ayb2101

I'm not talking about dogs in the yard. They are no problem as long as they stay in the yard. The problem is the off-lead dogs that run out of the yard and follow other dogs and the dogs which are walked off-lead but the owner can't stop them from following another dog. Several dogs here are basically allowed to roam free without the owner watching them at all. And going another way doesn't work when the other dog chases after your dog.

Duke's doing great, and really enjoys walks. The only problem is that he'll try to lunge at other dogs. Normally, this would be less of a problem, but there are many stupid dog owners here that just let their dogs off leash and able to roam. So far, this has happened about three times. You can control Duke, but then the other dog decides to follow duke!!! ARGH!!! Is there anything you can do about this? Something that will get the other dog to go away and still allow me to hold Duke back? Stupid irresponsible dog owners :chainsaw1: :wallbash:

Also, I didn't even have to use any treats to train him to sit. Since his ear muscles aren't 100% developed yet, I massage them to help so his ears will stand up. He really likes it, so its also a good reward. They are kind of ear-waxy and gross though.

Well, he had an accident in his kennel today :( We had to leave him in the kennel for about an hour and a half while I was at a doctor appointment. When we got back he'd pooped in the kennel. We had to wash the poor guy off and clean the kennel out really well :( We took him for a walk before we left. Since he's sick, it was just a small walk. He got tired and layed down about halfway through. He had about 50 minutes outside before we left when he could have gone to the bathroom. He peed when he got back, but he hadn't wanted to poop since last night. Eventually, he'll learn to go outside when he's there and not wait. Now, the good news. He now consistently sits on command :thumbs: , and we just taught him that today on his walk. He learned after about 10 times. He's still sick, but hopefully his hookworms will be gone by monday. On walks, the biggest problem is that he's very easily distracted. I've accidentally stepped on his feet or tripping over him a couple times because he walks too close and/or cuts me off. He's doing a bit better with this, though. Also, he loves to get sticks you throw. He brought one inside and chewed it up.

So far he's peed three times outside and pooped once! And no accidents! He's doing well, especially considering that this is his second day! The only problem is that when he pees, he squats and doesn't lift his leg, and it sometimes hits his front paws :o What happened with the accident in the morning was that he walked away and went to the door, but we didn't realize why in time. He DOES go to the door when he needs to go, but doesn't whine like they said he would. He's still adjusting, and doing so very well considering that this was just his second day. The issue with the stairs is getting better. He now seems to be okay with the area beside the stairs. Before he'd just lay down when he got close to it. Now he'll keep walking. He's still a little worried about the actual stairs themselves. He'll get close to them, and he seems to be getting somewhat interested in them. I don't know if its the look, feel, or smell that bothers him. He's the same way about the car. Unfortunately, nobody sleeps on the ground floor, and his kennel had to be moved to the ground floor. He was going to sleep downstairs near my dad, but he doesn't want to go down there. The kennel is a giant sized metal one, and it won't fit in my bedroom. My bedrooms upstairs anyway, so the stair fear is still a problem. So he's not able to sleep near anyone for a while. I just put an old T-shirt of mine in his kennel, it has my smell on it, and should be nice for him to have. If people aren't around, he'll just lay down anywhere and nap. He has no preference over being in or outside of his kennel. If people aren't around, he'll just lay down and not move around much either way. He goes into it by himself sometimes if he's tired, and doesn't mind much. He's a fairly messy dog, though :) He eats, but he opens his mouth to pant without swallowing all the food, dropping bits all over the floor. He does the same thing with water. The pills are no problem for him, though. You just give it to him in your hand and he'll eat it right away. Anyways, we had to vacuum the kitchen floor, and he just came right up and sniffed the vacuum. He wasn't scared of it at all, he was just somewhat interested. When he doesn't want to do something though, he'll just lay down. He saw a bird today while I was walking him into the backyard. He tried to get it, but he didn't bark or growl, and he was still reasonably controllable. Health wise, his nose is dry and hot, but not as hot, so thats better. His sense of smell might be a little off too. He's had diarreah both times, and still has the hookworms, but should be better after a while. Eventually, he'll put on weight and be not so skinny. They said we should wait a month before we get him neutered. So his behavior may change a bit after that. All things considered, he's doing very well!

Well, he had an accident this morning. He peed in the library, and then pooped in the hallway, and he didn't give us enough time to get him outside to do it. So we've started crate training him, and he's peed outside once so far. We picked up medicine to give him for three days to kill the hookworms. I wonder how long he's had them, since he was very skinny when he came into the shelter too. Its hard to see in this picture, but you can kind of get an idea of how skinny he is. His skin feels like its shrink-wrapped over his ribs and spine when you pet him. He's 71 lbs currently. Its also hard to see how long he is from the picture. He's got the body shape of a wolf, with long legs. [img]http://luminousdata.dyndns.org/hosted/duke4.jpg[/img] By the way, that's the wiggly-giggly toy I was talking about. Well wiggly-gigglies must be for little dogs without strong jaws because he broke part of it after about 4 minutes. He doesn't like milkbones much, but loves the freeze-dried liver treats. The only problem is that my fingers get the smell on them, and a few times he bites them before he realizes they aren't a second treat :o

He still hasn't gone to the bathroom at all. We've taken him outside many times, and he also hasn't had any accidents. He's been drinking a lot of water. I think it may be because of the diseases he picked up at the shelter. We know he's got hookworm and an upper respiratory infection. His nose is dry and hot, and the vet said he had a fever. I think he may be dehydrated because of it. I hope he'll get well soon.

Our current biggest problem is having him go outside to go to the bathroom(go to the grass?). We took him outside about 10 times so far, the last time at 11PM, and he still hasn't gone at all. He'll sniff around, and has found some OTHER dogs poop. Its currently 1:30AM here(I'm staying up for a while), and its been at least 10 hours since we got him. I think this may be the problem the shelter workers had. They said he's sort-of housebroken. He'll whine and want to go outside when he needs to go, but he doesn't think he needs to at all until about 2 minutes before he absolutely needs to right NOW, so he has accidents.

We got Duke! We did the interview last night, and heres here with us now. They need to get many dogs adopted ASAP, since they are having problems with kennel cough, and there is no room left in the lower kennel where they would normally quarantine them in. Duke now has kennel cough, and has a fever of 104. Everyone commented on how long and thin he was. I measured him, and he's 6-7 ft from nose to tail. We got toys for him, then picked him up, then took him home, then took him to the vet. He does very well with strangers. He DID well with other dogs at the shelter, but at the vet, he wanted to go up to them, and barked at them. That's the ONLY time he's barked so far. We got him a package of Booda Velvet Bimples corn starch bones, a large Kong toy and Kong stuffing, a stuffed animal with ropes for arms, and a wiggly-giggly toy. He likes to eat the corn starch bones, and likes to lick stuffing out of the Kong, but otherwise, he doesn't want to play with them much. He didn't quite know what to do with a milkbone, but eventually he tried chewing it up and making a mess until he realized it was a food item :roll: He also likes the liver treats. There is one problem, and that is that he is scared of the indoor, open, carpeted steps at our house. There steps are just horizonal, and have no vertical backings, so you can see through them when you walk up them. He doesn't mind the outdoor steps onto the deck/entryway, but these are scary to him. Its hard to get him near the steps even. Does anyone have any ideas about this? He also was scared of getting into the car(he doesn't mind the ride, though), and getting on the floor scales at the vet. He had to be lifted both times. Also, we just got a call from the vet, and found out why he's so underweight. He's got hookworm, and they'll give us another medication tomorrow. He's a great dog, and he's very smart. I'll post some pictures in a bit.

Honestly, the only dogs I've ever had try to bite me were under 30lbs. There was a toy-poodle owned by a friends grandparents that was REALLY agressive to strangers. It would try to bite you if you got too close to it, and if you didn't, it would try to run after you and bite you. I don't know if they had raised it badly or not. My uncle used to have a rottweiler which was very playful and nice with visitors, and loved to chase a flashlight beam around the room. In general, the bigger dogs tend to be more calm and seem to have a much better understanding of whether someone is a threat or not. I've never been sure why this is. Interestingly, the issue is very much like gun control laws, expect that: a) A just because they CAN doesn't mean a dog is designed to attack people. It would be more like a law banning pipes because they could be used as gun barrels. Granted, this is a BIG difference. b) Hopefully, the gun owner would never become emotionally attached to his gun, meaning that the laws would be easier on the owners. A gun owner isn't going to become extremely sad and depressed because someone took his gun away. Unfortunately, the law doesn't care about this kind of thing.

Wow. Our goldens were 10lbs overweight when we took them to the vet. We had to give them special diets for a while.

I'd only recently heard about BSL laws. I've been thinking about them a lot lately. You may or may not agree with this, but here are some points I've come up with for a realistic approach: --A good share of the population thinks that "dangerous" breeds should be banned. A breed being "dangerous" means that there is a good chance that it will attack someone. News reports say that people get attacked by them fairly often. So, why let people have "dangerous" breed? Banning them would be a relatively straightforward and inexpensive method to prevent people from getting attacked by "dangerous" beeds. Sounds good! So the population will typically want a "dangerous" breed ban. Trying to prevent the bans directly will likely have little effect. Representatives don't want to be known as the person who let people keep their "dangerous killing machines". --The real flaw lies in what is a "dangerous" breed. The fact is, that pitbulls, rotties, and GSDs are NOT these "dangerous" breeds that people have been told about per-se. From the above point, with only the knowledge of this generic "dangerous" breed, BSL laws seem good, even to many dog owners. When the media profiles specific breeds as a "dangerous" breed, the laws also carry over. The problem is meerly the breeds reputation. You can't just make people think otherwise. In their opinions, these breeds must be bad "because the TV said it". Countering the large media corporations views would be very hard to do. Especially once people have doubts. --WHY do these breeds have this reputation to begin with? If it is because of bad owners and/or breeders, restrictions on the breeders or owners getting the dog to begin with might be in order. This could be a simple interview. I know its not ideal, but it might be the best idea, creating a balance between the people who are pro-BSL and anti-BSL. Its better than having the pro-BSL win outright, and would also help change their opinions about the breed, provided it actually reduced the attacks to 0. There is a chance with any dog, no matter how unlikely, that they will attack someone. Unfortunately, opinion matters, and even the slightest statistic speaks. People don't really think much about the breeds in question, but only the problem they perceive. Its simply a stereotype. They know little about the pitbulls, rottweilers, and GSDs, except what they've heard in the paper, and no sensible reporter writes stories about the other dogs that DIDN'T attack. Where's the money in doing THAT? Accusations are front page, retractions are last. Its just a fact. The most you could hope for would be a 1:1 balance. What I suggest is fully focusing anti-BSL effort on lesser, alternative, laws to appease the public without banning any breeds, and teaching the public the truth about these breeds, rather than the assumed problem, following a multi-step strategy. Again, its not perfect, but its a step in the right direction, and would allow continued action, one step at a time, without the pitfalls of a more direct approach.

Its meant as a joke, BTW. Anyways, here are the others: The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize Winners BIOLOGY Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, Phil Bowers, and D. Charles Deeming of the United Kingdom, for their report "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain." [REFERENCE: "Courtship Behaviour of Ostriches (Struthio camelus) Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain," Norma E. Bubier, Charles G.M. Paxton, P. Bowers, D.C. Deeming, British Poultry Science, vol. 39, no. 4, September 1998, pp. 477-481.] PHYSICS Arnd Leike of the University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay. [REFERENCE: "Demonstration of the Exponential Decay Law Using Beer Froth," Arnd Leike, European Journal of Physics, vol. 23, January 2002, pp. 21-26.] INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, for performing a comprehensive survey of human belly button lint -- who gets it, when, what color, and how much. CHEMISTRY Theodore Gray of Wolfram Research, in Champaign, Illinois, for gathering many elements of the periodic table, and assembling them into the form of a four-legged periodic table table. MATHEMATICS K.P. Sreekumar and the late G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, India, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants." [REFERENCE: "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants (Elephas maximus indicus)," K.P. Sreekumar and G. Nirmalan, Veterinary Research Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 5-17.] LITERATURE Vicki L. Silvers of the University of Nevada-Reno and David S. Kreiner of Central Missouri State University, for their colorful report "The Effects of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension." [ PUBLISHED IN: Reading Research and Instruction, vol. 36, no. 3, 1997, pp. 217-23.] PEACE Keita Sato, President of Takara Co., Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, President of Japan Acoustic Lab, and Dr. Norio Kogure, Executive Director, Kogure Veterinary Hospital, for promoting peace and harmony between the species by inventing Bow-Lingual, a computer-based automatic dog-to-human language translation device. HYGIENE Eduardo Segura, of Lavakan de Aste, in Tarragona, Spain, for inventing a washing machine for cats and dogs. ECONOMICS The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie [Belgium], Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International [Pakistan], Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom [Russia], Global Crossing, HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications [UK], McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications, Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management, WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. [NOTE: all companies are U.S.-based unless otherwise noted.] MEDICINE Chris McManus of University College London, for his excruciatingly balanced report, "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture." [PUBLISHED IN: Nature, vol. 259, February 5, 1976, p. 426.] The 2001 Ig Nobel Prize Winners MEDICINE Peter Barss of McGill University, for his impactful medical report "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts." [PUBLISHED IN: The Journal of Trauma, vol. 21, no. 11, 1984, pp. 990-1.] PHYSICS David Schmidt of the University of Massachusetts for his partial solution to the question of why shower curtains billow inwards. BIOLOGY Buck Weimer of Pueblo, Colorado for inventing Under-Ease, airtight underwear with a replaceable charcoal filter that removes bad-smelling gases before they escape. ECONOMICS Joel Slemrod, of the University of Michigan Business School, and Wojciech Kopczuk, of University of British Columbia, for their conclusion that people find a way to postpone their deaths if that that would qualify them for a lower rate on the inheritance tax. [REFERENCE:"Dying to Save Taxes: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns on the Death Elasticity," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. W8158, March 2001.] LITERATURE John Richards of Boston, England, founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society, for his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive. PSYCHOLOGY Lawrence W. Sherman of Miami University, Ohio, for his influential research report "An Ecological Study of Glee in Small Groups of Preschool Children." [PUBLISHED IN: Child Development, vol. 46, no. 1, March 1975, pp. 53-61.] ASTROPHYSICS Dr. Jack and Rexella Van Impe of Jack Van Impe Ministries, Rochester Hills, Michigan, for their discovery that black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell. [REFERENCE: The March 31, 2001 television and Internet broadcast of the "Jack Van Impe Presents" program. (at about the 12 minute mark).] PEACE Viliumas Malinauskus of Grutas, Lithuania, for creating the amusement park known as "Stalin World" TECHNOLOGY Awarded jointly to John Keogh of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, for patenting the wheel in the year 2001, and to the Australian Patent Office for granting him Innovation Patent #2001100012. PUBLIC HEALTH Chittaranjan Andrade and B.S. Srihari of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, for their probing medical discovery that nose picking is a common activity among adolescents. [REFERENCE: "A Preliminary Survey of Rhinotillexomania in an Adolescent Sample," Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, vol. 62, no. 6, June 2001, pp. 426-31.]

Thats why it got the IgNobel prize, Horsefeathers. Because it will never sell.

You can go to [url]http://babelfish.altavista.com/[/url] to translate it.

Frankly, I think that flexi leads can be good, even with big dogs, PROVIDED that they are used CAREFULLY. The owner needs to be AWARE of what is happening. They should use the lock button frequently, and not let the dog RUN while on it. They should not let the lead out all the way so if the dog starts to run, it won't pull it out of their hand. They should, of course, be only used with dogs that are leash trained with good recall. The design of the leads could be better too. They could have a spring controlled ratchet break which slowly engages on the last few feet, so if the dog ran, the lead wouldn't suddenly become taught and get pulled out of your hand. They could have a centrifugally engaged lock like a seatbelt has, so if the lead was retracted too fast, like if it was let go of, it would lock before it recoiled and slammed into something. Proper use and the addition of these features would make flexi leads as safe as regular leads, and would have prevented those things from happening. They should, of course, also warn people who buy them. As for the owner who was letting their dog wrap itself up while that talked to someone, I hope for their sake, that they never try woodworking, or they might have to change their name to 3 finger bob.

Wait, so now I'm confused. Does state farm insure pitbulls or not? The articles said they did, but the first post said they didn't?

I was reading the IgNobel prize(basically for wierd/unusual inventions) awards and found this. Its a machine that cleans dogs and cats. Basically a robotic shower. The idea is that it would make it easier for professionaly groomers, vets, etc.. to bathe dogs that don't want to be bathed. It has robotic cleaning sprayers that wash, shampoo, and rinse the dog. It also has a blower for drying. It can be programmed for different types of dogs too. It automatically filters out shed fur, so it can't plug up the drain or anything. There's a glass door so the dog can still see the groomer so they don't get scared. Despite what you might think, its probably not anymore scary than a regular bath either. From the dogs perspective, either way they get strange things spraying water at them. The jets on the machine probably feel good too(like the massage setting on an expensive shower head). The dog in the picture seems to be enjoying it. It actually reminds me of a hand washer they had where my dad used to work. It had two holes in the front with perforated drums inside. You would just stick your hands in and the machine would start. The drums rotate and have water jets around them which soaped your hands down then rinsed them off. It would also periodically clean itself out. It felt better on your hands, was easier, cleaned better, was more sanitary, was quicker, and of course was neater than a regular sink. Although, either machine is huge, heavy, and expensive. I doubt they would sell very well. Actually, I think someone also made a people washing machine once that worked like the dog-washer. You step in it, and it sprays you off, soaps you down, rinses you, then dries you :) I might be thinking of something else, though. Anyways, heres the page: You'll need to translate the page with [url=http://babelfish.altavista.com/]Babelfish[/url] since its in Spanish. Page: [url]http://www.perroperdido.cl/aykan.html[/url]

I'm somewhat doubtful that we'll be able to get Duke. We'll probably go back to the shelter and ask if he's been adopted by the other person and look at other dogs there. Its kind of hard to rescue a dog from this shelter. They get far more adoption requests than dogs! They almost never have to euthanize any dogs(unless they have serious problems). Why don't they move dogs from crowded shelters to this one?

Carolk9s, We own the house.

The time he's in the kennel won't change much. Right now, he'll be in the kennel for the 6 hours I'm at school. I'll be going to community college for a while, so I'll still be at home. My mom will be working part time and doing some work at home, so wherever I go next it won't get any longer. I might also be able to take him with me. I have no idea yet where I'll be going, so that depends.

Thanks for the help. We've applied for adoption of a GSD(see other thread).

We went back to the shelter a few times and have applied to for adoption of dog named Duke. He's a very handsome and friendly GSD who is very well bred. He "got too big and his previous owner didn't have the time to care for him". He's an 8-month old puppy who weighs 66.6 pounds. He's exactly the breed standard excepts he's very long and skinny. He weighs only 66.6 so far, but he's about 7-8ft long! A 6ft tall kennel worker went into his cage to feed him. Duke stood up on his legs, put his arms on the guys shoulders, looked DOWN at him, danced around and licked his face. He'll get to be at least 80lbs once he puts on some weight. I walked him outside, and he is somewhat leash trained. He was distracted every few feet by smells in the grass which he tried to track. He would probably be a good police dog since he has a very good nose. There is one person who applied before us, so we may not get him, but they said often the first and maybe second person decides they don't want the dog.

You know, I wonder how hard it would be to just build a dog-proofed mobile robot that you could use to watch after him online. You might even be able to give him treats and play with him over the internet! You'd have to make the frame out of thick Lexan or something to stand up to chewing. The parts would have to be shock proof so they can be knocked around a bit without damage. They'd probably be scared of it, though.

I tried some of those breed searches. I think probably either a GSD or Akita. A Newfie would be nice, but they drool a bit too much, and we don't know of many places where they could play in the water since they love that. We're going to the animal shelter tomorrow to look. They had two Akitas, and if they are still there and seem like good dog to get, we might apply to adopt them. The same applies to any GSDs that are there. The turnover rate there is so high, though, that you basically have to decide on a particular dog and apply for adoption within a day after you went to look.