Canis erectus

Good for you jeff, I'm glad you were able to find somethimg that works out for Dexter. Most aggresive dogs aren't that lucky.

Heh heh, Debbie, that's the soundest bit of advise this woman, or many other people I've known for that matter, could listen to. As far as de-barking goes, I'm quite certain that Beagles are the number one de-barked dog in the country, Shelties probably come in second. Hey, Zoey bays too! She's normally a quite dog and she's never made a peep for probably the first 6-9 months we've had her, I think that after awhile my husky, China taught her to find her voice. Anyway, it's the most god-awful sound you've ever heard, kind of like a fire engine who's siren had a blow-out...

I would like to include that Pit Bulls and other similar dogs do not as a whole have aggression towards humans inherant in their breeding. These types of dogs who have been bred for dog fighting at some point in their past (and present) would have been bred to have the upmost respect for humans so as their handlers could fish them out of the pit during the middle of a fight without fear of being attacked. I think it may be possible that alot of these urban 'crime life' Pit Bulls are actually crossbreeds called Rock Dogs. Don't know a whole lot about them but they are a Pit Bull/Rottweiller crossbreed that first appeared in the Detroit area something like 20 years ago to protect the inner city drug houses. I've only seen a couple pictures of them but I could see how they could easily be mistaken for a large Pit Bull, and given the drive of the Pit and the protective nature of the Rottie in the wrong hands they would be quite dangerous dogs. I don't know if these dogs are really around much any more, but I kind of have a half theory that many of these vicious Pit Bulls could actually be Rock Dogs or the descendants thereof.

:lol: I have met that person many times before, well not that particular one probably, but very similar people. I also work at a vet and have met enough kooks to fill a lengthy chapter in Divine's book.

In a way I'm actually glad to see this thread because this is an issue I've been seeing for several years now. Labs are honestly one of my least favorite breeds of dogs, and their popularity is the major reason why. There are several reasons for seeing more aggresive Labs, one being due to careless breeding as stated before. Also, Labs as a breed easily outnumber any other breed of dog. When looking at that statistically, it increases the probablity of Labs finding their way into the homes of irresponsible/ignorant breeders and owners who won't do anything to prevent aggression problems. Simply put, the more Labs there are, the more aggression problems you'll hear about. Labrador Retreivers are a breed that's in the process of being 'Americanized', even though it's been long in the process. How many of the rest of you have heard the term 'English Labs' in the last couple years? Unfortunatley, Americans have a history of screwing up dog breeds for no apparant reason, just look at Irish Stteres for a prime example. Other examples being the Cocker Spaniel, German Shepherd, Border Collie, Pit Bull, and the Chihauha just to name a few others. The 'American' Lab is alot bigger, long-legged, hyperactive, and yes more aggresive than it's 'English' counterpart (which is what a Labrador Retreiver IS, not just some variety). The origional purpose of the breed is being bred right out of them, I'd like to see someone pull a 90 pound Lab out of the water and into their boat whil duck hunting, or see that same 90 pound dog with the figure of a Great Dane go trudging through deep mud. Many of these diluted Labs will even come with AKC registration, and for all I know they're also winning points in shows just because some judge thinks that they should. Left unchecked the Americans could take Labrador Retreivers down the road that Field Spaniels once took. Yeah, well I just wanted to give my two cents, but I guess I kinda went off. It's a pet peeve I suppose, oh well.

I was going to suggest visual problems too, and cushing and cancer are definate concerns. You might want to add potential back (spinal) problems on your list of things to ask about, something like a pinched disk. At any rate good luck to you, hope you find out whats going on with the little guy.

Heh... heh... heh...

OK, I went and took the pictures to the one-hour today. They're really not very good and I only three shots left on the roll to try to get a decent picture. It's kinda funny, last night I could've sworn there was at least three times as much paint, doesn't really look so bad now I've seen it again. Oh well, now for the disclaimer *For anybody who hasn't read any of the above posts- THIS IS PAINT- not blood. There was no injury to any people or animals involved here, unless you count the loss of life of one tube of vermillion red. It will be missed dearly by us all* Caught red-... errr, handed [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/JTI_77/Convicted01.jpg[/img] The guilty pleading her case [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/JTI_77/Convicted02.jpg[/img]

LOL :lol: It sounds like they've spoiled you!

Heh, my very first thought when I saw her was that she'd killed Zoey (even though I was sitting there petting Zoey at the time), this was about as close to hysterical as I've ever come :oops: . After I'd scrubbed the carpet with turpentine, I turned my attention to China. By this time however, the situation had finally become funny in my eyes. So before cleaning her up, I called someone over to help take some mug shots because my fiance will never believe that her sweet, well-behaved puppy could have done such a horrible thing. And I've decided against capital punishment, instead China has been condemned to live the rest of her life with us. Which really is punishment, I'm certain that she thinks we're idiots.

Suing people for harrasment really isn't the proper thing to do... The whole encounter is blatantly frivolous and mean spirited that I don't think it even merits a single other thought, courtnek. I've delt with similar people before and I doubt they'll even report you. And if they do..? Well then Animal Control can come out and visit your dogs and see what a nice home you have, big whoop. That's if they even respond to the call, 'cause if these people are the sort to actually report you then I'd be willing to bet that both the Police and A.C are already quite familiar with them and quite tired of their baseless/ frivolous accusations. It seems pretty obvious that these aren't dog people, otherwise they'd realize that most everyone who owns dogs will 'sick' them on eachother all the time. Hell "Get Her" is the only game China knows how to play.

OK, so go out to the store for awhile, the dogs are home alone seeing as how my fiance is out of town with the baby. Well I get home and am getting my keys out to unlock the door when I take notice that there is no barking. I can see Zoey through the window hopping around like a maniac, but there's no sign of China anywhere- this isn't really terribley unusal so I didn't think too much about it and went inside. I spent a few minutes talking to Zoey when I look into the kitchen and see China laying there, covered in- BLOOD! It's all over her head and muzzle, it's down the front of her and on her legs. Now panick is beginning to set in as I'm thinking about what- or who- she killed, and when I go over to her to see if she's alright...well it was paint. PAINT! Well, I went over the rest of the house like it was a crime scene, apparently someone had managed to open a closet door (I'm suspecting Zoey), and once the door was ajar everything in the was fair game. The only missing items were a shoe, that I later found intact on the bedroom floor, and of course a tube of red paint, which I also found on the bedrrom floor laying in a smear of it's own pigment. Now I'm afraid that China might now be deemed a 'vicious' animal, I haven't seen any evidence that the tube of paint would have provoked her in any way, and it certainly didn't stand a chance once she decided to attack. Oh well, I guess I'm glad that she isn't hurt (though I might send her to Hollywood to begin a career as a makeup artist). I do beleive I'll be spending the next couple of days getting the 'crime scene' out of the carpet before my fiance gets back home...

Hey Horsefeathers, I wouldn't mind owning a poodle at all if it weren't for all that coat care. I think they're one of the most under-rated dogs out there, though I'm speaking stictly about standards as the smaller sizes tend to have too many genetic problems created by over breeding (I also prefer to not have to stoop down to pet my dogs :D ).

Aw, the poor guy is unsure of his new surroundings. It sounds to me like he's not used to being a part of a family. Nothing a little TLC can't fix :D

Well I for one have to admire and respect the old fella. It's not often in our modern times that a wild gator is able to live long enough to reach that size. I'd give my left arm (no pun intended) to see that ol' boy first hand.

Hmmm... Is it just me, or does it sound like they are trying to sell an experiment that they don't know the results of yet? It seemed like this is going to be their first "batch" of Shoodles, or Shepoodles, or Poopherds, or whatever they're calling them- And that they don't really even have any idea of what the puppies will be like, but here they are touting what great dogs they'll be. In my opinion German Shepards are one of the last breeds of dogs anyone should be intentionally mixing. Don't get me wrong, I've met many Shephard mixes (or supposed mixes) that are great dogs, but it seems like the majority of them tend to inherit the headstrong and neurotic aspects of the German Shepherd.

I would recomend taking Missy to see her vet just to be on the safe side, after all vomiting is only the symptom of the actual problem. Something like vomiting can be an indication of a whole mess of different things, some of them minor like an upset stomache, and some of them life-threatening like ingesting poisons. If you're going to feed her don't use hamburger, it's too fatty/rich and will likely upset her stomache further. Use a little bit of boiled chicken breast instead, and perhaps instead of rice you could mix it with boiled pasta (some doctors say that it's a bit more digestible than rice). As far as the pepto goes, I've heard of it used before, but I'd consult with your vet first. Again, I wouldn't hesitate to call your vet, especially sice Missy vomited twice promptly after eating.

I don't know about training your dogs as a pack, but I think I undestand what cournek was getting at. All canines (wild and domestic) are social animals, which is different from being a 'packing' animal. A solitary animal not normally tolerate another of it's kind in it's presence and will generally react with immediate aggresion. Dogs, being social animals, have a series of visual, audio, and scent cues to communicate their intentions (this applies to all animals but much more so with social species). Even if they are not packing, all canines share a very general guideline of communication and interaction with thier own species. And I may be mistaken, but I'm certain that many canine species live in a generally solitary nature, but ALL of them can and will pack together for an occaision of mutual benefit (I know first-hand that dogs will, I've been hunted by a pack od feral dogs once). Even though dogs ought not to be treated like wolves, they still retain many of the social mannerisms, as do all canines. It's not something that came from wolves per say, it's in their genetic hard-coding from some common ancestor that all modern canines had at some point. Cassie, you may not realize it but you do play an alpha role in your dogs' life. You provide food and you teach and instruct them. You dictate what your dogs will generally do in a given day and set guidelines whether you are contiously (sp?) doing it or not. This is the same as a canine pack leader will do, and while the alpha canine does not make his 'lower' pack members sit per say, he/she will make them go somewhere else until the the alpha has decided that the other members can come to eat. Mind, I'm not supporting any sort of hard-handed or aggresive training here. I'm just saying that whether or not dogs had evolved from wolves or from some other species by thier own accord, all canines have a basically similar social structure that we should all keep in mind. BTW on a related note, a read a book some time ago titled "Rare Dog Breeds of the World" that gave a well researched account in one chapter of the history and life of the Israeli Canaan Dogs. I'd have to look up who the author was, but it was interesting to note the relationship between man and dog that was described there.

I put my girls out on a stake line for an hour or so a day if it's nice out. The runners really are the best and safest thing to use if you have a place to install them at. I don't really have a place to put one either so I use a stake that has about an 18 inch corkscrew to put in the ground which I feel is more secure than a straight stake. I would be very cautious about the potential for injury with an active dog on a stake line. China does just fine on a line, but I won't put Zoey out on the line without supervision. If I'm not attached to her by a leash she 'forgets' that she's still attached to something and will try to run full tilt at something which opens the door for serious injury. It sounds like Maya pretty much does just fine on a line, I just thought I'd warn you against possible injury.

I'm going to have to get this book. I've always wondered if dogs' "domesticating themselves" was actually the case, similar to the theories of how cats were domesticated. I figured that wild canids would be competition and greatly feared and loathed by early man, and so couldn't really see the logic of going out of their way to bring these animals into their lives. I've also wondered if the real ancestors of some dogs are "extinct" species that have simply evolved themselves into dogs and lost all of thier origional traits over time. I find it hard to swallow that all dogs and dogs breeds are the decendants of the European Wolf.

Vicious dog! Put it down!!! -Just kidding- But on a serious note you're likley right about the car-jacker suing. God forbid that in these days someone should jump into your car or sneak into your house at 3 a.m. through a window and get mauled. Also that does sound strange about the dog losing teeth (possibly the car-jacker retaliating?), and a three year old dog with puppy teeth. It seems that once again there is probably a misconstruction of facts.

This has been happening, I believe for the past couple years now. I remember them having more than one lawsuit from different oranizations leveled at one point in time.

Holy cr*p on a craw!!! Those folks are twisted, talk about a new meaning to tough love. Man, those poor kids probably spent their every waking hour at home scared to death of that dog...

Holy cow! I would do what you can to find Rome and get him to his vet to be checked out even though you didn't see any blood. Eli looks like a big powerful dog who can likley do plenty of damage without breaking the skin. And be sure scrub out those scratches REALLy good (Of course I'm sure you already know that).

I think it's interesting to note that up until last year I used to live in a rural area where alot of dogs were let outside unsupervised off-leash. Whenever we took the dogs for a walk I almost always carried pepper spray or a stick. Anytime I wanted to take a new walking route I had to do a stake-out in order to familiarize myself with whatever dogs lived on a given street. It was always a given that anytime you took your dogs out you just might get rushed by another dog (or pack of dogs). I live in the 'burbs now and no one, not even myself anymore, takes such precautions. Most every dog is kept under control and the animal control dept. responds promptly and appropriatley to complaints. So what if the typical suburban resident (at least where I'm at) get attacked by another dog? They wouldn't likely be prepared, they weren't expecting it. Whereas the rural resident would be far more likely to be prepared if that happened. I dunno, I think it's interesting to note the different mindsets.