summer), the pitsky (winter), and the great dane (scout)

[coolestfinch]

she belongs to a family friend but this is trika! she may look like a purebred husky but looks can be deceiving :-)

that’s a pitsky if i’ve ever seen one!!

[minimal-bee96]

Hey all💜

My name is Beth, and I am new to being a minimalist. Here is a little something about me to get the vibe going:

I currently live at home with my parents. I’m saving to buy a house out in DE next year (hopefully) as my current state is way too expensive/costly. I have 2 associate degrees, 2 certifications, and currently debating getting a bachelors in one of my degrees (college is stupidly expensive). I’m single, not looking, happily living with my 2.5 year old pitsky.

I am always looking to broaden my mind to better my understanding of life, wellness, and growth. I’ve been studying minimalism and all of its perks/downfalls for a few months now. But I didn’t start to switch until 2 weeks ago. I love the idea of doing more with less, saving money, and bettering my mental wellbeing. Minimalism is different for everyone.

To me minimalism is about becoming one with your space. Living up to the expectations that you have wanted to do but couldn’t find a reason until now. It’s about finding the light within yourself that you’ve buried under years of depression and fear. To me it’s about self love and grounding yourself.

It’s definitely not easy, and I’m always watching new ways to grow. I’m always grateful to learn new ways that may benefit self growth and self awareness.

[roscoenstella]

Pre-Order Holiday Feast Beef Marrow Bones

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The holidays can be a whirlwind of activity, and our furry friends deserve a little celebration too. Beef marrow bones are not only a tasty treat for dogs, but they also pack a nutritional punch, providing essential nutrients like collagen and healthy fats that support their joint health. Our beef marrow bones are approximately 4-6in long, marinated in beef bone broth and olive oil to ensure…