Traveling with my pet, Itachi

Traveling with my pet is a little troublesome for me,. People here in the Philippines also view pitbulls as vicious animals. But I believe the contrary,they are one of the sweetest animals I have ever known. You'll know what I'm talking about until you own one. But pitbulls are not for everybody,these dogs are for responsible owners only. The reason why these animals have a bad rap because of irresponsible pet owners. The some media people exploit news of reported bites to sell their news and create public scare against these animals. Pitbulls don't snap for no reason. They could have experienced maltreatment from their bad owners or simply mishandled by ignorant owners who doesn't know this breed very well.

Before buying or adopting any dog breed, one must do his homework by researching about the breed of your choice. There are many things to consider before getting a new puppy or a rescued adult dog. First, does this breed fits your lifestyle? If you want an athletic type of dog like a pitbull or a dalmatian,be sure you have an active lifestyle. If not, get a toy dog breed which only requires minimal activity. If you get a dog that doesn't match your 'way of living', expect the worst to come. If you could not provide large and athletic dog breeds enough exercise, they would resort to do unwanted behaviours which of course are what we do not want to happen at home.

In my case, I make sure that my pet would get the necessary exercise he needs but I don't overdo to it since he's just a 6 month old puppy (he already weighs as much as 15-20 kgs, whew!). We take a walk for a few meters and play fetch afterwards. I also devote 10-15 minutes a day for basic dog obedience training.

Another thing to consider in buying a dog is your medical condition. If you are allergic to dog furs, you can't get a shi tzu or a chow chow even if they are so adorable and huggable,. Consider short-coated and easy to groom dogs like Jack Russel terrier or the Chinese-crested hairless dog. Or you can also consider dogs that are found to be hypoallergenic such as poodles,maltese, or a pomeranian.

Also, consider how large your house is. If you just have a small apartment or studio type rooms choose small breed dogs like chuhuahuas,shi tzu or mini-pinschers. But if you insist on buying bigger dogs, I'd recommend medium sized dogs such as beagles, Jack Russel terrier, bassett hounds, or a pitbull! Just make sure you provide them enough exercise and proper obedience training as these dogs are very active.

Lastly, look into your budget and ask yourself; "Can I afford to buy a dog and provide them the quality life that they need?". If yes, go and adopt one, if not, buy another specie of animal that won't eat up a lot of space and cost a lot of money.

As for my pitbull Itachi (I got his name from one of the characters of my favorite animation series Naruto) I make sure he gets a lot of exercise,training and TLC (tender loving care). Before I got Itachi, I really did a lot of research. I weigh down the advantages and disadvantages. To make the long story short....I've decided to keep him and be a part of our family and I tell you, he may look mean and scary (at just six months,wait until he matures) but he's so loveable and sweet. Their nature is to please their masters at all cost.

Jeepney and taxi drivers are relunctant to give us a ride when we travel to dog parks. They thought pitbulls are human aggressive by nature but contrary to public belief, pitbulls are not, they maybe dog aggressive but it is not their nature to attack humans. They even extremely friendly to strangers that is why pitbulls are not suitable to be employed as guard dogs. But drivers who are familiar with pitbulls would be very glad to give us a ride. With regards to passengers, some would be afraid while some would take my dog to pose for some pictures. Because he's sweet-natured, he is easily adored by many of the passengers we ride with. In this way, I was able to show to the people that pitbulls are not be afraid of.

You cannot probably understand what is like to have a pitbull until you own one...........