We are buying a dog.

[Toxicvrs]

Haha phew lol. Ours hasn't been done yet, still working on that one

Sent from my Galaxy S5

One Kelpie is enough for me! Keeps me running around on 4 walks a day normally! Also gets travel sick and vomits in the car regardless of journey length!

[J306TD]

One Kelpie is enough for me! Keeps me running around on 4 walks a day normally! Also gets travel sick and vomits in the car regardless of journey length!

Yer we went for a walk on Ceri Ridgeway this morning / afternoon. Then stopped off at the Horseshoe pub on the way back for lunch.

Ours is great. Open the door she gets in her crate and goes to sleep till you stop and open the door.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[Toxicvrs]

Yer we went for a walk on Ceri Ridgeway this morning / afternoon. Then stopped off at the Horseshoe pub on the way back for lunch.

Ours is great. Open the door she gets in her crate and goes to sleep till you stop and open the door.

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Have you had yours at a full sprint yet?

[J306TD]

Have you had yours at a full sprint yet?

Yer ears down tail out. They look so streamlined. Must reach a good speed

Sent from my Galaxy S5

[Toxicvrs]

Yer ears down tail out. They look so streamlined. Must reach a good speed

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Yeah ours is nuts quick until she gets bored and wants to traumatise a sheep! Even though she hasn't got the skill you can still see her instincts coming through!

[bealine]

To all you Canine Lovers out there, this video will melt your heart!   This is the Beagle Project in the USA which aims to rescue as many beagles from vivisection laboratories as possible.    This video is the moment of the first rescue, when the dogs feel grass underfoot for the first time in their lives!

[duro]

Well, maybe my avatar pic tells a lot...

 

Stella was my first dog. We got her 7 years ago from a rescue org who saved her from multiple abandon and mistreat.

She already was 1.5yo and that unfortunately meant her character was set in stone. A dog must be "socialized" (i.e. make him/her know lots of people, other dogs, cars, bikes, etc.) within 4-max 6 months from birth.

Stella was not. She was kept on a tight chain and most likely beaten. When I got her, she was afraid of even me hold a pen in front of her. She weighted 20kg (her "fit" weight being 27!) and her hair resembled a Metro station carpet.

Then, she became a member of the family. She never recovered from her idiosyncrasies: she was afraid of pretty anything new and consequently aggressive.

Once she knew the other being (human or dog) she became the sweetest being in the world. We also had two kitten together (young, abandoned ones, two-month old) and Stella acted as their mum.

She was a very intelligent dog (it's known that German Shepherds are) and the thing that amazed me the most was the vast catalog of facial expressions (not usual in dogs).

Last april she developed brain cancer. We spent a fortune in brain surgery but she never recovered out of anesthesy.

I'm still crying now that I'm thinking of her.

 

If you want a dog (and never had one), please think about this:

1) Read A LOT. And then AGAIN. And AGAIN, BEFORE get a dog. And then AGAIN. Not fancy coffeetable books about breeds. Read manuals about home training and ponderous, boooring books about dog psychology. And remember that, being humans – usually – more intelligent than dogs, it's up to them (you) to learn how to, to understand them and to act accordingly.

2) Do NOT get a dog as a child's toy. Or as a "companion" (it's "companion" for you but it'll be a TOY for your child). Make SURE your child understands that doggy is like a PERSON, not a toy. I really don't think a 3yo can understand. I doubt anybody under 8 can. Most adults cannot.

3) Possibly do not buy it. There are thousands of abandoned dogs deserving a better life. Anyway, under NO circumstances buy from a "pet shop": most dogs sold in pet shops are brought in by bandits from Eastern Europe, disregarding any health cure. They almost always have hidden health issues. If you MUST buy (for you want a certain breed and do not find him), do it from a reputed professional breeder. Also, never buy from those people saying things like "Unwanted puppies seek home otherwise they risk suppression". These are undeserving people, totally forsaking any control on their female dog (and even wanting to save on sterilization) and just passing the burden on kinder people.

4) Get an already adult dog (at least 1yo). It'll save you lots of training issues (expecially about pee/poo management!) In NO case get a less-than 4month-old dog: he/she won't be weaned yet.

5) Chewing is a stress relief act (as like as peeing even when not necessary), usually is an "abandon syndrome" behaviour. You must give your dog time to stand your absence from home through training (see books).

6) If you don't want a lot of hair, get a shorthair breed (boxer, dane, doberman, pinscher, etc.) If not, buy a "cyclone" hoover (e.g. Dyson), not a "HEPA filter" one (it'll clog itself and burn out). If you don't want "dog smell", get a "cirneco dell'Etna" (very rare and very ancient breed, named after Sicilian vulcan and said to be the only breed not smelling). Or just wait and get used to it  :-)

7) trust your veterinary about food, not advertising.

 

Oh! I almost forgot. There are organisations (at least here in Italy) rescuing unwanted former race dogs (usually greyhounds or similar). These dogs have a very short "working" life and they are dropped off soon. You can save a still young, healthy dog.

Edited 10 August, 2014 by duro

[mender]

The dog has been a long discussed matter, not least because of the matter of poo, walking in appalling weather, Mrs H liking a clean house, life change...

However, we had bunnies, guinea pigs and a cat when Samuel arrived so we are used to the labour and now we are just down to the bunnies. Mrs H has had dogs since the year dot so in theory knows what she is letting herself in for and me...well I now that I am going to be the person covered in mud every evening and looking after the dog in the evening.

Tbh there is some risk here for all of the reasons given above so I will let you know.

What did you decide in the end Matt?

 

Only you know what's best for you and your family....

[MattHunt]

Hello all

 

Sorry for delay in responding - we were away for a week and somebody left his phone at home.

 

We've got a show strain Cocker and have lucked out in that she is fairly placid (well as much as one can be). Whilst I totally get the rescue argument, right now we've decided to remove one risk - as I think I wrote earlier, of our 4 rescue rabbits, 3 have had issues that we've had to work through to get them to trust us and believe that they can be bunnies. Later in life I'd happily rehome a dog.

 

We have had a little attention seeking from our little boy, and some issues over Blossom getting too excited when he is around and then getting him excitied but we seem to getting past that now. She is learning to sit when greeting people and not go nuts, and not to chew people - although last night I went to change gear in the Octy and ended up grabbing her nose and Blossom had quietly decided to 'teeth' on the gear nob....luckily we were on a straight so we had time discuss that one

 

Chewing, well she lives in the kitchen and only really marked one skirting board.

 

We think that when we got her, she had spent lots of time in the kennel as she was scared of the dark and of rain. We're almost OK in the dark and rain no longer freaks her out.

 

And she is learning that the rabbits are off limits, you can see the point when her instincts start to kick in and we place her away from the bunny 'shed & run'.

 

Given her nature my wife is considering training her to particpate in programmes where pets visit old people's homes and the like and provide some interaction for people whose lives are going less well than ours. 

 

Anyway, I'll dig out a picture.

[MattHunt]

Taken at Lepe last week.

[grr666]

Got to ask, what issues do rabbits have? 

I thought they just sat there chewing stuff then hop over there 

and chew some different stuff. 

 

[MattHunt]

Bunnies are socially very sensitive when they are not slaughtering knights.

 

Our first bunny had lived for 4 years with a guinea pig, and both of them left to their own devices in a hutch far, far to small. Robert as we called him moved from a shoe box into a 6 hutch with room to leap and reach up and access to a 6x6 run. When we once had to put him in a small, spare hutch whilst performing some maintainance, he freaked out and bounced around the old spare hutch, seeming to panic about the decrease in space.

 

Robert also had misaligned teeth, made worse through a low roughage diet and we had to have his teeth ground done every 4-6 weeks.

 

After his arrival we got him a mate asap, Rosy had been kept alone, but with other solitary rabbits around her. She was quite possessive over food but got better over the three years we had her. Robert having found another rabbit in the world refused to leave her alone and would sulk if seperated from her e.g. a trip to the vets. When she was seriously ill and had to spend a week at the vets, he was so withdrawn that he spent his evenings on our laps as we watched TV etc.

 

Otto came to us from another show box which he'd spent 4 years (?) in, including 1 totally on his tod. Mrs H went to see him and just took him when she saw that he'd been left on such urine soaked bedding that the black fur around his paws was stained yellow. Otto was very unused to being held and now will only tolerate it if you stay still. Otherwise he panics.

 

He is still very shy but when in the house will happily approach you if you're near the fridge since he knows that bread, grapes, apples and carrots all come from the big white thing

 

Rosy (huge orange lop) and Trushka (mad, insane, mini Rex) were our only non-rescue rabbits and they are/were so different, Brash, confident, leaping on the furniture and in your face when they wanted something. sadly we lost Trushka under anaesthetic when she was spayed :( Bad day that was.

 

Anyway, rabbits, basically a bundle of emotion attached to some paws and ears.

[Vrs84]

Gotta say you have a lovely dog. I'm a fellow Cocker owner and know only too well they joy they can bring you. I've had mine is certainly he was 6 months old and he's just gone 3yrs now, I can honestly say that I wouldn't swap him for the world.

Good luck with your dog, hope she makes you happy.

[TheWanderer]

If I have the choice between living with a human or living with a dog (the four legged kind), it would be the latter.

 

Dogs aren't fickle, they don't ask where you've been when you're late & most of all their love is unconditional.