Mojo aka "PillowDog"

This fellow loves human contact so much that even if it means propping up a pillow on him, he's cool with it. He was pretty much in the way, here. We could make him move and he would leave with no fuss, but, it just seemed like the thing to do was to just lay on him. He stayed like this for quite some time, too. Goofball.

Puppy Snuggle

So, here's my son trying sooo hard to pick up Mojo and snuggle with him like when he was a puppy. Well, we call him puppy, but, my son's aching back pretty much showed that all 85lbs of Mojo is all grown up. As much as a full grown pit bull loves to snuggle, he's a big-assed dog.

Snuggling on the couch...ok. Picking him up for a little hug...not so much.

Kylie snuggling with Mojo

Kylie was lounging on top of Mojo watching TV while he chewed on his peanut butter & treat-filled Kong. Amazingly...well, perhaps not amazingly, Mojo isn't fazed. He pretty much loves affection whenever and wherever he can get it so even though he has a treat in his mouth,
he still loves a good snuggle. Some dogs are protective of their treats and food. Mojo is not at all protective. We are always vigilent when she plays with him, and it's nice that he has never, ever, not even once shown anything but love and affection towards us all.

It's a pit bull morning

Mojo just loves to snuggle in the morning. He often lays on the floor and looks up at my daughter with a forlorn look, then rolls on his back and waits for her to snuggle up with him. They'll lay there and watch TV (yes, Mojo watches TV) for quite some time. He makes a great
pillow.

My daughter loves irony and often refers to him as her "killer pit bull". She's a pit bull evangelist and will give you an earful if you spout off anything resembling a disparaging remark about pitbulls, particularly remarks that perpetuate the bad myths about them. She'll jump on you if you hit her with the "locking jaw" myth - she'll tell you, "taxonomically speaking, there's no difference between a pit bull jaw and the jaw of any other dog."

Sheesh.

Mojo, first thing in the morning & a LONG rant about pit bulls

Here's my pit bull, Mojo, first thing in the morning. I couldn't sleep that night so I went downstairs to my office and crashed on the futon. Strangely, the change sometimes helps me sleep. Anyway, I brought Mojo with me to keep my feet warm. It's cold in there next to the window. I'm actually under the covers, too, on the left side (with long pajamas on so I don't get scratched by accident). Being that dogs natural body temp runs several degrees higher than ours, they make great bed warmers. He's such a snuggler that he couldn't be happier under the covers.

Previously, I owned Akitas. Great dogs, but, definitely not snugglers. My Akita, Kyo, was happy if he could see where I was, but, had zero interest in actually sitting down next to me and touching me. He would lay on the floor of the living room while I watched TV, about 2 feet away from me. If I left the room, he'd wake up, wait 5 minutes, then find me, lay down so he had a line of sight to where I went, then go back to sleep. Mojo, on the other hand, likes to get as
close to you as he possibly can.

His behavior is consistent with what our local animal control officer told us about pit bulls. A side effect of the selective breeding of pit bulls for fighting made them *highly* people oriented. Apparently, when pit bulls were openly fought in the ring, you had to be able to reach into the ring and pull out your dog without being bitten. My mom always taught me to never ever intervene if our dog got into a fight because even our own dog might bite us in all the excitement. Pit bulls that showed aggression toward the handler, on the other hand, were culled. Over time, this created a strong fighter with a highly people oriented personality. The animal control guy told us that it's actually against their nature to be human- aggressive. They want to please you so much, though, that they can be their own worst enemy. If you're a dumbass that gets a pit bull because you think it makes you look tough, and then teach him to be human-aggressive, he'll do it to please you. He (the animal control guy) said you really have to abuse a pit bull to make then want to bite you. I'd have had a hard time believing that before Mojo, but, it's true. He really loves people on a deep level. You can feel it when you're around him.

I left his ears uncropped because I prefer that look. Akitas have naturally pointy ears, which I like on an Akita, but pit bulls have normally floppy ears, so, I left them alone. I know a guy with a beautiful pit bull and he had his dog's ears cropped. When I met him, he looked at Mojo and said he wishes he had left the ears alone. He said that the cropped look makes him look mean which puts people off, and a lot of people fear pit bulls already from all the bad press they've gotten. I can understand that.

The truth is, pit bulls make fantastic family dogs. Are they for everyone-NO. They are powerful, highly energetic and they require a firm, (but not mean) consistent hand to propely bring them up. Do your homework before you adopt a pit bull, or any other dog for that matter. As long as you know what you're getting into, and you're prepared for it, you'll me rewarded with a companion like no other.

Check out http://www.badrap.org

This site has a wealth of information about pit bulls, and it goes a long way toward sifting through all the misinformation about pit bulls - and there is a *lot* of that out there. Pit bulls are not natural born people-killers. They don't have special locking jaws. That's utter crap. They have very strong jaws, yes, but structurally, they are identical to all other dogs. Pit bulls cannot fly. Ok, I made that one up, but, my point is that people seem to want to believe everying they hear about pit bulls no matter how crazy it is.

Too tired to go on

Here's mojo after an intense romp in the backyard. He's hot and tired, so he won't lay down, yet he can hardly stay awake. Funny fellow. Pit bulls are such clowns.

Face Melter fun

I'm having way too much fun with this iPhone app, Face Melter.

Relaxing and watching TV

I took the afternoon off, today and decided to relax on the couch for a bit right after lunch. If you watch TV and Mojo's tired, he'll snuggle right up on your lap. In fact, if you push him off, he'll
slowly skink back onto your lap an inch at a time. Anyone who thinks pit bulls are born mean just don't know the real story. There's nothing more important to him than pleasing me. As with all pit bulls, he's his own worst enemy in that if I wanted him to behave badly, he'd do it just to make me happy. Being that I just want a sweet family dog, he's happy to be just that.

I present to you, this ball

Here's my pit bull, Mojo, presenting me with his favorite ball. What be wants, ostensibly, is for me to throw it so he can run after it. I say ostensibly because if I make any movement toward the ball as if I am going to pick it up, he snatches it right back in the blink of an eye. Jerk.

Mojo giving me "the eye"

Mojo, my 2 year old pit bull was laying down minding his business when I repeatedly called him. I guess he just didn't feel like looking but I was persistent. Finally, when he did look over at me, he gave me this look. Allci wanted was to take a picture and he definitely gave me a pose! He's quite a sweetie though. After the picture, he came over to me and went on a kiss-fest, climbing up part way onto the couch and giving me no nonstop kisses. I had to force him away. Such a goof.

Mojo the frisbee dog

Mojo takes his frisbee game seriously. As with most pit bulls, he can jump like a deer. The lighting outside was at that perfect evening time so I went inside and grabbed my camera. It's tough to be the one playing and taking pictures at the same time. I figured I'd give it one chance. As luck would have it, this is the first (and only) shot I took. He did catch it, by the way.

Pit bull birthday cake

My daughter came up with the idea to make Mojo a birthday cake our of dog bones glued together with peanut butter and miscellaneous dog treats and food. He *loved* it.

He is undoubtedly the best dog ever, and he deserved it.

Pit bull nirvana

Here's Mojo laying with my daughter in the yard. He's rarely happier that when he has his ball and his favorite human companion!

New Video: Mojo the Pit Bull Snoring and Snuggling

The text of the YouTube description says:

Here's Mojo. I don't think he was actually asleep, though, he sure sounds it. My daughter snuggles up with him to watch TV and he usually just enjoys it. This time, he stretched out, gave her some kisses and got up. Mean, killer pit bull??? I think not. Say something bad about pit bulls and my daughter will be first in line to tell you the real truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k-Da_MXVn8

My daughter and an 8 week old pug puppy

We were out rollerblading today and we came across one of our neighbors and their new pug puppy, not so imaginatively named, "Pugsly". Nice dog, though. Perhaps, a little E.T.-ish, but, still, nice.

Mojo after an hour of frisbee

Here's my pit bull, Mojo, after we played frisbee for over an hour. I bought him one of those nylabone dog frisbees. He loves to chase after it and try to catch it. He is getting better at the catching part. He does bring of back to me, too. The thing is, he still won't let go of it when he comes back without some amount of tugging. Clearly, we can't be playing tug-of-war over the frisbee. You're never supposed to let the dog win those kind of games, and it's really hard to get a
hand hold on a slimey frisbee. He's getting better at giving it up, but he's not there yet. In any event, we had a very fun time. He got totally tired put and covered in mud, too.

Right after I took this pic, I brought him inside and gave him a thorough bath. Of course, he hated it, but, he was a pretty good sport about it after all. It's after midnight now and he's asleep next to me and he smells nice and clean.

Higway the pit bull

This is Highway, my neighbor's rescued pit bull. He gets his name from being found lost wandering on a highway. I believe he was hit and they brought him home and nursed him back to health. He's quite a sweetie.

Pit Bull Tree Service Pic & Video

Here's a pic I took this morning of Mojo while I was out in the yard doing some clean-up work. He's looking up at his quarry - a large tree branch that's hanging down within reach. Click the link to see what he does.

Video: Celebrity Pit Bull Massage

Posted a video, "Celebrity Pit Bull Massage". Weird dog, Mojo. http://tinyurl.com/6jcpph.

Mojo (aka advanced automatic security system) loves riding in the car

I took Mojo with me on my errands, today. He *loves* riding in the car.

A pit bull makes a great auto security system, too!

Some reasons why:

1) It automatically turns itself on and off so you can't forget to set it.
2) It doesn't require a warning sticker or a blinking red LED to warn off potential thieves.
3) Not to mention, if the thief is dumb enough to actually try and break in, the "system" automatically engages the secret "active defense" mode.
4) Even if the car battery goes dead, the "system" remains active
5) It can only be disabled by the owner.
6) It has built-in face recognition to automatically identify the proper owner. As such, there's no need to remember a complicated security code, and no need to carry a special key

Gotta love it!