Getting a puppy, decisions decisions

It's ok for someone to want a dog with known characteristics if that is what they want. Sometimes a person wants to choose the right breed for their family based on what is known. I have a 5 year old terrior mutt and my beloved Golden passed away last year. Two totally different dogs. My terrior mutt was a sweet playful puppy but grew into an extremely territorial dog by nature. We keep her on a short leash. My Golden however welcomed all into our house and home.

 

I agree for the most part. I have a board collie and a mastiff mix. My board collie is so use to pushing the mastiff around she is getting very aggressive when she is in the pickup with me. So will go nuts when anything comes close to the vehicle but on the ground she is just fine.

 

All efforts in obtaining a puppy are on hold, rental agreement allows for one dog, which we already have. It was initially two dogs, and just have gotten changed when it renewed just the other week.

We'll have to wait until we move out of this place.

Damn.

It helps a little that the breeders were understanding and are looking forward to future business with us, but only a little.

Thank you for your conversations and advice.

 

Ah that stinks. Sorry man

 

My few experiences with older dogs (I've taken in two) were that they never quite became family (pack). Your results may vary, and it might be because the dogs weren't socialized correctly before us.

 

Exactly. I want a dog with known characteristics. That, and I get along better with working dogs/shepherds than I do with bird dogs or terriers. Currently, my favorite type of dog is a boxer (the goofiest big dogs in existence), but I've also had good luck with collies and heelers.

 

You should get a chihuahua. They're great dogs.

Can anybody tell me how to edit your profile? I don't know how to do it with this software.

 

I took in a stray once it took me one month befor she would even come out of the corner shaking when I feed her. She was always suspicious of strangers and hated people when they wore hats and glasses. But she was one of the best dogs I ever had, can not imagine how bad she was treated. Even after 14 years of me never hitting her would still run away if I had a stick or shove or something in my hand. She even spent 4 years leading my blind great Dane around. Those two where inseparable.

 

When I was a kid we got a chihuahua from a neighbor who didn't want him any longer. We soon noticed that if we were sitting on the sofa in the evening watching TV and someone kicked off their shoes, the dog would LEAP off the sofa and run to hide under the bed, shaking. Obviously someone had thrown shoes at him and it hurt. So I went and got him, held him on the sofa in my lap cuddling him, and then I kicked off my shoes. He tried to leap and run but I held him and snuggled and cuddled him until he calmed down. Then I slowly picked up a shoe and put it beside me. I had to go through the snuggling and cuddling again. Then I pick up the shoe and held it while I held him and cuddled him. Then I stroked him with the shoe while I cuddled him. Then I tossed the shoe away and cuddled him.

He never ran from shoes again. It just takes patience.... patience and respect. They know if you respect them and if you do, they return it pretty well. They think in more familiar ways and are smarter than most people think.

 

Agreed that results vary. Some dogs are less sociable than others just like some people are.

As an individual I have disassociated myself from some parts of my own family and adopted parts of my spouse's family. I think that dogs probably have similar tendencies. They will respond to how they perceive that they are being treated and behave accordingly.

With my own two I have seen them change as they grow older. They have become more self reliant and willing to do things independently whereas when we first got them they were inseparable. That was probably how they bonded given that they were rescue dogs and we didn't stress them out by forcibly separating them either. Instead we trained them to go with different family members to do unrelated activities.

 

Glad she turned out so well after such a bad start. My own two still back away from me if I am carrying anything that looks remotely like it might be a stick so they must have been beaten at some point. I was given an Ostrich leg bone for them to try and neither of them would come near me even though they could obviously smell it. Eventually I just tossed it sideways away from them and they both went after it and chewed away quite happily on it.

 

Go to this thread and I'll try to help you out.

http://www.politicalforum.com/index...oftware-troubleshooting-and-questions.498929/

 

You will have to post a picture when you get your puppy.

 

Here's a question for you doggy people: bearing in mind the weird sound they make from the front end, and leaving aside the unspeakable from the other end, supposing you bought a young dog but when it matures it has a bark like a corncrake with a severe bout of laryngitis, and worse, won't stop barking; neighbours begin complaining, and even you and the family can't bear to hear this strange noise 24/7, knowing it will continue for probably the next 12 years? That's the scenario and I now come the question . . . ( Who said 'I was beginning to think he never would!'
) Would you get rid of the dog or have it de-barked?

 

Neither, good training would do wonders. And besides if your dog has that much energy left over after your walk, you didn't walk far enough.

 

No, on the obvious fact that you've already tried that? Don't try and wriggle out of it now!

 

In your world dogs are incapable of learning, fortunately in reality it doesn't work that way. There are many more answers than the two you present.

 

I've known dogs which have proved to be incapable of being trained, but just for the sake of the discussion ( ) let's assume that all training has failed? And out of curiosity, what are the other answers, because apart from moving house to an isolated area where there aren't any neighbours, and wearing ear-plugs for the duration of the dog's life, I can't think of any.

 

Alright then, I'll give you a little prompt; de-barking is totally painless.

 

If all training failed, then you'd have to make sure that dog is too tired to cause trouble.

A tired dog, is a good dog.

 

Debarking is not an option for me.

 

So . . . ? What then? Oh and tired dogs soon recover and it's then that then they'll bark again.

 

Just like kids!

 

Anyone here want to help out SiNNiK? No??

 

I'm getting off work in about 15 minutes so as much fun as ot is to watch you squirm and imagine impossible scenarios with impossible dogs, I'll have to catch up on your storytelling later