Seijun

[url]http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3787062/detail.html[/url] Have you ever noticed that if the dog is NOT a Pit Bull, the dog's breed is not mentioned first off but is stated later in the article or not at all, but if the dog WAS a Pit Bull, that fact is brought to light at the very beginning of the article or even in the article heading? ~Seij

Once when I was walking Shilo some guy came up to me and asked if my dog was spayed. I said yes and kept going. Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid, but the only reason I can think of why a guy would want to know if my dog was spayed or not would be if he wanted to breed his dog to her, or wanted to know if I was breedeing her myself. She's not even purebred. ~Seij

I have noticed a scary trend. First it started with toy poodle mixes, then it went down to just about every small breed mix you could think of. Now I am beggining to see more and more large breed designer dogs, such as rottidoodles, shepradoodles, and huskydoodles. Are the big dogs next on the list of dogs to be used for designer purposes? I guess the toy breed mixes have fallen out of style. ~Seij

I'd take a smart but stubborn dog any day! :D ~Seij

[quote name='courtnek']where in Illinois Seij? That's my home stomping ground...and yes, wolf dogs are illegal here, although the vet suspected one of mine might have had some wolf in him, but looked the other way and treated him anyway. [/quote] Near the Chicago area (Grand Ridge I think was the name of the town). I came from out-of-state to pick her up though, I do not live in IL. I contacted a few breeders I know of to see if they might have known her origins, was told she looked as though she might have come from a place called Youngwolf Kennels but I think the chances are slim, seeing that there are NUMEROUS other breeders out there capable of producing black-phase wolfdogs. My vet also "suspected" (more like "was pretty sure") about the wolf thing, but he is the vet for the Wild Candid Survival and Research Center wich is is pretty handy, since he would be used to working with their Mexican wolves, Red wolves, and other candids. ~Seij

Right now my dog's breeding is "unknown", but it [i]could[/i] be known, I just don't want to looking for it right now while my dog is alive. I adopted her from IL, was told nothing except she came from a Vet's office and was unsocialized. They were careful not to reveal what she might be or where she came from. I highly suspect they know more about her than what they are telling me. I suspect she is part wolf, which would explain why the shelter wouldn't want me to know where she came from (wolf/dog mixes are illegal in IL). When she dies of old age, I will go looking for here REAL past. I could try to do that now, but I don't want to run into her original owners. I have heard horror stories about people who have run into their dog's previous owners and the previous owner wanted the new owner to give the dog back... ~Seij

[quote]oh, oh and they "THINK" pit bulls were bred for fighting! they can't even say for SURE what they know. who could take anything seriously from this person who OBVIOUSLY doesn't know what they're talking about... [/quote] That happens to me all the time in discussions like that. Someone will say such and such a breed is aggressive by nature, and I will launch into some big explanation on how they are wrong and no breed is inherently aggressive, yada yada, etc, and at the very end, the person posts back saying "oh, well, I still THINK they're aggressive." Like I said folks, there is no point in arguing with people like that. You'll just drive yourself insane. :agrue: :x :drinking: ~Seij

[quote]Yeah its really bad when you have non-dog people talking about pits because they have no idea what theyre talking about and go purely on media.[/quote] Grr.. Don't you just hate people like that!? Once on a news forum, a friend of mine who has worked with wolf/dog mixes for a long time posted on an article the newspaper had printed. The article was about this guy who rescues "wolves" (they are dogs and wolfdogs but he lies and says they are wolves). The guy in the article was talking about how "aggressive" wolves are, how "his 3 month old wolf puppy has already bitten and scratched him" and about how if a dog is 1% wolf that automatically makes it a wolf.. He even claimed to have adopted a wolf from this one rescue center called CKRR that actually DOESN"T adopt out its wolves (to add to that, he said that the wolf he adopted from the CKRR had been “running around killing stuff” when the CKRR had orinally rescued it, which was totally untrue).. Anyway, the reporter of course believed everything the guy said, wrote this big article on it, filled 99.9% with junk from the person he interviewed... My friend wrote this HUGE post explaining about the guy in it had lied, and about what a rat he is (BTW, to demonstrate to you all what a rat the guy really is, he is now breeding his "wolves" and selling the pups for money, although he calls it "adopting," as a way of collecting money to help fund the care of his "wolves", which he keeps in run down little kennels and in tiny fenced in areas with no exercise). ANYWAY, the people at the news forum posted back insulting my friend, telling her wolves/wolfdogs were all horrible, dangerous, unpredictable, etc. She and I tried to explain to them why all this stuff wasn't true and was just media gibberish, but they refused to listed, hey insulted, ranted, teased, and all in all didn't pay a shred of attention to anything intelligent we said. I doubt any of them even had ANY dog as a pet. We left. You just can't talk to people that close-minded. I assumed they were all adults, but they were acting SO immature, it was unbelievable that adults in this world could be that immature! ~Seij

[quote]let him roll in fresh cut weeds, yes, weeds[/quote] You say that as if that's a bad thing...? My dog prefers rotten mice/other dead animals, animal dung, burnt trash, moldy hay, floresent spray paint and latex paint, oil spills, gasoline (and any other toxic chemical you can think of) and pond mud. Very rarely will she ever roll in something that doesn't small like a dead horse or a garbage pit. ~Seij p.s- I try my best to keep her away from the toxic chemicals and paint. She tries her best to smear the junk all over her body. I will never LET her do it though if possible.

Anything specific? As a rule though, you should never leave any dog (large or small) alone with a baby unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that the dog will not hurt the baby in any way. ~Seij

My dog seems to have no preference for either dog or non dog-type people. She DOES know however what she can get away with for/with certain people. She tries to pull those little stunts on me though as if she thinks I might let her break the rules just that once. ~Seij

He's lucky it wasn't my dog. Shilo would have taken the entire bag before he even had a chance to open it, and perhaps a couple of the guys fingers with it. (she likes food... a lot) ~Seij

[quote name='Canis erectus']Ha! Most of the old folks in the senior community next door to me hate my 'big' dogs when they see them "lunging and salivating and trying to get their dogs" when we're out for a walk. It seldom crosses their minds that my girls just want to play :P .[/quote] Ha! My dog does that too! When she sees people or other dogs in front of us, she begins to lunge, drool furiously, and pull so hard on the leash that she wheezes loudly and her feet slip and scrape on the ground. It is really a terrifying sight, but she [b]usually[/b] doesn't mean any harm by it. (Her behavior has jokingly been described as “that of a rabid beast”) ~Seij

Guys, be easy on him/her. If they didn't want advice and didn't want to do research, why in the world would thay have posted here in the first place?? If they don't want to ACCEPT the advice, that's a different matter, but some credit is to be given for coming forward in the first place. ~Seij

Is it common for mixed breed dogs with no pit in them to be accused of being pits or part pit? ~Seij

PETA would actually be a great group if they focussed their efforts on issues that mattered (you know, like REAL animal abuse, such as destroying ranforests and causing the extinction of hundreds of undiscovered species). ~Seij

In a recent article (which I've gone an lost) One PETA freak commented saying he thought the 9/11 attacks were GOOD because now all those people won't be around to eat cows and chickens. (FYI, he also thought the holocaust was good for that very same reason). ~Seij

I don't particularly care to read over the last two pages and all the other threads devoted to R&P, but I get the feeling he lied a bit TOO much. Yes, anyone can lie on the net and it happens all the time. But there is a limit to how much you can lie before it become totaly unacceptabel. I can understand if you lie about your weight, or hair color, or something else like that that really doesn't matter, but I gather that this R&P guy has lied to the point where nothing he says can be trusted. THIS is unacceptable. Just because other people lie on the net doesn't mean we should forgive them for it. I have met people like R&P before, nothing they say can ever be trusted-is that the sort of person you want to "forgive" and put trust in? ~Seij

[quote]The thing is Seijun, I mostly agree with you....but like some others I see the 'my dog can do....but children cannot' thing going on. Why would you punch a child but not a dog? A 13 year old who does not know better is no different than a 3 year old dog who bites because he was not taught better. [/quote] Don't get me wrong here, I don't go around punching people or kids.. It was just in the shoulder area.. The thing is, she SHOULD know better. This girl grew up with animals-dogs, puppies, mice, birds, etc. She has been taught since childhood to be gentle with animals, and to not hit them even if they misbehave. It wasn't as if I HADN'T told her not to hit my dog, she was going to try hitting it for the THIRD time in only 30 minutes! Each time I had stopped her and chewed her out for trying to hit the dog. I would repeat to her several times quite clearly that she was NOT allowed to hit my dog, especially since the dog wasn't being "bad", she was just playing. She has ears; she could understand what I was saying. Why would I not punch a dog for misbehaving? Well, for one thing, my dog wasn't misbehaving, she was just playing. Also, dogs do not have the same ability of conscience and reasoning like people do-they aren't going to think "hmm, it’s bad to bite people, maybe I should stop doing that because my owner doesn't like it". They don't have the ability to learn not to do something just because they are told not to numerous times. With dogs, it takes a lot of patience to correct bad behavior. I would HOPE though that a 13 year old would have the ability to learn not to do something when they have been told their entire life not to do it. A 13 year old SHOULD know not to hit a dog after being told 20 or so times in one day not to hit a dog!! (Remember, she grew up with dogs, she should know that it is unacceptable to take your anger out on them!). One more thing, my dog is NOT the sort of dog who would respond well to being hit. She is not a dog one can afford to make mistakes with. She grew up highly unsocialized. It took many people an entire year of intense socialization to get her used to even being outdoors. When I got her she was still even afraid of wind blowing in the trees. Those of you who have worked with unsocialized dogs KNOW how careful you have to be in their training and handling. I had no idea how she might react to being hit with a newspaper, for all I know, she could have decided to become extremely fearful or even aggressive towards my sister. It can take weeks or even months for me to correct mistakes like that. I was fed up with my sister's behavior and I struck out at her because I had reached my breaking point and because I was protecting my dog, I didn't punch her because I was THINKING of punishing her. She raised the rolled up newspaper, I saw my dog's ears go back, and I struck out. ~Seij

This won't help you much, but I do have a question.. Isn't there a new "debarking" procedure out that does not involve surgery? I heard there was someting new involving lazers or something, don't remember what exactly... ~Seij

No, I would not have punched the dog for poor behavior, but this time I was really fed up with my sis's behavior, She isn't a dog and I had told her NUMEROUS times to not try hitting my dog. This girls 13, she should have known better after being scolded so many times. Like I said, punching her might not have been the right thing to do :oops: , but she had a newspaper in her hand and she was getting ready to him my dog in the [i]face[/i] with it (not but 10 minutes after I had yelled at her for trying to hit my dog with her fists when my dog got too playful and pulled on her hair a bit). I don't loose my temper easily, but there are only so many times I will alow for someone to try hitting my dog. It's more the "pre-teen" sort of age group that I have the most problems with-you know, the kind who should be old enough to know better.

[quote name='Cairn6'] [quote]Sometimes I hate kids with a passion, they just can't be trusted with animals, it is sickening that so many nowadays think they can just hit a dog or try to hurt it when it disobeys. [/quote] What the heck?[/quote] What.. ? Sorry, I guess I got myself worked up.. But yeah, as a general rule, I don't like kids. I am not disputing that some kids are wonderful with animals, but others.... :evil: Didn't any of you read the news story last month where a 9 and 11 yr old (I think those were the ages, both were under 13) put a PUPPY on a BARBEQUE GRILL and CLOSED the lid!?? The puppy died, these children did that for FUN. No doubt, their parents are partly to blame, but what the heck is wrong with a kid who tortures a dog to DEATH!? Also, I have had one to many kids try teasing my dog. My 13 year old sister was raised with animals, taught how to hendle them, but when she looses her temper, she tries to take it out on the dog! One time she tried to hit my dog 3 times in one day, on the third time, it was with a newspaper, I got so mad I punched her. I know, punching her might not have been the right thing to do, but I was fed up with her trying to hit my dog. Some kids just don't know, but others will CONTINUE to mistreat a dog even when told not to. The kid who wanted to hit the JRT with a stick-I had to push him away from the stick because he wouldn't listen to me when I told him NOT to hit the dog! Grrr... Sorry, I am very protective of my pets, and kids these days don't know how to handle animals. I can't help but hate them sometimes. ~Seij

[quote]Sorry I think that the idea that shotting a dog in the head is "Humane" is a bunch of bull. If it's so humane why don't vets shoot the dogs instead of giving them injections.[/quote] Because, when someone mentions "shooting a dog" people invision these horrible scenes of the dog writhing on the ground being shot to death. "Shooting a dog" has been labled in this country as socialy unacceptable. [quote]And how do WE even know it dosn't hurt?[/quote] I remember two stories, one where a man was stabbed in the head with a knife, another where the guy had a 3" long nail driven into his forehead. It happened very quick, neither man reported feeling pain until several seconds, or even minutes after the objet entered their head. A bullet to the head would kill instantly, the dog most likely would feel no pain, or at the most, just a quick stinging sensasion, lasing only a split second. Needles hurt to you know... [quote]I would beg to differ here,I have read a lot about the dogs that are eaten in some other countries and articles have stated that the other dogs "know" when one is killed and all start to panic.[/quote] Those were older dogs though, these were just very young puppies. Like a human baby, they most likely would not realize what was happening, especially if they were not exposed to the other dead puppies in order to realize that the other puppies were dead. I think it is important though that as a general rule, shooting a dog should be considered abuse by law if no one was there to make sure that the animals died on the first hit. For all we know, this guy might have had to shoot each dog several times to kill it, or he might have thrown them in the grave while still barely alive. We just don't know. I think it is important that shooting a dog NOT be accepted as an ok way to dispose of any animal you don't want because there is no way EVERYONE would be a good shot, and it would allow for people to just shoot their dog whenever they felt like it, and however they felt like it. ~Seij

Not entirely sure that the following post will bode well with you all, but I will post it anyway.. On the subject of the puppies having that "next in line" feeling... I don't know how old these puppies were, but let's face it, would an extremely young puppy [i]really[/i] be able to comprehend what was going on when its sibling is shot? The dog is not exposed to its dead sibling, therefore it could not know that the dog was dead, nor would the dog understand what the gun was actually doing or that it was "next in line". This is under the assumption that these puppies were very tiny. Now, an older puppy might be able to comprehend something like this, or it could be that very young puppies [b]do[/b] posses a 6th sense allowing them to understand what is going on.. BUT, all that I have seen in animals, and even in humans, has shown that most very young creatures do not understand death OR would not realize another animal was dead just because they heard a *pop* noise and the next second the other animal was lying on its side "sleeping". In the old west babies were sometimes taken during wagon train raids. The babies would have their entire family shot around them. Although these babies were upset by the noise and confusion, they did not understand the meaning of "death" and they grew up with no memory of what had happened. Once again, let me stress that I am not trying to completely justify this man’s actions. He could be extremely poor guy, living in a trailer, and who was feeding a stray dog that he might have considered “his” and who became pregnant. Or he could be some rich snob who was too lazy to get his dog fixed and was too lazy to take the pups to a vet for euthanasia. ~Seij

I don't consider shock collars cruel, and they can be wonderful trainers if used on the right dogs, in the right manner, and on a power level that doesn't cause the dog excessive pain, but this is just insane! NO kid should be left alone in control of a shock collar!! :x Shock collars should only be used by people who know WHEN, WHERE, and HOW to use them, they are tools that will work when used correctly, but NO young kid would be capable of knowing how to PROPERLY use a shock collar. They should put the collar on him to see how HE likes being shocked over and over again for no reason! Just the other day there was a boy [b]I[/b] wanted to strangle. I was out with Shilo and we were watching this little kid riding a bike way down the road. His JRT runs towards us barking angrily but keeps at a good distance because he is alone and is afraid of Shilo. The kid is trying to call the dog but it won't come. So he runs towards us, followed by this GIANT Kavas/Great Pyrenees thing and a little poodle mix. The closer he comes towards us, the closer the JRT comes, until the kid, poodle mix, and GP thing are only about a yard away and the JRT only a foot away. Shilo can't believe her luck. She's on the end of her leash, flattened to the ground, frozen, staring at the JRT unblinkingly, and drooling and licking her lips. I just know that if the JRT gets any closer, Shilo could catch it and kill it, so I am yelling at the kid to go back. The only reason the JRT is so close is because it feels safer with the kid near by. If he would just leave, the JRT and the other dogs would follow him back. This kid is so dumb, it’s like he doesn't hear a word I am saying! He keeps trying to grab the JRT which just jumps away and growls and snaps at the kid, so finally the kid goes to grab a stick and HIT the dog! (Oh how I wish that JRT would have bit him), but I stopped him from grabbing the stick and FINALY he gets it through his thick head that if he goes back, the dogs will follow him back (like I had been telling him would happen the WHOLE TIME!! AUURGGG!!! :evil: ). So he finally leaves, followed by the dogs, and Shilo, realizing her chance to “catch” the dogs is escaping, flips out at the end of her leash, snarling and bristling. Thankfully, no one was hurt. I was SOOO worried that Shilo would kill one of the dogs, or even worse, try grabbing the kid (she thinks kids under 12 are squeaky toys). Sometimes I hate kids with a passion, they just can't be trusted with animals, it is sickening that so many nowadays think they can just hit a dog or try to hurt it when it disobeys. ~Seij