Pooches: Curtis Scott "Pitbull Whisperer"

We cannot say enough about Curtis Scott, Chicago Dog Trainer. We call him our personal pit bull whisperer. Mr. B had a hard time adjusting to Chicago living when we first adopted him. During walks, he would keep darting back and forth and pull on the leash. In addition, we were captives in our house, because he would keep whistling and barking in his crate whenever we left his sight. It would be ideal to leave him and Miss M alone in the house, but with two big dogs you never know what condition your house would be when you get home. So after a week of being captive at home 24/7 we called Curtis for his help with Mr. B. In our first session, he worked with Mr. B for 5 min and after that Mr. B was a changed dog. All of a sudden, we had loose leash walk whenever we walked him and he stayed to our left. In our second session, we worked on his isolation distress. Initially, we thought it was separation anxiety, but Curtis quickly evaluated that Mr. B had isolation distress which could be quickly resolved, but also could quickly become separation anxiety. In this session, Curtis required more time with Mr. B, about 10 min. Now Mr. B either sits quietly in his crate or sleeps and patiently waits for us to come home. We owe much of our summer to Curtis. Even though both session required a total of 15 min of work, he would talk to us for hours to explain everything that he has done and answered all of our questions. In two days he worked with us for well over 2 hours, but his price was extremely reasonable, so it was clear to see that he really is in it for the dogs. We highly recommend Curtis and we know he can do wonders for you and your dog. Also, Curtis works closely with Unleashed, which we use for all our day care, boarding and dog walking needs. They are very knowledgeable about dogs, especially bullies and they work very hard to make our dogs and us happy. Also, its nice to have Curtis there at times to help supervise their day care and boarding. So if you have any doggy issues, please contact Curtis Scott, he will change both you and your dog's lives.
-Dr. E

Doggy Style: Bowls

Being the ever-fashionable pooches, our dogs have been quite picky about their bowls.
A lot of stores and restaurants will leave bowls of water out for dogs, and we noticed that there are some our dogs will run up to, and drink the whole thing, and others they will snub even though they are obviously thirsty.

This pink number is Miss M's favorite. It is outside a dress boutique on Division and she is always routine in darting over to drink from it. It is actually part of the Issac Mizrahi collection at Target. We figured since Miss M is so "dainty" and always "elegant" this pink, flowery bowl would be appropriate.

We also wanted to get a water bowl big enough to serve both the pooches. This bowl is HUGE and probably holds a full gallon of water. Besides being able to simultaneously accommodate two big pitbull heads clamoring for water, we thought it looked sleek and modern and looked nice with our decor. Who knew this was also available at Target!

-Miss A

Pooches: Meet Mr. B

Mr. B is a simple country dog from Kalamazoo, Michigan living in the big city. He has adapted well, but still a little shell-shocked. In the past, he was a "dog at large" in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Rather than paying for the accumulated leash law fines, Mr. B's original owner surrendered him to the City Pound. At the pound, Mr. B had the last cell block and people would turn around right before Mr. B because his cell block neighbor was so obnoxious. Lucky for us, the Kalamazoo Animal Rescue went all the way to the end of the cell blocks and rescued Mr. B from the pound.

Mr. B is either a blue-nose Pit Bull or an American Staffordshire Terrier. Unlike Ms. M, he is calm and chillaxed. He will be starting obedience training at Unleashed this coming September.

Pooches: Meet Miss M

Miss M was a street dog in Chicago. She had been picked up as a stray and sent to the City Pound. Unfortunately, since there are so many homeless Bullies, they are one of the first breeds to be euthanized. Miss M actually had an appointment on their calendar to be killed, but luckily for all of us New Leash on Life Animal Rescue got her just in time.

We think Miss M is part American Bulldog and part Boxer. She loves attention from people and will wiggle her entire body and stare at people until they pet her. She also loves food which makes her really easy to train. She has gone to several classes and has even taken a test to earn her CGC--Canine Good Citizen certification. She also helps out around the house and has been trained to put her own toys away on command.

Disclaimer

The blog you are about to read is true, and based on real events in our everyday life.
However, given the fact that we are High School Teachers at a neighborhood school in Chicago, our names and the names of our dogs have been altered to protect our identities against probing students.