I found out why I love dogs...

[Guest Anonymous]

Ever since I can REMEMBER, I've LOVED dogs... I wrote a story about it when I turned 15 called "Fifteen Years of Dogdom" but have missplaced it, and I'm sure it needs a lot of fixing up...
But I know for a fact, this love of dogs started very early, but I never knew how early and why...
My mom came to the conclusion of why...

When I was a baby, I don't even remember her, my mom had a Newfie. My dad swears up and down she was the dumbest dog he's ever met :roll: My mom told me yesterday about how when I was just a baby, she would tie Belle (the newf) up to the sleigh, and take me for sleigh rides around the yard in the winter, and in the summer she was going to get my dad to build Belle a cart to do the same thing :D Unfortantly, Belle always wanted to be in the sleigh too, and they'd be going along and then she'd just turn around and hop in the sleigh with me! :lol: :roll: (I thought Newf's were used for Carting too? ... :lol: ) I guess she wanted to go for a ride too! :)
I thought that was kind of neat, that mom did that with me when I was little, and I have no doubt that's why I love dogs :wink:

Was wondering if any of you all remember or know of how you got into dogs?

[courtnek]

we begged my mom and dad for years to get us a dog. finally, my dad broke down and brought Taurus - purebred Golden, and he was probably the best dog I ever had. After having him, I couldnt live without them.

[MajiesMom]

I just wrote a post about this. I started getting totally obsessed with dogs when I was 10yrs old.
I think what sparked it was our neighbours Yellow Lab named Telly. She was an outdoor dog and she followed me everywhere and was very protective of me too. I remember going tobogganing in the winter and she always use to follow me and bark and growl at anyone that came near us. She always came and hungout with me when I went outside to play. I didn't have a dog at the time and I just loved her sooo much and wished she were mine!
I am a total dog nut, I have a Systems Analyst Diploma but I work with dogs at a boarding kennel. LOL
Every second of the day at work reminds me of why I love dogs so much!
My dog Magic reminds me everyday why I love dogs so much, I think she is what made me want to work with dogs. She gave me A LOT of experience too, you know I have yet to find a more crazy dog than Magic at work.

[kendalyn]

I got my first dog in 3rd grade. I hated 3rd grade. I had always done well in school (and always did after 3rd grade) but I really did not like my teacher and I refused to do my school work. This meant that I was required to stay in every recess and copy from the dictionary and I had to bring home EVERY book every night and sit with my parents and do my homework with them. It was very hard for me. For some reason my parents took pity on me. I had been wanting a dog for a while and one day I came home from school and there was Molly sitting with them on the porch. I couldn't believe it. She was about 6 months old and was a yellow lab/border collie mix. She was a purebred mix as a result of an unintentional breeding by someone who bred both breeds. Bad, I know, but she was a great dog. My parents got her from a coworker who didn't have the time to devote to a puppy. She was the answer to all my prayers. She really helped me make it through that school year. After that, I was hooked and have been ever since!

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

Ooooo, I've always wanted to share my story! :D (Great story + topic, Shara!!!)

When I was 4 I lived in the USA, and I remember I was watching TV when a agility match came on. The first dog that came on was a Siberian Husky, and I fell in love. Ever since that day I have loved dogs. Then when I was older my aunt got me a dog book by Dr. Bruce Fogle (great guy!) and I remember countless days sitting on my bed reading all about dogs, and soon I memorized the book and about 100 dog breeds! When I started really getting hooked was when I was probably 10, after that I was really hooked there was no looking back! :lol:

What about breeds? How did you get hooked on your breed?

I never really knew why I liked Goldens so much, ever since I liked dogs I liked Goldens. Maybe it was their smile, their beauty, their intelligence, their hearts of gold. I just recently found out WHY I really like the Golden! I was looking through some old family albums and came across a picture of me and my mom in a park in the USA and right next to us was a big ol' Golden with a huge smile on his face! I asked my mom about it and she said we were in the park and that we saw a Golden and his owner there and I wanted to pet it and we became friends and took pictures together! So I guess that's how I came to love Goldens (after finiding out what breed the Golden was).

Nice topic! :wink:

[StarFox]

I always had a "healthy" fear of dogs...ok it wasn't healthy at all. I was deathly afraid of dogs...in fact I was afraid of all animals!! But then when I was about 12 my grandfather found a stray puppy one day on our property (they lived in the back house we lived in the front house). He was a GSD mix and coul have only been 2 or 3 months old at the most. He was a very smart pup and I begged and begged my parents to let me keep him. I wanted him soo badly..I named him Rex (yea real original :roll: ) and we kept him for 2 days untill my parents decided that we could NOT keep him because they worked all day and I went to school all day. I was devistated that we couldn't keep him. We gave him to my aunts white trash father (sorry but he is) and the last I heard of him was that he had gotten HUGE and his new name was Ceaser. He was the first dog that I wasn't afraid of and even as a pup he was very smart. He would sit when I told him and would follow me everywere. It makes me so sad every time I think about him.

Well that was when I was 12.....fast forward to age 19 and that's when I finally had enough money and time to get a dog and I got Zebra even though my dad didn't want me too. ANd now I can't get dogs out of my system and love them to bits! :P

[imported_nea]

I've allways loved dogs, and other animals. It runs in the family, it must, because EVERYONE in my family and extened family love animals. So I've allways been exposed to love of animals, their animals, and stories aobut past animals they've had.

I don't know how old I was but maybe 1-2 years or so, we were in Scottland and I saw a stuffed animal that I wanted. It was the first thing I ever had wanted. Its a small black scottish terrier and I still have it. Its name is DogDog :lol: .

The first dog I clearly remember knowing is Polly. She was my aunts Lab mix and I know there won't ever ever be a dog that comes near her level of greatness. Even Web won't. She was the quintessential dog.

Then I've allways had dogs that my relatives have had around me. Bear, a samoyed, Laddie and Jamie, German Shepherd/Collie mixes, and more, but those three (and Polly) were extra special to me.

The fisrt thing I can remember asking my mom was if we could get a dog. I've always wanted one. And now that dreams come true! I feel like something that was missing isn't anymore because I have my Webby boy.


Here are some pictures of the dogs that have made me love dogs so much:

Jamie and the kitten Monkey


POLLY. The greatest dog ever.


Bear.

[mouseatthebusstop]

I was afraid of dogs. The ones who sat by their owners drive way and ran out barking if you walked past. I would walk out of my way to avoid those houses
My grandmother had a dog an overgrown poodle called Shandy I liked him
my friend had a BC called Lassie but they did not bark at me. We always had cats
When I was 14 mum took in a year old springer off one of my cousins she had small children could not cope with Kerry as well. Thats when I started to change

[imported_Kat]

As a kid I was always reaching out to stray dogs or dogs out walking with their owners. I went to a nursery school where there was a big GSD called Sheba who belonged to the caretaker and used to run up and hug her when I was three. I learnt to walk holding onto my Nanny and Papa's Lab x (also called Sheba lol).

I walked all the neighbourhood dogs starting when I was about 8 asking if I could take them for a walk. The first one I ever walked was a Rough Collie called Yoyo who was a brilliant dog :D . After that when I was about 11 we got our first family dog "Zoe" the Golden retriever who is still mad, then I started to handle Meg when I was 15/16 and it has been Meg that increased my real passion for dogs and taken me to the dizzying heights of Crufts :wink:

[abker17]

Great topic! :D

I don't really know why I started liking dogs so much, but from the time I was 4 years old until six my mom says that everyday I asked her if I could have a dog. When I was five all during kindergarden I had an imaginary dog friend named Spike. :lol: I do not remember anything about Spike, or even that I had an imaginary dog friend, but my mom showed me pictures of him that I drew.
And just now looking at my baby book it even says that I wanted a dalmation. :D
When I was 6 we got my first dog, a small JRT/Toy poodle mix named Midnight. She was shaped like a toy poodle except with a smooth black JRT coat and a little wip tail. Unfortunatly Midnight came from a home in the country, and wasn't meant to live in the city. She got out one day and after a full run of the city headed back home. She was crossing the street to our house when a car came. :( My dad saw her get hit. That was really hard for all of us. :(
But a year later we decided to try again with another dog, and that dog was Cracker. Cracker really was considered my dog and she was my responsibility. I walked her and fed her, did everything with her and still do. :D Lord knows I love Cracker with all my heart and soul but we really didn't have that like "connection" I guess u could call it. Abby came to me in 5th grade, and she's been like my dream dog. I always had a love of BC's since I was little and saw them on animal planet. My mom never let me get one because (and probably rightly so) she didn't think we could handle the energy level of a pure one. But whatever Abs has in her it really mellows her out so she doesn't need that constant stimulation that some BC's need. :D I do everything with her, she's by my side nearly 24/7. I really have a strong bond with her and I don't think I'll ever have another dog like her. :D
As for my love of certain breeds, Dogo and the net introduced me to Tollers and Pitties, and from the time I was little I've liked BC's, probably first coming to like them after seeing them on Animal Planet doing agility. :D

[Guest Anonymous]

Great stories everyone!! :D Sounds like most people it was either born into you to love dogs :wink: or one special dog that changed your way of thinking :D

What about breeds? How did you get hooked on your breed?

I have two breeds I'm hooked on right now, the Border Collie and the American Staffordshire Terrier (odd, their so different :lol: ). Hazel was what made me hooked on the Border Collie. I just love thier enthusiasim, energy, and joy to work! :D I've found their very easy to train, and because of it, you can teach them just about ANYTHING!! :D The AmStaff, I have actually never even met one in real life, and this is just a recent thing, but I can feel it's for real. I've had quite a few breeds that I've got into, but only the Border Collie has ever really stuck, and I feel the same way when I hear about, read about, or talk about the AmStaff :D I plan on doing as much research as possible on them until I can get one (YEARS from now, but it's worth the wait!!) and then hopefully I will be able to own one... if it doesn't work out some how, then I will just have to settle with a Border Collie, which I have no arguing with :wink:

[kendalyn]

I am pretty much hooked on mutts, but someday I do hope to have a Standard Poodle again (much to my boyfriend's dismay!). Kody will be gone 2 years in April and I miss him soo much still. Standard Poodles are just such awesome dogs.

[Horsefeathers!]

kendalyn napisał(a):

Standard Poodles are just such awesome dogs.

*nods in agreement* :)


I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't a dog oriented person. Even as a kid, I never enjoyed the company of other kids or people in general, but always had a fondness for animals, especially dogs.

[courtnek]

I got addicted to dogs, when I realized, with Taurus, that they give all of themselves, to US....Taurus was a Golden, loved me completely, and gave all of himself to me...always..I never had a bad day when he wouldnt put his head in my lap, sigh, and hope things got better soon..

:D

[bk_blue]

Like a lot of people I was born into a life of dogs. We always had dogs, always. So I grew up with them, starting with our family dogs, Tessy the Cocker and Nobby the Basset. I'd always wanted to be a vet ever since I knew what one was, and my friend Devon and I were going to do a James Herriot and set up a practice in the English countryside. :roll: :lol: Then in year 11 we got Blitzkrieg and I got addicted to heelers and working dogs in general. BK also helped me develop a love of shelter dogs, mutts and exercise- the energy levels between a Basset, whose favourite activity is sleeping (with eating a close second), and a heeler X who favourite activity is tearing round the park for two hours are vastly different :lol:.

[imported_Kat]

Border Collies through and through for me :D You guessed that already though :wink: When I was younger I always loved to watch the obedience and agility on crufts. I was totally hooked to the tv and recorded the programmes to watch over and over and watch in amazement at those fantastic Border collies and how close they were in heel position. Thanks to Meg the most wonderful of dogs that I will ever own, she got me involved into the competitive scene and now people watch Meg in the ring and come up to me after saying wow. I do not think myself any higher at all of some handlers in the ring and when a kid asks to pet Meg after watching her compete in the ring, they are in awe... I always remember that I was once that child and how I admired those people. The tables turn now and everythime I get a compliment on Meg I remember that little girl watching Crufts on the tv :wink:

Two other breeds that I am very partial to are Alaskan Malamutes for their closeness and behaviour like wolves, and also Hungarian Vizslas. My next one however will be a Border Collie, then who knows a few years down the line what will be living with us :D

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

Isn't it cool how everyone has their own "breed"? Or love for a breed? :D I guess it depends on an indiviuals lifestyle or something!

[bk_blue]

I love working dogs (heelers, collies, kelpies, dobes, shepherds etc), it is so awesome to see dogs work rather than just just be a companion (not that there's anything at all wrong with that, but to see a dog using its brain and body like humans is incredible!). I also love Weimaraners for their colour, streamlined body and general appearance- how superficial am I :lol: I really love all dogs but some breeds just really appeal to me. I am also a big mutt fan, I have seen some amazing looking and behaving mutts (BK and Lizie to name two, not that I'm biased :oops: :lol: ).