courtnek

ALL dogs have flaws. there is not such thing as the "perfect dog"...ANY dog can be a perfect dog, if trained, socialized, controlled, etc. what it takes is someone understanding what that dog was bred to do, and work the training and the exercise around that trait. Goldens can be great dogs, I had one and loved him immensely. he was trained however by a professionsal breeder/trainer. he was almost the perfect dog, once I had been trained in how to continue his training after I got him. he still needed updates in his trainig, they are intelligent and will take advantage of you if you slack off. thats why it angers me so much when I hear the press on "the perfect family dog". they can be, if you put the time into it. if you dont, you end up with the golden down the street. and this is true of ANY dog, not just goldens and labs.

EXCELLENT CASSIE!!!! let me show you something else. I have a purebred Foxhound. Bred to hunt fox. and a Lab Mix. mixed with GSP, and maybe some GSD, and GOD only knows what else...Coyote, maybe? her mom had hints of it in her facial structure...... my foxhound is purebred. completely harmless. she wouldnt harm a human fly. but if you put an animal in front of her, she would chase it til cornered, then bay for me to come kill it. would she kill it? no. she was bred to leave the kill to the hunter. she corners, traps, and waits. while baying the whole time (I FOUND it, where the hell are YOU?) she has already shown this trait. My lab mix? looks like a lab, but has NONE of the characteristics. she doesnt like people. she kills animals. she does not have the bite inhibition of a lab. no good at duck hunting, thats for sure. she has takenn down a number of wild animals in my yard, squirrels, possum, even raccoons. she does not stop at "retreieving", she goes beyond the normal hunting dog breeding and kills. (and then brings them to me. gee thanks. good dog?) at one time, and I dont know how they did it, but Free must have realized that her full force attack was NOT going to get the possums out from under the shed..she somehow enlisted Laurel, who went into full hunt mode and and had her dig the possum out from the shed. (foxhounds will dig to trap the prey, but they wont kill) unfortunately, as soon as the possum scrambled and ran, Free was waiting and caught it (this is actually typical of pack behavior) and brought it to the back door. I heard Laurel baying (found it ! FOUND IT!) and since she rarely ever bays outside, I went to check. I found Laurel and Free standing there, tails wagging 90 miles a minute, and Free with a possum in her mouth. very dead.... yuk. but it goes to show what the natural instincts and even the breed instincts will do...

the history of the dog has its roots in the wolf. not the timber wolves, or redwolves that we are familair with, but with a geneology that was actually traced back to China. of many thousands of years ago. But yes, the wolf is the dogs ancestor, just not the wolves we know today. [quote]Maybe if a Golden was purchased by a rough-tough drug dealer, he wouldn't be such a nice dog. [/quote] I've told this story elsewhere, and I have to agree that its a combination of nurture/nature.There was a Golden here, seemed on the surface very sweet, like all of them do. However, spoiled rotten by his owners. He bit a child in the face, tore half of it off. Not the "normal" golden behavior, but a spoiled dog is a spoiled dog.

where in IL are you AAP? I/m in the NW burbs of chicago and we have about a foot. dogs played in it the whole time

couldnt they go either way tho? the same as a mix breed. there is the possibility it could take on more of the characteristics of one animal then the other, like Free. To the untrained eye she looks like a pure black lab. her father was a pure yellow lab, but the mother was a heinz 57, yet she still looks more like a lab than anything else. and I have seen other dogs that are mixed rotts/sheps, that look more like rotts, or more like sheps. wouldnt it work kinda the same way, or no?

I have always been a Lassie fan, but since I dont watch a lot of TV mostof the dogs I like are from ommercials. so, Rufus, the papillion doing the same allergy commercial as Baxter(I think its Rufus), and theres another commercial (about a car) with a little dog being chased by a rottweiler down alleys and city streets, and his owner is following him in the car taking sharp turns and screaming down alleys. He finallymanages to cut the dog off and open the passenger window, and the dog jumps in The guy looks at him and says "I TOLD you she had a boyfriend...." the expression on the dogs face was hilarious....

the big thing around here lately is "coyote/dogs"....I keep hearing people saying their dog is part coyote. I'm assuming they can breed, since they are basically the same species, and there are a lot of wild coyotes that have come back here in the last ten years, but I have yet to see a Coyote Dog...

bathrooms work good.

This is cool, because this is typical pack behavior. Your dogs all consider you and each other as part of the same pack. it is the responsiblity of all animals in the pack to look out for each other. It is close to the same reasons they protect us. it's their job. some dogs are better at it then others, some may never rise to another's defense, but I have seen and heard this often to know its true. I've seen little dogs go after big dogs when one of their pack was being disturbed. Free cracks me up cuz she considers ANYTHING being threatened, from me to Laurel to Kyle to his friends, as her responsiblitity. his friends are here so often I think she thinks they are all part of her pack too....and she doesnt play favorites. Kyle wrestles with his girlfriend (not hard, in play) but if she yelps Free is right there in between them, with that warning stance and bark, like "STOP IT! RIGHT NOW!" its really funny...

I just want to add this. I dont know HOW they know, but my foxhound with her super sensitive nose may have saved my life. I went to bed, and normally she jumps up and almost pushes me off the bed (bed hog!) but one night she would not jump up. she whined, whimpered and then started baying (VERY annoying) no amount of telling her to shut up would work. I finally got up, to find the kitchen garbage SMOKING.. not yet a fire, bit soon to become one. I poured water in it and put the bag out in the snow. How did she know? how did she differentiate this fire from any other? I cook in the kitchen all the time..

I dont care for Miami AC, I like the Detroit show tho. The guys in it really appear to care about the animals, more so than the Miami ones do. The Detroit AC cant help it, it's a law in Detroit that Pit's dont get adopted back out. I dont agree with it in every case, but either way, these guys have to live with it whether they like it or not.

do you knit? I took one of my dogs in for "thinning" one spring and when I picked him up there was a garbage bag full of hair waiting. She asked me if I wanted it and I said "WHATEVER for?" she said some people make sweaters and such with it... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

actually, it doesnt sound like she has a choice in the matter. If she signed a contract, she's stuck with having to breed this dog unless she wants to take it to court. As other's have said, Bullies being dog agressive is not unusual, but NO people aggressiveness should be tolerated. And you said the breeder wanted one puppy? what happens to the rest? you need to think about this, if you are going to have to take care of a litter from birthing to sale, or is the breeder going to do that? Usually the stud's owner gets pick of the litter, but that leaves you with all the rest. Are you prepared to handle all that? Maybe you should point all of this out to the breeder and see if you can get out of this conract if possible.

he's a lab DP...every hunting dog I have ever owned sheds more at the back end. the hair comes out in clumps from the rear end and ends up everywhere. they are double coated, and when the coat "blows", it blows everywhere. no worries, this is not at all unusual.

there is also a hard cheese called Fontinella (very odiferous italian cheese) and in its hard form can be grated into the dogs bowl with the offending medicine. hopefully YOU'RE not offended by the smell. I love it, my kid hates it, but the dogs will chow it down and it does cover up whatever is in the bowl. And my foxhound has quite a nose for scents....

done

yea here to. Ordinarily here at this time of year it's in the single digits outside. Yesterday was 50 degrees!! (heat wave for IL. in January) and last night was in the mid thirties, so we had fireworks galore. It doenst appear to bother the dogs, but the windows were all closed too. In the summer it makes Free nuts, not scared, but angry and wants to go out and attack the noise....they both slept through it last night.

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: y'gotta wonder some times. this is a SHOW dog and she lets it run loose without supervision???? Isnt that a little "pricey" on her part? Most people with real show dogs keep a very close eye on them. there's quite a bit of investment in those animals, even if its not also a pet. Some people just should not keep dogs....or have kids for that matter.

all of the pups are beatiful,and thats a really nice Christmas picture. but back to the topic ( :lol: :lol: ) to someone that didnt know dogs, Sheeba could look a little like a shepherd, with the coloring and size. Before Pit's became America's Most Wanted, "Shepherd Looking" dogs were the frontpage news, and the same as the Pit's, they usually either weren't, or were mixes of something. I feel very old. I have gone through 4 decades of watching certain breeds of dogs get slammed, because of bad breeding, bad owners, and bad media.....I was a kid when Shepherds were the ones being slammed.... Everyone thinks Free is a Lab. and yes, she looks like one to the untrained eye, but is definitely not pure. my estimation of her breed(s) is best guess as well...

I believe the t-shirt thingy is two-fold...it applies pressure, like Kat said, under the dogs arms (basically in the armpit and a little acros the chest) and also has the added benefit of smelling like their owner. it should be one of your shirts, not a new one by the way. I was told by a vet once that this is similar to swaddling in a baby. in a fearful situation, the dog feels more secure by being wrapped in something that smells likes it's people. Rescue Remedy helps somedogs, and the peppermint oil helps some. I only have that problem here on July 4th. It's too cold here for the neighbors to be outside blowing off fireworks, and the city is too far away for the noise to affect my dogs.

sharpie, tell your grandparents you're doing her, them, the neighbors and everyone else a favor by being responsible for your dog. Ask them if they would like to hear she bit a child and was going to be euthanized because of it. or if they themselves would like to be bitten for some unknown reason. you have made a responsible decision basedon Sassy's behavior. dont worry about what anyone else. Besides, now you can try to correct her bad behavior and be safe at the same time. I dont have to muzzle Free at the vet, but I do have to hold her head while standing next to her with the vet behind her to give her shots. she has snapped more than once at the vet in the past, and this is our standard position for giving shots. I also have to short leash her around strangers. she doesnt like them getting too close. same with small kids. until I have properly introduced them, its best they stay away. So I understand how you feel and think you're doing the right thing.

and "Labador's" :lol:

Feliz Navidad Izzy, and welcome back. dont be a stranger, ok?

not exactly the same, but similar. WHen I took Ford the obnoxious Mew (his new name BTW) in to get his shots, he was a kitten (first timers) and he scared the bejeezus outta me the next day by not getting up, not wanting to walk or eat, and yelping if you picked himup. He was all better the day after, but the smaller pumpkins take it a little harder.

yes she did. and NO dog should be allowed to chase livestock. Farmers have shotguns for just that purpose, and the law would be on their side. While I feel bad for the dog, this is extreme irresponsibility on the owners part, IMO....