Chillin' With Our Peeps: Petsmart Tramp

My dog is growing at a rate that is quite insane. He is now 60 pounds. And technically wouldn't be 4 months old until tomorrow as he was born on October 30. Did you read the part where he is 60 pounds and 4 monhts old? Don't get me wrong...I.LOVE.IT. I can't wait til he is this MASSIVE beast of a dog who just lays around and is goofy. What am I saying..he already lays around and is goofy. But I can't wait til he is 200 pounds and laying around and goofy.

He outgrew his collar, almost while wearing it. I have a regular collar for him and we use a choke trainer for walking and training and such. I have always used a metal choker collar and have trained many a dog. When we had the infamous HUNTER (that post still brings tears to my eyes), it became evident that in order to walk him properly, we would need a prong collar. His neck was so thick and powerful, we literally watched a collar shatter from around his neck when he caught scent of a squirrel. We do not mistreat our animals, and it was only used for training purposes. We tried the "Gentle Leader", "Halter", and a regular choke chain and he would either choke himself half to death, doing all kinds of damage I'm SURE to his trachea, or flop around like an idiot on the road we were trying to walk on (yes....I tried it several several several times). And dragging an 80-pound lab was not an option. So we tried the prong...and guess what...it worked like a charm. A two-year-old could walk that dog with no problems. He didn't pull, he walked next to us, listened to us, and was the MOST obedient dog while attached to it.

Recently I discovered that if Moses wants to go somewhere on a walk...he's gonna go there. If he stops suddenly, my shoulder is rapidly jerked out of place (maybe THAT'S why it's hurting...hmmm). He's also realized that he can start trotting ahead of me as well. I am a firm believer in doing what works with a dog. And if your going to have a large and powerful breed of a dog, you better train them, and train them well. I know that he isn't going to hurt anyone and his butt is just too big for him to be able to jump off the ground, but someone else doesn't. I need control over him. His neck and head AT four months is the size of a large in collar size. Did you hear me? HIS NECK IS A LARGE! All his weight is in his chest, head and neck (this is setting up my conversation. Bear with me) So I went to Petsmart and I bought a prong collar (with the plastic guards in order to not hurt his skin). I get to the checkout and here's how things went down:

Checkout Tramp: Psh....I hate these collars.
Me: Uh...excuse me?
CT: They just seem so inhumane.
Me: Hhhmm.....well.....I have a large dog. He is 60 pounds. And four months old. And he pulls and I want to keep control of him. I would say that inhumane would be for me to NOT train him and NOT have control over him and have him hurt me or someone else by NOT being trained properly.
CT: Oh...you need to buy one of those harnesses. That will help.
Me: Um. Apparently you don't watch Cesar Millan aka: my hero. What do they use on sled dogs my friend? Harnesses. Harness are for pulling. All of his 60 pounds is in his neck and chest...and pulling is what I'm trying to avoid. I don't WANT him to pull.
CT: I've never had a problem with a harness. I find it hard to believe it wouldn't work.
Me: (In my mind) Well your an idiot that thinks that dogs SHOULD rule the world you commi-liberal freak. (Actually said) Yeah.....Uh....did you not hear me when I said he was four months old? And 60 pounds. He will probably top out at close to 200, so I'm trying to get him good and trained now. Caaaause...he's big.
CT: Well....what kind of dog is he anyway?
Me: A Mastiff.
CT: Oh. Well...I'm glad to see you are at least purchasing the guards. We have an excellent return policy if you change your mind.
Me: (in my mind) What....the...hello kitty tramp? (Actually said) Thanks. This should be good.

So.....in summary: Perhaps if you work at a business that sells something you don't agree with you shouldn't work at that business. I realize that not everyone is a responsible dog owner. I realize that people mistreat their animals with different tools that are created to help them. I would NEEEEVVVER leave this collar on him for any time OTHER than simply to walk him. We live in the country and I do NOT want anything to happen to him OR to me or Russ or one of the kids if he decides to use his weight against us. He literally is the best animal we have ever owned, and I want to keep it that way. He is unleashed while on our property so he can roam and run and play all he wants (long as we are there to supervise him), but when we go off property, he needs to be controlled. Just the other day, our neighbors dog started charging towards us (I hadn't bought the collar yet, he just had the leash slip tied around his neck) and he stood between me and that dog and his hair started up along his back and he growled deeply like I had never heard. I quickly was able to snap him out of it (the dog meant no harm, he was just excited) but what if he had been bigger? At four months old, he is already VERY protective of us, and I love that, but I want it to be controlled. My poor gramma (the one who thinks "tweet" and "text" are interchangeable) is already nervous about the fact that we got such a big creature, I can't be having him misbehave around her or I'll never hear the end of it:)

So....here is the mistreated animal Petsmart tramp. He plays fetch with basketballs instead of tennis balls.