Dogs

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Arne Saknussemm, Jul 19, 2014.

  1. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 21, 2014
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  3. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    My neighbor has a Tibetan mastiff. Unfortunately he (the neighbor) is rather incompetent so the dog is not entirely trustworthy. I leaned down to say Hi, with the owner's approval, and he tried to bite me on the face.

    We used to have an Anatolian Guardian, an ancient Turkish dog bred to protect livestock from the lions that roamed the region in past eras. Imagine a 120-lb greyhound with speed to match, but with the head (and teeth!) of a mastiff. We didn't have to worry about our little dogs being attacked by bears or cougars.

    Deer used to jump into our yard at night, sensing that Talih had the instincts of a livestock guardian. As far as she was concerned, they were her flock.

    In Wyoming, a juvenile Anatolian took down a wild boar that was attacking "his" goats. He was seriously injured, but he recovered in full health. The rancher saw the entire fight, but they were moving too fast for him to get a good shot at the boar, and he sure wasn't going to go out there and help!

    Unfortunately, Anatolians are strictly working dogs and don't have much of an instinct for foolishness. They'll protect your children, but they won't run and play with them.
     
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  5. Arne Saknussemm trying to figure it all out Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks for sharing, FR. I wish I could get a pharaoh hound. They still exist although they are rare. They're the canine you see depicted in ancient Egyptian art. How cool is that?

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  7. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    At 7-foot-4, Freddy the Great Dane is Britain’s tallest dog

    By Andy Soltis February 10, 2014

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    He’s Britain’s biggest dog, and at 154 pounds, this Great Dane is still growing.

    Freddy, 18 months old, is 7-foot-4 standing on his hind legs and dwarfs his 5-foot-4 owner, Claire Stoneman.

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    He easily tops Britain’s previous tallest dog, which stands a mere 6-foot-6 on its hind legs. And he should soon be bigger than Zeus, a Great Dane from Otsego, Mich., who was 7-foot-4 when he was recognized as the world’s tallest dog by the Guinness World Record folks in 2012.

    Freddy was the runt of the litter, but with a $100-a-week diet of regular dog food — and an occasional treat of peanut butter on toast — he enjoyed a huge growth spurt, Stoneman said.

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    He also destroyed 14 sofas in Stoneman’s home in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, before he got used to the small space.

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    How soon the ever-growing Freddy could capture the title of world’s biggest dog is unclear. He now measures 41 inches from foot to shoulder blade, compared with Zeus’ 44 inches.

    Stoneman said living with Freddy means making concessions, such as getting up extra early for walks. He can’t encounter any other dogs.

    “If he wants to run after a dog,” she said, “I wouldn’t be able to stop him.”

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  8. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    The Thai Ridgeback is beautiful and the Tibetan Mastiff is an awesome breedl. Personally I like the toy breeds

    Sandy and Pebbles
    View attachment 7230
     
  9. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    I very much like Border Collies and I was greatly impressed by the performance of this one, that appeared on Britain's Got Talent.

    [video=youtube_share;-0jNC_w1tSw]http://youtu.be/-0jNC_w1tSw[/video]
     
  10. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    I saw that on TV & loved it. They were bred for herding livestock.
     
  11. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Very cute! Also noticed the stack of books!
     
  12. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks they're both very sweet dogs. They will try and destroy a magazine but they don't show any interest in tearing into my books so I don't have to shoot them. Small dogs are much easier to care for than large ones unless someone really needs a working dog.
     
  13. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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  14. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    yeah but the little ones tend to bite more often cause people train them to. your pitbull puppy nips you, you train him not to. your chiuahua nips you, you awww cute.
     
  15. andy1033 Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    For me i would pick no breed other than jack russell.

    So all these new breeds do not interest me, jack russell are the only breed i would want, but each to there own.
     
  16. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    If I could I'd only go to my local animal shelter and get a mutt from there. Over 60,000 dogs are killed everyday in America so I'd rather help that problem out rather than buying a pure bred dog because either one will give you back what you give them.

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    I entered the building, and one of the workers accompanied me to the holding area. This is where dogs are kept before they are allowed up for adoption. IF they are allowed up for adoption. If the dogs are found to be aggressive in any way, euthanasia is employed. Fortunately, if "fortunately" is the word to be used here. In this establishment, and they use lethal injection, not a gas chamber.

    The shelter worker led me past a big steel door that says "Employees Only". "What is in there?" I asked. From the look he gave me, I knew that this is where dogs go in, and never return.
    We moved on to a row of kennels. The dogs were barking loudly, there was the acrid smell of urine and feces, and a feeling of despair seemed to permeate the room.

    "Go ahead," the worker said. "They're all yours."
    PetePitbull
    I looked into the first kennel, and saw only the back of a medium sized dog who was curled up in the corner of his kennel, shivering. He was mostly white, with some black spots.

    "Hello?" I said. "May I come in?" He lifted his head, as though it weighed more than he could bear. When he looked at me, I could see he was a Pitbull. His eyes were gentle, but filled with grief.
    "Enter," was all he said.

    I stepped in, closing the gate behind me. He put his head back down, facing away from me. I crouched down a few feet away.
    "My name is Pete. Petey my Master called me," he said, still not looking at me.
    "Why are you here Pete?" I asked.

    "I am here because Master cannot afford to move. I am here because someone with power said I am vicious, and a killer. Someone who never met me. Master took me for a walk one day, and some lady started to scream when she saw me. I got frightened, and barked at her. The dog police came, and they took me away. I have been with Master for 10 years. The last time I saw him, he just held me and cried. He kept telling me he was sorry. I worry for him. Whatever will he do without me?" Pete shivered even more.

    A tear slid down my face. I am supposed to remain objective, but this was wrong. So wrong.


    https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...MriWCGzmN9rUIfbzCNio4sDg&ust=1406207649212252
     
  17. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    Nah. That's a myth. Aggression in dogs isn't determined by size anymore than its determined by breed.

    My two dogs are very small and both are dog and people friendly because they are completely socialized. One never barks and the other is yappy neither one of them has ever bitten a human or another dog.
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2014
  18. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    There are pure bred dogs in shelters too. Master obviously lied to the dog because barking at someone doesn't constitute aggression and isn't grounds for a dogs removal. The dog would have had to attack someone.

    More and more people are turning to shelters for their dogs there just aren't enough owners to save all of these animals.
     
  19. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    i didn't say it was. but small dogs do bite more because as i said people are less inclined to train away that behavior in a small dog because they aren't going to cause the same level of damage.
     
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I have never seen a number that large and it seems a bit inflated. That comes out to more than 20 million per year. There are about 80 million dogs in the country, so around 40 million females. If an average litter is six, then every year almost 10% of the females are having puppies that can't find homes.

    I know that parts of the USA are still in the Stone Age, notably the South, with its guns, churches and racism--the three things I hate most about America. People there don't bother having their pets neutered and the shelters are overflowing.

    But there are plenty of places where people are responsible. The shelters here in Maryland are so uncrowded that adopting a dog is not much different from adopting a child: an agent comes to your home to make sure you have enough space and the right attitude! Marylanders drive down to North Carolina. As their car enters the parking lot of a shelter, employees come running out and try to stuff dogs into the back seat. No application, no questions, just take 'em, please!

    Anyway, it's obvious that there cannot possibly be homes for 20 million more dogs every year. Many families live in cramped quarters where there's simply no room for a dog. Many landlords don't allow their tenants to have dogs, although IMHO these people should be taken out and shot. I'm a landlord and in my ads I always say that I am specifically LOOKING for tenants with pets.

    On the average, people with dogs are happier, they move less often, and their children are better-behaved. These are the people I want to rent to.

    Many people have good reasons for wanting a specific breed. Lhasa Apsos, for example (which Mrs. Fraggle and I bred for many years), are famous for being solitude-tolerant and can be left by themselves in an apartment all day without going half-insane. They're also not very active and are happy to frolic for ten minutes in the postage-stamp-size yard behind a townhouse, then come in and watch TV all night. Other breeds are good at keeping bears, coyotes and cougars at bay--all of which are major scourges in many parts of America. Others have good "people skills" and will tell you which knock on the door is the one you can safely answer. Some dogs are playful and energetic and allow children to roughhouse with them without complaining.

    There's nothing wrong with getting a mutt if all you want is a pal, but you may have specific needs that can be satisfied by specific breeds.

    * * * * A woman walked into a swanky restaurant with a Teacup Maltese in her purse. The maitre-d stopped her and said he was terribly sorry, but dogs were not allowed. She said that he had to let the dog in because he was a service dog. He was understandably skeptical and asked what "service" he provided. The lady explained that she had some cognitive difficulties and could never find anything in her purse. So the dog was trained to pull things out on voice command and give them to her. The man, not wishing to run afoul of the law, went to talk to the owner. He came back and said, "I'm so sorry, but the law requires all service dogs to be on a leash." She pulled out a little purple jewel-encrusted leash and attached it to his collar, and they had to seat her.

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  21. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Hammond police officer investigated for allegedly abusing K9 dog

    http://abc7chicago.com/archive/9524100/#videoplayer

    May 2, 2014 3:06:30 AM PDT

    May 1, 2014 (HAMMOND, Ind.) --
    A northwest Indiana police officer has been placed on leave as he is investigated for the alleged abuse of a K9 dog.
    Video of the incident was posted on the internet Thursday.

    It appears to show the officer lifting the dog by its collar and hitting it with a leash. It happened on a busy street with other officers on the scene.

    Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott says the officer is now on administrative leave.

    His dog has been removed from his control.

    In a statement, McDermott says "Anybody who loves dogs as much as I do is always saddened and shocked anytime you hear of a dog's abuse. When you find out it happened with an employee of yours, it makes it that much more shocking and disturbing."
     
  22. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    Show me the stats that show small dog breeds bite more than any larger breed.
     
  23. Mrs.Lucysnow Valued Senior Member

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    Wow. I just watched the video. Anyone who would treat a dog like that has absolutely zero training so what I want to know is how this officer came to work with a dog when he's obviously is clueless how to interact with it.
     

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