Road Trip: Santa Monica

Me and the little one on the beach in Santa Monica.

Road Trip: Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha going to do when they come for you?

"So I pull over to the side of the road
I heard 'Son do you know why I'm stoppin' you for?'
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low?"

One morning, I was waiting outside of Starbucks with Barksdale while the bf and his family were inside. Two police officers came out of Starbucks and slowly ambled to their car. They kind of stopped near Barksdale and I and I could feel some sort of commentary coming.

Seeing as it was 7am and I was still in my pjs and I am not a big chatter in the mornings, I really wasn't in the mood for conversation. But they asked if Barksdale was a pit and puppy, and yadda yadda. And then, of course, they got to the unsolicited advice. One of the officers advised me very matter of factly that I shouldn't be using a prong collar as it makes dogs aggressive.

I kinda went hmmm...and then said something like "well we've tried several different things and we find that using the prong collar is the best tool for now." And then proceeded to look away, which in my opinion is a very strong "I'm done having this conversation."

But then they continue to repeat the SAME SENTENCE over and over about how prong collars make dogs (or PITBULLS) aggressive, assuming that if they repeated it enough, I would say "of course officers, you guys are so right, I now see the light and will not use the prong collar any longer!" And I didn't really want to get into an education speech of why we do use the prong collar.

What I did want to do was yell "Do you realize how long it took us to get to this point?!?!?" We have gone through a regular nylon collar, gentle leader easy walk harness, halti, choke chain. Our training philosophy has evolved as we continue to learn and as the dogs continue to grow. Ideally, in a few years we would not need to use a prong collar, but until that time, the thing that enables us to maintain control when they're lunging at a barking dog is the prong collar.

Normally I'm fine chatting with random strangers, but I do not respond well when authority figures talk down to me. Sometimes I am amazed that I am able to hold a job.

Road Trip: Oakland to LA

If anyone is making a road trip between the Bay Area and Los Angeles in the next month, I highly recommend a stop in Kettleman City. Two reasons:

1. In-N-Out Burger

2. The area next to the In-N-Out is being graded for something. Therefore, there is an expanse of giant flat dirt to play catch in, which is awesome after stuck in the car with a puppy for three hours.