gooeydog

Is it normal for dogs that have lived the first part (1 1/2 yrs) of their lives without adequate exercise to spend the rest of their lives "trying to make up for lost time"? The reason I ask is because I've heard that all dogs are born with a natural "potential" for drive, but it's important to develop that drive at an early age, or it won't really be reach it's full potential. Annie was crated most of the day, every day, for the first year and a half of her life, and she is the among the most "hyper", driven dogs I have ever seen. If it's true about drives needing to be developed, then why is she the way she is? She was never really "played with" as a pup/young adult, and didn't really have many toys, but within about a week after she was living with us she became a complete "prey" maniac, and would chase anything that moved. Was this just her natural personality coming out, or was it possibly caused from being penned up for so long with no release for her frustrations? She's still "hyper", and still very driven, but it's a lot more "controlled" than it was at first. Now when she sees a dog, cat, duck, kid, or any other fast moving object, she'll look at me, waiting for me to pull out a ball or tug toy and play with her. As soon as she sees that, a bomb could go off beside her and she wouldn't care. When she catches something, whether it's a toy, or the occasional animal that just didn't make it out of the way in time, she's intent on "killing" it, does the shake thing, then sometimes puts it down and waits to see if it will "go" again. Other times she tries to eat it (of course this always happens with really disgusting things that were once alive, and by that point are not something I feel like pulling out of her mouth), and I have to "trade" her for something different. :roll: Anyway, I'm just really curious about the the drive stuff, so if anyone has any input at all (even if you think Annie has serious issues :lol: and needs counseling) I'd like to hear it :lol:

I think it has something to do with the way Americans always think that "bigger is better". They've made size changes in a lot of breeds... pit bulls used to be generally in the 20-50 lb range, but we seem to have them regularly weighing 70-90 now (of course some of those are horribly fat). Labs, GSDs, and Rotties have also undergone some changes in size. Much of it can be attributed to the way [i]many[/i] (notice I didn't say all :lol: ) American breeders/owners are breeding on the basis of appearance alone, and there is a trend toward "extreme" looks around here. Anything that is "different" is bound to be popular.

[quote name='newfiemom']I say the bigger, the better!!! More to hug, more to love. I will share this with you guys though...I moved to my new place last year and it is deep in the woods. A friend of mine reminded me that bear season will be here on Monday and what was I going to do to protect my newfs. I had never thought about it and I had to go out and buy everyone reflective collars!! :o[/quote] Are your dogs out in the yard a lot? If they are, you might even want to see about getting some of that bright orange fabric and making vests for them. Some people really don't look closely enough before shooting, and might not even notice the collars. Also, if you don't already have them, you might want to put up "no hunting/tresspassing" signs around your property.

Annie would [i]love[/i] that. I'm not sure how well she'd do, since she prefers silently stalking her prey and killing them without letting anyone know :roll: but she'd definitely enjoy that. I was actually starting to wonder if there were any people in the US breeding working doxies... now I know :lol:

Thanks everyone :lol: That pretty much answered both of them. Hobbit, I don't know what color Annie's parents were, but she is AKC registered, so if it would say on there, I'll try to get the papers from my aunt and see what they say. I remember my aunt saying that she was registered as a red dapple, but she got her from a local petshop known for selling poorly bred or sick dogs, so who knows if her papers are even "real", or if the information on them is valid. She does have some darker hairs, mostly along the spine, ears, and tail.

I wonder if any of the news stations have caught ahold of this yet. I haven't seen anything, but maybe they just figure that [i]victim[/i] pit bulls aren't newsworthy. :(

No experience with it, but here's a site with soem people who might be able to help you... [url]http://www.dogearsandpaws.com/[/url] They are in my area (MD), but might be able to help you find someone near you. There are places that will train assistance dogs for you, but you can also do it yourself if you have the time and patience. Maybe you could have a sign-up sheet for caring for the dog. That way everyone who wants to can have a chance.

This is probably only 1/2 hr away from me :( Here's a link to that article on PETA's website [url]http://www.peta.org/alert/automation/AlertItem.asp?id=586[/url] , and here's the website for the kennels [url]http://hometown.aol.com/nomaesnevig/CHAUNCYKENNELS.html[/url]

Obviously if you had already had her in with a male for the purpose of breeding her, you were well past the stage of "considering breeding her". And her "not wanting to be bred" is only [b]one[/b] of the reasons to [b]not[/b] breed her.

I've been wondering about two things for a while... First, in brindle dogs, which color is considered the "real" base coat color? Like in Goo, the predominate color is black/dark brown, with red being the less "shown" color... but which is [i]really[/i] her true color? Is the red over the "black"? Or is the "black" over the red? Or are they just "sharing" the space, and neither is over the other? Second, what exactly is it that makes the double dappling (or merling?) in dachshunds lethal? Is the gene "connected" to the merle gene? Or is it just a product of the type of breeding that was used in producing them?

[quote name='Bliss']This may seem weird, but, anyway, I have a mini dachshund that I was hoping to breed and she is about 3 years old now and she is not spayed YET.[/quote] So she's already championed out? Or are you doing earthdog trials with her? Maybe you actually hunt her (ooh, bet that would cause an uproar with PETA :o )? And her patellas have been cleared, her structure is sound, and you've checked her lines to make sure there's not a history of problems with her close relatives, right? How about the male? Has he passed all the health clearances? Does he have good ribbing (helps to support the back and reduce the risk of problems)? Are you sure about both their colors? Sometimes it's very hard to tell if a dog is dapple (case in point, Annie is supposedly a red dapple, but I've looked all over her and never saw a single hint of a dapple). Have they both been tested for "doggy STDs"? Some can render both dogs infertile, so testing for them in kinda important. [quote]But the problem is, she was not socialized properly when she was a pup so she was very "mean" to the male.[/quote] You couldn't socialize [i]one[/i] dachshund pup, but you think you can socialize five? And get them started on housebreaking (as they should be before heading out to their new homes)? What if her temperment isn't all due to lack of socialization? And she passes her fear aggression on to her pups? [quote]she wouldn't even let the male near her, same with all other dogs she has met[/quote] This isn't a proper dachshund temperment, no matter how unsocialized she was. [quote]Sometimes she even has milk coming out of her teats and then she burrows in my closet like she is going to have puppies, but nothing happens[/quote] This is false pregnancy, and is common in unspayed dogs. [quote]ok thanx, but i don't think I would want to go that far though.[/quote] Why not? A good breeder will go to whatever length is necessary to get the right match for their dog, in order to produce the best pups. If you don't want to go that far to breed the dogs, what are you going to do if the bitch needs a C-section to deliver the pups? Will you go that far? [quote]One of the reasons why I wanted to breed her was because I thought if she spent time with her own children then she might get along with them and she can finally have a furry friend in her life.[/quote] Or she might eat them. Wouldn't that be cute :roll: Dogs don't feel affection for their pups the same as people do for their children. [quote]But the thing is, she may act like shes aggressive, but she's never bitten anyone or anything in her whole life before and all she really does is bark a lot and run away from other dogs.[/quote] Those are classic signs of fear aggression. They want to scare away the threat before it can hurt them. If things progress far enough, and they feel cornered, they [i]will[/i] bite. [quote] But, I have met the Dam before and she was very friendly and the breeder bred her dogs often. [/quote] Then don't worry about breeding your dog, the "breeder" has produce enough ill tempered dogs to keep shelters busy for the next 10 yrs without your help. Your dog shouldn't be bred. As others ahve said, she should be spayed and enrolled in training classes to teach you to control her aggression. [/i]

[quote name='Majik']Ok I just want to know why people go and steal other peoples pet.[/quote] There are a lot of reasons why pets get stolen... for resale, to be bred, to be abused and used as guard dogs, to be fought, to be used as "bait" for training fighting dogs (not that it's necessary, since you don't need to train a dog to fight), to be used as test animals in labs, and there's probably other reasons too. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply make it inconvenient for them to steal the dogs. This can be easily done by... installing high privacy fences, or locking your fences/enclosures, or keeping the dogs in the house unless you can supervise them, or locking the doors to your house when you're not home. It's also helpful to have some form of permanent ID on your pet, in the form of a microchip or tattoo (I think those are the only types of permanent ID). Most labs will bypass dogs with microchips and I think tattoos as well, but I might be wrong), and if someone attempts to sell the dog after they steal it, there's a chance that he/she can be returned to you if the person checks for a chip or looks for a tattoo and decides to contact you. It also may save his/her life if they end up in the shelter.

None of our dogs are chipped or tattooed, we are thinking about getting them chipped though. In addition to what Carolk9s said, I'd contact all the clubs for that breed that I could find, with pics and a description, just in case somebody had them and was trying to sell/breed them. That way if someone posted on there or elsewhere about their new breeding dog (too bad they're all altered, but of course some people can't tell) or dog for sale, hopefully someone would recognize them and notify me. It's also good, before anything happens (and even if you never expect it to), to have at least one clear picture of the dog with you or a family member, and to write down any "distinguishing marks", in case they want to question that the dog is yours, and sometimes in an emergency like that, you aren't able to think straight, so having important things already written down would ensure you didn't forget them.

Labs from English lines tend to be a bit shorter than normal labs, one of my neighbors has one that's a bit shorter than Goo, he's probably about 20" tall at the shoulder. You could probably find a medium sized dog that looks/acts like a lab at your local shelter if you looked :wink:

I don't know much about the colors in the other breeds, but here's what I know about the blue color in pit bulls. I think the reason there are so many health problems in blue dogs is because of the amount of inbreeding (or other close breedings) needed to "find" the color (even if by accident). If the genes are doubling up on the recessive blue gene, what other (possibly bad) genes are they doubling up on? Some genetic defects that I've heard of blue dogs carrying are: temperment problems, congenital heart defects, eye problems, and skin problems/allergies. Much of this can probably be attributed to the breeders breeding the dogs "because they're rare blue", not because they really have good breed qualities. They start with poor foundation stock, then don't bother to do any testing (because they feel that if the dog can walk, he's obviously fine, and they don't want to waste money). There are sound/healthy blue pit bulls out there, but they don't seem to be as common as the ones with temperment/health problems. Blue dogs are becoming as common now as red nose dogs were a few years ago, and they're suffering for it, just as any other "popular" color has. Irresponsible breeders charge more for blue dogs because they know people will pay more for the "rare" or "special" dog. In reality, color shouldn't have anything to do with price in this breed, structure is more important. $570 is a "bargain" price for a blue pit bull here... BYBs are selling them for as much as $1500 (registered), and $800 (not registered). They are decreasing in price as they become more common though, and I've seen them for as low as $400 (of course if they have a huge head or wide chest, they cost more :roll: ).

What kind of things are good to do with your dog(s) in the winter? It's hard for me to keep all the dogs exercised enough in winter, so I'm looking for some new ideas this year :lol:

Looks like you're gonna need another couch :lol:

Make sure you give each of the pups time away from the other pups, or you can end up with problems later in life. Some that I have heard of/seen are: the dogs bonding closer to each other than to you (which can cause behavior problems down the line), or the dogs having problems when they need to be seperated for some reason (I guess technically this would be a behavior problem). This can be done by taking one someplace with you while the others stay home, or just giving them time to be seperate in your house.

BK, There are rescues, but not enough to get all the dogs that would make good adoption cantidates, if I had to guess, I'd say maybe 5% (probably less) are sent through rescue and find good homes. corgilady, that sounds like the kind of shelter I'm talking about, they don't really care what the owners do after they get the dog, as long as it's not PTS. A good shelter would have made her enroll the dog in obedience classes, which would in turn reduce the chances of the dog being brought back a year later because it's "too wild" and "doesn't listen". yellowlabs, it really doesn't matter whether the dogs have been fought or not, as far as aggression goes. Dog aggression is a trait which a lot of pit bulls have naturally, fought or not. The dogs aren't trained to fight, it's an inherant instinct, much the same as retrieving is to labs and herding to herding dogs. I've seen pit bulls that have been fought and brought up horribly, but couldn't care less about other dogs; I've also seen pit bulls that have been raised in loving, caring environments their entire lives, but are still extremely dog aggressive. In this case, a dogs genetic make-up is much stronger than their upbringing. It is true that some people would have reservations about adopting a former fighting dog, but they should realize before adopting [i]any[/i] pit bull that dog aggression is a possibility no matter what the dog's background/upbringing. They also should realize the difference between human and animal aggression, and be aware that human aggression should not be expected. My dog is an ex-fighter, and though she's aggressive toward most strange dogs, she lives peacefully with the three that live with us, as well as my 6 & 9 yr old nephews who are here almost every day. [img]http://seemesmile.com/photos4/2373982a.jpg[/img]

Sash, even "blue" dogs aren't supposed to have blue eyes. In the standard for the APBT, it states that eyes can be any color except blue, and the darker the better. Most of the blue eyed APBTs that I've seen are predominately white in color. Blue APBTs also have a longer list of genetic health problems than other colors because of the type of breeding used to produce the blue dogs (in some cases, intense inbreeding, which brought recessive genes to the surface).

There's a few on here... [url]http://www.deafdogs.org/adoption/sapbt.html[/url] You won't find a responsible breeder breeding for blue eyed APBTs. Not only is it against the standard (blue is the [i]only[/i] eye color not allowed in APBTs), but it is believed that the blue eyes are linked to some eye problems, and in some cases deafness. If you want to risk your heart, go ahead and get one from a BYB. Just be prepared to deal with the health problems that are likely to crop up because of poor breeding.

You can also get innertubes from wheelbarrows(sp?) or even bikes and use them for tug toys or for playing fetch. Soda bottles are good, but either take the lid off (if you're leaving it empty) or glue the lid on (if you're going to fill it with something, and make sure you use non-toxic glue). Don't use old tires unless you're sure they don't have those metal bands (sorry, I don't remember what they're called), because they can hurt the dog's mouth. Those cheap little Nerf balls are pretty good if your dog doesn't shred them on the way back to you. You can make tugs out of your old clothes, just take strips and either use them alone or "braid" a few of them together. Old rope will also work well. You can put a tennis ball inside an old sock, tie a knot in the sock so the ball stays in, and play with that (this can cause problems with sock thieves later though). You can buy old toys/stuffed animals from secondhand stores, remove any removable parts (glass/plastic eyes, noses, ribbons, etc), and give her those to play with/shred.

Has anyone else heard this? Someone on another board was talking about it, and they said that have have been several instances where dogs that have been having seizures didn't have them anymore after they were switched to a heartworm preventive without ivermectin.

All "pit bull type" breeds were created by crossing "bulldogs" (not the English Bulldogs of today, these dogs were massive and much closer to the pit bull (or AB) in appearance than they were to "bulldogs" of today) with terriers. Since then, several breeds have developed, and some the breeds even have different strains or types within them. Some stayed in England, these dogs were the foundation for Staffordshire Bull Terriers. SBTs are usually 13"-16" tall at the shoulder, and under 40 lbs. It is thought by some that SBTs were bred to be smaller and more compact because after bloodsports were banned in England (much earlier than in the US), some people continued to fight their dogs, and wanted a dog small enough to pick up or hide under their coats should the police show up during a fight. When people immigrated to the US, some brought along their "bull & terriers", which became the foundation of APBTs and AmStaffs in America. The UKC accepted the American Pit Bull Terrier for registration in the late 1890s, but the AKC refused to recognize the breed because the did not want the word "pit" in it. In the 1930s, the AKC accepted American Pit Bull Terriers into their registration, but not as APBTs. They were registered as Staffordshire Terriers, but later when the English breed, SBTs were also recognized by the AKC, they changed the American "Staffordshire Terriers" to American Staffordshire Terriers. Because all the AmStaffs that were taken into the AKC were originally UKC APBTS (or descendants of them), some dogs are still UKC registered as APBTs, but also registered with AKC as AmStaffs. This is called dual registration, and the dogs are considered purebred "members" of both breeds (Petey, the dog off of the Little Racals TV show, was a dual registered dog). A dog can only be dual registered if both parents are also dual registered (ie: you can't just register an AmStaff as an APBT too, just because you feel like it. and you can't dual register a dog with one AmStaff parent and one APBT parent). APBTs and AmStaffs are similar in structure and appearance, but AmStaffs, because they're predominately a conformation breed are generally more "typey" and have less variation in the breed. APBTs are very diverse, they can be any color, and pretty any size, as for many years they were predominately a "performance" breed, and bred for "function over form". There are two "types" of APBTs today, "performance bred" APBTs, which are used in some sort of work, whether it's weight pulling, catch work, protection sports, or in some cases, dog fighting. Then there are the show pit bulls, which are bred for form (sometimes over function), and most aren't deeply involved in any work. There are also dogs that are show dogs, but also compete in performance events. Then there are the majority of dogs, which aren't either of the "types", but fall somewhere in the middle. They make up most of the dogs owned today, as good show or working dogs are expensive, and most people can't handle the drive of a working dog. Most performance APBTs are under 55 lbs (fit), and a lot of pets can range up to 80lbs. Red noses are permitted in APBTs, but are a fault in AmStaffs and SBTs. Dog aggression can occur in any of the breeds, but I think it's less common in SBTs. The standard height/weight for AmStaffs is 17"-19" tall and 20-65 lbs, the standard height/weight for APBTs is 17"-21" tall and 20-65 lbs, but it's not uncommon for slightly larger dog to occur in both breeds (dogs up to 75 lbs are fairly common), and is not a penalty as long as they are proportionate.

[quote name='Johnny']The difference btwn pit bulls and Amstaffs is that pit bulls are bred for performance(gameness) and staffs are bred for show. [/quote] Some pit bulls are bred for performance, but being bred for performance doesn't necessarily mean they are bred for gameness (at least not gameness in the context it's usually used in when talking about pit bulls). There are a few breeders out there breeding performance bred AmStaffs, too, so that kinda disproves your theory of all AmStaffs being bred for show. [quote name='Johnny']A pit bull that is not game bred is an Amstaff, even if it is registered as a pit bull.[/quote] You can't change what something is by just saying it's something different, no matter how much you wish it was true. Actually, you could say that all pit bulls are gamebred, since they all have ancestors that were matched, which would technically make them gamebred. For that matter, by those standards, AmStaffs would be gamebred too, wouldn't they? There are dogs out there that aren't gamebred that are game, just as there are dogs out there that are gamebred that are not game.