courtnek

Very cute - the Black Lab puppy was adorable, as well as the one At the table with the guy reading the newspaper...and the Samoyod's were awesome... :D

actually, some of those points fit my foxhound....round eyes, sloped withers to rump, large hocks, wide nostrils, medium feet (altho hers are actually larger than most dogs by size comparison), wide chest... [img]http://thumb0.webshots.com/s/thumb4/7/39/0/93273900EKaUZR_th.jpg[/img] however, she doesnt look like a Pit Bull to me.... :o

it seems to be a hound thing..they get very upset when corrected harshly. but take FULL advantage of soft hearts when not...I think they are smarter then we give them credit for... :D

HI JACSMOM!! welcome back I am finding its not just bloodhounds, but hounds in general. My Foxhound is the same way...they are very sensitive, you cant yell at them or they get depressed, but if you dont stop them they take over. I think they're too intelligent and are playing us, personally.... :lol: :lol:

my special guy was also my first dog (and my mom didnt like him either) a Golden named Taurus. He was mine durig teenage years, the years when you need something special that loves you no matter what... he would wait in the hallway for me to come home from school...same time every day he would take himself downstairs and wait..he seemed to know the bus would be there soon... he would lay his head in my lap if I was sad, or stressed...as if to say "I love you, dont worry about anything else...." I knew back then that a dog is good for stressful or painful situations, he was always there for me. The night I got stood up for Prom my mom let him sleep in my room, never allowed before. He was the only companion I wanted, not my parents, or sister and brother...he stayed with me while I cried and put his head in my lap and just seemed to say "I love you. Dont worry about anyone else..." I doubt I will ever have another dog like him, but I doubt I will ever hurt that much again either. Teeneagers need special care, they are fragile in a lot of ways. Taurus helped me be less fragile and more confident.

well, this may go deeper than what you want, but I think signs of aggression. and how to stop it before it starts. Too many times I have had to break "bad" dogs of dominant/aggressive behavior, because their owners didnt know any better until it was too late... so I would include a basic temperament test. Can you take his food away? his toys? does he growl when you touch his head? does he refuse to leave the couch or bed when ordered? the early warning signs of dominance issues can spare owners a lot of grief down the line, when it becomes aggressive cuz the dog thinks he's alpha...

:lol: :lol: :lol: Good job Rott! Some of them just train faster than others. I wonder if females housebreak quicker than males, like female babies potty train quicker?

your art is truly very good. I was really impressed with the wolf. You got the look down perfectly, including the wrinkle in the muzzle when they snarl. I wish I could draw... :)

"guilt" is nothing more than the acknowledgement that you did something wrong, and knew it was wrong, but you did it anyway... does this exist only for people? I dont think so...

they are very independent, like hunting breeds, so recall is not the best. But this is food aggression, not acceptable in ANY breed. I talked to my friend Mark....I am not very familiar with bloodhounds and their characterisitics so I asked someone who breeds them...he said "put a stop to it NOW! these are big, powerful dogs. They need to be under control at all times". You need to get your dog into training to get the dominance issues worked out.

good post Edgar - I agree with you. I personally feel that dogs have emotions, feel guilt, and know when they have done something wrong. I completely disagree with the mindset that "they cant know guillt, the dont have the intelligence". Dogs can learn intelligent disobedience, guide dogs learn it all the time...that requires a certain amount of intelligence, to "decide" that mom's orders CANNOT be obeyed, or mom will be hurt... I also dont agree with people who say that dogs are "so advanced" that they no longer live by pack rules. In my opinion, they do. and we need to train them this way.

GOOD JOB!!! LOVE THE LETTER!!

I have a Foxhound - same mentality. I have been told never to let her off leash, because she will take off after an interesting scent. She is not aggressive about food, and no dog should be. You have two issues here, and the food aggression needs to be dealt with. ASAP.

I gotta agree. Being startled would put her in alert mode instantly, then you can see how her ears react. The eyes got to me, in complete "down" mode she looke d so relaxed she could fall asleep. All the other shots her eyes were wider and more alert...

I have a friend who breeds bloodhounds in Michigan. I'll see what he has to say, but to me it sounds like a dominance issue. You should be able to take ANYTHING you want away from your dog, and they should have NO say in the matter. I'll see what Mark says though.

looking at them again, look at her eyes. When her ears are up, her eyes are open wider, which makes her look more alert to me. In the one where they're both down, her eyes look to be half closed, really relaxed looking. that's not proof Rott :lol: just an opinion :wink:

This is just a guess, but from the pictures it looks like when she's relaxed they are down, and when she is alert they are up. The one-down one-up may be a halfway mode...kinda alert, but not too much so. I believe they hear better with the ears up. can catch sound waves easier, so like when she was outside, she was alert to sounds around her. but inside and comfy, resting they appeared down. Like I said, just a guess.

[quote]How can they be reacting to my signals when I havn't even realised what they have done yet? They do all this BEFORE I realise what they've done, and thats how I know they've done something! [/quote] I have noticed this as well...I think it's a trained response. They know what they did was not acceptable, they see you come home, they are expecting to get yelled at or punished, and they give themselves away before you even realize they did something wrong.

I got to do that a long time ago in high school, with Taurus, my Golden Retriever. It was also a training presentation, and he was always a good dog (except when he decided to escape the yard and wander around the neighborhood on occasion). I had asked the teacher if I could bring my dog in for the presentation, and I think she was expecting a small animal. She was quite shocked at my 100 lb fuzzball....walking calmly on a lead and doing as he was told, even though all he wanted to really do was go out into the classroom and get petted by everyone....big baby....after the presentation she let me take him desk to desk so everyone could greet him. Some of the kids were kinda afraid, cuz he was so big, and he always seemed to know that. He would sit down in front of them and put his head in their laps, and look as sad as possible until they petted him. It was pretty funny. Big baby.... :lol:

I agree that they "sense" certain approved behaviors when they've been bad...if they look guilty and dont get punished, that works. if they look "sad' and dont get punished that works...they are not stupid..they will find the behavior that doesnt get them punished, and sling it for all its worth.. they know more than we think they do...

yea, that about describes my tyranical cat.. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: if she IS going to at some point go totally blind, she needs to look into retraining....Gretchen wont be able to help her like this... I am a diabetic, I may very well go blind one day. I would hope I could not be "alpha" about my Guide Dog...I've been Alpha so long with dogs it would be a hard transition... :)

a properly trained guide dog will not respond to treats, dogs, other people, or anything else, without the owners permission - but since she is leading Gretchen, instead of vice-versa, she kinda rearranged his training.

I dont want to be a damper, but is your water different from her water. Like yours comes from a bottle and hers from the tap? Dogs have senses we dont, if yours is bottled water, she may prefer it to the tap... I had to put a MAJOR filtration system on my tap water because of impurities...there are kits you can get to test the water.

one other thing...the forerunner of todays Pit was bred to be animal aggessive by hunters, who used them to hunt bears, bulls and boars. I would add that, because any inaccuracy will be followed up by them and twisted to suit their needs.