The dog day of spring!
Mar 19 2010
OK, I promised it, and here you go! We’re off topic for the rest of the day to talk dogs, dogs, dogs and nothing else!
Do you show? What do you like/don’t you like? What events do you compete in? How does a total noob get into something like obedience?
HILARIOUS dog show fashion group on Facebook…OMG people. Do not wear short skirts when you are going to be bending over working with animals!
Do you breed? What do you want to say to people who think they are going to breed dogs? (Muahahahaha…I know this is going to be good!)
Do you rescue? War stori
es welcome!
Do you train? What do you think of the big names like Cesar Milan and all the dog training TV shows? Are these folks giving good advice – or the Pat Parellis of dogs?
I know this is going to be a loooong thread. Have fun! I increased the threading levels so that you have more opportunities for replies before things get bumped to the end.
And since we are talking dogs today, here is mine. She is most likely a Yorkie-Chihuahua mix and she came out of Bakersfield, California, one of the purse dog breeding capitals of the U.S. She must have made a run for it, because she got hit by a car and wound up in the shelter. I got her for $10 and put an end to her puppy-making days and now she sticks to me like Velcro and gets smacked by the cats occasionally. They do not think a 5 lb. dog is to be taken seriously. 
If you are going to post pictures, PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY CODE. Put in ONLY the direct link. No IMG tags. It’s just stuff I have to strip and that makes more work for me. The pics won’t show up til I moderate. I cannot make pics from Flickr or Webshots show up. The link must end in .jpg or .gif to be made visible.
Have fun and happy dog day and TGIF!
407 comments to “The dog day of spring!”
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I was ‘in’ dogs for years. My mother raised, trained and showed. I grew up with dogs and chores centered around the kennel (I got my first dog at 2 years who stayed with my for 13 years, and showed my first dog at 5 years of age). We were taught absolute respect for our animals and that good sportsmanship was paramount…lessons that stuck with me through horse showing, working on a racetrack and to this day. I eventually went on the raise & show on my own, titling dogs in conformation and obedience. I also rescued (and still volunteer for rescues I respect today) – as a matter of fact, those breeders I enjoyed working with and respected believed adamantly in ‘you breed, you rescue’ and backed it up with action. I did eventually get disenchanted with the show world and today we’re happy with our working Livestock Guardian dogs and rescued house dogs.
I do still show on very rare occasions – but I show goats. It’s really hard to be snooty when you’re marching a goat around.
So here goes…my opinions (Which might tick someone off) are just that, opinions.
1. Cesar Milan. The basics behind his work is sound. These are pack animals with their own way of communicating, not decorations or people. I don’t always agree with what I see because, as someone mentioned, these shows are heavily edited and without knowing the hours of evaluation or work behind the scene it can be a disaster when someone imitates. I do NOT advocate violence, etc when training – and it is totally unfair to punish a dog for not doing something you haven’t shown him how to do, be inconsistent or discipline way after the fact. But at the same time this method of “please sit for me because you love me” method of training doesn’t much for me.
For example. My husband’s dog is a rescue – he adopted her after watching her go through FIVE homes that returned her for being incorrigible (she climbed 8 foot fences, ran away, picked fights with other dogs etc). As a matter of fact, a few weeks after he took her she made a running leap through his balcony door and jumped OFF a second story balcony and hit the ground running. It took him over an hour to find her. To say the least he had his work cut out for him making her understand pack order and that she MUST behave a certain way to remain in the pack. She’s sarcastic and stubborn and smart and undid plenty of people who thought she should do something if she just loved you enough. Ha. Today she is a wonderful therapy dog who can interact with multiple other dogs and work off leash. She adores my husband and will follow him to the ends of the earth. Happy ending, but not without work and some embarrassing moments which resulted in some GREAT stories to tell
2. Continental Kennel Club. Gack. People, this is NOT a legit registry. Yes, if you send them money they will send you a certificate. Guess what? So will I! ConKC just asks for an application and a photo and someone else to sign saying it’s a purebred (this ‘someone else’ can be your neighbor who doesn’t know a dog from a pine tree). If you are looking for a purebred, please know the registry. AKC, UKC, etc doesn’t automatically equate quality, but a registry like ConKC is almost guaranteed to mean BYB.
3. Breeders on craigslist. If you are peddling your $150 puppies on craigslist you are not a reputable breeder. No matter how many times you insist you are in your 532 following ads that start out “You can keep flagging and I’ll keep posting!”. You are a BYB. And yes, you are a BREEDER – if you have a litter (especially if you have ‘papers’) you are a breeder, no matter what color sweater poopsie wears when she sleeps in your bed. And by the way – why would I do business with someone who flouts clearly posted rules?
4. There are some awesome, hardworking rescues. There are some really crappy ones. I hate those that are being run by someone with a God complex who has lost sight of what’s important because s/he has the power to deny you a pet. On the other hand – those quietly hardworking ones? Find the ones that are doing the right thing by every animal and GO support them…they need volunteers, supplies, sponsors. Trust me…they can use all the help you can offer and they will appreciate it.
5. Speaking of rescues…you are not are rescue if you have 100+ animals in deplorable conditions. I don’t care how fancy your website is. You are a hoarder and need to be shut down. You are also not a rescue when you get some free puppies and slap them on craigslist without vaccines or spay/neuter asking $75 each. You are adding to the problem. PLEASE if you want to privately rescue do it only within your means, spay/neuter it, vaccinate, HW check…you know, all those things legit rescues do that usually keeps them in or near the red in the checkbook. Rescue is not a very good ‘for profit’ endeavor.
6. I would personally like to tie, beat and starve every idiot in a wife-beater holding his puppies up by the scruff for the camera for (oh yes…you know it’s coming) his craigslist ad. Every idiot who chains their dogs up, leaves it to nuisance bark, doesn’t bother to feed it, lets it roam and damage other property or kill livestock…oh, you know where this will go. I often think there should be a license to own dogs too. Our former bottom-dwelling neighbors had as many as 6 dogs (pit mixes of course) chained up with little or no shelter. They fed only when the barking became so intolerable my husband complained. I saw their young children (6 and maybe
repeatedly hit or kick these dogs and the parents laughed. They were disgusting. (Yes we called animal control…no they didn’t do anything.). And of course, it’s never THEIR fault their dog ate your pet chihuahua. And it’s sweater.
7. Please…do not buy or ‘adopt’ your pet from anyone in the wal-mart parking lot or from someone who insists on meeting you at the local convenience store. Flippers and byb’s abound in this situation. And when your dog gets sick 2 days later? Where will your breeder be? NOT in the Wal-Mart parking lot! (This really happened….a lady called the vet clinic I work at with her sick dog, she had bought it from someone in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She was FURIOUS that no one would treat it for free and that the guy wasn’t at WalMArt when she tried to get her money back. *Sigh*)
8. Having worked in the veterinary field for years here’s a couple hints. Please don’t call on Friday at 4:30 insisting on being seen for your vomiting dog that has been vomiting, not eating and acting sick for a WEEK. We’ll see it but we won’t think much of you. Please do not assume that because you got a dog and had no money a vet is required to see you for little or no money and that we’re money grubbing monsters when we don’t. Do NOT adopt something you can’t care for. Our vet will certainly work with a good client in an emergency, but seriously….take some responsibility for yourself. And please don’t come in and tell us we’re wrong because Dr. Google said something different. OK?
See? I can make a whole blog just about this topic. I bet I think of 3 more after I go to bed. Which I guess I should do now that I’ve ranted and rambled. Thanks for starting this subject Fugly
LOL you could make a whole blog about it!
I know, the CKC = The Blue Eyed Horse Association. Same nonsensical shit. No standards, means nothing.
I just want to point out the fact that the CKC is the Canadian Kennel Club a very reputable organization and the ConKC (Continental Kennel Club) is the garbage one.
Good point. I should have clarified that! But everybody calls the Continental Kennel Club the CKC, which sucks for the Canadians!
Great post!
Yay dog talk. This has stayed very, very civil, much more so than over on the Dogster boards. Eek, I stopped visiting there because I could not handle the bitch factor.
I was lucky enough to grow up with an animal loving family, having cats, dogs, rabbits and a succession of small caged animals growing up. Horses were my main love as a teenager and young adult, but unfortunately the realities of money curbed my horse habits. So now, I instead have two rescue dogs. the first was a Chi-mix I found on Petfinder from a seriously nut job crazy “rescue” lady. If you had told me 10 years ago I would have and love a Chihuahua of my very own, I would have laughed myself silly. Grew up surrounded by Labs and Springers and “proper gun dogs”. However, having a Chi who wants nothing more than to follow you around and do your every bidding is nothing short of refreshing.
Dog number two is an Italian Greyhound/Min Pin mix–I think–and I hate to admit it, but he could be my heart dog. He was/is a nut case, and had exponential amounts of energy that needed to be managed (while also being the most cudly, dear, and gorgeous little dog you’ve ever seen). Together we found agility, and it has honestly opened up a new path in life for me. He has taught me so much. And, we were the very first Canine Companion to sign up for our local AKC trial that will be introducing Mixed Breeds into competition the first week of April! We are counting down the days to our first trial.
I have very strong feelings about breeding dogs. I know there are good breeders out there—one or two have posted on this thread–but they are in the huge minority. I dont believe 99% of the population to have the intelligence or wherewithal to breed dogs correctly—with ALL the tests, placing puppies properly, following up, and breeding to the breeds original purpose and structure, etc. As much as I covet a gorgeous Dobe, BC, IG, or Boston, I will NOT PURCHASE a purebred. I also strongly support the California proposition that wants to require all companion dogs to be spayed and neutered unless a special license is aquired. Anyone that says HSUS/PETA/the “left wing whackos” are trying to eradicate companion animals needs to have their head checked. And or go camp out at a county pound for a while and see how “few” animals are being put to death on a daily basis.
I actually have some family friends who “hobby breed” Rat Terriers. Aside from the fact that all their dogs look like barely the same breed—some with long hair, some with short, some 10lbs, some 15+, what I cannot get over is the one from the last litter with only THREE legs. He is sweet, but effing-A people–you are breeding genetically mutated dogs!?!?!? I KNOW she did not do any genetic testing prior to breeding, and she does not show her dogs. She is a genuinely nice person, but that last incident made me sick.
Caesar I think has done both good and bad for dogs. Bad as in many average people think they can watch a show then go “train” their dog, good in that he has supplanted some wonderful theories in the heads of the general public: exercise your dog, dont let them walk all over you, and that dogs CAN and SHOULD be rehabilitated the majority of the time.
Our Chi was on death row for being aggressive. He is the sweetest and dearest dog in the world and I cant imagine life without him. Someday when the finances return, we’ll start adding rescue equines to our “pack.”
I also strongly support the California proposition that wants to require all companion dogs to be spayed and neutered unless a special license is aquired. Anyone that says HSUS/PETA/the “left wing whackos” are trying to eradicate companion animals needs to have their head checked.
Please. Come and check my head. HSUS/PETA is about no ownership of animals at all. You need to go do some checking out. Wayne Parcelle has publically said “one generation and out” meaning that with the next generation of kids, no more ownership. That’s the facts, ma’am. Totally documentable. If you send an email to kallista at hughes dot net, I think I still have a document with all the quotes of these people.
Soooo….I require all the pets I produce to be neutered. Now I get charged a fee for doing that and calling myself a breeder. I’m being punished for doing the right thing. I stop breeding the clean line of dogs that I’ve been working with for generations. No more nice temperamented dogs that don’t die of DM, heart problems, don’t get crippled from CHD, don’t go blind, don’t bleed to death………That really does help things, now, doesn’t it? And what exactly would be my reason to bother when I’m being legislated to death? The thing that people don’t realize is we already have laws that cover so many of these things they are trying to push through. We can’t get the AC people to check out starving horses, now we are going to add more laws that are just as unenforceable. let’s just enforce the laws that we have and give AC enough money and manpower to do so and so much of this would be taken care of on it’s own.
Wayne may have said that but the organization as a whole is NOT full of people who believe that. HELLO, if you go to their offices, EVERYBODY HAS A DOG. With them, at work. An OWNED dog.
I’m really tired of all the misinformation. I can’t speak to PETA, PETA lost me about the time they called fish “sea kittens,” and I do have issues with some of the things Wayne Pacelle has said and done but HSUS, AS A WHOLE, is full of good, responsible animal OWNERS who are doing more to help animals on a daily basis than the majority of the people who spread drama about how radical they allegedly are. HSUS has the resources to send money when there is a major disaster like Three Strikes and they have it because they’re a well run nonprofit. They are not a rescue – they exist to lobby, change the law, change opinions, and help out with major emergencies that overwhelm local resources.
I’m sorry, but if you don’t want to be grouped in with the “whackos”, then don’t associate with them. Find a reputable, genuine rescue who actually spends more than 1/2 of a percent on animals (including rescues, donations to local shelters, etc.) and volunteer for them. Find a group who doesn’t give their corporate office spots (including Wayne Pacelle himself) 6-figure wages. Find a group who won’t kill 150+ dogs in one raid because they’re “vicious”-including week-old puppies. Find a group who does more than blow steam and pretend they know all about farming, dogfighting and breeding when their very leader is a self-proclaimed vegan who’d love to see all domestic animals extinct. In other words, find a group who makes a difference the honest way. You may think the people who work for HSUS are great, and don’t agree with what Wayne says, and that’s fine, but in the end, would YOU want to be lumped in with someone who makes you look like a lunatic? It’s guilty by association. Wayne may not govern what the people of HSUS think, but he sure as hell governs everything they do, and none of it is any good for domestic animals anywhere.
Saying that Wayne represents the views of everybody in HSUS is like saying that Obama represents the views of everybody in America.
I think that says it all.
I cannot think of any group, by the way, that I disagree with on nothing…not a political group, not an animal welfare group, probably not even a rescue. I support those that I agree with most of the time – that’s good enough for me.
Hah! I knew I could get it to be uncivil. Too easy.
And Fugs, thanks for bringing some sense to the argument.
Kallista or Webskennels; show/link me a TRUE document, online—as in an article quoted from a legitimate news source—that shows quotes from Mr. HSUS saying he wants to eradicate companion animals. I dare you to show me because I know it does not exist.
Like Fugs says, you cant please all the people all the time, but the HSUS does good things for animals as a whole. I have a semi-negative opinion on PETA; while I agree with some of their initiatives, I dont agree with how they go about spreading their messages. In general they take one step forward and five steps back.
The California law would be hard to enforce. But it would at least MOTIVATE people, such as the acquaintance I mentioned, to probably take a hard look at why they are breeding dogs in the first place. I have zero doubt in my mind that people who truly and legitimately “love their breed” will keep breeding. Why? Because they’re not doing it for the money. Those who will whine and cry about how they “cant afford it” should in no way be breeding dogs in the first place.
This whole claim of any group wanting to see “all domestic animals extinct” is so undeniably laughable. SHOW ME THE PROOF (and not some “document” that was dredged up from the dank hysterical web dungeons)… LOL!!!!
So I was sitting here getting all steamed bc I just cant bare to be wrong, so I did everyone’s homework for them. You guys are right!!! Wayne Pacelle did say that–in 1993. AND IT HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT AGAIN AND AGAIN. Here is his quote exactly:
– attributed to WP in 1993: “We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding… One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.”
He was responding to questions about to preserve breeds of exotic livestock. He was saying that that he does not have a problem if a SPECIFIC BREED OF DOMESTIC ANIMAL CANNOT BE PRESERVED. As in if the Southern Spotted Golden Chicken that was bred back in the 1880′s goes extinct that there are bigger things to worry about. He was not talking about ALL dogs, cats, horses, parakeets, etc.
Here it is in his own words.
Look it up and actually RESEARCH the issue instead of regurgitating white papers and forwarded emails.
Thank you. Honestly I was too lazy to look it up myself (and busy yesterday) but that makes a lot more sense.
Really. People. I go to the HSUS Office quite a bit. LOTS OF DOGS. How could you take a position that you’re anti-animal ownership when your office is full of owned animals? Wouldn’t that make the people who actually do believe you shouldn’t own animals kind of pissed?
I think you misunderstand me. I did not say Wayne represented the views of everyone involved in HSUS. However, he IS in control of their actions, and he IS in control of how the public perceives them. If HSUS as a whole did not believe in what Pacelle says, why do they keep him as their president?
Would you willingly affiliate yourself with a group who markets “organic” vegan dog food-made in a foreign country who isn’t a member of IFOAM? Or what about the percentage of their well-over $200 million dollars (you can run one hell of a horse rescue with that-and yet, they refuse to, despite having the funds and man-power, as well as the willing volunteers). For that matter, have you ever heard of any other “welfare” organization who makes that much? I know my local Humane Society (who receives no funding from HSUS) certainly doesn’t.
You said you don’t like PeTA, because of their nutso stunts. Don’t you think a good percentage of the people who work there don’t support all of PeTA’s views?
Eighty-three percent have a favorable view of HSUS. Seventy-one percent of Americans believe HSUS is an umbrella group for local pet shelters. Sixty-three percent believe their own local animal shelter is affiliated with HSUS. And 59 percent believe HSUS shares most of its money with local pet shelters. HSUS does NONE of these things. Nice PR group, don’t you think? Don’t you think the HSUS should be honest about that kind of thing?
Honestly, you can keep supporting HSUS. You are one of the few people I see getting off your ass and helping animals. All I ask is you don’t donate to them (money better spent on actually helping animals), and you actually understand they are an animal rights group, which means no matter what the people involved think-they are for the extinction of domestic animals, and it’s been proven time and time again.
“If HSUS as a whole did not believe in what Pacelle says, why do they keep him as their president?”
Because just like with AQHA, the general membership does not get to vote on what the leadership will be!
I do not see a comparable organization, run by someone I have a more favorable impression of, that is well organized enough to raise funds for the big disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Three Strikes Ranch. See, that’s the problem. A lot of the people whose ACTIONS I worship in rescue have not a clue about fundraising and how to run a large scale organization. So even though I may absolutely love Suzy Rescuer down the street, I couldn’t go to her for help if I found out about 200 starving mustangs. Suzy, even if she’s very responsible, might have $10,000 in her rescue’s savings account. She does not have lobbyists. She does not have a corporate office that can send me a plane ticket to go to Nebraska and help round up mustangs and keep them from starving to death. HSUS does.
You may not like Wayne, and honestly, I don’t have the most favorable impression of the guy myself (I’ve been working one of his major events for 8 years now and he has yet to say hi – our only communication so far has been that I told him I disapproved of how things were handled at Katrina with the cats and he blew me off pretty rudely) but overall the people I have worked with at HSUS have been hardworking people who put the animals first. Other than maybe Wayne, they’re not pulling high salaries and they’re doing things like spending most of the year on the road assisting with large scale animal seizures, hoarder houses, and other horrors. Filming all the way and making emotionally manipulative videos to get donations? ABSOLUTELY. But how many of you give money when you’re NOT emotionally manipulated by videos of thin and injured animals? Not too many of you. And again, WITHOUT MONEY, people like me CAN’T help. We had a crew of outstandingly good, competent horse handlers at Three Strikes and you know, you don’t just round up people who can safely and sensibly round up 200 wild horses among the locals. We had the people we needed to get the job done because of the Humane Society’s money, which they get partially because Wayne, whether you like him or not, is a good CEO and the organization is running well.
Trust me, you could not GIVE me a $1,000,000 a year salary to run a non-profit. The sucking up-for-dollars alone would KILL me. So I have to give some credit to those who can do it and do it well. And I am grateful when their expertise results in my being able to help animals when I otherwise could not do so due to the expenses involved.
Wesbar, I will not disagree with you on the fact that HSUS uses some unclear methods in its marketing. I was one of those people–until very recently–that thought they were affiliated with local HS chapters. When perusing their website recently, I was mildly annoyed by their videos as they seemed too over the top. And, I have not read enough into it to really understand both sides, but I am questionable about the dog food products as well.
Again, I agree with Fugs. The HSUS promotes better treatment, care and awareness of animals and related issues.
And again—neither you or the other poster acknowledged the quote—you say WP/HSUS are animal rights groups/activists that are looking to eradicate domestic animals, and that its been proven “time and time again”.
WHERE? WHEN? HOW???? Show me the proof. I truly and honestly want to see it.
I don’t worship Wayne Pacelles, but it really gets me fumed when people snatch phrases out of context and use them against any groups that are pushing serious reform. Actually, it pisses me off when ANYONE does that, in any form, regardless of whether I agree with the cause or not. That’s called lying.
That doesn’t respond to the lies he lets the public believe (which is where most of the money comes from). That doesn’t respond to the absolute bullshit they pulled with Vick (PeTA did it too, and both of them faced and lost lawsuits on it), nor does it explain their actions with the raids where they pulled over 150 pit bulls, and euthanized them ALL, without a temperament test, including week-old puppies, all because they were all “vicious”. You can turn around and say “it’s because there wouldn’t be homes for all of them!”. That’s no excuse. There were rescues practically screaming at the judges to let them take some of the dogs, all they could handle, and because Pacelle shoved his nose into it, not a damn one got a chance.
Sure, maybe HSUS does “some” good for animals (and I use this term loosely-mostly because the laws they lobby for are absolute shit that does little to nothing for solving problems), but that doesn’t excuse the things they’ve done to animals. Pacelle acts like he knows everything about farming, more than the farmers themselves, more than the STATE veterinarians. Prop 2 in California is a fucking joke that will only kill livestock farming.
Something I have noticed-people claim that local shelters ” cannot change laws, investigate animal abuses on a large scale, inform the public of abuses through mailers/internet, or expose anti-animal organizations and their blood agendas. (nice little poke at the CCF there-apparently being anti-animal rights automatically qualifies you as anti animal-guess I’m anti-animal too). But did nobody ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, if the local shelters actually got a little bit of HSUS’ millions (which means stop donating to this shithole of a “welfare/protection” group), they could do the exact same thing? When you have the resources, you can do what needs to be done.
I don’t give a fuck if anybody believes these links. It doesn’t change the fact that HSUS IS an animal RIGHTS group, NOT animal welfare, and as such, IS for the extinction of domestic species. (most of these links have links to other tidbits about HSUS)
http://www.pet-law.com/future/HSUS.html
http://petdefense.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/attorneys-hsus-ceo-pacelle-is-a-liar-the-truth/
http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=775
http://www.thenokillnation.com/?p=437
http://animals.change.org/blog/view/127_pit_bulls_incl_60_puppies_ordered_killed_with_welfare_groups_support
http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=1952
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2450719/posts
(I’ll add more as I find them-some are PFD and I have issues getting them to work on my computer)
I haven’t read it all of course but I do want to state for the record that I am 100% AGAINST Nathan Winograd and the entire idea of no-kill. Always have been, always will be. You cannot have no-kill. It is not possible. There are not enough homes and there’s not enough money and warehousing the poor animals in crates stacked upon each other in faux-rescues nationwide is NOT a solution and to my thinking is MUCH worse than death.
And, sorry, I know this thread is dying, but a quick little article from the Bark–who I respect as a sensible outlet–on 2 No Kill shelters that had to be shut down…
http://thebark.com/content/unrealistic-ideal
Wesbar,
Thanks for the links, I will bookmark them to check out when I have time. Even if I disagree, I like to be educated on both sides of the argument (or in this case probably the 18 different sides).
I will continue to do my own HSUS research as well, I am curious/interested to find any mainstream media/third party articles about the HSUS that give an honest portrayal.
I think that says it all.
In the eyes of the world, Barack Obama does represent the the views of the American people!!
That’s what scares me!!!
I lived in the UK for a little while when Bush, Jr was elected. Trust me, it was worse then. I had several people inform me how stupid I must be because “if the leader of your country is an illiterate tit, then so must you be”. =/
“I also strongly support the California proposition that wants to require all companion dogs to be spayed and neutered unless a special license is aquired.”
That is a ridiculous law. How is “companion dog” defined? How much is the “special license”? Who has the power to approve and disapprove?
Once everyone’s pets are spayed, and die off, where will the new ones come from? I bet you the law exempts pet stores. Whoopee – now California pet lovers will be forced to support puppy mills. Now that’s a WONDERFUL result, isn’t it? Prevent them from getting well-bred, health tested puppies. Force them to get ill-bred pups from careless breeders. No, none of THOSE will wind up dumped. Ecch.
Get real. Think beyond the obvious. Look for the “unintended consequences.”
Ruthie, irritated by those who will do anything, if someone tells them it’s good for the animals.
I agree that it’s possible that the law could be corrupted by puppy mills paying a breeder licensing fee. But if it is a per-puppy fee, that is the way around that – make it impossible for them to breed volume and stay in business. Reputable breeders simply do not HAVE 100 puppies. Not EVER.
I am in favor of a per-foal tax, as many of you have read before. One of the fastest routes toward discouraging a bad behavior is to make it expensive. Witness seat belt use. There is No.Way.In.Hell I would wear that blasted thing if I did not HAVE to because I cannot afford the fines not to. I am a perfect example of scaring someone into the behavior you want via financial cost. It definitely can be done!
I’d make it per litter for dogs and cats, not per puppy.
I’m against the vast majority of MSN legislation. It tends to, yes, do things like penalize good breeders more than mills.
I’m against PETA because it attracts nutjobs. Sea kittens. Really. And because it is against eating meat altogether, and I eat meat.
Interesting that Wayne has been misquoted. But I would still be against what he said, as preserving heritage breeds of livestock (and plant varieties) preserves desirable genetic variance we might need to, say, fight a future disease or blight.
The misquoting does not change the fact that there are whackjobs out there who are against ALL use of animals, ALL breeding, and would not mind seeing the domestic cat, for example, become extinct. Those whackjobs join PETA, and PETA has become, in all outward appearances, their little playground. If it wasn’t intended to be in the first place. Some of them are trying to take over HSUS too. (Yes HSUS does good work, but there are some crazies in it too…just not as many and not as loud).
I am, however, in favor of differential licensing fees, providing they are done correctly. I would prefer to see per litter because it nails puppy mills with higher bills than the dog fancier producing one or two litters of quality dogs a year…the kind of breeder we NEED.
Good points. I really would love to see the magic solution that would penalize the mills and drive them out of business.
By the way, for the HSUS opponents, they’ve actually been focusing on puppy mills at present and are getting a lot done.
Ruthie says:
“That is a ridiculous law. How is “companion dog” defined? How much is the “special license”? Who has the power to approve and disapprove?
Once everyone’s pets are spayed, and die off, where will the new ones come from? I bet you the law exempts pet stores. Whoopee – now California pet lovers will be forced to support puppy mills. Now that’s a WONDERFUL result, isn’t it? Prevent them from getting well-bred, health tested puppies. Force them to get ill-bred pups from careless breeders. No, none of THOSE will wind up dumped. Ecch.
Get real. Think beyond the obvious. Look for the “unintended consequences.””
Well, since you have so many questions, it appears you have no knowledge of the bill—though you apparently find it “ridiculous”. You also make some incredibly broad assumptions, including “everyone’s pet’s dying off” and that well-bred puppies will be extinct. Wow.
In case you would actually like to become educated on the subject and answer some of your own questions, here is the current version of the bill:
http://www.yesonsb250.com/sb250-read-the-bill.php
I’d like to know how researching and forming opinions of my own is not “thinking beyond the obvious”?
The bill does not specifically address mass breeding operations, but as Fugs says, anyone breeding at that volume will have a difficult time keeping in business. Especially when their bottom line gets hit, because that’s all they care about. Like I said before and I will say again, people who breed “for the love of the breed,” will CONTINUE TO DO SO. And even with these laws, there will ALWAYS be people and animals who slip through the cracks. ALWAYS. I think this will actually INCREASE the quality of animals being bred as they will be created by people who are doing it for the right reasons, not out of laziness, or idiocy, or to make a quick buck.
Or maybe I should just change the subject politics and/or religion, that could be less exhausting…
There’s a Pointer breeder in CA that I’ve admired for years. I recently emailed her to see how long she plans on breeding because some day (when I’m down to one or two dogs) I would like to get one of her puppies. Her response was that she didn’t see herself getting out of showing and breeding anytime soon, but if this legislation passes, she will probably move to another state.
I don’t know much about it myself. That’s just what she said and she is a very responsible breeder.
This is Jack, our English Cocker Spaniel. We bought him from a breeder recommended by the trainer (for field work/hunting) of our other dog, a lab, also from a breeder. Both come from working lines and we did our research before buying either. There was no quick decision as we had to wait for the litters to even be born. We didn’t see either puppy, they were shipped to us and we allowed the breeder to choose for us based on what we wanted them to do (hunt and be great family dogs) and our personalities. We could not have chosen better for ourselves. They are excellent dogs and wonderful with our kids. Both are neutered males who never had a girlfirined.
We also have a spayed Lhasa Apso who is a rescue of sorts. An elderly lady could no longer take care of her and was downsizing. A two-year old Lhasa was not a good choice for her. So, now we have Sofi, too.
I used to show, years ago, in obedience. It was a great experience, but I think I was a little too serious about it. My Golden had her CD, but we didn’t finish her CDX before I stopped showing to go to college. I would go back to obedience, but would probably give agility a try too.
As a part-time groomer (to help pay for the horses) most of my clients and their dogs are wonderful. My only pet peeve (and it’s so petty!) is when people are convinced their dog has “fur”, but not “hair”, or vice-versa. I realize dogs have different lengths and textures, believe me, I know. But really, hair and fur are two ways of saying the same thing.
Ooh, so many lovely, lovely puppies! To all you experienced trainers and showers, hats off to you. That’s great.
We had a lovely rescued lab mix (brindle, and her mom was a pit, but she was the sweetest, nicest, LEAST aggressive dog I have ever met) for fourteen wonderful years. She passed on last fall, and I still miss her.
It was discovered that we were dogless, and now we have a 1.5 y.o. German Shepherd x Husky and a 1 year old registered purebred silver (I had never heard of this, but I have pictures!) labrador.
The Shepherd is sweet, nonaggressive, and SMART, geeze. She opens doors, and can open a carabiner if it isn’t round. The Lab is a sweetie too, LOVES to fetch.
We have basic obedience skills, but that’s about it. Sit, stay, wait, and manners on leashes are about the extent of my training ability.
I’m so glad you finally did this topic!! Now its my turn to brag…
I LOVE SCHUTZHUND. Schutzhund is a 3 phase sport that was originally designed to form the german shepherd breed. The shepherd was originally a herding dog until breeders started marketing more towards police and military dogs. The breed organizations feared that people would start breeding outright aggressive and unstable dogs, so schutzhund was created. The dogs must be able to do the bite work, obedience and tracking without being agressive and 100% obedient. If the dog didn’t pass the tests, it was not eligible to be registered as a german shepherd. Nowadays its simply a sport. Don’t let the bite work fool you, the whole point of schutzhund is so that aggressive or mean dogs cannot pass the tests. This is EXACTLY the same way police dogs are trained except to our dogs this is a game, they are working in a prey drive not a defensive drive. I’ve recently gotten into agility, rally ob, ckc ob, and everything else, but schutzhund is by far my favorite.
This is my friend doing some bitework on the sausage with my dog.
More bitework
http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/e/5/7/highres_8996919.jpeg
Me working my friends dog on the sleeve
Obedience
Not sure if this is just bravery or stupidity LOL
oh and btw, he is a rescue to ribbons story in the making. We already have two titles and we’re working on a sch I.
Thanks for the information about Schutzhund. The only experience I have had with this is a Rott that came into the clinic where I worked. Whenever we heard he was coming, us worker bees would trip over each other running back to the pharmacy to count inventory so we were not the ones stuck checking this monster in.
He was the most agressive animal I have ever seen in my life so it is good to know he is NOT what Schutzhund is all about! He was gigantic and walked in the door already muzzled. The minute he caught a glimpse of the doctor, he would try to charge her with the owner screaming at the dog “NEIN! NEIN!”. To give him vaccines, we had to put him in a “pinch chute” behind the door with his leash through the gap in the door and the frame where the door hung.
We were asked to draw blood on this animal once and it was a nightmare. The vet would not let one of the techs do it for fear they would get hurt by this dog. Luckily, after the nightmare blood draw, the doc finally told the owner that she needed to find another vet for this dog because the doc was concerned that if the dog got sick, there would be no way to treat it. Of course she kept bringing her other dogs to us, which were the females bred to this crazy thing, for their scheduled c-sections.
yeah a lot of people do get the wrong idea about the sport and think we have crazy vicious dogs. Those dogs don’t last long because they bite when they aren’t supposed to, bite where they aren’t supposed to, and don’t bite how they’re supposed to. The dog should come in for a full mouthed SINGLE bite and simply hold it until they’re told to out it. They’re allowed to adjust the bite if they don’t get a good bite (but they can lose minor points if they don’t get a good full bite the first time). The dogs are NOT allowed to bite multiple times, they are not allowed to shake like a lot of dogs do when playing tug of war (or when savaging someone). Its just a single full bite and the simply pulls back on the sleeve until they are told to spit it out. Another thing aggressive dogs don’t do is spit out the sleeve when told, which is a pretty major point loss.
This person with the rotti may have found a club willing to put up with her, but that is NOT a real schutzund dog. That is an idiot with an aggressive dog who thinks it’s cool that we train our dogs in both German and English. We do that because English is more casual “heel” means just hang out beside me whereas the German equivalent “foose” means you are right on my leg looking at nothing but me. It also helps prevent people from ruining your dog.
Sorry about the freaking GIGANTIC pictures lol. Here they are again in a way smaller size
This is the same German Shepherd in the earlier pictures that looks like a demon dog from hell doing obedience off leash, no shock collar.
Yeah.. that is SO not what a Schutzhund dog should be like.
I am out of the sport now.. I just lost my last working Shepherd at just shy of 14 years old last week, and he was a SchH2. I haven’t worked dogs since my daughter was born.. I just had no time for all the field work and my shoulders are bad (Rotator cuff problems), so I couldn’t do sleeve work comfortably anymore. But a Schutzhund dog is not a underarm/police trained dog AT ALL. Anyone with a “SchH” dog who is person aggressive and not sleeve aggressive is doing a lot more than sport work, and they’re not doing it properly either. Even if a dog has had underarm work, as my Shepherd had, they should be trustworthy in public and not aggressive without provocation or command. They are watchful, but NOT dangerous. People like that are the reason it’s such a legal liability to train sport or protection dogs.
I still keep my big dogs.. right now I have a lovely red Doberman from a nice breeder a few hours away. He’s a clever, wonderful dog, but very high drive and not what I would recommend for most people as a pet. We have horses, and I love them, but I am definitely a dog person at the core. We show Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in conformation and have a few up and coming prospects starting this year that I have high hopes for. There’s a lot of things to test for in this breed, MVD, SM, epilepsy, and of course eye and heart should be checked regularly. But they’re well worth it. I love them like crazy.
I am definitely a lover of purebred dogs, but I am very cautious about the breeders I associate with and work with, and I have had many rescue dogs in the past and will doubtless have many more. I just like the surety of genetic testing and health testing/guarantees, and I like knowing what coat/exercise requirement/size at adulthood I can expect.
Good subject.. I like seeing that there’s so many dog lovers around here, not that it’s really a surprise.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/photo.php?pid=30127112&id=1599160719
This is my puppy: Eddie, he’s a purebred siberian husky. I have always had mutts before him, then when they were gone ( 1 died of old age, 2 dissappeared and I never found them) I bought him. I bought him from a breeder, I met his parents and grandparents. Which we drove out of state to get him so not much turning back lol. I’ve wanted a husky since I was probaly 3 years old, now i have him. He’s big and goofy, but he goes trail riding with me and is my buddy.
fun fun
He’s going to be my 4H show dog this year, i;m not sure how he’ll handle this he’s smart and minds me good, but he gets distracted easily lol. btw: its deffinatly spring, big white chunks of Eddie hair are starting to come out
Usually a lurker, but I have a few things to add. =P
I’ve been working at a big name pet store, as an assistant groomer (aka dog bather) for over a year. And there are a few points I’d like like to make from a grooming perspective.
Research the breed(s) of dog(s) you are thinking about getting and think hard about the grooming aspect especially if it’s not a short-haired dog. Believe it or not Goldens, Aussies, Collies and other long-coated dogs may not need to be trimmed/shaved unles you want them too be, but they DO need regular brushing! They CAN get mats, mostly it’s behind their ears and on the long feathers of the rump, but I’ve seen some that are never groomed that become entirely matted. Same with most any poodle/malti/bichon/shih tzu/yorkie/etc, or crosses of it least one of those. There’s nothing to do but shave the mats off as it usually gets too thick to brush out without the dog becoming in pain and sore, and with matting the skin underneath can’t ‘breath’ and will develop sores.
One dog that came into the salon that I will always remember was a dark red Golden-doodle. It was as if he had the double coat of a golden, and the “guard coat” hair grew long and looked pretty normal for a golden, but the “undercoat” grew in the curly doodle way. He came in to us having never been brushed or properly bathed, he was completely matted all over. The owners said that they didn’t know golden doodles needed to be kept trimmed and brushed….. The groomer who did him ended up shaving him down like a sheep so the matted mess came off pretty much in one piece. We called the cloak-like hair Alf as it resembled perfectly the long red-brown hair of the little alien. =P
Also a few tips about Brushes! (photos to help explain, there are many styles/brands of most of these items!)
~ Short haired dogs (Labs, boxers, pugs, chi’s, beagles etc.) I recommend a rubber brush, a regular curry comb works fine! Or the Zoom Groom by Kong works great! Furminator is good for dogs with a heavy undercoat, or who are shedding.
Zoom Groom: http://www.petdogblog.com/images/zoom-groom.jpg
~ Long coated dogs (Goldens, Aussies, Collies etc.) Rake type brush works great, a slicker can help with undercoat and getting out little knots, as will a comb.
Rake:
~ Hair that keeps growing (Poodles, Malteses, Bichons, Shih Tzus, Yorkies etc.) A slicker and a comb are the best for these kinds of dogs!
Slicker:
Comb (greyhound comb): http://www.midwestgrooming.com/image.php?productid=16174
I do have to share, so here’s a pic of my dog, a shelter pup. She’s about 1/2 red-heeler, and the other half is most likely lab? Not full heeler, but not that lab-ish… This is her at about 3-4 years old, she’ll be 7 next month but still acts like she’s about 2. =P
My mom really wants to get a puppy, but we’re going with a shelter/reputable rescue dog. Looking for a Airedale or part-Airedale preferably, as we have researched and the breed in general fits our needs in a dog. =) A mix would be great too, as the one real mark against them is the wire-y coat, which my mom doesn’t care for. =P
I currently own 5 dogs and will be adding my first show dog into the mix sometime next year. I’ve thought about going the rescue route in the past and have tried, but I’ve gotten rejected multiple times in the past. Why? Because my 13 year old Anatolian Shepherd is intact. He has a sensitivity to anesthesia and has a heart murmur and I won’t risk his life for an optional surgery. Some breed specific rescues have obscene rules before being able to adopt one of their dogs and I really didn’t want to sign away my first born child just to rescue a dog.
The “worst” dog I’ve had health wise was a pit bull lab mix from a shelter in New York. He was allergic to every protein source, had hip and elbow dysplasia, had chronic ear infections, was almost completely blind and deaf by 2 years old. His pain was managable on medications but he was helped to the rainbow bridge once he started attacking people (brain tumor). Yep. Surely its only the purebreds with massive health issues.
I’ve done my fair share of rescue(I still do!) and honestly, I think I’ve “earned” the right to decide where my dogs will come from.
I have 1 senior Anatolian Shepherd, 2 Border Collies, and 2 Pomeranians.
Jazz is my 13 year old Anatolian Shepherd. My boyfriend(ex) bought him for me while we were still together. His parents were both guardian dogs but he’s the furthest thing from it. I am his “flock” and he takes his guardian dog status seriously. This really isn’t a breed for the light hearted and its taken extensive socialization to get him where he is today. He’s not aggressive but he is fiercely loyal to me and only me. He’s been with me everywhere, from Canada, where he was born, to Florida and now in Indiana.
Credit is my 2 year old show bred Collie. He came to me via a friend who decided he wasn’t the right dog for her. He’s been altered and we’ve started training in agility. He’s been labeled a “problem” dog by quite a few people but he’s exactly what I wanted. We’ve dabbled in herding, since moving we’ve had to put it on the back burner until we’re able to find another trainer.
Cash is my 3 year old working bred Border Collie. I bought him from a breeder as strictly a pet. He’s shown great promise on stock but because of distance reasons, I haven’t been able to continue with his training. He’s a stellar frisbee dog and my right hand man.
Jolt is a 1 year old petstore “Pom”. He ended up a whopping 15lbs. My friend found him on being given away on craigslist and surprised me with him. He cannot physically hold urine so he has to wear a belly band and hates other people, especially the noisy little ones. He has severe allergies and has to stay on a special diet. He was my first little dog and it took me months to bond with him. He was a little annoying and I always worried I’d step on him at first. He’s proved himself to be a tough little guy and I couldn’t imagine life without him now.
Poppet is my 10 month old Pom. I purchased her from a breeder and boy, for being the smallest dog in the house, she certainly makes sure the boys KNOW who’s in charge. While I’ve done some training with her, I doubt she’ll ever compete in anything. She’d much rather spend her days chasing the cats and bossing the boys around
I’ve done all the training myself (except with herding, I’m useless out there!) and have found that no one way will work for every single dog. I’m not a fan of Milian, but if he’s helped people and his program works for you and your dog, then great. All the more power to you.
I could never resist showing a picture of my baby
She’s a two and a half year old lab/chow mix. I love her to death, she’s been a great dog. She’s great with children, and all of my family… She just hates strangers and chases the cat
Cat just smacks her on the nose and she backs off. The stranger thing is good, it makes my parents feel better about leaving the house when just my little sister is home.
She showed up at an eventing barn I was riding and working at, either a runaway or having been dumped (we got a lot of dogs dumped out there). Sweetest dog, only wanted to be petted, didn’t chase the horses, didn’t go in the arena… All the boarders wanted to keep her as a ‘barn dog’. The barn owner, who was crazy, and was always crazy, and I knew she was crazy, merely proved it once again. She said if the dog didn’t have a home in two weeks she was going to shoot it, and she refused to feed it. I have pictures – you could see her ribs. She’s a naturally slim dog, but she’s super fluffy (chow hair, lol), and it took some serious lack of food to get her that way. Talked my parents in to letting me bring her home and found myself a new barn. There was absolutely no call to threaten to shoot her. She was better behaved than the various trainers dogs.
As for trainers I like to watch Zak George’s youtube videos, and his tips have worked wonders on not getting my dog to not pull on the leash.
Lovely girl! May I ask what part of the country you found her in? She looks a bit like my own dog Vixen, who is a Carolina Dog/Chow cross. Vixen has a longer, thicker coat than your girl there, but they’re almost exactly the same color. If she was found anywhere in the southeastern U.S., she may very well be part Carolina Dog – the American version of the dingo. They are excellent, excellent dogs.
http://www.dogbitelaw.com is a great site for things to consider when looking for a dog. We own 2 rotties and LOVE them but they are a responsibility. Especially beneficial is the “advoid dog bites” and “why dogs bite” pages.
OMG I know I already posted but i took this picture like, an hour after I posted last and it is just such a PERFECT picture that there is NO WAY I couldn’t share it. Nikita is twelve, keep that in mind.
And here is my bullmastiff, Bruno. He’s 5 years old and a recent re-hab project. I’ve had him since January. (And yes, he only has one eye- this picture shows his blind side.)
I have two small mutts and (for the first time in my life) a pure bred Vizsla who I am planning on showing but NOT breeding! He’s just not close enough to perfect for me to even consider it. I also am a foster home for a local Pit Bull (two words people!) rescue and planning on adopting a rescue Pit Bull some time in the future. I have been competing in agility for 9 years and consider it my favourite dog sport by far. As far as Cesar goes, I am NOT a fan. I do not condone any trainer who tries to pass off egotistical bullying as dog training. His whole “philosophy” is based on archaic and outdated “pack” or “dominance” theory, a theory that has been disproven so thoroughly it’s astounding that people are still basing their training on this myth.
Here are my wonderful boys!
Jazz
Cooper
And finally, “7″
Please bear in mind, when judging trainers, that Cesar works almost exclusively with dogs that do actually need to be dominated!
I took on a Dobe fifteen years ago.
My first full male dog, a rescue (from the RSPCA as in ‘ I rescued him from them, he was skin and bone and they were going to destroy him as he was vicious and, worst crime of all, he had a tail! Now, of course, they are marching proudly at the front of the anti Docking brigade. I HATE the RSPCA!!!) and an Alpha male.
We had a few fights, which I won (this dog weighed more than I did!) and I had him neutered which made no difference to his pack status as he was an Alpha male, but stopped him getting my bitches in whelp (he still bred them)
One day, at training, as I had him on the floor telling him “NO” as he, yet again, tried to bite me on the arm (half play) the lights went on in his eyes and he got the message.
I never heard that dog growl again, except when he really meant it and he had a darn good reason.
He had been told, in language he understood, that I was Boss Bitch and his place was just behind me.
That was, quite possibly, the best dog I shall ever own.
Call it “bullying” if you like, but, since we are dealing with an animal whose hierarchy is based on bullying, sometimes it helped to speak a language they understand.
Cesar does not advocate violence, but he does advocate dominance.
I should like to see him deal with a few out of control kids, sometime!!!!
“Call it “bullying” if you like, but, since we are dealing with an animal whose hierarchy is based on bullying, sometimes it helped to speak a language they understand.”
But that’s just it, dog’s do NOT have a hierarchy based on bullying…neither do wolves! This is misinformation and contrary to modern research done on dog and wolf behaviour. What Cesar calls “calm submission”, educated dog trainers easily recognize as fear and “learned helplessness.”
Alpha roles are also straight out of the dark ages of dog training, they are also a fantastic way to get bit (and rightfully so.) NEVER in a normal, wild wolf pack will a wolf forcefully roll another wolf on it’s back and hold it there for any length of time.
My dogs do that to each other all the time. I don’t care if wolves do that or not, these are dogs, and it has been thousands of years since dogs were domesticated.
Jasper, my mutt that was dumped on my property, rolls over and holds down puppies. When I introduced him to my new Golden Retriever pup, the first thing he did was lift his leg and pee on me! I yelled at him and he snuck around behind me and peed on the back of my leg! He then started nosing the pup, rolled her over on her back, and gently held her down with his mouth around her neck. I was really freaked out until I realized that he wasn’t hurting her. When he was satisfied, he just let go and let her up and they started playing.
I’ve seen him do this to other dogs, too. Thankfully, that’s the only time he felt it was necessary to stake his claim on me.
He’s a really strange dog with behaviors I’ve never seen in other dogs. He looks like he’s part wolf, but I have no way of knowing if he really is. He loves people, but wants to kill any small animal he comes across. He’s not comfortable in the house, so he has a nice dog house with 1/3 acre fenced off just for him so he can’t get out and kill the cats.
Do I breed? Used to breed corgis, til our female got too old to breed (she only had 3 litters her whole life). They had some of the best herding instincts I’ve seen in the breed, though that could have a lot to do with people breeding them because they’re cute and cuddly.
What I would say to people looking into breeding dogs-don’t. Good dogs are expensive as hell, and so is hauling their ass to shows, events, for breeding, etc. Add in vet care (our bitch had to sit in the emergency room nearly half the night because she couldn’t pass a pup that was too big), feeding costs, and costs of advertising pups, you’ll only end up broke. IF you’re intent on breeding, get genetic tests done, and make sure your dog can do what it’s supposed to do well. They don’t really need titles if they’re a damn good whatever, but registration papers are generally a good idea, and most people will want them.
Do I rescue? Yeah, you could say that, though all the dogs we “rescued” were given to us by people who didn’t want them or couldn’t take care of them. Sure, we only rescued 3, but they were 3 skinny, wormy and hungry dogs who fattened up, got vet care and a permanent home. One died at 13 a couple of years ago (red nosed American pit, papered, though we could never retrieve the papers), and the other two are happily living with us at 2 years old (rescued at 5 months, also American pit bulls, one brindle and one white).
I don’t professionally train, I just do basic obedience. I haven’t got the patience to train my own dogs, let alone somebody else’s. As for whether the big name trainers are doing it right, it depends on the dog. Some dogs respond well to one method, others a mix of methods. No one trainer can possibly show you how to train each and every single type of dog out there, and you shouldn’t be relying on a TV show to train your dogs.
Two of the puppies we’ve bred.
Our two current pit bulls, a couple months after we got them.
Ok this is my very first post, I’ve been a lurker for some time now, but I just had to show off my girls. We LOVE them to pieces!!
This is Ginger, a heeler aussie cross. She’s two yrs old and smart as a whip. Her best friend is a 6 yr old boy
This is Paisley, a heeler, border, aussie cross. She’s 5 and a half mths, my husband got her to track w/ for hunting and she’s doing great…EXTREMELY SMART!! I like to think we rescued her she came from a farm w/ “working” dogs where they apparently let the mother have her pups in the barn and they (the ppl) just left them all alone so the litter was basically feral and she was super skinny.
I find it interesting that there are a fair number of horse involved people also involved with Livestock Guardian Dogs! I show (conformation & obedience – as to the 2nd, what can I say? I like challenges
) & breed Anatolian Shepherds; got involved with them over 25 years ago as flock guardians for my poultry, sheep & goats, then began producing my own replacement dogs. A flock guardian dog needs a pretty specific set of physical & mental traits, & I’d found some dogs within this breed that suited me exactly.
What I don’t like is people specializing in either strictly working (too many throw conformation & health testing out the window) or strictly show dogs (too many ignore a breed’s actual purpose, & breed for extremes). Or the people who won’t take responsibility for pups they’ve produced – for a fairly rare breed, I see altogether too many Anatolians in rescue.
At the moment, I’ve only got 1 Anatolian, a homebred champion that I handled myself; Ruh has his CGC & I hope to put some rally titles on him; a friend of mine I co-breed dogs with has several dogs of my bloodlines, so I also have other dogs I’m directly involved with. Our other dog is Pip, an APBT or Staffy Bull type that I found dumped on a highway as a pup (& who is at least 15 now).
Here’s shot I always like of Ruh trotting in the ring (excuse my weird outfit – not much fit in my 3rd trimester):
Ruh working:
Ruh with one of my kids:
Our old Pip with one of my kids:
Oh wow, I am SO familiar with your dogs! I used to be good friends with a lady (I won’t say her name online) who purchased Ruarke and Bryga from you! On a weird note, I have lost all contact with her and it would be JUST AWESOME if you could email me at Ttuffrider@yahoo.com and possibly get me some contact info for her..
I’ve worked in a shelter in MO for the past two years. Worst mill state in the nation, and I’ve seen the dogs to prove it. I’ve gotten to the point of telling people who mention they watch CM that that’s the worst thing that they can do for their dogs, and they need to READ and STUDY and never try and do anything you see CM doing. We have a trainer who is amazing with aggressive, big, and scary dogs. His idea of a “fun time” is to put ten akitas in a play room together. He will videotape random dogs in a dog park, slow down the video and have people watch the interactions. Fascinating how much more dogs interact than people realize! (Try this sometime. Just five minutes worth of video. It’s great). The whole “dominance” and “submission” thing has me climbing the wall, though. Fearful =/= submission.
For my own dog (Cairn Terrier), he gets to be a pretty basic, spoiled dog, but we’re starting agility. I used to show heavily in obedience/agility in high school, and had very high-energy dogs. I biked them each 3 running miles a day, and then sometimes a second time. Thus, I was skinnier then that now. So, if you *can* do it, keeping dogs show fit is a great exercise plan!
When I was looking to get a new dog I knew I’d have to pay attention to how alpha the new addition was because Widget is NOT an alpha–he’s one of those clown dogs, the one that plays tricks and jokes to get along with other dogs. I went to go see Bear and liked his look and demeanor but with both dogs on the leash it was hard to see if they’d interact at all, so I brought them both to the dog park. We turned them loose together and I noticed that Bear almost immediately started following Widget and paying attention to what Widget would do–when I called Widget Bear came up to me right along with him even though his current owner was standing elsewhere. After ten-fifteen minutes it was clear that they were slated to be best friends, and since I can get along with any dog and make them mind eventually but didn’t want to deal with endless chivvying and competition between the dogs I made up my mind that Bear needed to be part of the family. It turned out to be an excellent match–Bear is goofy and silly and keeps Widget from worrying too much about everything, and Widget keeps Bear out of trouble, mostly.
This is one of my favorite pictures of my boys:
Widget, my little velcro dog. If I don’t know where he is I just turn around really fast and there he is!
Widget herds cats…
Toldja they love each other!
And this is a picture of my late and much missed SpaceDawg, a rescued purebred Malemute–this picture was taken about a week before she died of an exceptionally aggressive bone cancer at the age of eight.
Dog hugging pic – SO FREAKING CUTE!!!
Ridiculous, aren’t they? You know what’s REALLY ridiculous? These are not posed shots, they do this ALL THE TIME:
Twin brothers from different mothers, I swear!
Ahhh… I have a herd of dogs around my place at all times…. and never pass up a chance to share
My gone but not forgotten Golden, “Call” was a very sweet pup we lost before his time, and great fun in agility.
My eldest “Hazel” is an almost 12yo Boardercollie/Husky rescue that was my boat dog when I commercial fished in AK.
Then there’s 9yo “Gus”; a field bred Lab that works hard both upland and waterfowl (and his cat, “Fido”).
The keeper of Gus’s last litter, “Pea Eye” is my shadow now.
My rescue/foster seeking adoption now is “Sophy” a very sweet 2yo, Lab/Rotty girl that is nothting but fun.
Golden Bond Rescue foster, “Sophy” the 7yo golden- very sweet girl who should also find a home soon.
and there’s a bazillion fosters of the past… that I could go on forever about
… but I’ll stop now.
THANKS for letting us doggy vent!
hoof: Your photo of Gus & Fido is truly centrefold material – WONDERFUL! You just made my day!
Where do you live? It’s beautiful! The picture with the cat is adorable, too.
I rescue Border collies and have two rescues of my own.
One is a conformational nightmare. He’s one of the few Border collies I’ve seen with an underbite. None of his four feet point in the same direction – ever. He has an awesome temperament and does rally obedience, obedience, and agility for fun – and he’s an ambassador for rescue.
The other is an ambassador for rescue in a different way. She is herding machine and dispels the myth that you can’t find a quality dog in rescue.
A reputable breeder or rescuer will:
– Require an application to purchase/adopt.
– Match the appropriate dog with the person. That match is based on temperament, not looks.
– Adopt on a contract.
– Stand behind their dog. That means they will ALWAYS take the dog back. Believe me – if you are say you will always take a dog back, you will be a lot more selective about where they go.
I have an ‘adorable’ rescued West Highland White Terrier named Barney. We (as in my family) adopted him from a local animal sanctury aged 4 months. His story is apparently he was brought as a present for someone’s second wife and she didn’t like him. He’s now 4 and has the same birthday as me XD
We’ve had our ups and down with him and he has his moments, he hates skateboards, wheeled suitcases, Rottweilers, Border Terriers, groups of noisy kids. He’s generally well behaved but listens to me and my mum more than my dad or my brother. He’s a definate ‘little dog’ and can be very bulshy when he wants to be.
We’ve had a few health problems with him mainly with his stomach which I believe is quite common, we also have to be careful as recently he developed a condition which has him on eye drops for the rest of his life, I believe it’s something to do with his tear ducts. Not that long ago he had a grass seed in his foot, and he also has a weird fatty lump on his stomach which may need removing eventually (it’s non cancerous) and last night he decided to get into the kitchen bin and has been pooping tinfoil all day. D:
But I wouldn’t want to trade him for anything.
Just wanted to share some pics of my little rescue dog. He was a scrawny little stray I met at a park. I was there meeting with a client of mine for work, and some lady had been walking the trail with this scrawny puppy trotting behind her. She walked past us and the puppy turned and trotted in our direction, then sheepishly crawled under the bench I was sitting on and rolled over on his back. I was like “hey lady! Your dog is here…” She snapped “I don’t know why he been followin’ me!” and just kept on marching! I think he is probably some sort of whippet/terrier/chihuahua mix.
Here he is looking like a little wild dog:
Here he’s attempting a calmer and classier presentation:
Here he’s daring me to take that rubber chicken:
Here he’s battling his grandma (my mom):
Gotta love it when the dog finds the right person. My goodness, that dog is ADORABLE.
I can see why you had to bring that one home with you, he is adorable!
The boy in my avatar is Oreo (named by the grandkids) who I adopted from irresponsible relatives. Supposedly, his parents were “registered Blue Heelers” but the hillbilly relatives were just trying to put a good name on an “oops” breeding between their unspayed ACD mix and their inlaws’ unfixed-fence-jumping Border Collie mix, then selling the too-soon-weaned puppies for $50 each.
I was looking around for a possible dog at the time–my 12-yo GSD had passed away 6 months before, and I was tentatively considering some adult/senior rescue dogs who would fit into my (at that time) apartment lifestyle. I didn’t want another puppy to train-but I kept hearing all this drama from the hillbilly relatives, including “one of the puppies got run over, oh well”–”no, we haven’t spayed her, cause we can get $50 if she has more puppies”–”Oreo pooped in the kitchen, so we keep him shut in the bedroom all day” etc….finally, I got worn down. Didn’t pay any $50 either—they were more than ready to get rid of him.
10-week-old puppy in my lap as we drove home– he got carsick–and his last meal evidently had been cheapo lasagne. He also had a serious tapeworm infestation.
Fast-forward through the next three years of regular vet care, neutering, obedience classes, trail riding and wearing a pack on camping trips..oh wait, back up, as a 10-week-old puppy he was totally housebroken in a week. One accident in the house before I got adjusted to his eating-and-pooping schedule, one incident of diarrhea in the house when we vacationed at the beach and he drank saltwater, lots of rewards for “go pee” and “go poop” outside, and he still knows those words and can be trusted in the house while we’re at work.
So he has become a super-smart and fun family member–I consider him a “Border Collie mix” since his personality and appearance seem to point to that– and we recently moved to a new place with a couple acres which makes him and us even more happy. He was doing decently in his obedience classes, needed a bit more challenge so he was starting to learn some of the agility obstacles—we have an awesome agility training place right here in town.
BUT UNFORTUNATELY—he possibly has an ACL tear (THANKS, clueless hillbilly breeders.) His vet (who is awesome) suggested we wait a bit, since the first xrays were inconclusive, but Oreo has not improved, he has gotten worse. The vet informed us about about two different options for surgery, one involves substituting the damaged tendon (“fishing-line” surgery) and the other involves sawing apart the bone and creating a more proper angle for the tendon to run over the bone.
This is my buddy Oreo being good in school:
http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w20/littledog987/?action=view¤t=Oreoatschool.jpg&newest=1
He’s always good, super-smart and fun, it would suck if he couldn’t physically keep up with all the things is is capable of doing.
We have an appointment next Wednesday, where the vet will take another xray and compare to how his stifle was 4 months ago, and advise us about the best way to go for surgery.
Apparently, this condition isn’t too uncommon, so I bet a lot of you advanced dog-people have some experience with this. If you’ve been through this with your dogs, please give me your opinons! Especially your results with one kind of surgery compared to the other. PM me, flame me, tell me I’m clueless (cause I am) all opinions are welcome–I just want to do the right thing for my dog.
OMG! Sidewheeler, I don’t know who you are, but you hit ALL of this right on! I’ve been involved in puppymill rescue for years! One of the scams run by these ‘people’ is that ‘the dog is registered’. CKC is a joke! It’s somebody coming up with a name, taking in registration fees, and mailing a piece of paper which looks like a valuable certificate. What’s printed on that piece of paper is worth less then the paper it cost to print it on!
We are currently trying to track down where a miller is located. She advertises on CL and lists three separate locations. Same state and general vicinity, but defnitely spread out. A dog was listes and one of our boardmembers called stating they wanted to purchase the dog, knowing this is a mill situation. The miller insisted on meeting at a neutral location (per seller request) and didn’t even bring the same dog advertised! Yes, we purchased (saved) the dog she brought and then called back a few days later stating we wanted another dog. Again, met at a neutral location and actually got the dog this time. This miller was selling this dog as one breed, but it’s not. We know what breed this is because we’ve been rescuing them for years. But, the CKC papers state it’s precisely what the miller requested they state. These dogs are safe and we will do whatever we can to find the rest of these dogs and save them.
And like you state, AKC, etc has also become just a money-making registry. All 5 if my puppymill rescued Papillons have AKC papers. They also have genetic health issues, as is the norm from mills. AKC doesn’t tell you the dogs have been well-bred. Just that the puppies were born to parents that are not mixed breeds. Nothing more.
Please need to realize that they are NOT going to get a ‘quality’ bred dog for a couple hundred dollars from a breeder. But, a miller they will. The internet has made it easier for them to market their dogs, but also a bit easier for us to find them. Also, a true breeder is not going to allow their puppies to be sold in a pet store. That’s another lie that I won’t go into.
I could go on and on about all this, but I won’t. I just pray one day the word is spread to the point that there is no more business for these people and the ‘market’ is shut down.
Another case is one of our dogs was adopted in Florida. One day, one of our rescue’s founders located the dog listed on Petharbor. She immediately contacted the Miami-Dade shelter and started working with them to get her back. Next thing you know, Miami-Dade is stating that another rescue in that area has had ownership of the dog for over a year and will be getting the dog back. Now, please understand that the picture on Petharbor showed a VERY emaciated and depressed dog. After going back and forth with the shelter and then the ‘rescue’ (Sabbath Rescue did not want to release the dog even with our paperwork we provided), the rescue owner finally stated that if we wanted the dog, come get her. Well, at 3AM that night, our founder finally arrived at his doorstep after driving over 12 hours straight from TN. Jewel was in HORRIBLE condition!! Sabbath Rescue has been in the headlines down there for many reasons. One is that they have far too many dogs to care for and is having to receive assistance to care for them. Their dogs are not given flea or heartworm treatment (in Florida!) and the positive dogs do not undergo medical treatment. They are also kept at a lot different from the owner’s residence.
Now, why would Sabbath insist on taking Jewel back from Miami-Dade if they are already over their heads? 1) because they are truly hoarders hiding behind a rescue name, and/or 2) because they didn’t want us (another rescue) to find out what the true condition of Jewel and the other dogs were. We believe both. This is one ‘rescue’ that we are trying to get shut down.
Sorry to be so long winded, but this is an issue close to my heart.
Cindy
Sorry for any typos. Trying to finish this before mother gets here and I have to leave! lol
“Yes, we purchased (saved) the dog …”
It’s tough to harden your heart – but doing this has only encouraged the (expletive deleted) breeder to breed more litters. So you “saved” two dogs, and contributed to the misery of the poor mama who is pumping out these puppies. And where will the other pups wind up?
If you want to put puppy mills out of business, DON’T GIVE THEM MONEY. Don’t buy from pet stores, don’t buy from ads in the paper or on craigslist, don’t buy from some idiot in the parking lot. That’s the only way to stop them, since all they care about is the money.
Doing the right thing can hurt. Do it anyway.
Ruthie
Just had to share. This is Kemo short for Kemosabi. My mom found him as a not yet weaned puppy on the side of a interstate highway in Arizona during the middle of a ice storm about 9 years ago. His stray mom and sibling had been hit by a car the most we can guess he was on his own pinned next to the highway for about 2 weeks. He survived ice storms, hawks and buzzards, cars, and starvation and by the time she picked him you he couldn’t walk and he had a rat tail. Best we can guess he is a blue heeler cross, sure acts like it too. LOL Anyways this pic is after we gave him and my two cats a bath. I set the cat bed down in the living room in front of the heater and he was real determined to make use of it. He did a couple of turns, a big yawn, than looked at us in a pitiful fashion, before laying down outside of the cat bed in defeat.
Hope the pictures work.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=53822443&id=8623727
And Kemo tied out at the horse barn. He likes to nip at the horses heels to get them to run faster, so his pack can run with him; so he stays tied when we cannot very carefully watch him.
I never had a dog of my own until in my 30′s. There were always lots of dogs at the barn, and my best friends had dogs, so I wasn’t deprived. Milo the Weimaraner was my first dog. Not a rescue, but a wonder dog nonethless:
I used to foster for the Toronto Humane Society, specializing in cats & kittens, but every once in a while I would get a dog. Harvey Wallbanger had been hit by a car, had his hip/leg smashed, and had several pins in his legs when he arrived, skinny & sad. Milo was a high-energy dog, but it was amazing to see how he cared for his foster dogs & kittens. Here he is with Harvey on a forest walk:
My beloved Malcolm, Duke of Marmalade, had been attacked by a pack of dogs, torn to shreds, and was not expected to live. The technician at THS sneaked him to me to foster as he’d been slated to be euthanized. Understandably, he had a pathological terror of dogs. Well, a few weeks with Milo on board, you can see the results:
Milo was a great foster host for all the cats, kittens, puppies & dogs I fostered over the years.
Here’s our rescue pup, Bailey:
He’d been abandoned in Northern Ontario, starved, full of worms, earmites, you name it. He turned out to be the smartest, funniest, most stick-obsessed dog on the planet.
http://milliescorgis.blogspot.com/2010/03/some-of-my-corgis-and-some-that-i-have.html
I had to share some of mine. Everyone’s dogs are so beautiful and I want to show off mine, too!
My family raised, trained and showed (confirmation) oversized German Shepherds. I don’ have any dogs right now as I am in College and have a tiny apartment.
I love watching the Dog Whisperer. And its not that I think he’s a “super genius” its just that everyone around him is an idiot. No one disciplines their dogs these days and it kills me. If you horse was biting and kicking other people would you laugh and say there’s nothing you can do? No! Well, thats what people are ALWAYS doing with their dogs. Its true that he is a PEOPLE trainer.
His real talent is only his extreme calmness and dogs can sense that. If you’re scared the dog thinks something is scary in the environment, even when you are scared of the dog himself, and he will try to protect you.
I hate that people in my apartment complex let their dogs run loose and never take the time to teach their dogs to come. DON’T let your dogs run loose in an apartment complex. Its dumb, stupid and ignorant. Its only a matter of time until they get hit. I know because it happened to me when I was a child. I got one of my dogs hit by a car so now I ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a leash. Plus its the law.
Anyways, I love dogs and when I get out of college and start the real world I would like to have a small dog breeding/training business.
Training, yes. Breeding, no. If you do it right, you won’t make a profit. It’s just like horses: the way to make a small fortune is to start with a large fortune.
Training is also a labor of love. If you mean becoming an obedience instructor, you won’t get rich at it. You have to get a place to teach and buy special liability insurance; plus you have to show to earn a reputation. You get paid maybe $10 per dog for an 8 week course. And it’s not reliable; one class might have 12 dogs, the next, 4. (And let’s not talk about self-employment taxes.)
Ruthie
Any guesses on what breed my new doggie is? We are guessing Min Pin & Chihuahua? He turned up @ my sister’s farm just before Thanksgiving, and was FREEEZZZING! We had NO intentions of having a house dog again, but we are so happy we got him:
http://public.fotki.com/karneh01/hesse_pets/2009-12-01-dog-13.html
He is pretty small- probably about a 18″ at the withers- and SOOO wirey & hyper! But oh he loves to cuddle- he is ALWAYS cold! He’s like a cat- he always finds the warmest places in the house to sleep- in our beds or on top of the heat vents. He HATES the little jacket we got him.
Could be Italian Greyhound in there…
Perhaps Chi/Whippet cross? That would account for the taller, long-legged build, as well as a wellspring of energy! =P Also the longer snout, and there’s something about the long thin build with that tucked-up-belly that makes me think of whippet or Italian greyhound.
He sounds a lot like our deer head chihuahua, but form the picture I would say he’s not pure chihuahua, could be minPin with that snout, and leg proportion. I know our baby is pure, we got him from the vet after the breeder brought him to be euthed because of a skin condition and gesrt murmur as a pup. The vet toldd them to let her find him a home, and he’s been with us 6 years now (which makes him 7). He is also always cold, but hates sweaters. Another interesting thing about him is he loves my 3 year old son and my infant son, which is a little odd for a chihuahua, they can be jealous of the attention the baby gets, It could be that he sees me as alpha female, and they’re my pups. He is protective of both the boys and not too scared of the older boy’s rambunctiousness.
I’m also another long time reader, first time poster
Must comment on the shock collars. I own one, rarely use it. Used it on MYSELF before the dogs. I think everyone who uses a collar ought to do the same. Police officers must be tased before using a taser, so why not dog owners?
I have eleven rescued dogs on 2 acres. I manage what I call “other people’s mess”, dogs no one wants for various reasons.
I watch the dog trainers on TV and I learn a lot, but it boils down to what works for that particular dog. My logic is this – give lots and lots of praise. 10 positives for one negative. My dogs love me, love to be loved by me, and are horrified if I shame them. I rarely have to say it, but when I say NO I mean it. I will back it up by physically removing the dog from whatever they shouldn’t be doing. If it comes to the absolute worst, I’ll roll the offending dog over, take scruff on both sides of their face and get wild eyed, and say “YOU DON’T DO THAT!!! NO!!!”
I’ve never had that not work.
4 things necessary to know as a dog living here. STAY, COME, SIT and GO. That’s all I ask. And no harassing the old dogs. They’ve earned their place here and bugging them is a big no no.
Once in a while I take a problem child with me (my mother’s rotten non listening dogs), and by with me, I mean all day on a leash at my side. I work part time for a vet who kindly lets me bring them to work (provided all shots are in order and they are). That way I can always be there to correct them while they learn what’s acceptable dog behavior. They are at my side while I cook dinner and they are still on the leash at bedtime, where they get to sleep next to the bed on the floor. 24/7 training.
Some folks may scorn the “leader” role Cesar preaches, but there’s a lot to that when you handle a pack. I’ve been confronted by other dogs while out walking mine, and I put mine behind me and basically say “Let me handle this. If I need your help, I’ll let you know” I stand up to the offending dogs and run them off, while my dogs behave themselves. Recently I had to take a big stick after 4 neighbor dogs circling my 3 dogs and my child on her pony. They were literally jumping in and nipping both dogs and ponies. Never been prouder of my dogs for not taking the “bait”.
That being said, I’ve been in a few free for alls, when there’s no stopping the neighbor dogs attacking mine and I don’t hesitate to dive right in and start grabbing and throwing dogs. Or run the green OTTB over the five dogs attacking my one… that was fun.
A lot can be said for the word NO, in all cases. Horses, dogs, CHILDREN. Say NO and mean it, for heaven’s sake!!!
Back to the shock collar. I took it to work yesterday, since the secretary wanted to use it on one of her dogs. As I handed it over, I told her “Before you take it, you have to shock yourself first. Unless you have a heart condition. Do you have a heart condition?” Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She said “Are you serious?” I said “YES I’m serious!!” DUH!! She opted to use a smaller collar another worker brought, who didn’t require that you shock yourself.
Yeeeouch!
I just really believe if you’re going to use something like that, KNOW what it’s like. I know I’ll never turn mine more than halfway up
Great topic!
I have been thinking of adding another dog to our family. We have a two-year-old Australian Shepherd (female, but will be spayed as soon as she is out of heat) who is very active. She is a great watchdog, well house broke, etc. I think she would benefit from a playmate to help her with her excess energy. We live on 78 acres, but are not dog fenced. We are surounded by cattle ranches, so that is not generally a problem. Maggie tends to stay nearby. I want to rescue/adopt a dog that is medium/smallish, but sturdy enough to romp with an Aussie. A dog that doesn’t have a lot of wanderlust and little to no herding instince. Any ideas on what type of dog/cross would be suitable? I have always had one or two dogs, but I am not an expert.
Well, you already have an Aussie–a cattle herding breed–that does not herd the neighbor’s cattle. As you’ve seen, you can find herding breeds in rescue that have NO interest in herding. I have taken many courses for the past 10 years in herding, and there are many BCs, Aussies, etc. that just lie down and snooze when they see stock. The best place to find one of these is at a rescue that tests for livestock interest. For instance, Mo-Kan BC Rescue is one of many that can test the dog on stock, and they always have dogs that are not interested that are available to adopt.
IMO, it is not safe for ANY dog of ANY breed to be loose on a property, and I don’t care how many acres it is. I had 10 acres, and wouldn’t dream of letting my dogs go outside without a fence… and these were top level obedience and herding dogs.
Dogs do not need a whole 78 acres to run around on–most would be thrilled with half an acre of safe land. I fenced in about an acre single-handedly with t-posts and field fence, and put in chain-link gates–it looked great and cost maybe $400. For other parts of the property, I put in a PetSafe invisible fence using a trencher I rented from the local equipment rental place for $40. The fencing of that 2 acres took me one afternoon single-handedly, and cost $250, including two collars. I spent 2 weeks training the dogs on long lines. After that, I NEVER left my dogs in the invisible fence without supervision, but it gave them lots of space to play ball and frisbee when I was out with them.
These fencing solutions are so much cheaper than fixing a broken leg after a car accident. A friend’s dog broke his leg (playing ball-not hit by a car) and he needed a $3500 external cast. Virtually everybody I know whose dog is allowed run of the farm eventually experiences that dog’s premature death. I personally know three people who have killed their own dogs by backing over them on rural properties. In another case, the fire department responded to the wrong farmhouse and plowed over a top-winning sheep herding dog that was lying in the driveway just a yard from the back door of a house that was NOT on fire.
Our Aussie has a very strong herding instinct which is difficult around the horses. She only seems to want to herd them when we are looking/watching. Our horses are not flighty, but it drives me crazy so I don’t want another herding dog. She is only outside when we are. She stays inside when we are gone or when we are inside.
I believe as with all things, the life of the dog depends on the owner and training. I grew up on a large piece of property and our dogs were allowed to run the entire piece. They knew where the end of the property was because we trained them to know. They never went off the property which was a great thing when a neighbor decided to put out poisoned steak to get us back for killing their dogs (they had 20 dogs that roamed in a pack – the dogs came to our house, killed all 40 of our chickens, wounded one of the horses and were running all the horses to the ground when my dad shot and killed 4 of the dogs. It was a huge problem. Our dogs were in fights with several of theirs as well, because our dogs were trained to protect the livestock.). Our Heeler has been alive for 20 years. Her son was alive for 15, despite a series of accidents that made him a very unlucky dog (one of the jobs of our dogs were keeping the free range cows away from the hay, and he was kicked several times). The Pitt has been alive for 12 years. The chihuahua, who did spend all day outside while I was in school, has been alive for 13-15 years, I can’t remember which.
We may be the exception to the rule, but I grew up in cattle country where most dogs were purely outdoor ones and they lived a long time. Training is the main thing. If you want your dog to be only on a certain part of the property, you have to train them to do that. You have to be on top of things, keep them from chasing cars, teach them not to get in front of the vehicles.
Even responsible owners do have accidents. The firetruck example is a great one. The dog was close to the house, how much more protection could they have had? My chihuahua was run over by a motorcycle while we were outside watching her. A friend of my brother’s roared up and hit her with both wheels flat on. Luckily, my wonderful dog is alive and was uninjured!
Parsons Russell terrier, AKA Jack russell AKA JRT Great dogs when properley trained and given a chance to release energy. So many people dont walk there dogs and leave them in the house all day, then blame the dog for not listening like its all the dogs fault! Drives me crazy
I knew there was going to be hating on Cesar Milan as soon as I saw the topic… hehe.
Well, for starters, my dog! My mom’s rather. She’s been corrupted away from me.
My mom owns a pure-bred Shih-tzu. Why not a rescue? The local Humane Society has a year waiting list to get a little dog. No joke! We should import some purse dogs from Fugly’s shelter. XD So we got our pup from a reputable breeder… we went out to see them at her house and they were freshly washed and we could see the parents. Not perfect, her brother died of some kind of neural disorder but our little dog seems to be healthy as a horse. She certainly loves nature hikes! I’d show you a picture but I’m rubbish with things like that.
Now, Cesar Milan. I would say he’s definitely not the Parelli of the dog world. As far as I know, he doesn’t sell any products. I’ve never seen Cesar Milan dog food or toys… on his shows he often tells people to use the cheapest 25 cent leashes instead of their flexi-leads. I would also say that his techniques are very useful and the problem is the same as always… people who watch his shows looking for a quick fix. They forget the three main things he teaches are exercise, discipline and affection and there’s no substitute for exercise! Also, people who watch him don’t realize how much time he puts in or they ignore it. Sometimes the show actually shows in the corner how much time it’s taking… 14 minutes elapsed, 1 hour elapsed, that sort of thing. And Cesar has a great grasp of dog body language. Someone who doesn’t understand dogs as well who tries to use his techniques is not going to be as successful. Still, I think Cesar is generally a positive thing for the dog world. If everyone just gave dogs exercise, discipline and affection there’d be a lot more happy dogs!
” As far as I know, he doesn’t sell any products.”
Most certainly not true.
http://www.cesarsway.com/shop
http://www.licensing.biz/news/4773/Ultimate-launches-Cesar-Millan-line
http://www.cesarmillanproducts.com/
Not surprising I suppose. I have yet to see any at PetsMart though.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Just love this thread. I have owned several rescue dogs throughout my life. My current one is a German Wirehaired Pointer, named Remington. He was found out at one of the gun ranges on Ft Polk, LA. He has absolutely no bird sense in him at all. About the only thing is is good for is chasing my father in laws cows. Hes a mess, but we love him. My husband is in Korea, and the rest of us will be flying over there to be with him for two years. When I say the rest of us, I mean the dog too. I see to many military families who get to a new duty station, get a new dog, and when its time to move……they dump them. A dog gets used to being with a family, they dont understand what they did wrong, when they arent wanted anymore. We keep dogs for life. Anyway, when we get back from Korea, I will be getting into the show world. I will be getting a Great Dane. I have already talked to a breeder, who is currently showing, and wont be having a litter of pups for at least two years. All health checks have been done, and she will be close by where we are going to be. I have been dupped too many times by people saying they are reputable breeders, only to end up with danes that have health or sanity issues. Im not going down that road again.
My dad got one of those throwaway base dogs when he was stationed at Ft. Polk. Guy had got her as a pup, put a collar on her, and by the time he was due to ship off to Korea, she was several months older, and that collar was on the verge of growing into her neck (was tight up against her neck, and she did lose some fur, but it didn’t cut her).
Not sure what breeds she was, and she always spotty on housetraining, but she was otherwise a wonderful dog, and my favorite. When my dad retired from Polk, he took her with him, and she lived with him untilshe was hit on the road trying to herd back the boarder’s stupid dog that got out (lady was a rommate/boarder at the house, ducked out of some bills, and left her idiot toy poodle lab cross behind. this dog was the result of some kids thinking it would be funny to let their Lab at someone’s toy poodle, and she was dumb as a box of rocks). I miss my Annie Wiggles (so called, because when she was happy, she didn’t just wag her tail, she practically wagged her whole body).
I have rescued/rehomed a number of dogs in the last 10 years, a shepherd cross pup we found in a ditch when it was -20 outside (kept until I found the perfect home for her a year later), an inbred kelpie from a litter the owner was going to drown because he accidently let his male dog breed his mother (tragic accident at 6 months claimed this poor guy), a cavalier king charles cross that showed up digging through my garbage (rehomed same day), a poodle cross set to be euthanized because the owner got a new dog and didn’t want a male anymore( I kept this one until he developed cancer and those to put him down), and now a 4yo Great Dane.
My newest rescue, apparently purebred Great Dane, very hungry, very long nails, that was going to be turned in to the pound as the owner gave her away to someone who only kept her for a week and decided a big dog wasn’t for them. I stepped in and brought this 85lb baby into my home, my husband asked what exactly I wanted with a miniature horse, the name stuck and she is now known as Mini for short. When we got her we were told they fed her 2 cups of dog food, (Walmart crap brand) per day as that is all she would eat. She was immediately put on a higher quality food and fed “Satin Balls” to get some fat on her…..at -40 you need it. In the four months I have had her she has put on 35lbs. Two weeks after I got her she developed a very large cyst over a period of about 36 hours. She was brought in for emergency surgery and had a fist sized chunk removed from directly beside her spine. I could not imagine not having my baby she is great with my kids and has learned to be nice to the rest of the zoo.
I hope this picture works…….
I am in college now, and I have had my dog since 2nd grade. He has been with me through every level of school I have been in. He is a White German Shepard/Yellow Lab cross that we got at a Texaco gas station as a puppy (hence his name Tex). Tex is the greatest dog a person could ask for. He is so loyal and so full of personality. He loves being the boss over the farm animals. He knows “Get the goats” means its his job to get the escape artist goats out of the yard and into the pasture. He loves swimming more than anything, and will belly flop of the dock if you jump in first, just to make sure you are okay.
Here is a video of Tex being a goof with my mare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Tmjnm6y_4
I’m not sure I can get the link to work right so Fugly can approve it… but I’ll give it a shot.
Darnall’s Yoshi Bear, #1 Agility Collie in the NATION, and she’s the youngest Collie to ever get her MACH (Master Agility Champion) which she got a 2 years, 11 months. She’s obiously a rock star agility dog, and my 2 yr old can walk her through town on a loose leash. Can’t say enough about the collie breed. Outstanding. Yoshi belongs to my boss, and she gets all the credit for the wonderful breeding and training on this homebred beauty.
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Sara is a rescued English Pointer, and a new addition to our family. She’s blending in perfectly!
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If anyone in the NW Wa area is looking to adopt a dog- check out http://www.furrytalefarm.com there are several highly adoptable dogs on the site currently, and 5 new dogs from 6 months to 7 years will be arriving in the next week!!
The pics need to be on the web, so that your link would start with “http.” Photobucket is easy to use and free, give that a try!
Long time stalker, first time poster. So first… I wanted to say that I’ve learned a lot (a LOT) about horses from this blog. I’ve never owned a horse, probably only been on a horse around 20-30 times, usually trail riding behind a leader. I just love horses ♥. Horses, wolves, thylacines, and hyenas. I’m a chem major in college, and I cry every time I watch AP. seriously (almost)
But I do have dogs. Well, a dog. A rescue dog, my baby, Venice. We adopted her from Rescue Every Dog, where she was being fostered with some of her littermates (the litter they dubbed the “European Litter,” hence Venice. There was also Rome, Milan, Paris, and others that I don’t remember). They took her from a woman who had a “whoopsie!” litter and was planning on throwing them in a river if no one wanted them.
my first picture with my phone, on Christmas a few years ago. that’s my puppy, my daddy, and my sister’s teddy ^^
she knows she’s not supposed to be on the bed… but i made her. and covered her with my blanket.
waiting for Dad to come home is one of her favorite past times. besides snoozing, mooching, and putting the neighbor puppies in their place
that is HER beanbag (aka, no one else was using it, so she does. all the time.) And yeah – she sleeps like that almost all the time.
in the beanbag again, with her froggy. It’s her baby – she’ll sit for an hour and just lick and gnaw on it’s head. we’ve gone through about 9 of these. Oh, and you can see her cute little speckly paws.
she’s incredibly patient. these are my brothers glasses on her, and isn’t she adorable? lol
most recent picture of her
happy baby ^^
We have no idea what breed she is. Supposedly her mom was lab, chow, and border collie, but the dad was just a black, homeless mutt. I think she looks a lot like a short Belgian Sheepdog, or a Swedish Lapphund. But I don’t know. She’s our first dog, so we didn’t do any showing with her. She’s seven years old (born Jan 5, been with us seven years on April 1), and when she was younger LOVED jumping (she could easily clear 1.5 ft). Now she doesn’t get as much opportunity. She’s had few health problems, occasionally has allergies (we give her benadryl (sp) when they get really bad). We used to have a little mini pet show on the 4th of July, and she once won “Mangiest Mutt,” though probably cause she was the only mutt there. She’s kinda reserved unless she wants something. When she was a little over one, my mom had another baby, which Venice has done very well with. Krista (the baby)… not so much. She’s nearly six now, and doesn’t quite understand personal space. But Venice just gets up and moves away from her. She never growls when you’re playing with her food while she’s eating it. I think she’s intelligent, but then… I’m biased =D.
I’ve always wanted an Akita… I know, I know – purebred blah blah blah. But I’d love to rescue an Akita. Until I’m living on my own, I highly doubt that will happen. Dad doesn’t want more than one dog at a time, though Mom is thinking about fostering.
And that’s me and my baby ^^
Here we go! This is a great topic, someone should really pick something up like this and make it into a blog.
I love horses, but I love my dogs too! My only problem is that I’ve tried writing what I want to say several times now, and it keeps coming out as a novel. Hm. Well, I currently have four dogs – three adults and one four month old puppy. They all know how to sit, stay, come, back, no, quiet, watch, and ‘look at me’. Yes, even the puppy (he is a German Shepherd, though, and waaay smart). We never use shock collars, never choke chains. The Siberian Husky has a pinch, but that is precaution only for walking only. He knows how to walk on a lead, and he never pulls or tries to run off. The leash is mostly always slack, too. It is just that…well…You see, he has this thing about plastic bags, and trash cans…and he can see ghosts too…and when he yanks forward, he gets a little pressure around the back of his ears, and the pressure alone stops him. The prongs are capped. He has a fur coat like an unshaven llama. It doesn’t bother him. He feels that bit of pressure and goes, “Oh, yeah, I’m on a leash. Okay.” And goes right back to his walk.
We foster, too, and can have up to seven dogs in the house at one time, but we have never actually had problems. (One, but the dog was beyond rehabbing…think of a little scared yappy biting yorkie…in a 100lb mastiff. Ooh..I wanted those people locked behind bars!) Our house works in Pack Function. The oldest and biggest, Macie(English Mastiff), runs the household. Momma May, as we call her. Grouchy bitch with some pain problems, so she sets the rules and expects all the other dogs to follow them. She doesn’t have the energy or will to chase down problem dogs. No one has ever challenged her, and she’s never had to physically punish a single dog. Dante, the Bullmastiff, is much of the same way. He’ll play every now and then, but he knows he is too big and intimidating for puppies and nervous fosters and so is completely happy laying around sleeping all day. The Siberian Husky, MY dog, Zander, is the ambassador, the puppysitter, the teacher, the babysister, the watcher, the playful pup at heart, and all around goofball. He pairs up with all the fosters and gives them confidence and good manners. Even helps them understand the training we give them. The puppies think he is the COOLEST thing to walk earth. Just that older brother that everyone loves. But, he keeps everyone in line too. First time we let him out with a puppy younger than 8 weeks(4 and a half when we were placed with the little orphan’s care) he laid down and let this little rat-looking thing(GSD-Gustav…the new ‘Pack’ addition that is staying with us) just swack the hell out of his face. Swack, swack, swack….every now and then he would look up at us with a goofy grin on his face like, “This thing thinks he is HOT STUFF”…swack, swack, swack…bark, snarl, swack, swack…then he gets up after about a half and hour, and moves. He’s done playing ‘patient brother’. The puppy, smaller than his HEAD, struts on over, bends down over Zander’s belly like he’s looking for Mamma’s milk and sinks those puppy teeth into Zander’s …erm…’thingy’. OMG I have never laughed so hard in my life! Zander screeched, jumped up, ended up shoving the puppy over in the process, puppy squeaks like a rubber toy, Zander freaks out a second time, and spends the rest of the night letting the puppy swack him on he face.
I’ve never been so proud.
None of them show or event, though I have given serious thought to signing Macie and Dante up for sleep-a-thons. Or Zander for therapy, on a more serious note. I have always trained my dogs on behavior. Never with food, unless I’m feeling particularly generous. I’m sorry, but shoving hotdogs down their throat just doesn’t do it for me! Cookies as treats, and yes they have to work for them! But never as a training aid. I care too much for my dogs’ health than to try and teach them behavior through food.
I also believe that if you are breeding, you better have ALL the showing, health tests, and temperament tests to go with it. Too many dogs already, no need to create more that will never end up in good homes because they are too ill or ill-tempered. Why do I think this? Because of Macie. And I will end this post with something my Mom has said about her beloved Macie, and then with a few photos of the Pack…………..
“Macie was a “cheap” dog.
I got her from a breeder for a whole $250. I thought I had hit the jackpot! Seriously, how often does a deal like that come along? I talked to the breeder on the phone several times, saw the AKC registrations on the parents, and saw the parents. Nice big looking dogs, too. When I drove the 8 hours to go get her, I did find it a bit odd that they also had yorkies, weimaraners, labs, and a few other dogs that I didn’t recognize, but who cares! I got me a cheap mastiff!
Ok. Yea. Boy was I ignorant! I had no clue. I loved the look of a mastiff and that is about all I knew before I got Macie. I didn’t know terms like ‘reputable breeder’ or even ‘puppy mill’ back then. I never gave any thought to researching anything.
And then there was Macie.
I know I’ve mentioned some of her ailments before, but I don’t think most know the full extent of what exactly Macie has gone through. She has PPM (which is why she was so cheap and they couldn’t sell her to anyone else but an uneducated sucker), arthritis in darn near all of her joints, lots of allergies, and she slipped a disc in her back at the age of 18 months. She’s had/has tumors, so far all are benign, but which one will be the malignant one? Her teeth…I don’t even know how to explain that. She’s had to have several removed; a few have fallen out on their own. Her days of bone chewing are long gone, along with about $2500 (that’s just her teeth). All of these issues are the ones we know about. It scares me to think of what could be going on inside her body that we can’t see.
Macie became my heart dog as soon as I saw her. She is my soul mate and I am positive that I am hers. We were meant for each other. She knows my moods, I know hers. I don’t have to say anything and she doesn’t have to bark, we just know what kind of day it will be. And some days are good, too. My favorite thing is to see her get enough energy to make a lap or two around the yard with the other dogs. But, after a quick romp, I have to take away her joy by making her come in the house to rest or else she will not be able to move for days afterwards.
It seems Macie has always been an “old” dog. Or rather, she got too old before her time. Macie is 6 now and I have done my best to give her a good 6 years. I know she won’t be with us a whole lot longer, but until that time comes, I will continue to spoil her. I will also continue to shell out thousands of dollars so that she can have a decent quality of life.
But, because of Macie, I will never purchase another mastiff. Because of Macie, I will be an advocate against puppy mills. Because of Macie, I will volunteer my time and heart to rescue and I will foster when I am able.”
I loved your line “Because of Macie, I will be an advocate against puppy mills. Because of Macie, I will volunteer my time and heart to rescue and I will foster when I am able.”
You are one of the people who start out not knowing what’s up, but when you find out, work to make a difference. I wish more people were like you.
I had a Neapolitan Mastiff, bought him from some byb as a pup. He blew both back knees and had mild hip displaysia by 2 years old. Arthritis took over by 5 years old. I, also, shelled out thousands of dollars in surgeries (knees), pain meds, and joint supplements . . . MSM worked wonders for him. He died, much older than the vet expected, at 8 years old. That dog was absolutely amazing . . . human like and was my soul dog, as I’ve heard it put on here. Its been over 5 years since he died and I still tear up at the thought of him. Monti opened my eyes to the negatives of breeding willy nilly without purpose (besides money) and being educated . . . the vet said multiple times he was a skeletal nightmare.
I now have a 5 year old Jack Russell terrier . . . yeah, talk about switching breeds. From a very reputable breeder that mostly breeds and shows her own. He is the best dog . . . not connected to him like Monti, but still a great dog!! The first few years of his life drove me nuts (really need to figure out how to transfer his energy to me) but he blends with out crazy half wit family and NO health problems whatsoever, so far. I love (and loathe) the fact I can take him on a 5 or 6 mile run and he’s hardly fazed by it . . . ready to go 5 minutes later. :0)
I’ve really enjoyed reading the comments on this post!
One of the funniest things I see is when I’m at my parents. They have a purebred Pitbull with a better heritage than I have, to be frank. He is the friendliest dog I know, and fits his name “George” perfectly. He falls asleep on the furniture outside, and their cat jumps up and sleeps on his back all the time. People come over and skirt around the big mean pitbull, then try to pick up my chihuahua. She hates being picked up, especially after being hit by a motorcycle in front of us. We warn people that she’ll bite if she doesn’t know them.
It’s a good thing she does, we had her in the car when we ran into the supermarket (it was temperate weather so no worry about heat problems, she had water in the car available) and someone got the door open and tried to take her. She bit the hell out of them then ran. Animal Control called us – my parents lived in a small town, so when mom called them to say we’d lost a black chihuahua they knew where to send us – and I went out, called her and took her to work with me for the rest of the day. You’d be surprised at how often people try to grab her. I’d be riding my horse and she’d be running with me and the Queensland Heelers (smartest dogs I’ve ever come across), and people would see me, stop the car and try to nab her in front of me!
My chihuahua isn’t an annoying dog, however. People who hate dogs, or hate chihuahuas always end up in love with her. She isn’t yippy, and she’s very smart. It only takes a few times to do things to train her. She’s a little obstinate sometimes, but she ALWAYS listens to me. It’s just other people that have the problem. When I’m home, she is never more than 2 feet away from me if she can help it. She defineatly is a one person dog. And she has a very long memory. If someone upsets me, she hates them. God forbid they hit me. The few times someone has (including my little brother – I got her in Jr High and he was young enough to hit), she has bit them, and any other time they come to the house she’ll bite them and sit between me and them, and will bite anytime they make sudden movements. I know if someone breaks into the house, she’ll die. She would want to protect me and would literally die trying.
I grew up with a Basenji and still am very fond of that breed. As an adult, I had 9 dogs over the years and while none were from a shelter, they were all heading that way. Most were Lab crosses, and all were speutered. One of the non-Lab crosses was a Rhodesian Ridgeback cross who was about 110 lbs. He moved differently from the other dogs, more Big Cat like and the horses would spook at him out on rides if he was running a nearby ridge. His silhouette was just different. My last dog, Nova, a lab/shepherd cross, died at age 19 in 2005 and I’ve not had a dog since. I never trained my dogs, somehow they just did what was needed and it all worked very well. I have cats now that my ex husband is out of the house.
I enjoy watching any dog thing on Animal Planet but especially like the disc dogs & the dancing dogs. When I have time, I watch dog stuff on You Tube. My favorite so far there is the lab that someone trained to run up the steps of a pool slide & then slide down the slide. The dog does that endlessly. The formal dog shows on Animal Planet I tape so I can sizzle the commercials & cut the time. I am often amazed at the handler’s choice of apparel–wow! What were they thinking? or not thinking.
I like Victoria Stilwell and while I enjoyed watching Cesar Milan, I am not a fan of his rehab methods. I’ve only seen his second season on DVD from Netflix as I don’t get Nat’l Geo channel.
I may have a dog again someday when I have the time and energy to do it right. I think I used up all my good luck w/the first 9, doing it mostly wrong.
sagebeasties.blogspot.com
I have to go on a good rant before we leave this thread. Petsmart is a great place to shop, I appreciate how it does not actually sell dogs but helps assist rescues (although as we saw in the cold noses warm beds episode, it doesn’t screen its rescues overly well). However if you are looking for a trainer for your dog DO NOT ENROLL IN THE PETSMART PET TRAINING PROGRAM!
and my comp was just being a jerk and submitted that on me before I was done! LOL
Anyway, Petsmart trainers are in no way qualified to train dogs. They took a week long course through Petsmart (which is more tailored to marketing the program than actually training dogs) which gave them a certificate saying they passed the Petsmart program making them a “certified trainer”. Most of the pro trainers I know (and I train with and compete against quite a few) get a large portion of their business from people who have been through Petsmart and other similar programs and came out with a dog that was worse than when it went in.
PETSMART is the parelli of the dog world. It promises results without ever having to actually correct a behavior just by making the animal “want” to listen. With the Petsmart training program, your dog will listen to you as long as there’s nothing more interesting going on and you have food in your hand. The dog has to listen because it respects you, not because it fears you and not because you have food. Getting prime results out of a dog takes years of learning from good trainers, not a one week program more concerned about marketing or having owned a few dogs. Similar to horses, you can do something for 30+ years and still suck at it if you don’t bother to learn from people who don’t suck. It really irks me that they allow dogs with aggression problems to enroll in their training programs. Aggression problems require a real trainer in one on one training regardless of the type of aggression. Group training simply makes it worse, particularly when the person teaching the class doesn’t have a clue either.
Again I do have to say I respect petsmart for their decision to not sell dogs and use their windows for rescue animals, just for pete’s sake don’t waste your money on their training program
I worked PT for Petsmart and I like the company as a whole but I can’t say their training techniques work on all dogs. However, I kind of understand where a lot of it comes from. For example, they have very strict policies if you work there that the only things you can do to a dog are turn away if they are jumping or squirt them with a water bottle. And employees are on camera 24/7. Even if a dog comes in with a prong collar, we were not permitted to lead them with it. We had to use the little slip leads so we got dragged a lot. While I think this is super permissive in the overall realm of dog training (and there surely are dogs that need more than a squirt of water), I agree with it because at least this way you are guaranteeing the animals boarded there or in day camp won’t be abused. They may get spoiled but they won’t be abused and that’s a higher concern. I’m sure the training basically takes the same approach.
My biggest argument against PetSmart training is that they sell training tools such as prong collars and e-collars, but aren’t permitted to show clients how to use them, a ridiculous double standard (and dangerous as well) if I ever saw one.
I work for Petco and am a dog trainer there. Our guidelines state that chains and prongs are ‘frowned upon’ but if a prong becomes a necessity given the circumstance, I will show the customer how to properly use it, and the process of weaning the dog off of it as well. The two trainers at our store, myself and a good friend of mine, were training privately before being a trainer for Petco, so fortunately we have gone above and beyond the normal ‘training requirements’ as far as our education goes. We read and recommend to our clients books like “The Culture Clash” by Jean Donaldson, anything by her or Karen Pryor, Ian Dunbar, or Nicole Wilde. We have our APDT certification, and I would like to get my CPDT someday!
Also, as far as the aggressive/shy/reactive dogs go, we do take those on as they arise, but we do 1 on 1 sessions with them. If/when the dog is ready it can join a group environment, which for some may be weeks, months, even longer depending on the dog.
I think one of the worst examples of how CM poorly educates people is a gal my friend ‘Abby’ was working with who had a dog reactive dog, he was mainly bothered by larger dogs. Anyway, they were in the middle of a session and the owner was not paying attention to her surroundings and allowed a big fluffy dog to break Chester’s threshold. He began his barking, shaking, fit, and before Abby could instruct her to take him away and calm him down she ‘Alpha rolled’ him!! So here is this poor stressed out dog who is freaking out and then his owner hold him down! What that poor dog must have been thinking?! ‘every time I get upset my owner jumps on me!’ oh man… Fortunately Abby was able to explain why that doesn’t work and Chester has been doing much better now. Can pass by all 4 of Abby and my-self’s border collies with not so much as a glance from Chester.
Wow! A lot of posts and some great dogs since I last read and posted!
Great to see the variety of well-loved dogs.
Stilll LOL at the idea of my Cavies being “feral” and “not bonding to people”.
Sooooooo not a problem! I was advised to give them each some alone time, but they are best buddies and playmates. And total love sponges for my attention. It has worked out great. The only difficulty was keeping them from licking each others incisions when they were spayed/neutered.
Gratuitous extra picture:
Just show n tell for me… My dog Cody, a purebred Aussie rescued from the Gallup, NM shelter. I agreed to take him sight-unseen from the gal that paid his bail and neutered him (She does this incessantly as Gallup is on the edge of the Navajo Reservation… no holds barred multiplication of dogs out there. As you can see he has become a great model! (pretty darned good barn dog too).
http://cristyc.smugmug.com/Animals/Dogs/1862993_3wvhS
I guess I do have some opinion to add. FWIW, I do like Cesar Milan for teaching me a simple way to get my dog to heel. His ideas worked easily on my dog and after trying it only 1-2 times I had to ask the dog to heel while I was on my horse to cross a highway (the usual culvert we used to go UNDER the hwy had been ripped out and was being reconstructed. I had ridden out and on the way back had forgotten to re-leash him before we got there and there was traffic so I told him to heel & he just automatically went right to my horses side, like it was just me, and we all crossed the hwy together. I kept him in “heel” for another little bit and was impressed that he “got” it so thoroughly. Another skill Cesar enlightened me to was waiting for the dog to be calm before we go out the door. I will head to the door and look at Cody and he will line up behind me for the venture across the doorsill. Way better than the previous leaping and bounding and barking. (He has no regard for landing on a cat or plowing through your legs when in that frenzy. Not Cool.) Like others my dog MUST have the basic skills of sit, stay, go & come. He has instant recall even when I caught him chasing a barn cat along with another dog. Another skill to me that is a must and that is to NEVER JUMP UP ON ANYONE, EVER.) I hate dogs that do that to me, and I have zero issues about letting such a dog meet my knee (I just cock it) and I don’t care how precious your dog is to you, I’m not gonna let it jump on me. It’s pretty painful when wearing shorts.
What do you all think of Victoria Stilwell on Animal Planet? I think she’s absolutely wonderful and I use her techniques on all my dogs. My 9 year old greyhound is absolutely pushbutton and confident in his place because of how I switched my training when I started to watch her. She’s someone who I wouldn’t mind working with my horse!
And greyhound rescue is something I will ALWAYS be involved in in some capacity. So far, it has just been adopting them from rescues but I love love love the breed. They are wonderful!
Here’s a vid of a dog leading a horse:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5249518974978628334#
Lead rope’s not a tuggy toy.
This is my best friend Ben. He is a 6-year old purebred Rottweiler that I have raised on my own since he was 8 weeks old. He is the most expensive “rescue” I have ever owned. The reason I say that is, when I bought him, I thought I was buying a very well bred dog from a reputable breeder, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Looking back, I realize now that Ben’s breeder is operating a puppy mill. I have spent thousands of dollars to manage Ben’s myriad of health issues, but I wouldn’t change anything. He is the most loyal, loving dog anyone could ask for and he is so worth every penny I have spent on him. I will do absolutely anything for Ben, including guiding him across the Rainbow Bridge when the time comes that his quality of life begins to suffer, but until then, I will continue to spoil him and I will continue to fork over thousands to keep him as happy and as healthy as possible. Here are some photos of my best friend Ben.
After running through the sprinklers on a hot summer day.
Play in the snow…..he LOVES the snow!
The funny way his ear sometimes stands up when he sleeps.
I am new to this site but it seems like a good day to post. My family has owned English Springer Spaniels for over 20 years. We have a 3 year old CKC / AKC bred female from Ohio named Skye. She is an absolute sweet heart and pretty well bred. She has some big names further back in her pedigree. We drove 4 hours to get her from where we live in Ontario. She was registered as AKC and we got her CKC later on. We bred her when she was 2 and a half to an AKC/ CKC stud (P.S. When I say CKC I mean Canadian Kennel Club, not the Continental Kennel Club which is a huge Joke
.) She had three beautiful Pups in September and they all went to wonderful homes. I have seen all three of them and there conformation is very close to what CKC wants as the breed standard. (Sorry about the bragging 
) We will be breeding her next year again to the same Stud. I am hoping to keep one of the puppies to show. I wanted to show her but it seems showing where I live is an elite club and unless you are born into it you really can’t get anywhere. I looked all over the area for showing seminars and clinics but couldn’t find a single one. I called the local Kennel club and there best idea for any kind of lessons or whatever was to do obedience school…. I thought that was stupid. It doesn’t telly you anything to do with Showing your dog. She is also way better trained then any that would be in there anyway.
If anyone has any tips as to how to start showing it would be appreciated
We also have 2 other ESS’s neither of them are registered. One is 16 years old and is just starting to show her age. The other is 8 years old. He was bought for $350, half as much as our registered one.He is a great loyal dog but looks NOTHING like a proper ESS. Mind you he was sold as Purebred and his Grand parents were “Supposed” to be registered. I found out later that the people who owned his grand parents are extreme back yard breeders. They breed their dogs twice a year and I’ve heard rumors the reason the puppies aren’t registered is that the Grandparents were sold with Non breeding contracts. He is double the size of our female and we got him neutered as soon as possible so there was no chance he could pass on those bad traits.
Here is a Picture of Skye and her Puppies. I believe this was taken when they were about a week. They had not yet fully opened their eyes:
This one is when they are around 6 weeks. They absolutely loved playing outside
Great post! Heres my fellas:
He’s turning into a fabulous barn dog, follows me around all day, doesn’t bother the horses a bit, except for the occasional lick on the nose when they check him out.
Bode (yeah, yeah, like the skiier) is on the left, he’s a blue heeler/hound mix, and was a rescue. He’s about 6 months old now. Sam is on the right, he’s a standard poodle, just turned 4. The poodle isn’t really used to any animal being able to out run him, so he’s had close calls with the horses a few times. He’s terrifyingly smart though, and is learning he’ll just have to do without playing with them. Bode supposedly came from a blue heeler, but you can baarely see it in him. He has skin five times too big for him, which is fun to pull on and pinch.
This guy is Bud. He died about a year ago, but he has a good story. He showed up at the end of my driveway in the rain when I was a kid. He was a veeeery little puppy, jumping in and out of our gate, grew up into a 90-100 pound BEAST! He was the greatest, sweetest dog in the world, but looked reeeally scary when you saw him barking through the door! Every time we’d have the slightest bit of rain (quite often in Florida) he’d run for the bath tub and not come out for hours.
Yay, dog day! It’s great to see so many happy, healthy dog pics.
Unfortunately I didn’t have a dog as a kid, and I’m not in a position to own one right now. (Rentals and dogs don’t mix well, better to wait until I have a house and a little more stability in my life.) I did have several dog sitting and walking jobs as a teen. One of my favorites was a huge boxer, he looked mean, but was really the sweetest and most laid back dog I’ve ever met, and great to work with once I’d convinced him to stop hauling on the leash. That family also had a pug, and a cat that would tag along on our walks. We looked like the Incredible Journey going down the sidewalk.
A few thoughts about Millan – The TV episodes showcase his dealing with severe aggression and phobias, not minor corrections or training for sports. He uses alpha rolls on dogs that have just attempted to KILL him or another dog, and sometimes uses flooding for phobias. I know they’re controversial techniques, but he’s using them in extreme cases – it’s not like he’s using them to teach a dog to sit. The idiots who try to imitate him are unfortunately another story. It doesn’t help that Millan seems to be very intuitive and very naturally gifted – he can make stuff work that would leave most people (experienced or not) bleeding from dozens of tooth holes. Add in the heavy editing for the dramatic that happens with all TV, and you have lots of idiots walking away with all the wrong ideas. I don’t think Millan is evil or abusive, but I do think his show causes as many problems as it solves.
I’ve read a couple of Millan’s books (the stuff he actually recommends that people try), and was fairly happy with them. They’re quite sensible, and I suspect 95% of the people on this board would agree with 95% of what’s in the books. Your dog needs exercise (just like horses, don’t keep them in the house 24/7 and expect sanity), discipline (no walking all over you), and affection only comes when they’re basically behaving well. He is on the ‘domination’ side of the spectrum rather than the ‘touchy-feely’ side, to use the negative terms for both extremes, but I don’t think he’s far enough out to be evil, or even particularly objectionable.
Well lets see here, I have loved animals my whole life. Got my first dog when I was around 7, a golden retriever chow mix who was an amazingly really sweet dog. She lived to the ripe old age of 15. Then when I was 12 I got my first Border Collie, Jack. We did 7 years of 4-H together including obedience, agility, and showmanship. I’m 23 now, and he is almost 12, and is still with me to this day. He lives with my husband and I, and is currently sleeping at my feet. He’s aging quite gracefully, and I am glad for that. He can still jump in the back of my SUV, and into a crate… Pretty good for an old man! I also have a 3 year old Boxer ‘Bowzer’, who is just a goof! and a 9 month old Border Collie named Rose who is everything I hoped my second border collie would be. I am a Dog trainer now, I train through a pet store chain, but hope to open my own establishment someday. I also do Flyball with rose and am going to start her on sheep this spring, and agility once she’s fully grown.
At my work, there’s LOTS of CM paraphernalia, my friend who is another dog trainer and I get sick of seeing it all, because he goes against everything we teach. The ‘dominance theory’ is poo. you cannot submissive roll a dog and have it understand you are trying to ‘dominate’ it, if it works, its because you have overstimulated your dog so much its shut down. We watched an episode where he drug an 160lb St. Bernard up and down a flight of stairs on a choke collar until it was stress panting and shut down, it was so sad! We tell people that if they watch his show, only do it for entertainment, if they want to watch a trainer watch Victoria Stillwell of ‘It’s Me or the Dog!’. (not to mention Cesar’s show says he is NOT a dog trainer, which he isn’t, he’s not certified in anything.. lol) I train using positive dog training, luring, shaping, capturing, etc. I’ve read much of Jean Donaldson, Dr. Ian Dunbar, and Pat Miller, all great dog trainer/behaviorists. I love my dogs, and have learned a lot about the way they think and process things, what a wonderful road its been! And here are some pictures of the kids.
Baby Rose
The crew!
Rose doing what she does best!
Sorry about the wrong formatting for my pictures! Here are direct links.
me and my old man Border Collie when we were in 4-h YEARS ago!
Baby Rose, 4 weeks old!
Rose now, 8 months
She is still small for her age, I get asked if she’s a Mini Aussie, a LOT !
and the Family
I thought I sent a reply here the other day, but nothing showed up. Basically, I said: Ceasar is great with humans…very respectful, but the problem is he tries to ‘fix’ the dogs…i.e. imediately, permanently, which, for a living creature is not possible.
I have a clicker training website: http://www.vickysclickertraining.com and also a discussion list on clicker training, and am moderator of Sue Ailsby’s ‘Training Levels’ discussion list (clicker training) for anyone who wants to learn more about clicker training. I also have 30+ videos on You Tube, mostly on clicker training. Link is on my website.
I was invited to Taiwan (from Canada) some years ago, when I introduced clicker training to that country.
I’ll send this again, hopefully it was not ‘declined’ last time, but I just did something incorrectly. Oh, I have a rescue Toy Poodle, star of most of my You Tube videos.
I guess my photo will explain my dog training philosophy, click em and give them lots of love. This is Moxie, my then-9-month-mostly-heeler getting smooched on at Clicker Expo in Portland this last January.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lisamccaincole/MoxieAtClickerExpo2010#5450940297475874338
We have two Patterdale Terriers (an almost 12 year old female and a 7 month old male). They are a great alternative to Jack Russells which so many horsey people seem to love. They are a little less “wired” in my opinion but 100% terrier in every other way and are much easier to keep clean after they’ve had a dig (which they love to do!) because of their dark color (think bays vs grays). We participate in go to ground/earthdog and lure coursing which is a ton of fun – just watching the terriers do what comes naturally. There are only a handful of quality breeders in the US but there are many others who are trying to turn the breed into the pet du jour or mini pitbulls unfortunately. They are smart, strong willed and can be agressive with other dogs and potentially people which can be a disaster in the wrong hands – especially if those hands get the stupid idea to breed (which they usually do). I know that the breeder we got our male pup from has some really nice female pups now and she has a quarter horse barn so you know they are used to horses! Her place is MQH quarter horses/patterdales in CA. Here are some pics of our oldie and our noob last weekend.
Wow! What fun this thread is:^) I’ve been showing/training/enjoying dogs for over 20 years. No breed in particular, I just like dogs.
Couple of things:
1) Fugs, you’ll never get me around to your way of thinking on the HSUS. They may call themselves an animal rights organization, and the people at the grassroots level *may* actively commit to rescue, but the fact is that HSUS doesn’t operate any shelters and only about 1% of their millions of dollars goes to actually helping the animals. Case in point: “Humane” Wayne is on record saying that ALL Michael Vick’s dogs should be destroyed, but then went on collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for their “rehab.” Where did all that money go??? I bet the people doing the actual work on those poor dogs would LOVE to know.
2) To large-chested women in the showring: GET A DECENT BRA, HONEY. It’s SO not attractive seeing you flop all over the place when gaiting your dog. My best friend and I have often talked about opening our own business at dog shows, so these women can get a bra that supports and holds it all in (one) place. It’s just not pleasant seeing someone almost hit themselves in the face with their own breasts.
3) It’s a common misconception that mixed breeds are healthier than purebreds. Mixed breeds are subject to all the same genetic disorders as their parent breeds (hip/elbow dysplasia, allergies, entropion, etc.).
4) I may not agree with everything he says, but Caesar Milan has some good ideas: a) spend quality time with your dog; b) exercise your dog; c) feed your dog a decent quality ration. Dogs are NOT people. They don’t do things “just because they love you so much.” They do things because they respect you enough. I can’t stand the touchy-feely training methods, either. There’s nothing wrong with a little discipline, properly applied so that your dog understands what it’s for.
LOVE your girl! She’s more ‘whiskery’ but otherwise VERY like my little rescue dog, Benny –
We believe him to be Yorkie x Jack Russel. At the age of 8 months he was locked in a coal shed for most of the day and night because he was ‘naughty’ (no sh*t, Sherlock!) They fetched him out once a day for young kids to play with – and guess what – he bit one of the stupid kids! He’s a FANTASTIC dog – brave as they come – and totally loyal. I have two other rescues – a Lab x Foxhound (fetch and destroy!) – she came from a no kill shelter that was about to change its policy for her – she’d been rehomed 5 times. She’s totally mad, and a bit overweight – as she has hybrid vigour for greed!! The third is a Springer – a ‘home alone’ puppy (are people MAD??) who developed separation anxiety and nervous aggression by the time he was 8 months.
The springer has to be kept contained (in a large garden) as he still suffers nervous agression with anyone except my husband and I – we tried dog behaviourists, trainers, careful ‘conditioning’ – nothing worked. He just couldn’t HELP biting people! The Foxhound jumps in and out of the garden, the terrier goes under the fence, to come around the yard and ‘play’ with the horses (they’re an integral part of my training team – no horse stays here more than a week without being dog proof!)
I’ve only seen a bit of Cesar Milan – but he appealed about as much as Parelli – both are FAR too formulaic for my liking. There MAY be some good in their methods – but FAR too much of their cr*p makes me want to scream! We get 3 or 4 Parelli’d horses a year for retraining into something useful when their owners get bored with playing games!
Hey, my Chorkie resembles that post! What IS it about the laptop keyboard that is like a magnet?
I can’t say enough good things about ARPH (Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline) they do an incredible job nrsing and evaluating . I just love the two I went and collected from Ohio (Worth every minute of the six hour dive) They are both Delta registered therapy dogs that work with kids and the brain injured. My male has had some amazing successes with aphasics and clients designated non-verbal. Both dogs are incredible with other dogs and kindly an mannerly beyond expectation. (Unless you’re a squirrel – in which case you’re screwed. They’ll chew your crunchy head off. We do not approve of this. *SIGH*)
I’ve had the priviledge of fostering a number of dogs for ARPH as well and I love how they make potential owners work for an adotpion. The homes have to be a good match and the foster parents have a big say in what is likely to be a good match.
I like the Dog Whisperer because he stresses that the OWNERS are the ones with the issues – We see this all the time when we’re evaluating for therapy work – Perfectly nice dogs being made crazy by handlers that simply don’t want to learn how to discilpine fairly and trust their dog.
I don’t care for Brad Pattinson. i’ve seen clips on his show where owners belt their dogs and he doesn’t comment on it. It could be exceptionally poor editing, or eprhaps the mentality of the persons he works with, but it seems to me that like a lot of his techniques are downright dangerous.
Geez, just writing about ARPH is making me want to check out http://aussierescue.leepfrog.com/ I’m sure I have room for a third…or maybe I’ll just whip off an email and foster for the summer LOL!
Showed dogs in both breed and obedience, and dabbled in Schutzhund. Started out with a German-bred GSD…..titled her to a basic AKC CD, got her hips done, then bred her to the top-raking Schutzhund dog that year…..kept ONE puppy, showed him to his herding instinct certificate title (back in the day BEFORE AKC had herding events)……and he even earned his TT and Schutzhund I. Then got “into” little dogs…i.e. English cocker spaniels. Showed mainly in obedience, and my girl earned her AKC CDX with a FIRST Place at the National one year:) She was trained through utility, but she died unexpectedly before we could earn her UD. Showed another English Cocker (imported from England) in breed, but I wasn’t a great handler, and couldn’t afford a professional….so he was a house pet with lots of singles, no majors:) He was bred ONCE and I co-owned his daughter. She did GREAT in breed and obedience thanks to his breeder/co-owner;)
The show people have been wonderful, and the obedience people fun. I even met a great bunch of Belgian Shepherd people when I showed my German Shepherd for the herding instinct testing. Everyone I met was always friendly and kind to me and my doggies and my human family as well.
I taught 4-H dog obedience classes for several years, judged more 4-H classes than I care to admit:) My dogs aged, and I didn’t want to place them in pet homes, so I slowly drifted away from the dog show scene……
Then I started with riding lessons as a city born and bred 30-something
We have one German-bred German Shepherd, a rescue american cocker spaniel, an old-man Min Pin rescue from Young at Heart Pet Rescue, and am now caring for my mom’s chihuahua mix while she recovers from a stroke……then there are cats….but that’s another topic for another day.
What *I* am most tired of in the dog world…
Your little lap dog does need to be trained. Just because it weighs ten pounds and doesn’t have very large teeth does NOT mean it can go through life with not a single manner!
Amen. I have a 2 year old, 5 lb. dog that nobody ever housebroke, apparently.
By the way, any tips for that? I have tried potty pads – she goes next to them. I do take her out regularly but she does not seem to differentiate between inside and outside – she’s just as happy to potty either place and I don’t scold her because I recognize she is simply untrained and has no clue.
Where do I start? She does crate and doesn’t potty in the crate but does when loose in the house.
You’ve got the right idea, crate training is the best way to go. If she tends to be going when you are not watching her, then I would recommend investing in an X pen, so that she is confined to a certain area so that you can keep an eye on her and watch for the signals, sniffing, circling, being impatient, not listening, restless. There’s also the embellical cord method where you keep the dog within 6 ft from you on a leash so you can tell when they need to go.
And small dogs tend to be the hardest to potty train so bless you for being patient!
Also, I would consider ditching the potty pads. Sometimes I think those just reinforce the behavior or going potty in the house, regardless of weather its on a pad or not, they are still peeing inside, on the floor. that way if you can try to eliminate all chances of going inside, hopefully outside endeavors will become more frequent. Hope this helps a little, trying to remember everything, I just did a potty/crate training seminar recently.
Thanks for the tips! I will give the X pen a try. She sneaks around the corner when I’ve got my nose in the computer.
What a fun discussion! I have loved hearing all the stories and seeing everyone’s photos. I have gone over 20 years without a dog, but now I have what I have to consider my heart dog.
Here is my boy with me in the St Patrick’s Day parade:
(FHOTD in: Sorry, these wouldn’t show up. Hopefully the links work!)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEHgf7knFks/S5PbRGQdl3I/AAAAAAAAAv4/mjkXYgVU0xE/s1600-h/parade4.jpg
He is an Irish Wolfhound, purebred, and from rescue. We have had him for almost a year now. I could tell you his tale, but I have it all on his blog http://finnspawprint.blogspot.com/
He has gone from fearful, unsocialized, and nervous to now doing events, Paws on Wheels therapy, and this weekend we will be doing our first Rally.
He has a very clever sense of humor, and is very tolerant of what I do to him, LOL!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tEHgf7knFks/S6at06TD6JI/AAAAAAAAA0A/R9h0VdnbPjA/s1600-h/spring3.jpg
Oh, for those that want to know, he is 8.2 hands at the shoulder, and takes a 41 blanket. When he stands on his hind legs, he is taller than me.
I didn’t get a chance to read through all posts but a quick search and I didn’t find this listed.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, so the vets that have a special interest in behavior, have position statements: The statements on punishment and dominance should make everyone think twice about what TV trainers are doing.
http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=366
If the CM is indeed stringing dogs up until they pass out and/or eliminate as it appears in at least one clip…there’s no way that is ethical, moral, or humane in the name of training.
There appears to be no valid reason to utilize compulsion, especially if there are other ways that are less stressful and often faster. I can teach many dogs that dislike nail trims to be offering a foot within 30 minutes. Each time in the future, it goes faster. If I pin the dog, use two people the next, three the next, and take more time, and stress out the dog and owner. How often are they going to have the service? How much time is wasted because that initial 30 minutes wasn’t taken? How ethical is it to have a dog -that- stressed out?
And then, why are we not doing more to prevent these problems? How many vets offer a quality puppy socialization class and basic training class? How many vets know how to recognize a quality trainer?
Shelties seem to run in my family. My father and his family had a few Sheltie growing up once they moved back to the states. My Aunt showed two for awhile during her second marriage and a little after (they weren’t the best examples of the breed, one was undersized and the other way over breed standard height and horribly afraid of everything.)
When I was 7 or 8, my aunt’s groomer heard about a lady who had to move across the country to live with her son and had to get rid of her young-ish Sheltie male (never could figure out why she couldn’t take him with her.) She was very thorough about making sure we fit, we ended up buying him for 200 because he could never be shown because of too much white on his face. Personally I liked his wide blaze.
This didn’t stop me from entering him in the fair’s Youth Pet Show, mostly in the costumed category. My first year he was Harry Potter, won best of show at the 4H county’s, then 3rd at my local fair because the Judges didn’t know who Harry Potter was at the time. After that was a horse (BIS with a faux-leather “saddle” and “hackamore” with a saddle pad, and little booties to look like hooves), then a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” (BIS with a mother-mutilated sheep costume made out of a pattern for a baby’s first halloween.) That last year before I aged out was really too warm for Niki and we tried tricks but that went royally wonky for a number of reasons.
Despite warnings from my aunt that Shelties only live to 12, our neurotic, slightly over-weight guy lived to 15 before we had to put him to sleep for multiple organ failure (everything went at once.) It took us all a year to realize that we didn’t have to open the front door slowly so we wouldn’t hit him in his favourite sleep-spot.
For some reason this is the only picture I have of him on my computer. This was the year we did the sheep costume (it was too warm so it was off unless we were in the ring.) I was 11 at the time so that would put him in his early teens. He had a leather collar on but we used the chain in-between the collar and the leash because he would chew through them. (my parents foolishly let me be in charge of his training, he could kind of heel, knew the edges of our property/where he could go w/o a leash, sit, shake with only his left paw, and ‘Go to Rachel’ (neighbor friend).)
Which breed we will buy once we get a house has been a fun argument between my guy and I. I love Shelties and Corgis, growing up around both (most hunter barns in my area had corgis for some reason). He wants a medium sized dog (grew up with Goldens) and certainly not one that could sit on your lap. I’d be fine with a shelter mutt but we’re just going to have to see how much room we have in a few years and what’s in our area (wherever that is.)
We’ve got 2 young rescues at home, one came from our local Humane shelter and one from a private rescue lady. They are the best dogs we could have asked for
Summer is a golden/border collie cross and Missy could be just about anything (Shepard/Greyhound?) We’ve gotten into dog agility with both with a great trainer and have actually competed ( and done okay as long as I don’t mess us up!) I can’t imagine our life w/o them, the greetings we get get when get home whether it’s been all day or 10 minutes, make it all worth it.
I want to share pictures of my Golden Girls. Cassie will be 11 this July 11. She is an awesome dog. She is so full of energy and so strong. She lives for her daily walks with my husband. She loves to cuddle on the couch with us at night. She’s a slightly larger than average female Golden Retriever and weighs about 95 lbs. She isn’t fat, she hard as rock. Cass has earned her way a dozen times over. She keeps my horse pastures free of ground hogs and any other hole digging varmint. At the end of the day she’s the biggest baby. Cassie loves her stuffed animals and would keep them forever, she never destroys them on her own. Cass treats my 20 year old son like an other dog and picks on him to no end, even to stealing his pens when he’s doing college work. Having her around is like a constant clown show. I can’t believe she will be 11 this summer. She has very few grey hairs and she is clear eyed and full of energy.
Little Angel as we call her actually belongs to my son’s girlfriend who lives with us. But with in 3 months of living here Angel decided that she is my husband’s shadow dog. Angel came from a bad situation, as did my son’s girlfriend. Her Step-Father had Angel and another young female golden in a pen in his city yard along with a young male. All 3 were so called registered with the ConKC. Both females had their first litter of pups before they were a year old. By the time the girl got Angel out she was 3 1/2 and had raised at least 4 litters, possibly more, no records were kept. Angel is a small Golden, we don’t think she’s a purebred. She weighed all of 40 lbs of skin and bones when she came. She’s a fat little butter ball now at 65 lbs. She has the sweetest nature. And the curliest hair! My son’s girlfriend has said she will let Angel with us forever now since she and my husband are so attached. Angel lays on his lap on the recliner while they watch TV at night. And she too lives for her daily walks. She went from a city dog that had never been swimming to a country girl that is wet almost every day. Of course the daily walk always includes a chance to swim in the creek near our house. Angel will be 6 next month, April 5th, according to her papers.
The two girls are so much fun. I do believe that Golden Retrievers are like potato chips, you can’t have just one. They don’t get into much trouble, both are well mannered. But they can make it look like snow on the living room carpet after Angel takes the eyes out of one of the stuffed animals and gets things started. They are a team when hunting too. Watching them stalk a goose or a duck in the creek is pure poetry. They never catch one but they sure have fun trying. But the most fun has to be when we take them to the big lake near our summer cabin. They love to catch frogs and Cass will try to catch fish with her huge paws. It’s a laugh a minute with this team.
Cassie, the super hunter.
http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/ladypamr/Our%20Dogs/?action=view¤t=Attention.jpg&newest=1
A wet, happy Angel.
http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/ladypamr/Our%20Dogs/?action=view¤t=Angelpose.jpg&newest=1
A real Snow Angel.
http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/ladypamr/Our%20Dogs/?action=view¤t=DSCF3512.jpg&newest=1
After Cassie’s hard day.
http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/ladypamr/Our%20Dogs/?action=view¤t=DSCF4846.jpg&newest=1
A happy pair of Golden Girls;
http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/ladypamr/Our%20Dogs/?action=view¤t=What.jpg&newest=1
I have no opinion on Winograd, he was merely someone who had a blog who mentioned what HSUS did in Wilkes County, NC, that’s all (and linked several different sources). From the bit I read, I think he’s a bit over the top with everything, and a bit of a conspiracy theorist (same as pet defense, BUT pet defense also links to outside sources as well. However, I firmly believe there IS room for no-kill, same as there IS room for kill shelters. I think a good mix of both is needed. It’s the system we have in our town, and our shelters are never over-run. I would like a response on the rest of it, though.
Don’t forget-PeTA has come out about anti-pet ownership as well, and yet they have no qualms about having “companion animals”, though Queen Bitch Newkirk herself would never own one.
Now, as to tundrah, I did say Pacelle said one generation and out. He has said it. It may have been out of context, but even IF he said it because he didn’t care if exotic species went extinct, that’s no excuse, and I’ve posted a link below as to why. However, he IS an animal rights activist, and the bills HSUS has been pushing ARE animal rights-related. Not one bill, not one law, not one bit of legislation has improved animal ownership or made it easier to own animals. In fact, the proof HSUS is animal rights is in what they claim to be against-factory farming, medical testing, fur farming (with the typical claim that it’s done while the animal is alive, a feat I’ve yet to figure out how to do), and hunting, to name a few.
Now, some of these links are questionable as well (particularly the CCF), but again, many of them link to outside sources. Just read them with an open mind.
http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/o/136-humane-society-of-the-united-states
http://gooddogowners.blogspot.com/2007/07/hsus-animal-rights-and-really-really.html
http://brownfieldagnews.com/2010/03/05/hsus-backs-animal-rights-measure-in-congress/
http://purebredcatbreedrescue.org/animal_rights.htm
http://www.animalrights.net/articles/tag/humane-society-of-the-united-states/
http://activistcash.com/organization_connections.cfm/o/21-people-for-the-ethical-treatment-of-animals
http://www.agilityability.com/hsus.htm
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/ (yes, I live by OSU, which is how I found this in the first place)
Why are we concerned about preserving information about minor, or relatively unknown, breeds of livestock?
Is there a reason for the preservation of minor breeds of livestock? Couldn’t more improvement be made if there were fewer breeds? Well, lets go back to our Holstein example again for a moment. While the Holstein clearly has an advantage over other breeds in the production of whole milk, this advantage is based on feeding high levels of cereal grains and pricing that favors low milk-solids content. A drastic change in either of these factors could result in a decrease in the advantage of the Holstein. Given these conditions perhaps a breed that is currently rare or endangered, such as the Dutch Belted, which displayed excellent milking ability in a grass-based dairy situation in trials in the early 1900′s, would find itself on the forefront. In Australia, composite breeds, such as the Australian Friesian Sahiwal, have been developed which have higher milk production levels than Holsteins in the tropical regions of that country. Another example might be an increased need for natural resistance to diseases or parasites should a current antibiotic or other treatment become unavailable or ineffective. An example of this type might be the natural resistance of some breeds of sheep have to internal parasites. Should anthelmintics become restricted or uneconomical then a breed such as the critically endangered Gulf Coast Native, with the parasite resistance it has developed through natural selection, could be of critical importance in the sheep industry. In many areas, genetic diversity should be maintained to help meet the potential challenge resulting from changes in production resources and market requirements. We hope that this project will serve as an information resource for the potential of some of these breeds.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being an animal rights activist. I myself consider myself to be one.
“Not one bill, not one law, not one bit of legislation has improved animal ownership or made it easier to own animals.”
HOW MUCH EASIER WOULD YOU LIKE FOR IT TO BE? Right now it’s almost impossible to keep people who have been ordered by the Courts not to own animals from doing so.
Holy crap, NOTHING is easier than owning animals. I can own an animal for free any day, thank you Craigslist, with absolutely no proof of whether or not I can provide it with its most basic needs.
Don’t know if this will apply to your dog, but I’ve had two small dogs that will come and lick as the ‘cue’ to me that that need to go out. My chi will lick my hand, and the little yorkie I’m buddies with at work will walk into my cubbie already licking, and I know he’s asking to go out.
She may not be there yet – the connection with ‘out’ and ‘potty’ will probably need to come first – but if you’d never noticed this behavior, keep an eye open. If she does do this, it will make things a bit easier for you!
In the past six months I lost not one, not two but all three of my beloved stock dogs and companions. Old age crept up on all of us when I wasn’t looking. I lost Nip my Border Collie and Kessie my Australian Cattle dog within a month of each other-they were both 17. I was so worried about Jack my Border Collie and the youngster of the bunch at 14 that I took him in for a senior dental…His wellness panel came back with “iffy” kidney numbers but the dental much needed and we decided to take the risk. He crashed and I lost him.
After 30+ years of ACD’s I had made a gradual transition to Border Collie’s and had my heart set on another but we had been on the waiting list for ages with the breeder of my husband’s beloved ACD which we had purchased in 1986 and lost when he was 18. I had stumbled across the breeder while researching for ACD’s and she still bred dogs of the same lineage at “Sidney.” She emailed me the night we lost Jack – a litter had been born the night before and there was a pup for us. So, my Border Collie will have to wait for a bit as my hands are full with a new blue addition to the family.
Try as hard as we can, we haven’t been able to come up with a name for our new boy so any ideas are welcome!
Introducing ….puppy. My husband was hoping against hope he might have another Frisbee dog…What do you think?
Ch. Muad’dib’s Blue Shadybrook Danisha, PT x Ch. Shadybrook’s High Impact, HSAs
I would be remiss if I didn’t include one picture of my Jack. He was the center of my universe, which is quite a feat for a dog when they are owned by a cat person.
No, I do not breed dogs. If I did, I would be breeding dogs with a purpose – working-line German Shepherds, perhaps, that would be titled in obedience, or beagles from hunting bloodlines. Dogs that are only shown in conformation tend to get exaggerated, so I would want to work with a bloodline that looks like the breed and works like the breed. Much the same theory as your ideas regarding horse breeding. I don’t see much point in reproducing dogs just because they have nice temperaments – plenty of ‘nice temperament’ dogs die in shelters every day. In actual fact, I will probably never breed dogs – fate seems to prefer that I rescue them.
All of my dogs have been rescued, except the very first. I grew up with Buddy, the St. Bernard/Bluetick Hound “oops” cross that my uncle gave my parents when he found out Mom was pregnant with me. Every kid needs a dog, right? Especially a 150 lb dog you can practically ride! My first dog of my own was Maxine, a Chihuahua/Terrier mix from the Humane Society. GREAT little badass dog. After her was Casper, the German Shepherd, my heart dog. Also the most dangerously unpredictable dog I’ve ever met.
Casper was supposedly bred for police work. What I know for a fact is that he was deliberately bred for high aggression and high dominance. Temperament testing on the litter weeded him out of a future career as a K9 because he was unpredictable. So an officer purchased him to be a pet. Well, guess what? 2 month puppies do not come with obedience and housebreaking pre-installed! Casper was put on a 15 ft chain and left there until he was 6 months old, 65 pounds, and neurotic as hell. When he started nipping at the cop’s kids, the man put up a ‘free to good home’ sign, and my father got him for me.
Buddy, Maxine, and Casper have passed on. We currently have four dogs: Vixen, the Carolina Dog/Chow cross, who ran in front of my car one day and wound up coming home to civilize Casper (his love for her was epic); Anita, the pit bull/terrier mix who was dumped into our front yard; Kala and Dusty, the beagles, both of whom were pulled from a kill shelter in rural Georgia where a friend of mine lives. All of them have good manners, though their training has been admittedly slipshod. They know come, sit, load up (into the car), and go to bed. They walk nicely on a leash and are polite with people and other dogs.
Within the first day, he lunged and tried to bite my leg. Not nip, BITE. I had grown up around dogs and I had decent instincts. I grabbed him by the scruff, picked him up, and told him in no uncertain terms that such behavior was unacceptable. I never had to do that again. I’ve never had to use that on any other dog, either. Casper was utterly devoted to me and though he would challenge me in small ways, a stern look and a firm voice often corrected him. A light tap on his muzzle with two fingers stopped any misbehavior that a simple “no” couldn’t control.
I wound up taking him to one of those positive-only, click-and-treat trainers. Click-and-treat is an AWESOME way to teach new behaviors, and a smart dog like Casper learned fast. I have used that method to teach commands to all my other dogs. However, there must be discipline to teach them that they HAVE to obey. Discipline only works once they know what the command means, however. Learning should be fun, a game of rewards, and only when they know that “sit” means “put your butt on the floor” can you give a leash correction for not obeying the command.
I think that Cesar Millan has important things to teach. He does work with dangerous dogs, and even he says he is NOT a trainer. He rehabilitates dogs that are destined for euthanasia due to their problems. I don’t like all of his methods, and I think a gentler approach could be more successful in some of his cases with fearful dogs. But I must say, no one else I’ve seen can approach a biting, aggressive dog with such calm confidence. He knows how to read canine body language and how to step in a correct behavior before it escalates.
I mainly think that it’s a bad idea for people to try to take what works for one trainer and one dog on one show and apply it to their dog and their life as if it’s a panacea. Training a dog is very simple in some ways: reward behavior you like, discourage behavior you don’t like, control the environment so that the dog doesn’t develop bad habits when you’re not there, always try to set them up so that they’ll do the right thing and you can praise them for it. In other ways training is infinitely complex. The three girls will work for food rewards, but Dusty gets so excited by the sight of the bait bag that his brain seems to fall out and he can’t remember commands. Casper LOVED to be forcefully thumped on the sides and back, and would stand there with his tongue hanging out in ecstasy while you practically beat him, but one rap of my fingers across his nose would make him tuck his ears and look pitiful. You can raise your voice to Anita when she’s misbehaving, but a sharp tone makes Kala hide under the table – both dogs were raised from 2 months old in the same house by the same people and other dogs. Correct Vixen more than three times for anything, and she shuts down – it’s pure positive with her, and no more than a snap of the fingers or click of the tongue if she misses a command. Say ‘no’ to her and she starts ignoring you completely.
I’m sorry, but fuck being an animal rights activist. Animal rights means NO companion animals, seeing as how they have a right not to be owned or used in any way. This is what animal rights has been and always will be. No more breeding pets, because breeding them is a violation of their rights, because they will be sold. No more using animals in entertainment of any form, even for educational purposes. No more using livestock for anything, be it meat, milk or fiber. No more owning animals, because they have a right not to be owned.
How much easier would I like it to be to own a pet? I’d LOVE incentives for people to speuter their pets, rather than fines for not doing so. I’d love for people to be able to breed animals without having to worry about being labeled a “puppy mill”, regardless of conditions or amount of animals owned, and again, with incentives for responsibility. I’d love for breed specific legislation to disappear (which is something HSUS claims to be against, then lobbies for), and there’s NO way you can tell me that doesn’t hinder pet ownership, not when your boxer is being killed because someone said it’s a pit bull. I’d love for farmers to be able to do what they know best without some AR asshole who’s never seen the inside of a livestock facility telling them that what they’re doing is wrong. I don’t care if you can pick up a million free animals off of Craigslist, it’s NOT proof that animal ownership is free of restrictions. Why should every single aspect of what someone does with their animal be monitored, especially people who’ve NEVER even had so much as a report of neglect?
Adding laws when current laws aren’t enforced is like trying to build a wall out of water. You can keep adding more and more, but without something to hold it up in the first place, you’re only going to make a bigger mess.
http://www.peta-sucks.com/smf/index.php?topic=38129.0 (12-step plan to a No-animal nation, the animal rights guidelines)
No, that’s YOUR interpretation of animal rights. It’s NOT mine. You do not get to define what it is based upon propaganda.
No, it’s NOT my interpretation of animal rights, not when it’s shared by virtually everyone who calls themselves animal rights activists and everyone who’s against animal rights. If their opinions equal propaganda, then so be it. You can call yourself an animal rights activist all you want, YOUR interpretation of animal rights doesn’t change what genuine animal rights activists believe in or do.
I guess it’s not just MY interpretation, is it?
http://www.furcommission.com/debate/index.html
http://www.animalwelfarecouncil.com/html/aw/rights.php
http://homepages.sover.net/~lsudlow/ARvsAW.htm
http://www.toybreeds.com/animal_welfare_vs_animal_rights.htm
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pid=FS753
http://www.animalscam.com/rights_vs_welfare.cfm
http://www.ncraoa.com/AR_VS_AW.html
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/FAQs/AW_vs_AR.htm (this one in particular, you need to read. It’s an animal rights group, a rather prominent and violent one.
I can see that you do not hang around with any ACTUAL animal rights activists. I do, therefore I might have a clearer picture of what MOST of them believe than you do.
You are pointing at the extreme fringe and saying it’s everybody – the same as someone who thinks all pro-lifers shoot at abortion doctors.
The fact that the same propaganda AGAINST animal rights exists in many places on the web is proof of nothing. After all, I could put up a page about how you married a goat (to use an extreme and silly example) on 16 different domains in the time it took me to type this. It’s the net…
I can see you still have the idea that animal rights activists aren’t for actually giving animals rights. I dunno, logic would tell me that’s what an animal “rights” activist would want. See the difference between pro-life and pro-choice (nice way to try and equate animals to humans, there too) is the line is pretty damned clear. Either you support people being able to abort or you don’t. Not difficult.
Animal rights and animal welfare on the other hand has a very thin line, and people just LOVE to confuse the two. Problem is, why would you be for giving animals rights if you still think they should be able to be owned by people? And if you don’t believe animals deserve rights, then why would you call yourself an activist for their rights? Seems kinda stupid and misleading to me.
I believe in giving animals rights in the same way that a child has rights – they don’t have the right to leave, but you do have a legal duty to provide proper care/not abuse them or they can be legally removed from your custody. I do not believe in animal “ownership” where it is like a car and you own it no matter how you care for it. I believe the welfare of the animal should override any property rights where proper care is not being provided, or abuses are taking place.
I am pro-riding, pro-most kinds of equine competition and pro-selective breeding, I think they actually live terrible lives in the wild and wouldn’t wish that on any animal, but I think the law needs to support the welfare of the animal above any right to property of the human.
Sorry, but still no. Animals do NOT deserve rights of any kind-they deserve moral consideration and protection from unnecessary cruelty, but they do not deserve rights for the simple reason that they cannot understand nor respect anyone else’s rights.
Oh, and I hate to tell you-but owning a car is not a “right”. It’s a privilege, just like animal ownership. I don’t see anything in the Bill of Rights that grants us ownership of either. So now that we have that out of the way, what’s your argument now? We’ve already clarified animal ownership is a privilege, and just like a car, that privilege can be taken away. I don’t know why you insist you’re an animal rights activist, if you claim that you don’t want animals to have the rights not to be owned or used, and the right to live as they want (essentially, human rights). You believe we should be able to own animals and use them, meaning there’s no way in a cold hell you could be an animal rights activist, unless, you’re just trying to play both sides, like HSUS?
YOU think animals do not deserve rights. I do.
I am having trouble following your argument but I’ll try.
Who said owning a car is a right? I’m lost. My point was that it’s ok for a car to be purely PROPERTY with NO rights. If you want to crush your Ferrari into a cube, go for it. It’s YOUR Ferrari.
Whereas I’m NOT ok with you doing that with a horse even if it’s YOUR horse.
Therefore I believe the HORSE has rights and should not be considered to be property in the legal sense of the word.
A child doesn’t have the right not to live with his parents, does he? The police can LEGALLY drag you back if you run away. You cannot decide when you’re 12 that you prefer to live on your own. That is the level of freedom I see horses having. They have to live with their guardians BUT the guardians have to provide proper care and not abuse them.
How is it that animals deserve rights? On what basis? THIS is what no animal rights activist can explain to me, it’s nothing but “they do”. Animals CANNOT understand the concept of rights. It’s a human-made concept, and something even humans don’t get all the time, and if we’re not guaranteed universal rights, why should animals have them?
You keep telling me that horses deserve the “right” not to be abused, and that animals technically deserve not to be owned. Well, this provides problems. First off, if Farmer John decides he doesn’t want to feed his cattle one winter, how are you going to prosecute him if he doesn’t own them? See, ownership of an animal is more than just “property”. Unlike inanimate property, there ARE laws protecting them, thus negating any need to give them the right not to be owned.
I also hate to tell you, but a child does have the right to leave, provided they can prove to the courts they’re capable of living on their own.
So seriously-explain to me how animals deserve actual rights, and not just protection of the law.
On what basis do you think humans deserve rights? Rights are a human-made concept, and if more of us think animals deserve some than think they don’t, voila, animals get them.
We are, after all, the only ones enforcing “rights” of any kind. Our laws enforce the rights we’ve decided we should have.
As far as I’m concerned, if you are restricting it from leaving your property (i.e. you have a fence around it or leash on it and no contract that you are boarding it for someone else who would then have responsibility for it) that establishes it as yours.
And children getting emancipation is extremely rare, as you know.
I never said humans deserved rights, did I? Quite frankly, rights are nothing more than a pipe dream, regardless of the intended species. I only have “rights” because somebody else said I do. I don’t see them, I don’t feel them, and my rights are certainly not respected. People in different countries don’t even have the same written rights that I supposedly do.
So, now that that’s out of the way-on what basis do animals (including the animal known as humans) deserve rights? Twisting my question around to ask me a question is NOT answering the question, it’s avoiding it. Now, answer me.
I call bullshit on that one. The goat I hauled in from the local park certainly isn’t mine, he’s definitely someone else’s, according to the tag in his ear, though if no one claims him soon, I’ll be happy to keep him. If there is no real concept of “ownership” (there’s only one definition, muddying it doesn’t help anything), then if AC came out to confiscate the goat, then all I’d have to do is say “he’s not mine”, and it would be impossible to press charges, because you can only accuse someone of cruelty IF they own the animals (or there’s witnesses, but nobody can see my goats, so ownership would be the only way to guarantee I’d answer for anything I might do).
Just because children getting emancipation is rare doesn’t mean they don’t have that right.
I can’t figure out what question you’re asking at this point. We seem to agree that rights are merely something human beings designed, right? It’s just that you and I don’t agree on what those rights should be. Isn’t that the end of the debate or I’m missing something here?
I’m questioning why you insist on calling yourself an animal rights activist when you don’t believe in the animal rights philosophy or that there even could be a universal meaning of animal rights that doesn’t involve keeping your horses. I’m questioning how and why any animal deserves rights, which being an animal rights activist implies that you believe they do. I’m questioning how animal rights can possibly spell anything good for animal ownership (this is of course under the animal rights I know, AR activists know, and farmers/ranchers know, and not the welfare-pretending-to-be-rights most people seem to think). I’m questioning how HSUS is welfare and not rights, and how Pacelle isn’t responsible for the idiotic bills they’ve been passing, or how the people who work for HSUS aren’t responsible for it either. I’m also questioning their dog food and how that makes them a non-profit group, but that one may be more just me thinking that foreign, vegan dog food is a retarded attempt at appeasing people who are starting to question them.
Sweet! I haven’t posted on here before, but this seems like a good start! I’ve only owned 2 dogs in my life, but both were rescues. My first was what we thought to be a border collie mix that we got from a shelter. She’d been there for 6 weeks, and so they gave her to us for free since no one else had even looked at her. She was super overweight and had never been walked on a leash, played with a toy, or been around kids. I was 10 at the time, and I have 2 younger sisters. My mom was worried about her pushing us around, as she weighed around 100 pounds, but she was great, and never offered to bite, and I don’t think I ever heard her growl. We ended up doing a DNA test 2 years ago, as her health was declining, and we wanted to know what she was. We found out she was a brittney, bernese mountain dog, german shorthaired pointer, chow chow, coonhound, and a few other random breeds I think. haha. She was great though, and learned so quickly. We had to put her down last november, because of health issues, and she was 13. Her name was Princess, and no we didn’t name her. She came with it and was 4 at the time, so it just stuck.
Here are the pictures, I think this is how i’m supposed to do it. Haha
^She really loved jumping, and it was fun for me to make little oxers and such^
^I really had no idea how to train a dog, but she turned out so well. This was her giving me hands as I called it, she also knew how to sit, lay down, bow, jump, etc.^
And now I have Lolly, she is a puggle. I had never planned on getting a small dog, but my trainer’s friend knew her previous owner who kept her in a kennel 22 hours a day, and had never let her off a leash to run around. My trainer knew that I was hoping to get a new dog soon, and so we got her. She was 9 months old when we got her, and she’s 11 months now. Its alot different training a younger dog, so i’m looking into doing a class, but so far she sits, lays down, sits pretty, and bows. Its also wierd having a dog who likes toys, and actually chases them when you throw them.
^the first day we had her^
^with my sisters^
Oh and I personally will probably always buy from a shelter, or if like Lolly, hear about a dog needing help from a family friend. I have no need for a purebreed, as these dogs are just companion dogs, so thats just me.
Oh no! I’ve been out of town and now I’m late to a party on my favorite subject! I’ll post anyways and if it makes it, cool. If not I’ll live!
Do you show? What do you like/don’t you like? What events do you compete in? How does a total noob get into something like obedience?
I don’t do conformation, but I am starting into Rally and possibly down the line Obedience and Agility. Anyone can find a local trainer or training club and sign up for classes to get started. A great start would be a beginners class if you know nothing about training and are just happy your dog pees and poops outside. If you’re comfortable with sits, stays and the like you can jump into a CGC (canine good citizenship) class. It’s a great springboard to other activities because your dog is going to need those skills for more advanced things. After that, you start into whatever discipline you want and take the beginners/novice class.
Do you breed? What do you want to say to people who think they are going to breed dogs?
I do not breed currently, I don’t know if I ever will.
First off, it’s almost never profitable unless you are one of the top in the world and while you may make money on a specific litter in terms of cost of raising those puppies, to be the best you have to compete a LOT. To make a dog rank nationally costs in the range of $35,000 at least, per year. You will never see that back in puppy fees.
Secondly, if you want to breed you need to apprentice under someone in your breed of choice. It is not as simple as bitch + stud = puppiesyay! There are some serious considerations – genetics being the very core of that. You need to be familiar with all genetic problems known to exist in your breed, which ones are testable (and test for them) and you need to have a goal for how you’re improving the breed. After all that is done, you might be ready to start but still probably not. Your dogs need to have a purpose. Hobby breeding for pets is not a purpose, it provides something there is plenty of in this world. Pretty much the only acceptable things are: conformation (show), events (agility/obedience/rally) and work (herding, guarding).
If someone does all the above, I don’t have a problem with them breeding. You can have registration wank, but the AKC only guarantees pedigrees are registered 3 generations and still does not recognize some breeds. Yes, there are Blue Eyed Horse Association type registries, but overall you need to look at what a breeder does with their dogs, not necessarily who they register with. AKC is a good start, but not a 100% indicator.
Do you rescue? War stories welcome!
I have one rescue and did a rescue last year and fostered him about 5 months. I posted previously about him, had a rescue reject him and leave him in the back of her pickup for 12 hours straight (he was scared and she refused to take him inside and give him a chance outside of a dark, enclosed space). The other rescue has been awesome, including taking him back into their care after his first home did not work out. He’s still with them and has been living with another foster home since November.
I adopted my female from the shelter and she’s one of the best things that’s happened to me. She had fear issues at first, particularly with men, but she’s a just a great dog now. I get compliments about her all the time! I think I just got very lucky and she wanted to be a good dog, just was a little scared.
Do you train? What do you think of the big names like Cesar Milan and all the dog training TV shows? Are these folks giving good advice – or the Pat Parellis of dogs?
Yes. We’d be farther ahead in our training if we hadn’t had some medical setbacks but we’re back on track now. The corgi was gotten for agility and turned out with hip dysplasia, so we won’t be competing and it’s a little up in the air if I’ll even run him through novice.
Cesar Milan has got one thing right – you need to exercise your dogs to keep them mentally and physically fit. He’s a well marketed idiot otherwise.
One of the leading positive trainers, Patricia McConnell, explains it better than I can.
http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/the-concept-formerly-described-as-dominance/
TLDR: Dogs do not exist in rigid pack assignments of alpha/beta/omega and they sure as hell know we’re not dogs. It is fluid and changing depending on the moods of the dogs that day and other external factors. We do not need to “show them who’s boss” and a recent study showed that this sort of treatment varies from neutral to harmful to dogs (link below).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090521112711.htm
Another good resource/person is Brenda Aloff, her book, “Canine Body Language” catapulted me into understanding my dog’s better through their body language. There are lots of great people. I think the most oversold person is Milan. His techniques can work in certain situations, but they are not something to be used by the layperson. Not to mention, he often uses techniques such as flooding which are VERY sensitive as to if a dog can handle it or not.
And my doggies! Some of these might look familiar, I used to post on the SAFE boards a little. Mochi is the corgi, Arya is the brown mutt.
Well, we’ve gone and done it. We’ve got three rescues now, one border/golden girl mix, one god only knows (greyhound?) girl mix and one newly added boy lab/pit mix. The lab/pit puppy mix came up to my husband out in front of our house and after looking for his owner for about a week we’ve decided to keep him. He’s just the happiest thing, we figured he either got dumped at our park or escaped from somebody, he came house trained and well behaved. He’s been checked out by our vet and will get neutered next week. We do basic training on all three and the two girls do agility training and compete too. They really love it, I just need to run faster
I wouldn’t trade them for anything. We can’t save them all, but at least we’ve saved 3 
I’ll post pictures if I can figure out how.