Raising TriP

Bearing tiger stripes, unproportioned paws and ears, and wearing a small green vest was my thirteen week old bundle of "joy"! He was indeed a gift,but soon after, a curse!

Getting a new pup, there's all of these things your supposed to do to ensure dominance is established. You're supposed to let em know who's boss, right? It's not as easy as it sounds!

One method is to stare em down until the pup breaks eye contact. That method didn't work very well cause when I stared at him, he growled and snapped at me. This is when he earned the name TriP. A "trip" wire (military reference for a passive triggering mechanism)is small but if triggered it can be the beginning of something terrible. I knew this was a problem. There cant be two alpha males under one roof and by nature neither of us was backing down...so it began.

Things were subtle. First, if I was on the computer or playing xbox, and wasn't paying him any attention, he would either take a piss or "drop a deuce" next to my foot. Then, one night I awoke because the bottom of my bed felt really cold! Turns out it wasn't the cold Chicago night that I felt on my feet;it was my urine soaked comforter(his piss, not mine)Lol…I had to specify! After that, I would come home to him in his kennel covered with your and feces everyday for about 3 weeks, despite my training efforts! It turns out, there's nothing easy about poddie training a runt,Boxer pup,or any pup for that matter, in the snow during a Chicago winter. So the daily baths began! Lucky for me, he didn't mind baths.

I hated TriP when he was a puppy,but I refused to give him away because I asked for him,and I thought if I gave up on my responsibility, something bigger would come into my life to take his place…like a kid! Call it superstition or call it a form of Karma, either way I couldn't let him go. Sure precautions can be taken not to have kids but once they are here,well…they're here!

Im always given a hard time, by women mostly when I compare raising a child to raising a dog,but Im actually comparing raising a dog to raising a child,lol! Responsibility is responsibility. Pit bulls have a bad name, not because they're unruly,but because they have poor trainers. Think about it, if I didn't eventually train TriP, or teach him if you will, not to urine in random places, he would've pissed everywhere or all over himself, like a child. If I didn't teach him not to bite people…hey, some kids bite people! It's semantics!

I probably should of named him Scooby because he's scared of the weirdest things ,like, boxes, ceiling fans, plastic bags,and canned biscuits. Maybe I should've named him Forrest,as in Forrest Whittaker because he's always so dramatic about everything in order to get attention whether its being "sick" or just wanting to play! Boxers are a very "verbal" breed and are very expressive threw what we consider "whining". One morning I called him a bum,and he sat up and growled at me. I really think he understood me. Who knows? Some say,"Maybe he needs company, like another dog to play with.". Negative!! I'd lose whats left of my mind!

We don't have too many problems these days. He's come a long way! Ive learned a lot about myself having him and he has definitely prepared me for the future. If I can just break him out of jumping into my bed in the morning when he's ready to go outside! Only time will tell!