BS: Boasting about my dog

Subject: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:24 PM

He has refined laziness into an artform. His little leggies are just long enough to reach the ground. Same goes for his ears. He resembles a fat sausage on four short pillars...so firm, so fully packed. He is bold, brave, and ready to defend the realm...as long as danger does not approach within less than 10 or 20 feet of him. He will bravely charge infants and dogs that weigh less than he does, as long as they don't charge back. He will eat almost anything, without hesitation. When he lifts his leg, you know that he is not going to miss the target. He would never plotz on the neighbour's lawn...it's too far away, and he can't be bothered expending that much energy. He is always willing to add a few additional remarks to the usual fifteen minutes of frenzied barking. He has completely mastered the sins of greed and gluttony.   He rightfully sees himself as the epitome of creation, Nature's noblest Work. He is a Dachshund!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:47 PM

Mine can lick his balls for hours. The novelty never wears off for him.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:00 PM

Lemmee ask ya' Cluin........If you could lick your balls would the novelty ever wear off for you?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:05 PM

LOL! Oh, God....

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:06 PM

Something would probably wear off!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:07 PM

Maybe Jeri.....but it'd take a good while and probably be worth it..................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: bobad
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:08 PM

Dog," by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The dog trots freely in the street
and sees reality
and the things he sees
are bigger than himself
and the things he sees
are his reality
Drunks in doorways
Moons on trees
The dog trots freely thru the street
and the things he sees
are smaller than himself
Fish on newsprint
Ants in holes
Chickens in Chinatown windows
their heads a block away
The dog trots freely in the street
and the things he smells
smell something like himself
The dog trots freely in the street
past puddles and babies
cats and cigars
poolrooms and policemen
He doesn't hate cops
He merely has no use for them
and he goes past them
and past the dead cows hung up whole
in front of the San Francisco Meat Market
He would rather eat a tender cow
than a tough policeman
though either might do
And he goes past the Romeo Ravioli Factory
and past Coit's Tower
and past Congressman Doyle of the Unamerican Committee
He's afraid of Coit's Tower
but he's not afraid of Congressman Doyle
although what he hears is very discouraging
very depressing
very absurd
to a sad young dog like himself
to a serious dog like himself
But he has his own free world to live in
His own fleas to eat
He will not be muzzled
Congressman Doyle is just another
fire hydrant
to him
The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog's life to live
and to think about
and to reflect upon
touching and tasting and testing everything
investigating everything
without benefit of perjury
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
and a real tail to tell it with
a real live
           barking
                 democratic dog
engaged in real
                free enterprise
with something to say
                         about ontology
something to say
                about reality
                               and how to see it
                                              and how to hear it
with his head cocked sideways
                               at streetcorners
as if he is just about to have
                         his picture taken
                                             for Victor Records
                         listening for
                                His Master's Voice
        and looking
                       like a living questionmark
                                       into the
                                       great gramophone
                                  of puzzling existence
          with its wondrous hollow horn
              which always seems
               just about to spout forth
                                 some Victorious answer
                                    to everything

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:11 PM

I'll bet the dog stops from trotting freely every now and then to lick his balls!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:26 PM

I had a wonderful old dog....very obedient..I'd say, "Barfy....sit up, or won't you?"

...and by golly, he'd either sit up or he wouldn't!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:26 PM

"If you could lick your balls would the novelty ever wear off for you?"

Yep. Can't play solitaire forever.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:30 PM

While life goes on around him everywhere.....he's playing....

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:31 PM

One wonders how dachshunds get along in the world, when doggies sniff each other's butts in a doggy version of a handshake, and all the other doggies' butts are way up in the air. The whole scent world must be different down where the dachshunds smell. (Anybody for a parody of 'Down Where the Drunkards Roll'?)

Little Hawk, I really enjoy it when you talk about your dog. I get the feeling dachshunds have a sense of humor. They'd sort of have to.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 10:29 PM

Oh, they do, Jeri. ;-) They're delightful little monsters, ever scheming for new and imaginative ways of stealing food and finding vile, decaying stuff to roll in, then coming proudly home to say, "Don't I smell great now?"

Then there's the shock and horror when you dunk them in the tub and apply soap!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 10:51 PM

Oh dear me. Hawk, do you never stop?
Dachsies are no better than Corgis or any other breed that trips your trigger. At least Corgis CAN climb stairs with an erection if they really need to.

I'm going to bed now. Sorry, Hawk Man. I hope I'm better tomorrow.
NOT in a very good mood. Esp to be 'here'

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Barry Finn
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 01:18 AM

When I was a teen two brothers who were friends had a Bull Mastave (sp?), you know the kind big head, big body, strong but big time lazy too. This dog fell asleep against the radiator, when the heat came on the dog wouldn't move. They had to bring the dog to the vet to be treated for burns.

Now my dog isn't lazy but I wish it were. She isn't smart either & I wish it were too.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 01:54 AM

Bull Mastiff is what I think you're talking about.

My two backyard girls have been a little noiser than usual lately, because of the wildlife in the creek behind my back fence. Everything moves around at night, so they have to announce all of those comings and goings. Good things my neighbors bedrooms are on the front of their houses and there is no one behind us.

I think they did scare off a couple of pranksters earlier this week. Two neighbors, across from and beside me, found a sticky black paint of some sort on their garage doors one morning, but mine is guarded by two noisy dogs. I did go check the driveway from the doorway a couple of times that night, but didn't see anything.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 03:48 AM

I've made a trailfriend of a dog for a brief period. Once some friends and I went on a hike to a couple of local peaks on the rim of Anchorage (Knoya and Tikishla) At the trail head a local dog befriended us and followed us. My friends were going to camp out the night, one of those brief Alaskan affairs. Since it was still light and quite pleasant, and I had the harbinger of an illness coming on, I decided to do the remainder of the hike and go home early in the morning. The little dog followed me, and it turned out that the final bit up Tikishla was steepish in pressed snow footprints, nothing super hard or technical, just needing one to pay attention. And somewhere along the way the dog abandoned me. I headed back to the trailhead and spent the next day not able to keep anything down so I pretty much forgot about the whole mountain deal.

My friends didn't, they hiked up Tikishla and right at the peak they found the little dog, which apparently had followed up my step-like foot prints and hadn't found the way down! They escorted her off and once she was back on the lower trail she got herself back to her home, but my friends had a lot of fun with me, specially the cute one who for weeks would roll blue eyes at me and make little puppy noises.

Robo, who likes doggies and kitties and birdies and truly felt somewhat bad about 'is thoughtlessness.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:12 AM

Brag?

My dog is so smart that although he's never had fleas before in his life, he knew I'd do SOMETHING about them as soon as we returned from vacay, and he was a very good doggie as treatment began!

I just wish he could have gone to the store in our absence and gotten started BEFORE we got home. We left him a car, and I don't care if he drives without a license!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:18 AM

You didn't give him your PIN for your ATM card, did you? You know the old joke about the dog with the 5 dollar bill, don't you?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:38 AM

Barry!!! You really made me laugh! My God, that Bull Mastiff must've been the laziest dog that has ever lived. My dachshund's eyes are bugging out in shock and amazement that there was once a dog lazier than himself. If he had found himself faced with the "radiator problem"...here's what would have happened.

1. Dachshund sleeping peacefully against radiator.

2. Radiator beginning to get warm. Dachshund groans appreciatively, and shifts position to soak up more heat.

3. Radiator getting quite warm. Dachshund snoring gently.

4. Radiator getting hot! Dachshund shifts fitfully. His little coloured eye bumps begin to pop up and down, denoting rising anxiety.

5. Radiator getting damn hot! Dachshund's eyes pop open. He squirms around, trying to avoid the heat without actually going to the trouble to really get on his feet and move somewhere else.

6. Radiator getting f*cking hot! Dachshund lurches to his feet with an exasperated sound and scrambles clear of the radiator. He turns to look at it with a sad and accusing look which clearly says, "Why are you trying to make MY life miserable? What is your problem, you stupid piece of machinery?"

7. Dachshunds sighs wearily and trots into the kitchen for a relieving drink of water.

click - click - click - click - click - click

lap! lap! lap! slurp!

Uuurrp!!!

click - click - click - click - click - click

8. Dachshund returns to living room. Casts baleful look at radiator, as if to say, "I won't forget your thoughtlessness."

9. Dachshund flops down on carpet in cool spot, well clear of radiator, groans luxuriously, and prepares to catch up on that forty winks he is so badly in need of....(makes mental note not to trust radiator in future, as it has proven to be sadistic and malign in its intentions).

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:40 AM

Gee, too bad the store is so far....I had a cat who went to the store for what he wanted! Of course the store was only a block away.

It's true...my ex-wife & I lived in Lawrence, Kans., and had an old Siamese tomcat who demanded his Purina dry cat chow ON TIME! Well, one day we got a phone call from a little neighborhood grocery.

"Are you the folks who own a Siamese cat? He's down here at the store." (The local kids recognized him and someone knew our name.)
So off we go...one block and around the corner.
   It seems we had run OUT of cat chow, and Mr. Magoo had somehow figgered out where the 'mother lode' was, had gone down, waited till the screen door was opened (very small store), gone down the aisle , found 4lb. bag on bottom shelf, drug it into the aisle, chewed off bottom corner...and was happily having lunch when we arrived, half embarassed, half proud, to pay for the bag and tote Himself and his booty home!

This same cat later, back in Wichita, after we had moved from one house to another, did one of those famous tricks of disappearing, and turning up 2 days later at the old house...almost 5 miles away and crossing a number of major streets.

I hate to imagine what Mr. Magoo would have done if he'd had access to the car keys!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Cluin
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:44 AM

"Mr. Magoo is not to be trusted."
   ~ from the movie Thunderheart

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 10:51 AM

"Nor is the radiator!" - Finnegan

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 04:50 PM

Someone might enjoy reading through this one again. I know I did.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 05:13 PM

Later, I'm just takin' a few minutes off as the "grill man"... Yeah, as in cookin' and no I ain't wearing an apron or skirt so ya'll don't go there... This is about LH's dawg anyway... I'll be back later... Time to flip somethin'...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 06:27 PM

I've been less impressed with dogs' smelling prowess since it occurred to me that if we human beings were that close to the ground we too would be able to access scents and other interesting identifiers about our world.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 06:34 PM

Okay, how about their hearing prowess then? I think it's amazing.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: kendall
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 06:46 AM

Our Seamus is so smart he could land the space shuttle...if he had thumbs.
This is my third yellow Lab and for me there is no other dog.

My Daughter has two of those tiny yapping snapping shivering abominations from Mexico whose name I can never spell. Why would anyone want such a useless creature?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 09:56 AM

My Benjamin can do the Times crossword in his head. Without my buying the paper. I know it only takes minutes because he then demands his breakfast.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 10:52 AM

kendall - Chihuahua

Why? Well, because they are tiny, helpless, vulnerable, "cute", and utterly dependent. Some people want a dog like that. It satisfies their emotional needs in a way that works for them.

The Aztecs bred them for food!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 11:30 AM

Take a lot of them to make a stew.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 12:18 PM

"takes a lot of them to make a stew."

That's because the vegetable peeler has not been designed that they can manage with those tiny paws. And the onions make them cry so they have to work in shifts.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ed T
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 12:42 PM

Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog
Jane Siberry


everything reminds me of my dog
the guy in the store reminds me of my dog
telephones remind me of my dog...yoohoo
taxicabs remind me too

if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

smiling at strangers reminds me of my dog
(better let them know you're friendly)
the way people dress reminds me too
pissing on their favourite tree
sad things remind me of my dog
cockroaches and other insects
remind me too, don't eat them
the blank expression of the little boy
with thick glasses who picks
himself up from the sidewalk
and stands there blinking in the sun
ho oh!


if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

like the man on the subway
sitting across from me
and every time I looked at him he smiled
and by the time
I got to the end of the subway line
I 'd given him at least ...oh...25 cookies

guys in bars remind me of my dog
the way it takes you so long
to choose the perfect table

if you remind me of my dog
we'll probably git along little doggie
git along git along little doggie git a...

me and my ferocious dog
we're walking down the street
and everyone we meet says
"ach yer a goot doogie !...
"ach yer a goot doogie!..."
"ach yer a goot doogie!..."

except when we go for a walk
to get the Sunday paper
I stand there and read the headlines
he reads the wind
sometimes he hits a funny smell and laughs
I hate it when he does that- I feel so dumb
what? what? I say

everything reminds me of my dog
beautiful things
sunsets remind me of my dog
Gina go to your window
Einstein reminds me of me dog
I want to pat his fluffy head
this whole world reminds me of my dog
my dog reminds me of this whole world
do I remind you of a dog? (thump thump)
I do? (faster thump thump)
skyscrapers remind me of my dog
sitting in the tall grass waiting for a rabbit
guys in red cameros too
it's getting to be a habit
artists remind me of my dog
staking out their originality on the nearest tree
old folks remind me of my dog
my dog reminds old people of their dogs
(Barfy, Ruffo, Beanhead)
Gina says I remind her of the dog
the that way I just did that
golfers teeing off remind me of my dog
the way he sits by me and shifts on his front paws

what is it you want? look at it...
do you want to go for a walk? do you want a cookie?
do you want me to dial the number for you?

....Little Hawk reminds me of his dog.....

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:00 PM

Most of the people here do not remind me of my dog. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:24 PM

I'm on the market for a small dog, preferably un-adoptable. It has to be small enough that I can carry it if needs be, and un-adoptable because my notion has been to give each dog a happy ending, one by one.

Last night I dreamt that I was given an Irish Wolfhound . He lay down on my recliner and couldn't get his hindquarters onto it; his hind legs were still on the floor.


Well, humph.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:30 PM

I always said, if I won the lottery, I'd get Irish Wolfhounds and breed them. Magnificent dogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:36 PM

"un-adoptable"?

Meaning what?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:38 PM

Re:

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Cluin - PM
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:47 PM

Mine can lick his balls for hours. The novelty never wears off for him.



I don't think anyone asked yet, so... how do you know this?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:45 PM

Yeah, eh? Imagine someone who spends hours watching his dog lick its balls! Disgusting. You'd have to be some sort of pervert to do that.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 04:54 PM

Un-adoptable by normal standards, Little Hawk. Whether by age, health condition, personality or circumstance. I've taken a number of them over the years and have had a wonderful life with them. It is not altruism.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 05:22 PM

I recall one day in 1981... I was walking Bear across a bridge in Marysville, NB, CAN. I was near the end of the bridge and I spotted a lad walking his Irish Wolfhound along a street that led to the end of the bridge.

Bear was about 6 months old... a shepherd and NF mix. I knew he would go nuts when we got to the end of the bridge and he would see the hound. And I was ready.

He froze, began barking furiously, steadied... then made a charge. As he was at least 75 pounds, I had steadied also and when he got to the end of the leash, I held fast and it snapped. He ran about ten more feet and began backpeddling and slid to a full stop. He looked back at me with an incredulous look of, "You aren't gonna stop me!!!???"

He turned tail, ran behind me, ran between my legs, stopped with his head barely beyond my crotch and began to bark visciously at the hound.

The hound was rather aloof and nonchalant. The owner was laughing.

I cuffed Bear, grabbed him by the leash and drug him home against his will... yeah, right.

He was quite a dog. But, the day he went after the bus was his last. I felt sorry for the bus driver.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ed T
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 05:38 PM

"Imagine someone who spends hours watching his dog lick its balls! Disgusting. You'd have to be some sort of pervert to do that"

Don't knock it, until you have tried it....you may be surprised how comforting it may be?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 06:02 PM

The voice of experience, eh? ;-) Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Our present dog, sadly, has no balls to lick, and he's too fat and old and stiff to get around to that part anymore anyway. He goes mad when he gets an itch there!

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 06:08 PM

Good Lord, man! Are you keeping a mad dog in your house?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ed T
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 06:09 PM

I just re-routed an Asian friend from this thread. He cannot speak English well, and mistook the title as "Basting my dog", which initially perked his interest...since he is always looking for a new approach to that topic.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: frogprince
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 06:39 PM

Sat around a big campfire with at least a couple of dozen other campers. Guy sits there messing with his dog, dog slurping all over his face. Guy leaves for a few minutes, entrusting the dog to someone else. Dog spends the entire interval licking 'em. Owner returns, dog slurps him all over the face again. Circle of campers all sitting there not saying anything, shaking with laughter.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Tangledwood
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 07:37 PM

"I'm on the market for a small dog, preferably un-adoptable."

Ebbie, most small dogs have always struck me as silly and yappy but I have a friend with a little Papillon which is so much fun. She's a trained medical alert dog, smart, and fully of character. Be prepared for plenty of play time. If she is typical of the breed I'd say that they're well worth looking for.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 07:40 PM

A relative of mine retorted objectionably with sommat about a dog's saliva would help heal a wound and the dog's mouth was more sanitary than a human's and some other bullshit when I was taken aback by him allowing the dog to lick his wee child's face.

Now, the dog lickede it's arsehole and paws walks around outside. If the kid was licking the lawn dirt... ???

BTW... the same dog used to drag it's arse on the carpet. When I suggested the dog might have worms, I was assailed with, "My dog does not have worms!!!"

That dog is dead. That kid has severe eye problems. He's 17 years old now, so I guess it wasn't worms from the dog... ???

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 08:22 PM

I'm trying to be patient and wait for a dog to show up, TWood. My problem is that I miss my last one so much and need a dog to cuddle. I am re-registered at the Humane Society for one but very few dogs come through there. And being this is Alaska, most of them that do come in are large.

Lots of cats thre. But I want to get a dog before I add a cat to the household. I lost my 17-year-old cat last March.

I do know where that dream came from; the other day I met a 6-month old Irish Wolfhound and his owner on the sidewalk and stopped to make their acquaintance. I swear his tail was as slim as a pencil and a yard long. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 09:55 PM

Well, it sounds like a good way to find a loving companion, Ebbie. Their love is unconditional.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Aug 10 - 10:54 PM

Yes.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: kendall
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 07:36 PM

Were there ever wolves in Ireland?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 07:38 PM

Kendall... yes, but the Irish are fond of their sheep and children.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 07:07 AM

So were the Wolves.

Wolves but no snakes....

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 03:30 AM

Yes, kendall, but allegedly the wolves ate them.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: frogprince
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 01:05 PM

I haven't really been situated so that it made sense to keep a dog, for the dog's sake, since back when, growing up on the farm. The dog I grew up with, probably a german shepherd mix, about a year younger than me, was a born livestock dog. Tell him to bring the cows in from pasture, and it was done. He was a "freebie", like most of the dogs we ever had. We eventually actually paid money for a pup sold as an English shepherd, a guaranteed stock dog. By the time we found out he would never pay any particular attention to cattle, he was a member of the family, with us for life. Never have been able to match him to any pictures of "English shepherd" or "English sheep dog"; a mid-size dog, with heavy straight mid-length coat, black with white nose, throat, and boots.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 01:09 PM

My wife is getting back her little companion today, a miniature fox terrier.
He developed eye luxation and consequent glaucoma. One eye removed by the small animal opthalomological surgeon and replaced with prothesis, and laser surgery on the other. We hope that the latter treatment will keep the eye working for a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 01:43 PM

Q... "glaucoma"

You would share your pot with him?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 02:17 PM

Miniature anythings are usually medically less sound.

I am not aware of any breed properly called the "English Shepherd".

The ubiquitous working sheepdog in the UK is the Border Collie (only recently recognised as a breed for show purposes).

The Rough Collie (think "Lassie") and Smooth Collie (the subject of some argument over whether it is merely a coat variation or the last surviving remnants of an older working breed, the English Cur) are not really fit to work in the "One Man and His Dog" style. Generations of breeding for those narrow heads has resulted in dogs nearly as stupid as Otterhounds.

The Bearded Collie I think used to be a truly working breed, but I have never known of any with the instinct.

The Old English Sheepdog (Dulux Dog) is not a sheep-herding breed. It is a guarding breed that could be left in with the flock and a wolf with poor eyesight and no sense of smell could mistake it for a sheep and come to an untimely end. Do not think of them as fluffy and lovable - some are but many are not.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 02:38 PM

I have wondered about the 'English Shepherd'. When I was young, we had one but I've never seen one so named in any book.

The bitch we had was, as FP described: ;mostly black, heavy but not piled coat, white points but not a border collie (wrong head for that breed) medium size - maybe 45 pounds.

According to Google, the English Shepherd * is* a breed. Here are some pictures: English Shepherd Bitch and Pups

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 02:45 PM

That didn't take. I'll try again:

Nope. That didn't work either. The image may be protected.

Google 'English Shepherd +canine' and the picture I tried to link to is of a bitch with three or four pups.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 02:48 PM

Not recognised in England by the Kennel Club.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 02:49 PM

It says it's a US breed. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 03:43 PM

Funny, why call it an "English Shepherd" then?

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: frogprince
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 03:57 PM

Darned if I know why they called 'em English, but the google pictures look right for our pooch "Boots". I also have an old bicycle that was universally known in the U.S. as an English racer, but it's an obsolete 3 speed that really isn't a racer, and from info I've looked up the style was never made in England. Don't blame me. : )

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 06:28 PM

No "English Shepherd" recognized by the American Kennel Club.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 06:34 PM

There is an English Shepherd Club.
Wikipedia says a working dog of the collie lineage, developed in the United States from farm dogs brought by English and Scottish settlers to early America.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Shepherd

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 06:41 PM

When I was a kid we had two bikes. One was a deep red Schwinn and the other we called an 'English bike'. It was a tall, skinny-tired yellow bicycle.

Neither had multiple gears. In fact, I'm probably the only person in America who has never ridden a geared bike. At my age, I suppose it is not likely that I ever will.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 08:01 PM

Irish wolfhound, field use Irish setters and some other large breeds tend to have heart problems and shorter lives than smaller breeds, but size is not the only correlation in many heritable problems like lens luxation and subsequent glaucoma, or in hip dysplasia.
Breeds with the luxation problem are border collies, many terriers, Australian Cattle Dog, Brittany and some other spaniels, Elkhounds and some others. My wife's miniature fox terrier happened to include a line in which the gene was present but had not been paired with a mate that also carried the gene.

Several large breeds carry heritable hip dysplasia, but some mid-size breeds like border collies also can develop the problem.

Consciencious breeders keep careful records and try to keep clear of lineages that that might contribute genes that carry these heritable problems, but are not always successful.

The hip problem is operable, and a loved dog can have many active years after the condition is corrected.
The eye problem can result in blindness, but the other senses take over and a blind dog can play and serve as a companion even though it cannot see.

Canine medical specialists are expensive, treatments often over $1000, but if the pet has become a member of the family, the cost is borne stoically.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 09:07 PM

I'm surprised at heart disease in working or field trial setters - I have not heard of it in the UK, where the workers and FT people refer to the show ring dogs as "bucket-headed great brutes" but the show ring people refer to the others as "ugly little fliers". I'd expect the smaller lighter dog to have less heart trouble. But in general mins are created by inbreeding the runts of litters, and often have bad bone growth. Labs and GSDs are almost invariably hip scored in the UK. Irish Wolfhounds are problems as a re-created breed bred up from elkhounds with various crosses considerably after the true Irish Wolfhound became extinct and I expect the race for bulk to have resulted in defects.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 11:35 PM

Richard, I am probably wrong about field trial dogs.
My experience was with a very large Irish setter which was looking for food in alleys in our neighborhood. After leaving food for him for a few days, he finally would come into the yard.
We tried to find an owner- he had a collar with his name- but no answers to advs. or reports to the animal shelters.
The vet weighed him at 85 pounds (well above breed standards), treated him for worms and checked his health.
We had a little farm as a summer place and decided to keep him. He was somewhat of a wanderer, and we would sometimes trace him down several miles away.
He kept coyotes and other pests away, and would hunt out and destroy mouse nests around the graneries and barns. In the house however, he would be lying on the carpet, and his eyes would follow a mouse wandering across the floor, but he would not go after it. I guess he thought any animal in the house 'belonged'. He was a companion on any hikes, and would run at about 20 miles an hour, I clocked him once with the car.
Another vet, near the farm, said he had seem similar red setters in Ontario, where some people used them to chase deer, keep bear at bay, etc. That's what I meant by 'field', probably not in the breeders sense of the word. My experience is with terriers only.
One day he collapsed while running across the field and his heart had stopped. The same vet told me that about 10-12 years was the limit for them, but I have no personal knowledge of that.

A strange dog, always seeming to keep a little distance, never the 'loving' type, but we missed him when he died.

Subject: RE: BS: Boasting about my dog
From: gnu
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 02:40 PM

I can see how you would miss him, Q. Sounds he was a good dog.