All my dawgs with the exception of the last one were pound puppies. There’s tons of good dogs in the shelters that will do ya fine. There’s also a few heart breakers in there with health and behaviour problems. Life is a crap shoot. There are advantages to dealing with registered breeders - they generally take more pains to ensure their pups are healthy and that their shots and medicines are up to date. Theres a stiff premium to be paid for that too. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a specific breed either.
My dogs are where I find them. Wouldn’t have it any other way either.
I got in supreme chit with my parents. Hannah is wearing Macey’s old spikey training collar. It’s a nasty variant of the choker with prongs that will dig in and hurt if the pooch pulls. The monster is up to 20 pounds now…and I can’t be playing tug of war on glare ice. The little girl figured it right out and was almost instantly polite. She’ll be walking like a civilized lady in two weeks. Of course Mom and Dad see it as needlessly cruel. For her part…the pup seems to actually like it…it looks just like Mort’s and she worships him. She has her own Big Girl collar now. 😂
Life is good here…have yourselves a great Sunday.
I was about to say holy crap man she's freaking huge just from that other pic a couple days ago. Hope you have a big ole pooped scooper. Har har!
ReplyDeleteI've had one non mutt, a pure bred, adult Doberman, with trust issues. With love and patience, she turned out fine. She was a rescue through groomer friends. All my other dogs were female mutts puppies from word of mouth references. Why females? They don't climb 6 ft chain link fences to chase pussy 3 miles away and start fights. Females hang out at the homestead, voluntarily being guard dogs. We've had lots of dogs, always a heart breaker when they cross The Rainbow Bridge. I've got a lot of great company waiting for me when I cross over.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about kenneling and collar training, your folks are just loaded up on emotions, facts and proper training are so much more beneficial for the health and happiness for the pups.
the brown puppy looks a bit like my good boy slim did when we got him home. except slim was a lot thinner ! the dog could slip thru the bars on the fence. just under 4 inches. but he put on weight fast.
ReplyDeletehe used to eat EVERYTHING. by the time he go to full size, he was over 100 pounds easy.
and like the puppy above, he was all over us. like he was so happy to get out of that cage. weird bit is we went to the pound to find a cat ? and came home with another dog.
he was a good dog. we miss him everyday. the young pup is just not the same. he okay in his own way, but he nothing like slim.
I have always been a dog person. But somewhat to my surprise I find cats seem to like me, and I have come to appreciate them as well.
ReplyDeleteMy last three adoptees were rescue cats (one at a time). Number three is still thriving.
I must beg to differ about one word. The pinch collar does not hurt. Its prongs are not sharp, but they are an excellent signalling device, and readily gets the pups attention. When we took our pup to obedience classes, we had a shoulder harness on her. The instructor said she could not recommend it, and got the pinch collar instead. By far, the puppy classes were about educating the owner, not the pup. Once we both got on board with the program, progress was amazing.
ReplyDeleteStick to pound puppies. Your harsh methods are not right for this sensitive breed of dog. You train by fear.
ReplyDeleteHAR HAR HAR! This little pup fears nothing, T. Right now, all she’s doing is learning to respect the leash. As Angus notes below… the dog is always in charge. Dogs this young don’t take correction well, and at this stage she learns by reward and repetition. Mort helps too…if he sees her not getting a command he moves in and does it. The pup now sees him as a competitor and will try to do the command first so that she gets the praise and occasional treat. It’s hilarious to watch. The pooch is just fine.
DeleteI have to use choke collar on my Hannah. She's about 4 yrs. and 65 lbs. I'm 70 with shitty health issues and she could hurt me bad. I had a couple of people wanting to guilt me about the collar, but I explain that she is 100% in charge of how much it pulls.
ReplyDeleteExactly. And if you live in the city, you can’t afford to have problems with dominance, disobedience, or socialization. Mine will still lock up and stop to poop or smell if they want. A lot of folks don’t get that obedient dogs are just as happy and usually much happier than disobedient ones.
DeleteI've run into more that one dogmommy fruit about pinch collars. they are a training tool. Once they get it, you can move to a different collar, like a martingale. Our big lab/shepherd figured things out the minute that collar was on him. It's all how you use it. They have to learn how to behave on a walk and understand commands when they are still small.
ReplyDeleteI lost count of all the high tech harnesses I've wasted my money on.
That's right, TD! Everyone - don't get excited about spikey collars. They look horrible and awful and cruel... and it's not intuitively obvious that these things are great training aids.
DeletePuppies are so happy and immature that they will literally chimp out on the end of a leash when their fun runs away with them. It's cute when they're little... and absolute murder when they are older. Hannah is still having lots of fun but she is in control of herself. That is the ultimate goal - a dog that controls itself. She's doing exactly what she should be doing - challenging the family members for dominance, learning her place and her limitations. She is much loved by everyone here and the little bugger knows it. Trust me - she is in good hands.
:)
Two of the best dogs we ever had were given to us because the people knew we have a history with GSDs.
ReplyDeleteHello Sir Filthie:
ReplyDeleteThis comment is not intended for publication but to share one of my email addresses with you.
My "throw away" email address is one.time.use.erj@google.com
I will check it over the next week or two.
PS: TB would appreciate having your email address, too.
I understand that you might not want to share your email address. No worries. It cost me nothing to ask.