Meet the Pack: Tyson Xavier

Name: Tyson Xavier

Nicknames: Smoosh/Tys/Smoosh Dog/Butt head

Birthday: May 9th, 2017

Age: 3

Color: Blue/Brindle

Breed: Staffordshire Terrier (Registered as an American Pitbull Terrier but clearly not😑)

A little about Ty: The absolute sweetest smooshy boy who just wants to be up in your face and get scratches. He does have some food aggression issues that we have had to work with and work around. When he first got here we had issues with Diesel being a territorial prick and starting fights but after a few months together, all three live in peace. He is actually my brother Tyler’s dog but due to allergy issues, Tyson came to live with us. 

He’s a shoe thief (doesn’t chew them but will get excited and pick up the first shoe he sees and take off with it). Lately, he has also been stealing my underwear but I guess I still like him. Generally, he is happy to curl up under the bed (since Diesel and Hazel insist on sleeping between J and I in our QUEEN sized bed) but as soon as J leaves in the morning, he sleeps right by my face. 

BullyMake Box Review

Okay readers, if you have a dog I'm sure you've seen the ads for the BarkBoxes and BullyMake boxes. At tax time, I decided to spoil my furry brats and get a 3 month subscription. I was torn between the power chewers box or BullyMake so I took a chance and ordered the BullyMake boxes which have a 14 day guarantee on their toys.

I'll be honest, I was very skeptical that the toys would hold up to my Pitt Bull's jaws of steel but I took a chance. We received our first box in January then two more and the boxes contain:

• One soft hollowed out Kong-like toy
• One hard nylon toy
• Bag of treat sticks (duck, turkey, etc)
• Bag of crude protein (I call them healthy treats that my dogs don't seem impressed with)
• Bag of some other treats

Price wise, you're looking at $39 or less (depending on subscription) for a box. So if you think of each toy as $6-10 and bags of treats as $3-10 a piece I'd say it's pretty well worth it for the quality. We still have our original toys from our first January box in fantastic shape. Plus my picky husky has even enjoyed playing with them. I definitely recommend to Pitt and other big dog owners for sure. Well worth it. 

October - Pit Bull Awareness Month

For those of you following along, I have a Staffordshire Terrier, Diesel, which is a Pit Bull. Here would be what the AKC (American Kennel Club) recognizes as far as a Pit Bull:

The American Pit Bull Terrier - recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and the American Dog Breeders' Association (ADBA) The American Staffordshire Terrier -recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC) The Staffordshire Bull Terrier -recognized by both the UKC and the AKC.

Info found on Google

A Pit is not actually a breed as much as a general term for a lot of breeds. Unfortunately, along with this term comes a generally negative stigma. Pit Bulls have been overbred, doped up, and trained to be aggressive fighting dogs for the entertainment of horrible people. Naturally, pits are sweet, protective, loving family dogs. All over social media you can find stories of kids and pits being best friends. My first pit was Gunner (since that post is a million years old I'll have to do a Gunner Follow Up soon), a boxer, Dalmation, Pit, who I raised from 8 weeks to a year old before he had to go live with my dad in West Virginia. He is absolutely the best, most well behaved dog ever. He adores my sister and never leaves her side. The only time he has ever shown any aggression was when he thought my sister or I was being hurt and it was protective not blind aggression. 

The stigma that all pits are bad and should be considered a dangerous breed is just outrageous to me. I've met ankle biters that I'm more terrified of than my 80 pound Staffy. CONSTANTLY, people are asking me "why would you let that dog around your baby". Answer: because he's part of the family. If I trust him around me, I trust him around Dakota (within reason. I'm sure he could prolly knock her over or smother her with kisses but thats about it). 

I'm a huge Pit Bull lover and it breaks my heart that a lot of people think so negatively of them and that they don't receive as much love as they should. Shelters all over are full of Pits and Pit mixes so before you run off and buy a 2k purebred puppy, consider adopting an older Pit that just wants to cuddle. 

Basically, I stand behind the saying "Blame the Deed, Not the Breed". Because he's a Pit does not make Diesel vicious. If he bites me, then he's vicious, but because he wasn't trained or brought up to be aggressive (or they tried and failed) he's the perfect dog for my family and I cannot wait to watch Kota grow up with him as her protector and friend. 

Meet Stella

Meet little Miss Stella Blue. Or Stealth Bomber, Stella dog, Baby Girl, or whatever other pet names she gets for the day. She’s a 5/6ish year old Husky mix that J got from some people we used to work with.

Yes she has two different colored eyes. I call her little but she’s at least 65-70 pounds of pure fur. Constantly shedding everywhere and of course her fur is Black and Tan so no clothing or furniture is safe.

She’s a big baby that’s terrified of loud noises or yelling. Extremely obedient and well behaved. I can let her outside and she’ll come right back or I’ll leave the door open and she’ll just peek her head out.

Since J works thirds she generally sleeps at the foot of the bed with me. If J and I are both in bed she’ll sleep on the floor right next to the bed. 

Don’t tell her she’s not a lap dog because she takes it as a challenge and jumps right into your lap wherever you are. Otherwise she just curls up at your feet and lays her head on the under shelf of the coffee table.

She doesn’t seem too interested in Kota. When we first brought her home, she licked her head and walked away. Since, she will look at her funny when she cries but kind of just keeps to herself. 

Even though we got Diesel to be her company, I’m not sure she’s a fan. Occasionally, he’ll get her to play with him but usually he just gets a hold of her collar and pulls her around until she snaps at him. I find it comical because she doesn’t put up with his antics at all some days.

Occasionally when they test the tornado siren or the cops go by she will howl at it and it’s just absolutely adorable. Hopefully one of these days I’ll get a good video of it to share with y’all. Whenever I get home she’s right there to greet me, jumping all over and whining, giving me kisses and throwing herself on the ground all excited, literally one of the highlights of my day. 

She’s my baby girl (J is too loud and scares her😂) and I don’t know what I’d do without her furry ass (besides less vacuuming).

Meet Diesel

Meet Mr. Detroit Diesel Duncan. Or Leroy, Asshat, Cleveland, DeeDee, Barney, Bubba, Bubbaloo, or whatever else J decides to call him on a daily basis. He’s a blue, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, aka Pit Bull, and he just turned 3 this month.


When we moved to Van Wert from Paulding we had the rough experience of putting J’s other dog Cooper down. We were worried that Stella would be lost without another dog in the house because prior to this we also had his brothers dog around so we started looking for another dog. I was against getting a puppy because I had just found out I was pregnant so when J found Diesel on one of the garage sale sites he seemed perfect for the family.
That’s when things got interesting. We got him shortly after New Years from a great family that said they just didn’t have the time or room for him. We quickly found out that this two year old was a handful. If left alone, he ate two couches, a recliner, a dog bed, part of an air conditioner, a piece of wall trim, Js PS4 headset, remotes, ant traps, and multiple other things then broke out a window and tried to eat my pet Rats on many occasions.

We tried getting him fixed first and that didn’t help(though still necessary because we had no intentions of breeding him) so then we tried locking him in the bedroom with Stella and that’s when the air conditioner got destroyed. Finally, I said he had to have a kennel. J didn’t like the idea because he never kenneled his dogs before. As soon as we got it, he loved it. He’d go and lay in it even when he didn’t have to. Ever since then, no big problems (other than him stealing Kotas toys but in his defense they look similar to his).

Diesel is an 80 pound cuddle baby who swears he’s a lapdog. I always say “if he fits, he sits”. If J and I are both in bed he has to be right between us and when I was pregnant he loved to cuddle my belly. He likes to stick his head around the curtain when you’re showering and he’s just overall a total character. Sweetest dog ever.

Unfortunately he doesn’t realize how big he is so we have to watch him around the baby because he loves to give her kisses but his tongue is as big as her face and he doesn’t notice that he’s too big to share her playmat.

The previous owners said he came from a drug house in Defiance and it’s obvious that they either tried to/did fight him because his face is all scarred up, his ear has a huge scar, and his tail has been broken and healed all crooked.
So there you have it. Big Dumb Diesel Bub😂❤️