BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!

Subject: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 May 03 - 09:50 PM

Just discovered he dug up and apparently ate all the pansies/violas and snapdragon bedding plants I planted 2 days ago. Now, have to go get more and a small piece of fence material.........but I still love him.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:05 PM

Corgi?

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:38 PM

No, the Dobe/Blue Heeler cross. The Corgis are mine, the DogDammed GrandDog is not. I just baby-sit. He is a digging fool. And an idiot. Acts like a crazy Dobe, but smart as a cow dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Bobert
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:51 PM

Well, Sorch, these critters ain't wired like the rest of us. Ahhh, they think it is their sworn duty to go out and screw up. Whe have several "diggers" in our fold. The dog digs and igs. The only thing you can do is to be smarter than the , ahhhhh, pets. Fencing, squirt bottles, threats, yelling, etc....

Our new kitten ate the tops off our Tomato plants that we're growing from seed. After gettin another batch going, we took here and the new batch to a quiet corner and asked the kitten if she had any particualr interest in the "new batch'" and then popped her a couple with the rolled up newspaper. She got the hint and is now avoiding the new seedlings like they are radiation.

People is smarter than pets...

Guarebteed...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: NicoleC
Date: 15 May 03 - 10:53 PM

Two words: electric fence.

Doesn't hurt really but it creeps them out. I know, I'm a softie and I had to try it on myself first. The little dog got the message. The big dog didn't notice (too much fur) so we upgraded to the horse version. That'll open your eyes! Not what you'd call painful, though.

Makes gardening a bit tough, dodging the fence.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:00 PM

LoL, Bobert, but two legs is not necessarily smarter than 4.

Nicole, too small an area for electric fence, all I really need is a little bitty 6" fence to just stop him from trying to dig right there,I think.

The other day, he was playing with his blue rubber 'raquet ball' and tried to dig up the 9 yr old grape vine roots......he's a Digger Dog fer sure. At least he hasn't tried to dig his way out of the fenced yard..........yet. But he does love his walkabouts when he manages to get out......sociable fella he is.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: NicoleC
Date: 15 May 03 - 11:24 PM

When you buy a doggy electric fence, it's just some stakes and a wire, not really a "fence". You hang the wire about 10-18" from the ground (depending on the size of the dog -- you want it about chest height because a shock on the nose would probably hurt.) It's not even very noticeable. I wired off a little 2' x 9' garden of vegetables.

After a couple of months, even the stupid one (who had to get shocked pretty much daily for weeks to get the message) wouldn't go anywhere near a piece of bare wire, and I left the fence up but turned it off :) Later we expanded and just strung up some wire...

Feeding some root vegetables sometimes helps instinctual digging behavior, but not once it's a diehard habit that they've learned to do it out of fun. And if they think it's fun, a little 6" fence is NOT going to deter them!

Ain't dogs grand?

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:34 AM

Nicole, Dogz is more than grand! I luv them all, I think,but this is a space about 1'x 2' maybe.....and I think I can fix 'it' without an electric fence or shock collar........I hope! Just generally pissed off at him tonight, even if I love him.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Metchosin
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:47 AM

what is it with dogs and pansies? Our new pup, MacDuff, ate mine too, which were growing in a big pot on the deck, then to add insult to injury, he insists on lying in the pot on the few broken stragglers that remain. Maybe he thinks they make him smell good.

Today he ate a bunch of flowers from a funeral floral arrangement that we had on the hearth. Loves them flowers, but has little regard for solemn ceremonies.

In the past month he's also eaten the mask of my husband's CPAP machine, but good boy that he is though, he did roll the carpet back carefully, before he ate a corner of the underlay.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:55 AM

Had a fun dog a few years ago. Went to a working farm and got the runt of an Aussie litter for my five year old daughter. Of course he grew as large as a Wolf, but on her seventh birthday she ran crying into the house. He was nipping at the heels of all the birthday kids and was circling them as a flock under the swingset. God save us, we can't win.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 03 - 02:01 AM

Nicole, last time I accidentally came into contact with an electric fence meant to keep cows and horses in line, it hurt like hell! That is a pretty drastic move--best if the dog can be faked out by a piece of wire. But I wonder--the darned squirrels are into my garden. I may have to build a chickenwire dome of some sort to keep them out of the melons.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: gnu
Date: 16 May 03 - 05:14 AM

Lattice. Plant in the spaces. Won't stop them from eating, but it will stop them from digging. And don't forget the ballast.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 May 03 - 09:00 AM

My brother had an Irish setter...so you know what sort of attention our "commands" got! When others in Vietnam had playmates-of-the-month on their locker doors, he had his photos of his dog. Anyway, I was walking her in the yard one day when she went into a perfect point, took two steps, pointed again, three steps to flush -- and then snatched that ol' fly right out of the air and ate it.

Only dog I ever knew who pointed, flushed, and ate flies. And while she'd been to obedience school, she never learned that there!

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: MMario
Date: 16 May 03 - 09:02 AM

Doug - the "herding" story sound familiar - our first family dog was a border collie/siberian huskie mix - and he had strong herding instincts around the kids. And if he decided they had been in swimming long enough he would even go into the pond and "herd" them back to shore!

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 03 - 11:04 AM

These are wunnerful stories, keep 'em coming. Dogz, ya know? Saw a t shirt the other day that said--"Untied Dyslexics Church of Dog".

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: MMario
Date: 16 May 03 - 11:14 AM

then there was Henry. Henry was a beagle, a digger, and an epileptic. He was *suppossed* to stay in his yard so that they could medicate him correctly - but he dug his way out every time. (he had a route through town he liked to take- very social animal - mascot of the school cafeteria lunch ladies, well received at the library etc.) They thought they had finally confined him when they moved to a new house - the kennel run had a six foot chain link fence mounted in concrete footings that went down over 36 inches.

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Henry was out in less then 24 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 May 03 - 11:29 AM

Y'all HAVE heard the one about the insomniac dyslexic agnotic, haven't you?

Kept himself up all night wondering whether or not there is a dog...

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 03 - 11:46 AM

that's older than the cobweb's in methuseleh's mom's crotch.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:11 PM

Speaking of crotches and electric fences. Many years ago I became one of the first in my area to get one of those underground electric fences which require that the dog wears a receiver collar which beeps as the dog approaches the wire, and if the dog continues, shocks him through metal studs in the collar. I had two Irish Setters, who always wanted to migrate south with the geese etc. I thought this was the perfect answer, and bought the system, trained the dogs, and life (and the garden) was good.

I was also told that if I needed to take the dogs out of the yard, all I needed to do was remove the collar, and lead them out to the car.

What I was not told was never put the collars in your front pockets, before heading for the car.

I faintly heard the beeps before my crotch exploded...

And the dogs kindly licked my face as I twisted on the ground, screaming as I tore at my pockets...

Dogs do not have "Heh Heh" in their vocabulary... do they?

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:19 PM

My daughter keeps cows away from her house area with electric wire (type described by Nicole C). I think I was the first to touch the wire. I learned. The dog will too.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 May 03 - 12:21 PM

Claymore, that is priceless!

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 16 May 03 - 03:53 PM

I had a Gordon setter who was not really brilliant. He would automatically point the rabbits in our large backyard, but having never been trained to hold a point, he would then start carefully stalking them. The yard was surrounded by thick, thorny bushes where the rabbits lived ala "Br'er Rabbit and the Briar Patch," and they could see him coming from the other side of the yard. They'd just keep an eye on him 'til he got about 15 feet away, then casually hop into the bushes. The dog would continue to stalk the empty place until he got there and realized the rabbits had gone.

Finally, one winter, he had his moment of glory. He appeared at the back door with a dead rabbit in his mouth, wagging proudly. The rabbit was frozen stiff; he had found it dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Kim C
Date: 16 May 03 - 04:07 PM

Sorcha, maybe he'd like a holiday to Tennessee to come play with Sampson. So far Sampson has done pretty well - he hasn't chewed up too much besides an old placemat, and a couple of small places on the linoleum. He's an energetic little guy, for sure.

I remember when our dear departed Zenith was young - she ate the landlady's lilac bush in the back yard. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Sorcha
Date: 16 May 03 - 04:52 PM

Now Max and his girlfriend Taj (Staff. Terrier/Aussie cross) have finished tearing up that bed (not got it fenced yet) and started a new hole............

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Jeep man
Date: 16 May 03 - 10:37 PM

Sorcha, dogs are gonna dig. I think its the Code Of The Hills. My dog Cody used to dig great big, dog sized holes and stand in them and grin at me. I thought he was smart. Mamma thought he was a varmint.

I miss old Cody, but Mamma has adopted a Lab,Golden Retriever mix and she digs little puppy holes. Her name is Sugar Babe and I will have to admit, she is. Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 03 - 10:44 PM

I still regularly (and accidentally) step down into holes in my yard left behind by the large dogs owned by folks who rented this houses before I bought it. I had my son go around the yard filling them, but he missed a few.

I never had a problem with dogs digging holes. We had bird dogs, and they were always jumping fences.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Sorch
Date: 16 May 03 - 11:23 PM

I don't have a big problem with digging, but outing my flowers and eating them is a bit much. Last summer, I planted lots of peas, they flowered but never produced. I wondered why until one day I looked out the window and the 3 of them are noshing their way down the pea vine......they also ate the tops of my basil, and gave the tomatoes a good shot.........

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: Mudlark
Date: 17 May 03 - 01:05 AM

Ai, doggies, them 4-footers can get you going! My corgis are great yard dogs and neither dig nor stray. But they are...I hate to admit it...cat killers. Luckily, when they've treed a cat they always come and tell me about it, with great excitement...come, come quick!!! There's a CAT!!! I've learned the hard way that the best way to deal with this is to immediately lock all 3 dogs up, then go and shoo the cat away before letting the dogs out again. Smart as they are, Emily has ben known to stand barking up into a tree where a cat was, but is no more...for an embarassingly long time. She is far more fierce than the 2 guys.

Those electric fences can pack quite a wallop. When we lived in Arkansas we fenced a portion of the yard and garden with one after the cows demolished our patio furniture. It was not uncommon to find a copperhead dangling dead from the low wire....

Subject: RE: BS: Dog Dammed Grand-Dog!
From: GUEST,Sorch
Date: 17 May 03 - 01:44 AM

And my Corgis (and Max) have been raised with cats, and love them. No probs with their own cats, but strays.......'nother story.