courtnek

demote him. he seems to think he is above you in the pack. A lot of people disagree with this, but I have demoted a lot of dogs over the years with this issue. DO NOT let him sleep on the furniture. ANY furniture, which means no sleeping with anyone in bed. DO NOT LET HIM EAT BEFORE YOU, even of it means eating crackers while he watches. DO NOT let him enter doorways first. make him sit, and go before him. PRACTIVE NILIF. Do not feed him until he has done something to earn it, even if its only a simple sit. EVERYTHING HAS TO BE EARNED. including going outside. make him realise that YOU are running the show, not HIM.. I have used these means to break a number of dominant dogs. it is painless, and works.

now someone from the UK correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt I hear on this forum that the UK requires both working ability and conformation ability? or am I hallucinating? I thought for SURE someone pointed that out here once...

and yes, I voted for the Foxhound too, simply because I have NEVER seen one win since I've been watching. go for the underdog, thats me... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

yea, I know. Forgive me HF, but the Poodle has won SO many shows its about time one of the "odd man out" dogs won. I cheered when Josh won too, cuz the big lumberers, like Josh and the Bloodhound (Notti? not sure of the spelling) win so infrequently...

well, the whole show vs. conformation is a debate thats gone on forever. I personally believe that NO dog should be bred for a specific "look", or a specific "traint" (while leaving other necessary traits out) and I agree with the UK's stance that a dog should be able to pass both a working and a conformation title to be best in show. Now thats me, but I am old world and think that all of these dogs, as pretty as they are, should be able to do at least minimally what they were originally bred to do. that was their purpose, after all. GSD's are a good example. they bred them so slope-backed in the last few years that I seriously doubt they could do a real herding job. Guarding, maybe, but originally they were bred to both guard AND herd....the shepherd I saw in this show gave me hope. He wasnt nearly as slpoe-backed as some of the ones i have seen previously, which maybe means they are getting away from that breeding pattern. as far as the award, without more facts I couldnt honestly judge her and say she is or is not breeding for the betterment of the breed. over 40 years, 150 dogs doesnt sound like a lot. If you figure one litter a year, five pups per litter, thats 200 dogs, and most breeders have more than one litter a year. It doesnt sound too terribly outrageous. I guess I'd like to see more facts before I decide on an opinion.

there were quite a few mistakes like that. he called the Old English Sheep Dog and Old English Shepherd, then corrected it later but the crowd was so loud you could barely hear it.... I voted for the Bloodhound as best dog, and he won!! he was such a COOL looking bloodhound, so proud, and so well trained....I couldnt help it! honest!! it has nothing to do with being a Hound fan... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I hate you Sizzle (just kidding) my dogs wont pose like that. they see the camera and they run upto check it out! :o :o I want to see Ilsa on a box of milk bones, instead of always Labs and Goldens... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

we dont have a Petland...we have Petco and Petsmart, neither of which sells dogs or cats, although they do sell guinea pigs, reptiles and fish. I have heard many people say bad things about Petco, but the one here is a model store. The guinea pigs and reptiles and fish all appear healthy, they are in enclosures that emulate their home environments, (i.e., the reptiles are in glass cages with rocks, and running water, and little pools, like for the pond turtles, and are heated and humdified for the ones that need it. the desert reptiles have desert-like conditions in the cages) and they hold adoptions and charity events for animals there. I was surprised to hear that some Petco's were trashy, after seeing this one. I dont buy stuff from pet stores that sell dogs and cats, and that appears to be a common belief around here, because except at the malls, I dont see pet stores around here. and even the mall pet shops have been closing down over the years, since no one buys stuff there. every few weeks they do a retired greyhound rescue, where they bring the dogs in and asnwer questions and stuff. Laurel likes the greyhounds (knows they are hounds somehow?) and so I take here there. they also do vaccinations.

I am not going to judge, but I believe that a good breeder works for the betterment of the breed. they cant all be ring champions, but if the have good certs, good lines, and good personalities, I will praise her for this. I realize it doesnt help the shelter dogs, but maybe if more people bought from good breeders, there would be less dogs in the shelters. just my take. training for new owners should be a requirement as well. I would like to see the breeders demanding this on sales.

I dont know if this is the same category, but there was a news story on the other day about the Glade-type plug-in's being cancer causing. why they would affect only pets is beyond me tho. I was thinking of getting one for my allergies, now I'm not so sure...

she is gorgeous...did they paint the room just for the contrast? :) the kid is really cute too. and looks happy. Misty looks to be very tolerant of the little guy, which is great. congrats!!

alsdo, contact Greenpeace. They have a petition and are also working against the bill to stop this, and they have a lot of political power. one good thing about Greenpeace, you can choose which of their efforts you want to support. Some of them I dont like, But I have supported this one every time it comes up.

this has come up before, in various administrations, including Bush's. So far its been shot down by adamant public insistance. write your congressmen, sign Redfords petition, write letters to dc if necessary. you can go to [url]www.whitehouse.gov[/url] (NOT .com, .com is a porn site that traps your pc and you have to reboot to get out of it) and leave emails for the president as well. most of the congressmen have email addresses to. this can be stopped AGAIN, it has before.

there may have been some damage to the car, although I couldnt imagine hitting a dog would cause that much damage. even a big dog, like a Rottie. I got in a wreck a long time ago trying to avoid hitting a dog. I swerved, hit a mud slicked ditch offside the road, and spun out. I ended up in the opposite lane, and was hit by an oncoming car. no injuries to anyone, but both cars were damaged. Both the police and the insurance company told me "next time, hit the dog. it's not worth dying or killing someone over" the dog escaped and ran into a nearby neighborhood. the police also told me that if I could find the owner, I could make them pay for the damages since the dog was running loose and there are strict leash laws around here. Now her case was different, the dogs escaped and she could prove it, but maybe the laws there are somewhat similar.

freakin' MORON......he deserves to be in jail. But now something will need to be done about the dogs as well....just damn.....

I heard that during the ad. sounds kinda cool, it doesnt affect the "real" dog show, but lets people give their opinions. kinda a neat stunt I think. Are they gonna say during the show when viewers should vote, like before or during a commercial or something? I didnt get all the details. Since I wont be going anywhere either tonight or tomorrow night, since its going to be all of 2 degrees out, and windchills in the negative numbers, I'll definitely be watching the dog show. :lol: :lol: :lol:

oh how awful....you must be way out there for the vet to be 4 hours away. I am SOOOO sorry..can they give you antivenom to keep in your house, since you are so far away from the vet? I could easily instruct you in giving shots if necessary.... let me know if I can help please...

DAL, you know how I feel and how sorry I am. I am just glad Dogo is back up, because the people here will help heal you, more than anywhere else. I, too, am here for you. I am SOOOOO sorry DAL.....RIP Boonie....

possee, anyone??? :evilbat: :evilbat: :evilbat:

I agree. what else could you do? the poor dog was dragging a chain around, which to me means life at home wasnt that great. hopefully the pup will be adopted, but even going down is better than being chained, possibly ignored, and starved....poor dog. I wish I could find the owner and find out what happened. I'm getting ballistic about this stuff in my old age. I may have given them quite a run for their money... :evilbat: :evilbat: :evilbat: :evilbat:

one thingI have found interesting with mixed breeds is Free. Abnormal to the nth degree, being as she looks more like a Lab than anything else. I have determined (unofficially) that she is part Lab and part GSP. She has the retrieving skills of a Lab, the pointing skills of a pointer, the coat and cut of both. but thats where it ends. labs and pointers are not "guard dog" breeds. Free is a guard dog. to extremes. she doesnt like strangers, children or anyone else she doesnt know. she is suspicious of people until I have said "its ok" and even after I say that, she has her own opinions. whatever sense dogs have that know "bad" people even when we dont are very inherent in her. She has shown time and time again that my sons trust in some people was misplaced. I asked someone once, adn they looked at her tail, and her stance, and her growl and teeth and determined possibly GSD. her behavior is more GSD than anything else, but her looks are hunting dog. strange combo, huh?

good job Matty, except you'd need to add Terriers (basically vermin hunters and for the larger ones, larger game hunters) and Hounds (trackers, "hounders", their main purpose was to exhaust the game by running it down, then trapping it for a hunter) I think a mixed breed database could fall under these categories. it would be kinda cool to see

oh Izzy.....I'm SOOOO sorry. I hope Tabetha's condition is treatable, even more that its not cancer. Poor girl. you've all been through so much. Healing thoughts coming your way...

[quote]I have never owned a Golden retriever myself so to tell the the truth I am not sure what they are like at home having only known the ones I see at parks and the grooming shop and yes they are a bit hyper but I have found them to be really beautiful wonderful dogs. I am just very fond of dogs, period. I don't care what breed I just love them all. [/quote] well, since you asked..... :lol: :lol: they are very intelligent dogs, originally bred to hunt/retrieve waterfowl in Britain and Scotland. I believe they started in Scotland, where their coats blended in with the field/prairie type environment out there. They were bred for strength, energy and versatility. Their coat, like the lab, is waterproof, but long because it is much colder in Scotland than in Britain. Like the lab, it is a "double coat". the surface coat is long and fanned, the undercoat is thick and layered. They (like Labs at the time) usually lived outside, in a kennel environment. Only the wealthy had house pets back then, and they were usually lap dogs. The hunting dogs were not considered pets, they were workers. Like the Lab, they were bred to like people in general (they were never intended to be guard dogs, and because of the prey they were to retrieve the final phase of hunting drive, the kill phase, was deliberately bred out) and to be friendly, outgoing, trustworthy off leash in the field. Since many people hunted at the same time and in the same area's, the dogs had to be bred to be people and other dog tolerant. Because of all of this, this is a high energy dog, who needs extensive obedience training and recall training. that happened naturally in the hunting environment, puppies were trained by their sire and dam to retrieve and come back when called, with the guidance of the hunter. It was a visual training. The puppies watched the parents, and other retrievers, and learned the signals and calls from the hunter. Now this is where hunting dogs get their bad recall inheritance. Once loosed, they were not required to come back until they had the kill retrieved. And they were out there for hours on end. Even if nothing was recoved, by thetime the hunter was done for the day, the dogs were "dog tired" and came back willingly because they knew they would eat once they got home. move forward a few hundred years. This high energy, now often inbred for show purposes, working dog, is living in a house, is alone all day or maybe has mom and the kids, is not getting the exercise it was bred for, is not being challeneged, and unfortunately, in today's world, is not often getting even basic obedience training. It has not job, no bond with a hunter/master, no daily runs in the field, its basically bored. A bored dog is an unhappy dog, and a destructive dog, in any breed. Often there is only one dog in the household, so no playmates either. Hence the problem today. This is a big, powerful dog. If not properly trained and disciplined, it will attempt to take over the household like any other dog, but unlike the Chi's and Yorkies, it can do major damage if it bites you. This is what I am always complaining about (sorry) because I just HATE to see the ads about "the perfect family dog". they arent born that way, they have to be trained that way. sorry about the rant. This is true of Labs as well. Goldens, while stubborn, tend to be less stubborn than labs in general, which is why you see more labs in shelters. They also as they get older tend to calm down a little sooner than most labs. does that help?

I'm assuming purebred then? how big of a database is it going to be? I would like to see a mixed breed database. wouldnt that be cool? I'll email you Laurel's picture, she's a purebred american foxhound, but the differentiation is that she is field trialed, not show. the show dogs look (and act) much different. will that help?