Dogs

[Docwaukee]

9 hours ago, christy said:

It is so good that you have started this dog thread. We are planning to buy a black lab. Suggestions are welcome.

we got a fox red english lab from a breeder in modesto.  I prefer the english labs because they have more of a mellow temperament and I think the blockier style head with the shorter nose is cool.  

http://elkenslabradors.com/

here she is

[Tank]

that's a good looking pup, doc.

we used to have a chesapeake bay retriever. he was the color of a hersey bar with a white star on his chest. absolutely gorgeous, but we had a terribly difficult time with him in the house. he loved to chew everything in sight and we had a horrible experience trying to paper-train him.

[Brandon]

16 hours ago, Don said:

Totally understood. I just view it as paying to have someone show me the best way to train my dog on my own. We have quite a bit of stuff down already, but I could use some guidance on some problem areas. I definitely don't expect any trainer to "fix him". It's more a matter of just learning new strategies that might work better than what I'm currently doing.

I may have also been overstating some of the problems. For instance, he's great in crowds of people (i.e. He just sits and lets people pet him, and is very peaceful). It's mainly that at home situation where we have a guest over, or my gf shows up, and he gets super excited about having new people around. If it were just him and I all the time, he'd be great besides wanting to walk way faster than me when on the leash.

you got the right mindset and will do well.

most people watch the dog whisperer show and think someone is going to come in and magically cure all the deficiencies of the dog.

we learned a bit and used or altered what we did with the dog, but weren't the most consistent and also both handled things a bit differently which probably confused him or screwed him up.....she was the disciplinarian and i was the softy.

[Brandon]

12 hours ago, Tank said:

Thinking very seriously of looking into some kind of rescue dog. While our family has enjoyed having cats, I've really missed having a dog. I fully support rescue animals, especially since they're in need of a loving home, they cost far, far less than from a breeder, and we discovered we're not very good at housebreaking a puppy.

i totally support this. the vet thinks ours was 5-7 months when we got him, but you could probably go older as they are easier to work with.

there's a little bit of a surprise factor as you don't know what they have been through and might come home with some issues, but for the most part they just want a good home and become the most loyal dogs.

good luck if you go down this route.

[red321]

We have two rescues, both picked up as puppies. The first one we've had since she was two months old...under voice control (for the most part...all bets are off if there is a squirrel). She is a little skittish around people so we make sure she is on a leash. I think some of that is our fault in that we weren't good about socializing her. She is a huntress...can spend hours trying to figure out how to capture squirrels and I've found her on the other side of a 7 foot fence in our neighbor's yard when she went after a possum one night. She figure out if she leaped up high enough the fence would bend back under her weight and then she could launch herself into the tree.

Our second dog is a rescue as well, was rescued by my sister in law and then they relocated and we ended up with it. Goofy friggen dog...and unfortunately he's not under voice control. We probably should have spent more time training him. He's very protective of dog #1 and my wife as well. If I walk him, no real issues...but if my wife is walking him he gets very aggressive towards other dogs.

The funniest part is watching them play together. Dog #2 is a boxer mix, so he loves playing fetch...Dog #1 will sneak up and steal the ball and take off with it, and sometimes will go and drop it off in a thicket of bushes.

And they are both racist as hell...any white dog...especially husky breeds...they absolutely hate.

[Homebrewer]

beagles will be beagles 

 

[Brandon]

i wish i had put more time in as well because when i did it paid off and worked. he knew i was the alpha and for some reason my voice put the fear of god into him when i raised it (but i hate raising my voice, so probably didn't do it enough). i got him to stop freaking out when he would hear things outside like people walking or what not.

his main issues were when people would come over, he was immediately defensive and would aggressively bark and on some occasions actually bite peoples legs. could never figure out how to deal with this one. he was also unpredictable in public settings. sometimes he just chills and is of no issue, sometimes someone would walk by our table and he would randomly snap at them....sounds like the same issue you have, red.

he always had an issue with kids, but that's because we used to have a neighbor with an autistic kid that would sneak into the house to "play" with our dog and he was scared shitless when she would come around. i think she was just really overbearing with him and would even hurt him not knowing how rough she was with him. but any time he saw a kid that same height he panics and freaks out......kind of a shitty situation that i always would have to explain to parents so they did't think the dog was out to get their kid or why i was up front with them about their kidding wanting to pet him.

[red321]

I get annoyed at people who rush up to your dog and shove their face into your dog's face and then are taken aback when the dog shies away or worse snaps at them.

"Oh, your dog isn't friendly"

"No, my dog is friendly enough...just doesn't like assholes who don't know their place"

"What?"

"How'd you like it if I shoved my face up in your grill?"

Anytime a kid comes up to us, if they don't ask we tell them to stay away. If they ask, we say ok...if the dog doesn't get skittish we show them the correct way to approach a dog... slowly, with your hand out...let the dog come to you.

 

 

[Blarg]

39 minutes ago, calscuf said:

I was in a non-chain, one star motel in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Oh, Colorado. Then that makes it OK. 

 

#calscufthedoglover

[Brandon]

23 minutes ago, red321 said:

I get annoyed at people who rush up to your dog and shove their face into your dog's face and then are taken aback when the dog shies away or worse snaps at them.

"Oh, your dog isn't friendly"

"No, my dog is friendly enough...just doesn't like assholes who don't know their place"

"What?"

"How'd you like it if I shoved my face up in your grill?"

Anytime a kid comes up to us, if they don't ask we tell them to stay away. If they ask, we say ok...if the dog doesn't get skittish we show them the correct way to approach a dog... slowly, with your hand out...let the dog come to you.

 

 

totally.

i've only had a close call with physical confrontation once.....we have a community dog park. for the most part people are courteous, if little dogs are in there, don't bring in the big dogs and vice versa. i was in there by myself and the little guy when some tool box comes in with his two big ass huskies that shit the size of my dog. right away one husky starts fucking with my dog which my dog doesn't like. i pick up my dude to leave and the husky is jumping trying to snap the dog out of my hands and i'm not shy about telling people to check their dog. the douche kind of smirks like i'm out of line and that's when i lost it. it looked like his husky was trying to play, even though it was rough, but it was more how my dog was reacting. if my dog snaps in defense that husky would kill him if he wanted. weird ramble about confrontation.

but yeah, my dog minds his own business and now that he's a lot older, he just wants to walk around and piss on everything in the dog park. he's not really into playing so when people run up like it's their dog or just gets in his face it bugs me and even more so when the dog reacts like a dog does and they freak out. i'm like you, i have no problem telling them the same shit you did and almost admonish them in the process for going up to a random dog like it's theirs. i feel bad for the kids because they don't know better and it's the first thing i look at winging to a dog park is how many kids and how they are acting with all the dogs. i just go home if they are running around touching them all or just not being aware. i have to stop kids too....which always leads to some kind of tension with parents who now feel like they are being bad parents for not controlling their kid or like i'm baseball dad trying to over parent them.

this day and age, i'm just worried about a lawsuit regardless of who's at fault. i'd rather just avoid it and take extra precautions. 

[Homebrewer]

My Bailey. Lost him a year ago to old age. He was an adopted Golden/Cocker. Loved the boat, Catalina, and talked with Dolphins. I'd say 'Bailey...Dolphins! and he'd run up to the bow and watch them intently, until they got bored and went off. 

The worst thing about dogs is that they just don't live long enough...the heartbreak is severe when that happens, and I can't quite bring myself to get another one....yet.

[Adam]

My dogs are dicks. Never got accustomed to the new house (moved in in 2013). Piss and shit everywhere. 

[Homebrewer]

8 minutes ago, Adam said:

My dogs are dicks. Never got accustomed to the new house (moved in in 2013). Piss and shit everywhere. 

It's true that dogs tend to take on the personality and habits of their owners.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

I lost one of my boxers a couple years ago, and now my other one is getting up there in age. She's developed incontinence within the past few months, so she started wetting her bed at night and dripping in the house. She's on medication now, and it took a few weeks to start working, but at least now our house doesn't smell like pee anymore. I even had to put her in diapers for about a month, oh that was a joy.  Wish I had a picture, it was hilarious. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 4/10/2017 at 7:19 PM, Don said:

I'm a fan of the aussies really. They are notoriously tough puppies to deal with, but I've met several that were super smart and very well-behaved. They just need something to do at pretty much all times. Bored aussies become bad aussies.

My first dog was an aussie. Love those dogs, very smart and loyal.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 4/10/2017 at 4:42 PM, Don said:

Is there an official dogs thread yet? I feel like there was, but maybe it was on an older version of the board. I'm hoping this can be a thread for random dog related posts, tips, info, etc...

I've currently got a 1 year old Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix. Awesome dog in many respects. Super intelligent, very friendly. I have three issues though... First, he's a terrible puller when walking on a leash. Second, he jumps on people, though usually only in the house (not in public). Third, he has a tendency to bite. Not in a hard or aggressive way, just kind of grabbing on to someone's hand to try to "herd" them (more accurately to guide them to the toys he'd like to play with). Any tips on how to deal with those things would be appreciated.

I have a dog that is the same breed mix. Biggest problems with her are intractable barking (often for no apparent reason), chasing cats (we have three of them, two of which won't even come in the house anymore because of the dog), and jumping on furniture. She also has a tendency to wait until there are no people in the living room, grab random objects off the coffee table and take them into the back yard and chew them up. Everything from sunglasses to paper napkins.

[Blarg]

On 4/11/2017 at 5:19 PM, calscuf said:

My dog is kinda gay.

We've seen the picture. 

[Don]

3 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

I have a dog that is the same breed mix. Biggest problems with her are intractable barking (often for no apparent reason), chasing cats (we have three of them, two of which won't even come in the house anymore because of the dog), and jumping on furniture. She also has a tendency to wait until there are no people in the living room, grab random objects off the coffee table and take them into the back yard and chew them up. Everything from sunglasses to paper napkins.

That's odd. Given the fact that it's the same breed, I really don't have any of those issues with mine. He almost never barked when I got him about a year ago. He does sometimes now, but always for very specific reasons (i.e. needs to go outside, is excited to go on a walk, or wants to play while I'm looking at my phone outside). Even then though, it's usually just one, "Hey man" bark, then back to normal.

The cat thing is more interesting. We have an older cat here, and the cat and dog coexist well enough. Most of the time they hardly acknowledge each others' existence. The cat gets defensive and bats at my dog whenever he wanders into the cat's space, but my dog's aggression is limited to occasionally trying to sniff the cat's butt out of curiosity. He actually appears quite offended sometimes when the cat rebuffs him. (Sidenote: There is a neighbor kitten roughly the same age as my dog that hangs out with the dog often. They get along great, and have for nearly a year. Makes me wonder if my dog just expects all cats to be that friendly to him.)

As for the furniture, I'm terrible about that. In the rare moments my dog is exhausted enough/comfortable to just chill with me on the couch, I let him do it. He sleeps in my room at night, but always on a blanket next to the bed. He just seems to like it that way, and it's fine by me. That said, we get quite a bit of precipitation here. So we developed a routine pretty early of stopping and cleaning his paws with a towel whenever he comes back inside. He hated it at first, but now it's just part of the expected routine for him.

[notherhalo]

I saw this set of pictures once and felt compelled enough to stop what I was doing and pet my dogs for 5 minutes

 

[notherhalo]

On 4/11/2017 at 1:54 PM, Homebrewer said:

My Bailey. Lost him a year ago to old age. He was an adopted Golden/Cocker. Loved the boat, Catalina, and talked with Dolphins. I'd say 'Bailey...Dolphins! and he'd run up to the bow and watch them intently, until they got bored and went off. 

The worst thing about dogs is that they just don't live long enough...the heartbreak is severe when that happens, and I can't quite bring myself to get another one....yet.

Of the dozen or so breeds I've had so far, cocker spaniels have the sweetest personality and are my personal favorite despite being a large dogs guy.  

I suggest you get a new dog ASAP however. You will feel better, the dog you "rescue" will feel better, and if your last dog was a English dog talking ghost, it would tell you to get a new one. 

[Homebrewer]

On 4/20/2017 at 10:05 PM, notherhalo said:

Of the dozen or so breeds I've had so far, cocker spaniels have the sweetest personality and are my personal favorite

He was a sweet boy. Whenever there were hugs going on he would jump up and get in there, because he felt that he should be included. 

[Jason]

On 4/20/2017 at 9:59 PM, notherhalo said:

I saw this set of pictures once and felt compelled enough to stop what I was doing and pet my dogs for 5 minutes

 

[Blarg]

That was a little too Facebook for me.

[mrwicked]

Gonna get a bulldog puppy one of these days.  

But not yet ready for the responsibility - love our current freedom / being selfish too much. But some day...

[red321]

be careful with bulldogs, they have a lot of health issues. I "rescued" an Olde English Bulldog...he was cool as hell, and would actually exercise and go on walks. But at 8 years old he slowed down quickly after developing hip/joint issues. My parents picked up an English Bulldog, they loved mine so much...had to put him to sleep at 6...poor dog was constantly sick, allergic to everything, skin irritation and had a stroke which led to him eventually being put to rest.

Really do your research first if you aren't familiar with the breed.