Comments on: Dogs

By: Maia Angelbeck

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By: Idella Rought

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By: Cook

Cook — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:29:11 +0000

I, too, employ a pit-bull who could be the most sensitive animal I’ve ever owned. Soon, a brand new dog breed will occur along for that media to blast, because they have done rotties and dobies in previous years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds a lot inaccurate info.

By: Casaubons Book Blog Archive Dogs | Gear 4 Elderly

Casaubons Book Blog Archive Dogs | Gear 4 Elderly — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:38:27 +0000

[...] A nice web master put an intriguing blog post on Casaubons Book Blog Archive DogsHere’s a quick excerptJeremy Roenick expected to retire – Hockey news 8/4/2009 Sam McCaig’s blog: THN.com Blog: Three reason the Flyers will win the Cup. (2009-04-30 07:55:39) One more reason the “loser point” needs to go. The last three “Silly Seasons” in particular have seen. 1, Sam McCaig is The Hockey News’ senior copy editor and a regular contributor to THN.com. quieted a raucous Canes crowd with a pair of goals, three minutes Sam McCaig is The Hockey News’ senior copy editor and a regular contributor to THN.com. to yet another reason why THN is a eastern. Schedule THN.com Blog: Something not right about Phoenix taking its. including 9-2-0 with Brendan Shanahan (three goals, five points) in the lineup. Ansar Khan’s blog; Snapshots blog; Red Wings forum; Sports Home. THN senior editor Sam McCaig talked about the issue in his column yesterday. The Hockey News’s Ryan Kennedy posted a slate of “free agency. [...] [...]

By: Dan Roberts

Dan Roberts — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:16:54 +0000

I really liked your blog it will open many folks eyes on this subject. Very well written and will be looking forward to reading more in the future.

By: Diane Wiest

Diane Wiest — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:08:18 +0000

So sorry to hear about Rufus. I remember you posting on a homesteading group when he did his rescue. I think you do need another farmcollie, to honor him, not to ‘replace’ him.

Diane W

By: BoysMom

BoysMom — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:39:07 +0000

I’ll second what Green Brigade said about looking for a service dog specificly for Eli, and if that doesn’t work out, what Arthur said about the washed-out Guide Dogs, who would probably be fairly easy to retrain for Eli. I’m sure if you talked with them a bit, they’d be able to help you find a suitable companion who was raised by a farm family.
I raised a Guide Dog, through 4-H and Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., (out of San Rafael, CA) and Arco worked for 4 years as a guide (after 2 years of training) before his person passed away, and he was retired at six and we also adopted another dog, Hogan, who was washed-out at two (we never found out why, but there were two possibilities as we saw it: Hogan was such a people pleaser he might’ve walked into a street in front of traffic if commanded to, and he did have a love afair with engine fumes). He was kicked out of the program after he’d been placed with a person and two weeks before they would’ve graduated, so it was a huge surprise.
The Guide Dogs are extremely smart, have been line bred since 1942 and don’t act much like labs anymore (90% are labs now–well, in the 90s when I raised Arco, Goldens are too friendly and their strain of German Shepards has gotten to be too big), and neither of ours ever would so much as play fetch. They are trained to be water averse: we had to teach them to swim (my parents have a creek in their backyard, it was a safety issue). They stayed within 3 feet of a person for years, even with constant encouragement from us to be more liberated, it’s related to how they are trained as pups. Arco could open gates and doors with lever handles, and we never discovered a limit on how many objects he could remember the names of. He also had a sense of humor, albeit a rather low one. Arco was rabbit safe: I always had my young stock play with him. We retrained Hogan for AKC obedience competition, he did very well at that.
I could go on for pages about them (and did, I had to edit severely). Arco lived to nine and Hogan to eleven. One downside is that they were not good at being dogs: they considered themselves people and couldn’t/didn’t play like dogs. They didn’t play with my parents’ other dogs whose tenure overlaped theirs. They did play together.
I’ll speak against mixed breeds: my parents had severe health problems with one of their dogs who was a mix between a medium and large breed. Dickens was on daily pain medication from puppyhood because his joints were so mismatched. It helped, but he was always in pain, always short tempered. A lousy thing to happen to a dog who loved to hunt and run. The things he loved most hurt him the most. Mixes are the result of irresponsible owners.

By: Salamander

Salamander — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:21:05 +0000

Sorry to hear about Rufus.

I have a mutt — I think he is a beagle/Vizsla/pointer mix, probably other things in there as well, and he is the best dog in the world. He loves everyone in our family, is smart, easy to train, and seems to realize what we want him to do before we even teach him. Downside is that with all that hunting dog in him, he has a high prey drive so I don’t know I’d totally trust him around chickens, and he needs a lot of exercise what with the pointer or viszla genes. He doesn’t bark except to let me know if someone comes into the yard, and he is devoted to the kids.

My friend has a lab/Bernese Mountain Dog mix and he is probably the smartest dog I have ever seen. Sweet-tempered, smart, and mellow. Bernese Mountain Dogs are supposed to be very smart and good farm dogs. Their downside is they have very short lifespans, like many of the giant breeds.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:43:50 +0000

Very sorry to hear about Rufus, Sharon. We have two terriers – a Fox terrier X and a Jack Russell – both adult adoptions, and although we love them dearly, I would say you should probably steer clear of terriers in Eli’s case especially, as when younger, they were both extremely excitable and prone to madness They are both terrific little hunters of small creatures – their snake-kill ratio is 100% (we live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, on a fairly large block and near a wetland reserve, and we get tiger snakes and copperheads, which don’t last more than 5 minutes when Basil the foxy X sees them), they have kept the rodents well away from our compost (partly by eating them!) and no rabbits dare venture near my baby lettuces and carrots

In terms of other stuff, they are surprisingly useful guard dogs – will bark only at strangers approaching the home (not at people they know) and sound very fearsome, and if a stranger enters the yard unaccompanied by a family member, they’ll both harry and nip. They are brilliant and very protective with our kids now, although it did take some time and careful socialisation. But they don’t have the patience or self-control to be good with people who behave in unexpected ways, and they are not especially reliable in their general behaviour. I would never use them as working dogs of any kind.

By: Consumer

Consumer — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:16:15 +0000

So sorry to hear about your loss.

My experience is that mutts make the best dogs. I have a mutt that I got from the rescue, and she is the sweetest dog ever. She has some lab, and probably a bunch of other stuff in her.

Lots of my friends have dogs, and I always seem to like the mutts the best.