Dog breeding: Old tradition meets New World Order???

Dog breeding has always been an expensive hobby of mine and moving to the county I could only assume it would get worse. While I don't consider myself an expert, I am well versed in the world of the American Pit Bull Terrier. It's an amazing breed with loyalty that in my opinion far surpasses that of a German Shepherd or Collie. They have this amazing ability to just know when you are hurt or feeling down. Hence why I use them in my service dog program that trains APBT for veterans with PTSD/TBI free of charge. However, there is one down fall to the breed, their prey drive. Not towards people or children or even other dogs, but towards prey animals AKA livestock... It is just unreal how a dog so well trained for public service that preforms flawless when working turns into a complete animal when the presence of livestock comes into the picture. Now the possibility of one of my service dogs coming into contact with chickens in a mall are pretty slim it really got me thinking. How are breeders accommodating people in 2013?
I'm not talking about you little foo foo dogs that annoy the crap out of everyone with their yippy whinny barks. I'm talking about working dogs, all working dogs. Everything from the Rottie to the Jack Russel terrier. What are breeders doing now that is different from 100 years ago... Well to be honest, nothing.
Aside from mostly cosmetic and chic breeding purposes there have been no major leaps in the breeding community to create a more versatile breed of dog for this day in age. Think about... How much has society changed in the last 50 years? The last 20 years? People in today's age are getting dogs that are being bred for a different time. A time when things were slower and less crowded. You have people bringing a well bred dog into the city life and the dog is freaking out. Not because of bad owners or lack of training, but because the dog has been genetically programmed to be aware of it's surroundings in one way or another. This isn't just one or two breeds either. This is almost every breed of dog that people are having behavioral issues with. I will say that training does have some play in it but when dog after dog, breed after breed are have the same issues when living in the home of the modern family that tells me that the breeders are not doing their part to better the breed.
As a responsible dog breeder part of your job is to better the breed. So what does that mean? That means things like health testing for genetic disorders, spay/neuter dogs with serious faults, but also probably one of the most important and most often forgotten is the temperament of the dog. Each breed has a standard for temperament, but these temperament standards are in my opinion HIGHLY outdated. No where in any standard do you see things like "remain calm while cars whaling on their horns drive by" or "calmly walk through a crowd of rude people that are fearful of dogs" and quite honestly I don't think enough breeders think of things like that when looking for certain temperaments in their dogs.
So here is what I suggest. Start cross breeding. Start putting things together that have never been thought to put together. Sound crazy?? Well it sure is, but dogs wouldn't be what they are now if someone hadn't done something different. I'm sure I will catch hell from my fellow dog breeders, but even here on our farm and with our service dog program the traditional breeds just aren't cutting it anymore. We need to take our ideas of how to breed dogs and bring them to the reality of present day.

Ahhhh....Life on the farm... More like nightmare on the farm...

 This is our farm, 15 acres of paradise!

Or is it.....

It's been two months since we moved into our new home and let me tell you... Going from city life to country life is not easy. For so long I wanted to get back to the life I remembered as a young girl growing up with my family in West Virginia. Now I feel like I am going to lose my mind. While city life is busy it doesn't compare to life on the farm. Every day the list of things that needs to be fixed, tore down, rebuilt, or is broken keeps getting longer and longer!

But wait! That's not all! Just when you find time to relax ^^^^^ This guy decides to join you in the tub! I find myself daily thinking I am going insane. However, there is hope. This place is beautiful! Every morning I wake to the sunrise and birds singing. My girls have a home that they are going to learn about life the way I did. It's so hard making this change in our life, but I know it will be worth it.

We plan to get some cows, goats, and possible a few alpaca so we can start becoming self-reliant. It's a long road and we have already had some hard lessons since we moved, but I have faith.

The NOT SO Sweet Spot...

Tattoos are so amazing... Even when they hurt there is this love for turning your body into a walking canvas. However, some pain just isn't fun. This was the case with getting my quarter sleeve, well the under arm part at least... It took 9 hours of work to finish it because I was such a baby about it. While I love it now, in the moments leading to the finish line I seriously wanted to punch my tattoo guy Ian Dykstra. The whole time he was saying "don't be such a baby". I'll admit I was being rather dramatic. But OMG!!! I't really hurt!!! Some day I really want to have a full sleeve, but when I think of how much this one hurt I'm not sure I will make it...

Help! My baby is turning into a reptile!!! Dealing with the infamous cradle cap...

We have all heard of it and many of us have had to deal with it, but what is it??? Well this is what medical world says about it...

Seborrheic dermatitis

Dandruff; Seborrheic eczema; Cradle cap

Last reviewed: May 13, 2011.

Seborrheic dermatitis is a common, inflammatory skin condition that causes flaky, white to yellowish scales to form on oily areas such as the scalp or inside the ear. It can occur with or without reddened skin.

Cradle cap is the term used when seborrheic dermatitis affects the scalp of infants.

So now with all the fancy talk out of the way what do moms have to say about it??? IT SUCKS!! It makes babies fussy and miserable and can be very hard to get rid of. The good news is in most cases just changing your grooming routine will get it under control. 

Our youngest had it pretty bad. At first we thought she was having an allergic reaction to the laundry soap we were using. After changing soaps it still didn't change. From her neck up she had this horrible rash that was now starting to become crusty and gross around her ears, nose and neck. We tried all kinds of lotions and nothing was helping. After some trial and error I found a way to really nip it in the butt.

First I started giving her baths daily. When I bathed her I would use her baby brush in a circular motion to exfoliate the areas where she had the rash. Note that this was not painful to her. Should you try this and your baby starts crying STOP. I also used Burt's Bees baby wash to clean her. The whole process took about 45 minutes as I wanted to make sure I removed as much of the flaky skin as possible. 

After her bath I used a very heavy unscented or naturally scented lotion such as shea butter. I rubbed it into her body and also her scalp. Again, this was not painful to her so if your baby starts crying stop. I did this every day for a week and after the first day she had cleared up almost completely. After the week I cut down to every other day then every three days. This process was great for us because we avoided using drugs or unnecessary testing to diagnose and treat something that was a common childhood ailment. 

Tattoos, Fighting, and Babies??? Say What?

So I got the chance to chat with an interesting girl a few days ago. Her name is Amber. Interestingly enough Amber is a amateur MMA fighter. She recently took a break from MMA to bring her beautiful little girl Lola into this world. Although Amber is in the amateur league she has been sponsored in the past by names such as Vitafight, Fightchix and One5fightwear to name a few. Now with her daughter being 10 months old she is back in the gym training with Maverick Training Center. Being that I am a huge MMA fan I will be keeping an eye out and you should too if you like to see those up and coming.

Amber with Pro MMA Fighter Tyler Davis in Canada

Amber also started a really awesome network group to help people find MMA and Mommy gear from reputable sources. MMA Momma Is her blog but you can also find her on Facebook and Twitter @ambermma