I wanted to find out where/how I would get my pit bull Keena's (aka lovable) pedigree? She is approximately a year and a half old. I do not know who her first owner was other than he is either in jail or on the run for drugs and a shooting so I can't ask him. I really wish I knew her birthday but don't know anyway of finding out the vet estimated Dec 2005/Jan 2006.

Also she has a nervous type habit of chewing her back and tail. I have looked from head to toe (and tip of her tail) for fleas and haven't found any. I don't know if it could be an allergy or if I should give her something to stop the itching or allergy or if it would be safe to give her something if it isn't even that.


Thanks

The pedigree could be tough. Unless you have a bill of sale or something giving her registered name, you may never be able to get an official one. If you just want to learn her background, you might luck in and find a local breeder that remembers selling her to the original owner. You can find breeders in your area at American Kennel Club - akc.org (http://www.akc.org) There should be more info on pedigrees there too. Most breeders will know more about pedigrees than I do.

Pull back the hair at the base of the tail. If you see, or feel dark, reddish specks, she doses have fleas even if you haven't seen any and should respond to flea remedies. You may also need to treat the house and yard to be free of them.

For itching, feed a decent chow and little else, brush regularly, and bathe seldom if ever. If after a month of that, she still itches, talk to the vet.

For temporary relief you could try some Benidryl, up to 2 mg per pound of body weight. Such self medicating needs to be limited.

NOhelp, you have a very sweet looking pittie there. Please follow labman's advice. The only thing I wanted to point out to you is personally, if I were in your position I would not try to find out where she came from. I would be concerned that if the original owner did get her from a local breeder, when he gets out of jail or if he comes back to the area, he might go back to the breeder for another dog and find out that you have her now. You don't need to be putting yourself in a position where he has any leads as to who has "his" dog and one day decides to either show up at your doorstep or break in and just take her. Please think about this carefully.

Most people who adopt don't know the birthday of their dog. You actually have a very good guesstimate from your vet. I would choose Christmas or New Years for her birthday and leave it at that. When I adopted mine, the vet gave me a three month window -- August, September, or October. So, I just picked September 15 as her birthday. Most people who adopt do the same thing. I am glad that you were there to provide her with a home. Please make sure that both of you are safe and never in a position to find yourself on the original owners radar. ;)

Yeah Ruby thanks He lived down the street from me and I have heard that his relatives say they are going to take her but in over a year they haven't tried to. They did take the one puppy of theirs from across the street. The police said as long as I have the dog license and so forth it would be stealing if they did take her. The vet said just give her New Years for a birthday.

Not only does Ruby have a good understanding of dogs, she does very well on people too.

New Years and Christmas are easy dates to remember. I actually "celebrate" the day I adopted her rather than the day I picked for her birthday. To me, the adoption day is really her birthday because her life changed from that day forward.

I have to say, I cannot begin to imagine the place you live. People are bigger problems than anything else in this world. I am assuming the police took the dogs out of the home when they went to arrest the guy or someone surrendered them to an agency? There should be a paperwork trail from some agency (police or rescue) that shows you took her in. If it was more complicated than that, the fact that there were more dogs that have been distributed to other homes will help you regarding the legality of your adoption, along with the vet papers. No matter what the situation was, unfortunately it still won't stop someone determined to take a dog. I hope they all just continue to leave you both alone.

I mostly stay out of the people questions here. I have no special insight into them, and they are much tougher than dog questions.