BS: Our Amazing Dogs

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 13 May 14 - 02:51 PM

Hello there Patsy! I agree that it's strange how much people are prepared to pay for a pedigree dog, then neglect it and cause it to stray and/or suffer. That cocker spaniel I mentioned above was a pedigree bitch and probably cost about £500. I also dislike this silly fashion for little chihuahuas and toy Yorkies bought by trendy girls who only want to dress them in clothes and stick them in their handbags. The owners obviously just can't imagine how the dog feels.
When I bought my two Siamese kittens (brothers called Minty and Murphy) as companions for my old Siamese Smokey, the breeder sensibly came to our house to see exactly where they would be living and check that I knew about their needs. I admired that and didn't mind at all. She also told me to contact her if I found I didn't want them (as if!!) and she'd take them back. Cats and dogs have needs, feelings and affection to give and receive. They aren't objects or toys.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 07:00 PM

This thread has been asleep for some time. Some Mudcat threads , it could be said of them, let sleeping threads lie, as with sleeping dogs. Some dogs anyhow.

In the time this thread has been asleep, dogs have gone their way to the Rainbow Bridge. Sadly, so have some of their owners. Happily, some Mudcatters have dog companions that they didn't have the last time this thread was up.

I live in a no-pets apartment building, but I like animals, and I get vicarious enjoyment from the pleasure that people, and the dogs who own them, reciprocate in, or however one says that.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 12:33 AM

J-boy and I had to have Bandit put to sleep at the beginning of August. Beau came to stay at the end of September. It was a very long eight weeks in between dogs. Beau is probably mostly terrier, some beagle, and many, many other things. I doubt there has been a purebred in his lineage in a very long time. And that's the way I like it. I've been telling people he's a Tennessee Brat Terrier. Some get the joke, some don't. He's about a year old, and around 30 pounds. Both the youngest dog I've ever owned, and the smallest. He's a lot of company, very much a little scamp, very bright, and he keeps me laughing. He and the cat are working things out. He tries to stay out of her way, she reminds him every so often with a hiss and a slap that she's the queen of the castle, thank you very much. I have caught them snuggling several times, though, so I think they'll eventually get along fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 04:23 AM

Nice to have this thread pop back up! I love talk about dogs and to hear others' stories.

My Ellery, now 8 years old, is getting along fine. He had severe separation anxiety (he was already two years old when I got him but had evidently never been taught that it's OK to be alone sometimes) but keeps improving- he will now go spend time in a different room from me and just check on me from time to time. Mostly, if I can't take him along when I leave, I have a friend who takes him in, and he's fine with that.

One peculiarity he has: food is not a motivator to him. In fact, he usually has to try a tiny bit of food - and I mean, tiny! - before he decides after a couple of bites that it is, #1, edible and #2, good.

He responds well to voice and nuance, a smart and affectionate dog. I just wish I could tell what he's thinking when he stands in front of me and stares into my eyes!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 09:01 AM

The original thread was about our pets. It was huge and was started many years ago.


Ellery is thinking Food? outside? walk? common lady food? walk? anything? common make my day. surprise me. Walk? outside? drive?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 09:13 AM

com-on lady

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 11:23 AM

Well, Ranger1, now that you and Beau have been introduced on the appropriate thread:

....WTF happened to Beau's back?! You posted elsewhere about sores and deep wounds?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 02:51 PM

Dogs help veterans cope with PTSD

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 02:56 PM

The vet in Tennessee told the woman who fostered him that they were hot spots. My vet isn't convinced that's what they really were, but they were mostly healed when he arrived. My suspicion is that they may have started out as some sort of bacterial infection, as he was being kept in an outside pen that was, according to his foster mom, a sewer overflow. He may have a couple of small bald spots due to scarring, but they have healed cleanly, and most of the hair has grown back.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Felipa
Date: 17 Nov 16 - 06:50 AM

recent news items in Britain and Northern Ireland

Cornwall: Walnut the whippet wasnt well at the exceptionally old age of 18. Owner carried Walnut for a last walk along the beach before euthanasia and hundreds of well-wishers brought their dogs along as the story was spread by social media.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-37955748
There are loads of articles and videos on line - local Plymouth media, UK national papers including the Mirror, Guardian and Telegraph
Contrary opinion:


Dog in Northern Ireland saved child who got into the automatic clothes drying machine (by alerting the child's parents). http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2016/11/15/news/boy-five-injured-after-climbing-into-tumble-dryer-783864/

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Nov 16 - 04:23 AM

A poodle I had for many years watched out for me. On occasions when a group of us would go to an old swimming hole not far from home she was fine with just watching me from the banks. At a certain point, however, she always decided I had been in long enough. She would swim out to me, grab my swimsuit by the strap and tow me back to land. I would remonstrate with her but never scolded her for it. Thought maybe she knew something I didn't. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Nov 16 - 10:05 AM

Perhaps those farting dogs need different food, probably with less fiber in it. Ask the vet.

Ebbie, have you had both of your pneumonia vaccinations?

Ranger, thanks for the pictures of Beau.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Nov 16 - 02:04 PM

Not surprised to hear of the existence of a pets thread.
It has sense to me that dogs, as well as cats, would have pet/owner threads of their own, as there are so many pets/owners specifically of dogs and cats.

The trouble with doing a Mudcat search for threads on pet cats, is that somehow it brings up dear departed Catspaw and his possums.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Nov 16 - 04:23 AM

leenia, shortly after I had the bout of pneumonia I got a shot. Not sure if it is the newer one or not. Should call.

keberoxu, yesterday I was talking with an acquaintance about animals and the ethics of eating them. He admitted that he has had horse and cat but not dog. (That's how he talked.) He argued that there's nothing inherently wrong about eating dog, that it is meat, and that if one were starving, one wouldn't hesitate. I agreed that there have been circumstances where one couldn't blame them- historic, desperate North pole explorers, for instance, but that 'eating dog' per se, is beyond the pale. Anything that is capable of feeling love and devotion, etc, etc.

Which brought up vegetarianism. Which brought us around to agreeing that probably we don't need to eat mammals. Sheesh.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Nov 16 - 05:03 AM

Borzoi's in the Amazon
Hairless dogs in Alaska
We need friends everywhere
but come on.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Nov 16 - 11:34 AM

Ellery, my hairless dog,is a rescued dog. He was allegedly born in Florida and brought north by his original family. The only reason I adopted him was that I could no longer bear a little dog like that sitting alone in a concrete cell for more than 8 weeks. I'm sure that the reason he wasn't adopted earlier is that he needed expensive surgery on both his hind legs, and most families' budgets can't justify spending that kind of money.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Nov 16 - 02:45 PM

We lost two dogs this year and still have the amazing third. Old Faulkner went to sleep in August and is pushing up lilacs at our Ohio retirement cottage. Younger Biscuit (beagle/bassett) was re-homed thru the no-kill shelter where we'd gotten her; she found a new home as a single dog within 2 weeks, and is deliriously happy.

Newbie the unadoptable pit/shep/rott mix (little, 50 pounds), is the Only Dog now, and at our age may be our last.

Newbie's claim to "amazing" is her companionship skills and smarts. She also loves car rides and hanging out IN the car while I do stuff, so is ideal for my activist life nowadays. Perfect size for the car, and only eats cats now very seldom (prozac). Yesterday she showed bully-dog stubborness (the upside), by effectively and perfectly recalling all her September steering commands (applying these from scooter training to walkering). Pulling as requested, turns as needed.

OTOH her prozac seems to have erased "fetch" and "go get," pending retraining. I'll take that over dead housecats any day.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 02:37 AM

My dog Bríd is a rescue - she rescued me when she arrived, full of joy and naughtiness as a three-month-old pup, and has been equally full of that joy for the last 16 years. She's a Borderline Collie - her mother was three-quarters border collie and a quarter labrador and her father was pure border collie.

She's always been scarily bright; one time when she was around two, I drove out to Greystones to sit on the beach and have a read and bring her for a walk. I lay down and read for a while, went and threw a ball into the sea for a while for her to race in and swim for it, had a long walk along the beach, sat down again in more or less the same spot. It was windy, so I decided the hell with this and we walked back to the car.

It was at this stage that I discovered that I'd lost my car keys. I tried to work out where on the big beach I'd been sitting and lying, and went back there. No sign of the keys. Bríd was romping around, and totally illogically I turned on her and scolded her - "If we don't find my keys I can't drive home!"

Bríd looked up at me, looked down and started sniffing, then started digging - and up cake the keys from under the sand! You can imagine the praise, and the happy, proud romps!

She's always stayed downstairs - I have asthma - and always slept halfway between the front and back doors. But last year she started sleeping pressed up against the front door, so we moved her duvet up there; the reason - old age had made her almost deaf.

Bríd still loves a walk, and romps creakily when she sees me reaching for my coat, but a walk for her now is about 50 metres before she comes back and sinks, exhausted, on to her duvet in front of the stove.

May I add my voice to those suggesting to bring a farty dog to the vet. There are some breeds that are naturally flatulent - I remember an aged labrador belonging to friends who made dinner a nightmare by the combination of barking endlessly till treats were thrown and lying down and farting like an army band - but there can be physical causes like worms and some serious diseases, so I'd be inclined to consult a good vet.

In the case of a rescue greyhound, part of the problem may be demolishing food at speed as a habitual way of eating from being fed in a pack and having to eat fast before the others get your food. This means the dog gulps down air. If that's the case, you might be able to train her to eat more slowly by feeding her a bit, then waiting a little, then feeding her another bit, and so on, while keeping the atmos very calm.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 02:09 PM

Most Famous Rescue Greyhound

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Nov 16 - 10:57 PM

Thompson, I love the idea of a borderline collie. And I love the story about her finding the keys.

What I learned about cat food may apply to farty dogs. Supermarket pet food contains plant fiber to bulk it up. This is not natural food for cats, and it irritates the digestive tract, producing a state of near-diarrhea. The result is a stinky litter box.

Buying better food, such as Iams or Science Diet, makes for a healthier cat and a nicer box. The food costs more per bag, but the cat needs less of it.

Worth trying with dogs, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 22 Nov 16 - 07:54 PM

Tired Beau tonight, a rare occurrence. Today, we had a walk, a run, and went to the beach. We have, through several not-terribly-scientific trials, come to the conclusion that 1 Beau = 5 other dogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Nov 16 - 08:21 PM

A tired puppy is a happy one. Especially when he has the energy of five dogs. Sounds like a lot of terrier in Beau.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 22 Nov 16 - 08:33 PM

Oh, most definitely a lot of terrier!

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Nov 16 - 02:40 PM

One reason I don't have a pet dog is because I recall how badly it hurt when childhood pet animals died. But it's nothing against the animal.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 28 Nov 16 - 02:44 PM

The joy outweighs the pain. Not to mention the mental and physical health benefits for me personally. In the short time I've had Beau, I've lost twelve pounds and an inch off my waist. And I've started running again. I'm also sleeping better, less depressed, and laughing more than I have in a long time.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Nov 16 - 03:27 PM

keberoxu, I used to take old/unadoptable dogs just to give them a happy ending. Worked and I loved each of them However, just about the time I thought I couldn't bear the pain of the inevitable loss again- usually within a year - I got an unadoptable youngish dog, a Cairn terrier just four years old. What made her unadoptable was that she had a congenital, inoperable condition where part of her liver had migrated through a hole in her chest wall. At age 9, that is where her cancer began- but oh, I had five good years with her.

These animals - dogs and cats - were all adopted through the local humane society. Interestingly, even though the normal cost of adoption through them is just under 100 dollars, I have not been charged anything for any of them. Good policy.

Just maybe that fact inspires other people to adopt older animals.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Dec 16 - 07:46 PM

This is, if I can get it to link, one of my favorite happy-ending rescue-dog stories.

Do You Remember Miracle?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 16 - 09:45 AM

It is amazing how good my dog is at trigonometry. What ever the vector angle I point to , Gromet can draw a mental line through solid objects to arrive at the destination. If its a treat she uses the scent but for angles under 40 degrees she uses dog trig.scent

She looks like a border collie but is part Rottweiler and like most dogs has an unerring internal clock.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Dec 16 - 11:58 AM

Lots of photos about with people decorating their pet dogs for Christmas, funny hats, antler headbands, and the like. Do any Mudcatters take photos of their dogs ornamented for Christmas? Or know of people who do?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Dec 16 - 04:34 PM

If this link works:
check out this canine version of Gloria in Excelsis Deo. (different than barking)

Badger the Border Terrier

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 24 Dec 16 - 08:54 PM

I've yet to decorate one of my dogs for Christmas (I did once put a propeller beanie on Clancy the Wonder Dog, but I was also wearing one at the time), but I did have a little fun with my cat Kaylee this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Dec 16 - 01:48 PM

Of course, Tami, the cat thinks that the dog is to keep her company.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 07:27 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Jan 17 - 12:47 PM

How are your dogs enjoying this weather?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Jan 17 - 05:27 PM

Would you please, olddude, tell us about your weiner dog?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 10:59 AM

Well I took him out west with us over the holidays. He was a good boy on the five hour plane ride. However, upon landing i was walking him down to baggage claim and yup.. Hunched right in the middle of the airport. The guy behind me goes, well when a man has to go he has to go.. Yup I had clean up duty.. My wife says you brought him Lol.. Kids had fun having him playing with their dogs around the Xmas tree.. He also entertained the little kids behind me on the airplane. They kept petting him. Parents seemed to love it as the kids were busy

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 11:13 AM

Between my kids and one Ibbought to visit we had nine dogs Lol. Veterinarian daughter
Married a veterinarian

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 11:37 AM

My new dog is ocb he has a basket full of toys. He takes the one he wants to play with, then puts it back and gets another. I never had a dog that picks up after himself

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 12:14 PM

Many thanks, olddude, is the dog's name classified info? If not, what's his name?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 08:23 PM

Obie won cannoli.... He is long and sweet Lol

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 08 Jan 17 - 11:32 PM

I have four dogs three wieners and a lab newfie mix who thinks he is a wiener dog.. I have one hairy wiener dog called hairy-it aka cousin it aka sasquash.. A black and tan wiener danke.. My Obie and the 150 lbs Gus Gus.. He doesn't answer to the first Gus hence Gus Gus..

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Jan 17 - 12:54 PM

Although I prefer to skulk and lurk under my membername, it would be a good time to mention a dog in my past, making further disclosure of my own personal info.

During my childhood, my brother and his best friends came storming home from play one day, with a hound in tow: can we keep her? She had been dumped. Whoever dumped her, probably did so because she was gun-shy, poor lamb. Not only did she have a horror of guns -- even the sight of an unloaded shotgun, propped up against the wall in the corner, would freak her out -- but she lost it during thunderstorms and Fourth-of-July fireworks displays. She would shake like a little leaf.

Full grown, she was, and the boys named her Mickey for some reason. Although she greatly resembled a beagle, there was something else in there as well, probably more hound but a different breed of hound. Her eyes, for example, were not beagle eyes strictly speaking, with all that "eyeliner" effect; her eyes were "makeup-free" if you can imagine how that looks. Proportions were a little different as well: her legs were long and slender, and so was her head, more so than a purebred beagle. But the markings in her fur were classic beagle markings against a background of snow white. She shed something awful, bless her.

And she was so beautifully house-trained, by the damn fools who threw her away by the side of the road, that she ended up training us more than we trained her!

It was time for Mickey to go out and do her business, for example, when she told us so. From the beginning she had her own protocol and she taught it to us. She would head over to the door, and ... you'll never guess ... she would SNEEZE. Loudly, and repeatedly. All of us would drop whatever we were doing, and say, uh-oh, time to let Mickey out, and we would hurry to the door, where Mickey would dance around impatiently, and would zoom outside as soon as the door would open. Yes, it was embarrassing how well trained we were by that dog.   

I was away at university when the news was relayed to me. She had gone for a stroll along state route number [] which was a thoroughfare for trucks, from the Eisenhower regime. She was found by the shoulder, and a truck had hit her; it appeared that she died instantly and suffered not at all. I recall thinking: Poor kid, she got lucky, when none of us had the toughness to have her put down, she was dispatched quickly and painlessly in spite of us.

We will never have another companion like Mickey.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: ranger1
Date: 09 Jan 17 - 02:04 PM

Hi Dan! Welcome back!

Keberoxu, thanks for the story about Mickey.

As for Beau, he attended his first ceilidh this past weekend, entertained the other guests, licked the two babies that were present, and kept his nose off the food table, even though there was a lovely port roast up there. The trash basket on the floor was a little more problematic, but after repeated reminders that it wasn't for him, he started ignoring it. He received many compliments for his behavior, including praise from a woman who used to train dogs professionally. He did cause an embarrassing moment when he peed on the floor late in the evening, but t may have been because both times that I'd taken him out previously he had just lifted his leg and gotten frightened by the plow truck going by and by one of the other guests scraping the ice off their windshield. Either way, I cleaned up after him and no carpets or upholstery were involved and it didn't seem to bother our hosts.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 09 Jan 17 - 08:55 PM

Nothing can make you happier than a dog and nothing can break your heart like a dog.. If my dogs are not waiting for me in heaven, I won't go

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Jan 17 - 01:09 PM

refresh, and thanks olddude et alia.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jan 17 - 12:25 PM

Was just reminded of former First Dogs, Bo and Sunny.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Jan 17 - 07:34 PM

Rapparee, earlier in this thread, saluted the Vicktory Dogs.

I just went to the Best Friends website because I needed a Vicktory Dog update.
It has been nine years since the rescue.
Some of the dogs actually were re-homed, adopted out.
At least a dozen stayed at the Best Friends sanctuary.
Presently, they are getting fed, walked, sheltered, medicated, and all the love and attention they need.
They are slowly but surely dying off. They were dying from the beginning, one at a time. Not all of the same cause; but in many cases the culprit was "babesia" which is blood-borne. Lukas and Tug, two heavily scarred Vicktory dogs who enjoyed some happy years at the Sanctuary, died of babesia. The latest is Denzel, the big black pitbull named in honor of Denzel Washington: babesia again.

The one the rescuers named "Georgia," the brood bitch for whom the Vickpeople hired a vet at some point to do a thorough and professional job of extracting every tooth, bad or good, in her jaws, the better to forcibly breed her without her damaging the stud dogs (yes it means what you think), became something of a celebrity, with her big toothless pitbull grin. She was old and worn-out physically, and her kidneys finally did for her, but she was tenderly cared for until the end. Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Jan 17 - 02:14 PM

Of all the dogs that had to be accounted for, 22 of them went to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary nine years ago.
One of them, Oscar, was put to sleep this week. That brings the number of surviving dogs down to eleven, as eleven are now dead.
Oscar, as far as I know, was not afflicted with babesia. He was, however, taking pain medication on a daily basis, and all I can gather is that the pain was chronic, and the conditions behind the pain could be treated but not reversed. Oscar's adoptive owner stated that Oscar was having more bad days than good ones now, and that it was time to let him go while he could pass comfortably and with dignity.

Of the eleven survivors out of the Best Friends Sanctuary 22, I believe that four dogs remain at the Sanctuary. Meryl, a female, must remain at the Sanctuary for life, by court order. The other three are Willie Boy, Curly, and Mya: two males and a female in that order. It is questionable if Willie Boy and Curly will ever be adopted outside the sanctuary, with their anxiety and fearfulness. But they are being looked after as if the sanctuary is their forever home. Willie Boy favors the horse toy, a large rubber ball on a swing, which he will bump the way the horses bump it. Curly favors the office of the dog-area managers, and is a champion shredder of paper and cardboard boxes.
Mya excells at being a surrogate mother to puppies.

Here's a Best Friends Sanctuary link if I can get it to work.

Vicktory Dogs: some updates

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Jan 17 - 02:37 PM

Ranger1, have you got pets in addition to the dog and the cat?

Subject: RE: BS: Our Amazing Dogs
From: olddude
Date: 19 Jan 17 - 08:12 PM

My friend had a pig called Chris p bacon