My name is Aaliyah, I’m an eight week old Pitbull mix little girl and here is my story: A young man who is still grieving the tragic loss of his Mom last year thought that getting a puppy would fill that void. He got me from a friend who had my Mum and us little rug rats and so he took me home at the age of six weeks.
After about a week he realized that this was not going to work out, being a student and also working. So one of his friends from school who wanted to help, not wanting me to just end up anywhere, told him that I could come home with her.
She took me home to meet the parents and her seven brothers and sisters and everybody was overjoyed with my arrival, except for Dad! He admired his oldest daughter for stepping up for me, but the reality was that with eight kids, full time jobs and a small apartment, I could not become a permanent member of the family.
So they called Sophie and here I am! I’m am now looking for that forever home but will need someone special. Remember, on my own at the age of six weeks and already bounced around – I have learned to be a feisty, tough and a dominant little Pit and certainly don’t want to end up with issues.
I’m fostering her right now and she’s doing better and better each day. She knows “sit”…”down”…”come” and even “stay” with food in front of her. She now sleeps 7 hrs at night. She’s learning from my dog who’s 3 yrs old and would be good living with another dog. She’s also very friendly and affectionate.
She’s been here about 10 days now. She weighs 11.6kg and her weighs increased 1kg. In the first few days, she often had accidents inside home. We started bringing her out 4 or 5 times a day. Now she can do her business outside almost all the time and the frequency is down to 3 or 4 times a day. She is the youngest dog I’ve fostered, and we are surprised how fast she can learn our home role. We opened a photo album for her.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henry_fln/
We had such a nice holiday and are having fun everyday with Aaliyah. At our Christmas family party, she was a little too excited and powerful for small children to handle, but not in an aggressive way. We think she is able to live with children, but some supervision will be required until she is fully trained.
She weights 18.1kg (about 40lb) and her baby teeth have all changed to adult teeth. When I got her, she liked chewing my hand and sometimes legged stools. Even thought it was not difficult to redirect her focus that something we won’t agree to play with it. Now she improved that point while she lost her tooth. She stops to chew my hand when I play with her. Moreover, she enjoys to chew/play with toys that we gave her. She graduated her pee training. She does her business 3 times / day sometimes, 2 times / day.
She always loves people and dogs. Outside, she jumps a little too much on people when she find someone looking/having interest at her and then show happy dance in front of people. I think that dance is adorable to see but, she is distracted too often. That is the only issue I have with her.
At dog-park, she loves to play with any kind of dogs. She runs and chase with another dogs and she loves to wrestles with same size of dogs even during winter. She loves snow and winter in Montreal. She is good with smaller size dogs also, but it seems like she does not know her size. So sometimes she pushes the button to the smaller dogs including my dog/henry. It is the only issue Henry have with her. Overall Aaliyah is the best playing buddy that Henry ever had and she loves to play as energetic puppy.
During Christmas holiday, we also took care of Walla Walla (another of Sophie’s adoption dog). Aaliyah and Wally were so good together, they played almost all the time and often they kissed each other. I think Aaliyah learned some manners from Wally that Henry could not teach her because of his small sizes. Wally was gentle, calm and respectable pit bull brother for her.
It’s so easy to groom her. She almost doesn’t lose her hair. And her hair color is changing. She is getting more and more light color and she always have a nice marbled hairs that people often told us she is so beautiful. By the way, she does not have spots, but her hair color really reminds us of a leopard. She is also act like a cat/panther more than a dog that we sometimes think ;)
She can do ‘sit’ ‘down’ ‘give me paw’ and ‘stay’. If you are looking for a dog to train many tricks in your way, she is the one for you.
she also has many new pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henry_fln/sets/72157625355749376/
Curious to know if she’d be ok with a cat.. I’ve had a pittie before, actually I adopted him from Sophie. So I know what I’m in for ;) Also curious to know if she’s house trained (not toilet trianed) is she able to be left home without being crated? (that would also cause stress on Her, if my cat is walking around and she cannot.)
Thanks for your help :)
Kim,
Aaliyah is still only 6 months old so although she has gotten big, she still act very much like a puppy. She’s is very curious about people and other animals so although she has never meet a cat with us, i’m sure she’d be quite interested about your cat (she tend to be a little over-excited when she meets new people/dogs). However, we think she’d probably do ok with the cat if she is properly introduced and taught right away the boundaries she must respect with cat. She is a little stubborn, but otherwise quite obedient inside the home (as opposed to outside where she doesn’t listen as much).
She is fully house trained (and was never toilet trained so she knows she have to do her business outside). She has also never broken or chewed any of our furniture. We have never left her home alone outside the crate for long periods, but we made sure she is very comfortable in her crate and she really doesn’t mind staying in. Our other dog stays and move freely around the house and it doesn’t seem to bother her. As she gets older, i’m sure she would be able to be left alone with the proper training.
While she may not be the most obedient dog yet, we’re having fun training her as she is very eager to please and extremely fun to be with. We are sure she could be an awesome fit with someone who can enjoy training her.
She has been with us about five month and now she weights 23kg (50lb). Besides, she had training at the dog training center for 5 weeks, in February and March, when I was out of Montreal.
After we rejoined, she has been acting much better outside. She pays more attention to me; hence, she stopped to jump on passers-by and horses. Still she reacts to birds and doggies in the street. I think this is the point that I need to work on with her ;) She has such an unquestionable quality. She never gets mad at us, and she is the typical happy-go-lucky dog. Accordingly, she has a lot of love to share with her new family. I am still leaning about her, and the training with her is a very fun opportunity where I can improve my skills as foster family.
Before she had the center training, she was looking all around with curious eyes; however, now she shows that she knows she is walking with me even though she takes a walk in down-town Montreal.
She loves running and chasing at the dog-park. I trust her that she won’t make any problem with another dogs. Nevertheless, she sometimes jumps on people who are very kind to her.
She behaves perfect inside home. She is fully house trained, plays with toys and sleep under the sun. She follows me often everywhere where I go. Her favorite spot is the kitchen. She is very curious, but she behave very gentle when I work in kitchen. Moreover, she can wait anytime when I tell her to “stay” in the existing area. Henry found out that Aaliyah is the very nice/beautiful tagging buddy for him, and they sleep eat and play together.
Hi Foster Family, I’m curious as to how large Aliyah is now – do you have any recent photos? When you go to the dog park, are you able to leave her off the leash?
Hi, thanks for your interest about Aaliyah. She now weighs 26kg (57 lb) now, and celebrated her first birthday this August, so we are planning to celebrate by going camping with dogs ;) She was spayed around the middle of May, and she has healed very well.
As a teenager in human years, she is a little defiant. However, her behavior has improved following her month-long stay at a training center and spaying. She has become less excitable and more submissive and composed. She is still very curious during walks, but does not react as strongly at passerby and animals. I am very happy to tell you that she is getting closer to being a perfectly well behaved dog, and I am proud of her progress. Also we realized that she loves to play with water, yet not in the pool. She was afraid to get into the pool with us, but loves jumping into a fountain on hot days, and then plays with spraying water. I believe she can swim, but might need a good introduction. She loves to carry around her favourite items like sticks, balls, bottles… etc. often she can carry it throughout our walk. My favourite move from her is her somersault. It is the first time I see a dog that can do front flips, and I find it so adorable to see. We can say that she wants to give a lot of love, and give her paw, to people who want to pet her.
At the dog-park (where she is always off leash), or other outside activities off leash, she is fabulous!! As her personality, she is very confident, friendly, playful and kind to other dogs. She’s extremely playful with other dogs; she loves to run around leading a pack of dogs and loves chasing all dogs at dog-park. Sometimes her energy is a little too much to small timid dogs, but she is slowly, but surely realising this. She is one of the most comfortable dog I’ve had to bring to dog-park. Honestly I am more concerned about my other dog more than Aaliyah at dog-park. At home, she loves to watch the cityscape from her 15th floor window. Sometimes, she hides on other side of curtain. Overall, she is very laid back and easy to be with.
We will update photos shortly… Sorry for the delay.
pictures on flickr are updated
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henry_fln/sets/72157625355749376/
She loves to give paw, and she always wants to be on top
How old is she now? Has she been tested with cats?
She’s just a little over 1 year old now, as far I know she hasn’t been tested with cats. I’ll check with the foster home to see how she reacts to stray cats since they don’t have any.
She’s ok with cats, she wants to play with them, bugging them, but no agression.
I am looking for a dog to adopt around july when I’ll move into a new appartment. And I watched a lot, but Aalyiah really caught my eye! She,s adorable! I would reaaaally like to meet her. How does it work?