courtnek

the irish wolfhound is the "tallest" of all purebred dogs, but for that height a literal "lightweight" (120-130 lbs) the St. Bernard I BELIEVE (someone correct me of I'm wrong) is the largest in the weight department... :)

[quote name='Malamum']Mydogroxy, I agree. Having a dog that is dog agressive does not meen you are a bad owner or that the dog has something wrong with it. Some people tend to just freak out at the word aggression regardless of what context it is used in. I tend to say my dog doesn't play nice with others :wink:[/quote] ya got that right...my Lab mix doesnt "play nice" with other dogs unless they are submissive to her...it's not just Pits, unfortunately, they get all the publicity... :evil:

wooooo hoooooo!!! josh got it!! The Foxhounds never get the win... I'm glad the newfie did !! :D :D :D :D

you'll find a lot of both agreement and disagreement here.. please dont take any of it personaly..AND WELCOME TO DOGO!!! we all tend to agree to disagree.. realize that if you get replies you dont agree with... WELCOME ABOARD!! :D

while I would not personally dock a dog, I dont show...and I dont see the point...I would not do anything to support PETA...you let them slide on this issue as being "feeling"...and they;ll get to slide on all their other issues...like putting posters in colleges that say "drink BEER, not MILK"...

the design on this crate is very POOR, and I can see how a strong dog could finagle it open and then get stuck. I can see two ways around it... if you have one and need to use it, get a standard padlock and connect it at the place where the poor design joins. Make it as small of a padlock as possible. Key lock is quicker than combination. or zip strips, altho those have to be cut off, they cant be broken...

On a side note, I think living in Indiana would make me crazy. Half the state recognizes Daylight SAvings Time, the other half doesnt. So if you live on one side and work on the other, your clocks are an hour different all summer....I'd NEVER make it work on time....

GUILTY??? You should be PROUD!!! you did exactly what was necessary to keep Tyler from biting her. Had she tried to defend herself, it could have ended up a bloodbath.....A dog showing submission to an aggressive dog is much less likely to get bitten than one that tries to defend itself.... Good for you! Your instincts served you well. You did the right thing for Meg. This owner needs a smack upside the head though...he broke the rules and almost got poor Meggy hurt.... :evil:

I have never read her books, or interview or anything...but from what Kat said I would be at odds with her. I am a firm believer in dominance training using yourself as alpha, when necessary, but not all dogs need it. My Lab Mix is full of herself, around other dogs, but she does what I tell her. My Foxhound is scared of her own shadow, no dominance issues with her. I have had dogs with dominance issues, my Malamute mix comes to mind, but they are very headstrong dogs in the first place. Dominance training using Alpha roles is necessary with some dogs, but not all. They all dont want to be King, and in fact some are happier in a more minor role.... If he was having trouble getting his dog to heel, was that it? Was it just heeling, or were there other power problems? Shepherds are powerful, strong dogs, and do tend to want to lead, but they can be trained without dominance issues if you take a little extra time...and make the dog think he's working....they want nothing more than to work, and if you do it right they can see heel training as a form of work as well...no alpha issues, you both end up happy... If I was your friend I would be very angry that she took my training techniques and called them 'hers"...

Remington was VERY pretty...I'm glad he won a ribbon too...did anyone notice that the announcers are giving out "buying tips" about each individual dog? I was very stricken by the tips for the Huskies..."a very good stable dog IN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT..." I think this is a GOOD thing!!! they made comments on how Dane's make good apartment pets, how the working dogs need WORK... I was impressed. Hundereds of thousands of people watch this show...maybe they'll LEARN something before they buy the Dalmation, or Dogue de Bordeaux, or Lassie...famed from movies but not always good with an unknowing owner. It AMAZES me that people dont understand that these dogs are TRAINED to do this...that their handlers are offstage and running everything the dog does...the poeple in the movies are not the dogs real owner... I know people who refuse to believe that all the dogs that played Lassie were male...

WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! Josh GOT IT!!! Best in Working Group!!! he's so beautiful.... :D :D :D :D

thank you very much Mutts...I am NOT, and never have been, anti-purebred. I own both a purebred and a mutt.... I was talking specifically from licensing, and what in the real world would be beter to stop all the dumping of dogs that "didnt work out..." too many of them, both purebred and mutt... thank you... for caring... :angel:

I agree HIllside....a little more intensive searching is necessary for an apartment that allows pets, and a months security deposit non-refundable, at least here. All of my apartments (before I got a house) allowed pets... I wouldnt rent one that didnt...

Carol's response was excellent! Also, if this is not the first litter, you can check with the AKC for that breed to see if anyone has complained. A friend at work bought a Golden puppy from a "reputable breeder" (she didnt check references - she was directed there by someone else) who ended up with worms, mange, and and a colon infection. worms are to be expected, but not the other stuff. I had her call the AKC and it turns out this "breeder" had been reported before. She got the breeder to pay all the medical bills because of it. Now in my opinion this wouldnt have happened had she checked first, but either way, this breeder should not be selling dogs. Good luck!! :D

I apologize Black GSD, Kiger and Kiwi if you feel that way. Personally, that's not how I feel at all. As I have said often before, I dont think mutts/mixes/heinz 57's are BETTER dogs than purebreds. I dont think the show/trial/breeding purebreds are bad dogs....I dont think people should stop breeding for the type of dogs they want. I DO think there should be some controls in place to stop the BYB's, the unscrupulous and the greedy. I think all breeders should be licensed, and have thought that for a long time. The licensing fee should be determined by the size of the kennel, so the smaller breeders dont have to pay as much as the larger breeders. I also agree with the neutering laws, not just for purebreds, but for ALL dogs. Unless you are a licensed breeder, going to field trial or show, the dog should be neutered/spayed. Please, explain to me how this comes out that I am anti-purebred? Looking at the big picture, do you not think this would help cut down on the number of "oops" dogs that end up in shelters? Not all of them, obviously. People dump purebreds for stupid reasons as well. But if we can even reduce the number of unwanted dogs, would that not be a good thing? :fadein: :fadein:

[quote]I saw the pictures, thanks--it does look like a lot of trails in your backyard, but how can you tell it's not just from the dogs? [/quote] I watched her dig a trench with her nose, but by the time I got the camera all she wanted to do was play ball....it was quite funny, she had her nose in the snow and was digging a trench around the yard...and stopping, to sniff the air and the snow, and then more digging.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

"I HATE snow..." [img]http://thumb5.webshots.com/s/thumb2/8/18/35/116781835vQLmUi_th.jpg[/img] "who, ME??? you want me to PLAY out here?" [img]http://thumb4.webshots.com/s/thumb1/8/17/54/116781754gvnGTW_th.jpg[/img]

they seem to post better if I post the small ones - so here goes [img]http://thumb4.webshots.com/s/thumb1/6/83/14/116768314KWzQOT_th.jpg[/img] [img]http://thumb3.webshots.com/s/thumb3/6/84/23/116768423rHoUti_th.jpg[/img] and new ones of Laurelhttp://thumb5.webshots.com/s/thumb2/8/18/35/116781835vQLmUi_th.jpg "I hate snow..." [/img]http://thumb4.webshots.com/s/thumb1/8/17/54/116781754gvnGTW_th.jpg[img] "who, me???" [img]http://thumb6.webshots.com/s/thumb1/8/16/16/116781616dMiDdB_th.jpg[/img] "Can I go IN now please????"

pm me your email - I'll send them to you...some people can and others cant...I'm not sure why....

here's her after having dug the yard up looking for whatever it is: [img]http://community.webshots.com/s/image8/6/83/14/116768314KWzQOT_ph.jpg[/img] and the trail she dug.... [img]http://community.webshots.com/s/image7/6/84/23/116768423rHoUti_ph.jpg[/img] :lol: :lol: :lol:

under the snow or left a trail on top of it. Freebee is nosing a huge circle in the back yard, and wont come in...... have no clue what she's hunting for....she would have enjoyed being an all-out hunting dog..... 8)

oh dont worry Majies...I know you didnt mean that....Sometimes you gotta go with your gut instinct, and mine said not to let him suffer. Looking at him that way, I somehow KNEW he was not gonna make it, and I couldnt bear the thought of the pain involved....but thanks. I appreciate your input very much. I just wondered if that's why it was so hard to get a shelter to adopt me a dog...maybe they talked to the eye specialist, I dont know. They dont tell you stuff like that...

I sat on the floor, with both of mine. Freebee looked confused, and backed up, then came back and laid down by me. She doesnt like to be stared in the eyes, it makes her nervous. Laurel stared back at me, then put her head in my lap and sighed... 8)

[quote]never had an animal PTS because of a costly illness -[/quote] this was the issue with Alex - he was diagnosed with Blastomycosis, a sever fungal infection that literally "rots" the organs. You dont see any symptoms of it until it's taken a good hold on the animal. Alex seemed fine, and then one day started to cough. I called the vet, she said watch him, he may have a cold...two weeks later his eyes started to look funny, very red and inflamed. I took him to the vet, she said he had it. 4 days later he went blind. She sent me to an eye specialist to confirm her diagnosis. They did. They also told me that the fungal medicine was $100.00 a week, which I could not afford, but would have tried to find a way except they could not in any way gurantee me that it would cure him, or even allow him to live normally. He was already blind, I was told his eyes would need to be surgically removed to prevent reinfection in that area. and they would not say that he would ever get better. Then the hard part happened. He was in pain, it was in his lungs, altho not too terribly, and he would have to take pain killers for the rest of his life if the fungal medicine couldnt help him. I decided to not put him thru that, and had him pts.....the vet agreed with my decision and was ok with it, the eye specialist hpwever, was extremely nasty and insulting, saying I was "throwing away my dog"....I asked her again what the odds were that he would get better, and not be in pain for the rest of his life, and she again said "we have no way of knowing..." I cried for weeks after that...and I'm crying now remembering it. I loved that dog, but could not watch him go through that if there was no hope.... that's why I asked...

[img]http://community.webshots.com/s/image9/6/59/8/116365908CWmBKs_ph.jpg[/img]