OK, so I want a dog

I had a timber shepherd once he was great.
my college roommate put a bowtie on him for a party once and he was so proud of himself.
the only time I heard him be threatening was the night I forgot my housekey and hopped the back fence without letting him know I was there.
as soon as I spoke he went belly down and crawled over to apologize.

GREAT dogs -- but big.


and yours is a beaut.

Well we adopted our dog about 2 months before Christmas from the local pound and all has turned out great.

She is 2 years old GSDxRotti......she is a Gem.....so soft and gentle and great with the kids.

She is a indoor dog and loves the outdoors to the extreme....my son and her are soul mates....my son walks her every morning after doing his paper round and every evening they go and play footie at the park(she loves her football).

She has her own bedroom (the utility room) i find she now and then likes her own space.....apart from that she as access to all the down stairs of the house (except kitchen)and i dont allow pets upstairs.

Get the dog and let your wife name it......it might help soften the blow.....or grit ya teeth when the blow comes

The hardest thing about dogs is that they don't live long enough. I've got two 12 year old dogs and one of them is fighting a neurological disorder and probably has some cancer deep inside him. Carrying 75lbs of dog up and down the stairs for the last two weeks (he's blown out both his knees in the last year) hasn't been that much fun. Considering how much fun I've had with him this last year of vet bills and high maintenance is the least I can do.

I'd say the puppy years can be rough and the geriatric years are rough but the 8-10 years in between are pretty fun. Take your time and find a dog breed with a temperament that is suited to your expectations.

Bump.

I think I found the dog.

I stopped by a friend's house today to kill some time and to see if I can give him a hand putting in a driveway to his new barn. Well, he was running the excavator so I thought I'd take a peek in the barn as I hadn't been in it before.

I look past the cows and see a dog in the back, at attention, staring at me. Not knowing the dog, I didn't approach.

I started talking to my friends about it and they said they've had the dog for awhile but they can't keep it. It likes to eat their chickens.

So they said it's mine if I want it. It's very friendly. It's a black lab/border collie mix. Probably 9-11 months old but relatively small. Healthy, just not very big (at maybe 30#).

It's best friend is a cow. I couldn't believe what I saw the dog do. My friend gave it a dog bone (the biscuit things). The dog put it in the side of its mouth, leaving most of it hanging out. It then went over to the cow pen and waited for the cow to come over and put its head through the pen wall. Once the cows head was through the wall, the dog went up on its hind paws and gently balanced by putting its front paws on the side of the cows head. The cow was perfectly fine with this. The dog then fed the cow the dog bone out of its own mouth. Once the cow had it, the dog licked the cows face until the cow was done chewing and then licked the dog back.

So, I'm taking the Mrs. and kids up this evening to let the wife look (she hates dogs, doesn't want it whatsoever, but wants to see how it reacts to her) and let the kids play. I'm not going to tell the kids that it will be theirs if things work out. I just want to see how the kids and dog play together. If it works out, I'll get things prepared on my end to bring it home.

Are you going to get a cow for the dog too? I know how to fix that dog from eating the chicken.

You take a dead chicken and tie it around the dog's neck. Leave it on for a few days or so. The dog may have it torn off by then but usually once you do that after that chicken stinks a while they will quit.

thcri said:

Are you going to get a cow for the dog too?

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It's previous "friend" (but the puppy was too young to remember) is what we had for lunch there today. It was a T-bone. I think the cows name was "Taffy". I told the kids we're going up there and they asked if they could play with Taffy. I didn't have the heart to tell them at that time that they could, but she's in the freezer and handling the meat is going to get their hands cold.

Thanks for the info on the chickens. If I don't get the dog, I'll let them know (so they can keep it). In my yard, the issue is turkeys. If it can catch one, it can have it, but maybe I'll tie it to the dogs neck. It may be an issue since the bird may be bigger.

good luck!
sounds like a fine addition to the family.

Bczoom, I have a pure black GSD, a16 year old tri-color beagle and 2 jack russels and a pom. the beagle and short haired jack share a large heated and A/C pantry room with the GSD. They have a pet door in the wall to go out to a 30x40 chain link kennel in the side yard. I even dug out and planted a 20 ft. maple for them. I have had pet doors for years and they work great. My GSD scares the heck out of the Amish around here. I had a cop come to my old house where the pet door was 2 ft. away from the house door. No kennel. He knocked on the door and the dog came flying from the living room barking like mad. 2 seconds later she was right beside him and He p-ssed his pants! She loves it out side and only comes in to eat and beg. She comes in more for A/C than heat. Seen her many times with 2 in. of snow on her back and she loved it. My granddaughters all love the dogs.

I resprctfully disagree w/ keeping a dog outside 24/7, but that's just my $0.02. I would ask myself why I want a dog - I got mine when I lived alone and wanted something that was intimidating and protective. But I'm guessing that Mrs. Zoom is going to be the one the dog will bond with and she'll have him/ her sleeping on the bed in no time.

This is my pup and yes, his tonails have been cut since this picture was taken:





This is my husband's princess - she was in heat and has no hips to keep the doggie britches on so I improvised w/ a baby onsie (and this little creature keeps Big Dog in line):






Size comparison:

Below is a picture of her.

I'll be building a dog house and hopefully get at least 1 pen up today. After those are set, we'll bring her home permanently. For now, I bring her home in the afternoon/evening so the kids can play.

She'll have several places to play and sleep. For now, the weather is mild so she'll have her outdoor house. If I'm inside, she can sit in my office with me. I'll also be building her a house in one of my buildings. Temps in there are moderate.

Nice looking pup BC

what he said - good lookin' pup.

A nice looking dog! Good find!

OK, a week has passed. Spending a lot of time with her and getting things done for her.

The previous owner came over last Friday and I gave him the thumbs up that he can talk to the kids about the dog being theirs. (Prior to that, they thought they were dog-sitting or exercising it only). My kids were so excited, especially since they got past the primary barrier (their mom).

Saturday was spent out getting the necessary goods. Everything from dog food to invisible fence.

Sunday, we (the family) installed the invisible fence. Much easier than I thought it would be and we ran 1,000 feet of wire, did the testing... in about 5-6 hours.

Monday and Tuesday, just played and worked with her. Today (Wednesday), she saw the vet for the first time. She did very well considering the battery of tests, shots... given to her. She's in heat so I'll have to keep "the boys" away but she's going in to get spayed in May.

After looking at her, I did begin to question her breed as given to me. We know the mom is a Black Lab but for the dad, she just doesn't "look" like a Border Collie to me. After a bit of digging myself and then confirmation by the vet, she's probably not Border Collie but some sort of sheepdog. Best guess is an Australian Kelpie. If you look at the picture of her in my previous post and compare to the picture below, except for the floppy lab ears and a slightly shorter snout, her features, size... are identical to the Kelpie.

Anyway, she's doing very well with the family. Need to take care of her worms but she's otherwise in good health.

" Great looking dog Brian. Congratulations. Now I suppose your daughter will quit playing the flute.

thcri said:

" Great looking dog Brian. Congratulations. Now I suppose your daughter will quit playing the flute.

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The dog in the previous post isn't mine. It's one that looks like mine (see below).
Erica hasn't quit on the flute at all. Now, she hasn't started on the guitar yet but that's OK.

Here's the pic of ours.

beautiful dogs