Comfort dogs
Comments
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GMA - it sounds like temperament and size are more important to you than any particular breed. You may want to check with your local humane shelter and let them know what you're looking for. A nice adult dog - 3-4 years+ - sounds like it would be right for you. At that age, they've finished growing, and their personalities are pretty much set. Not like a puppy where you can never be quite sure what the finished product will be like! Also, adult dogs are easier to housebreak, and are past that silly puppy chewing/destructive/hyper stage, so they're much easier to integrate into your home. Most humane shelters have staff who will work with you, and keep an eye out for a dog that matches your needs. Also, check local multi-breed rescue groups - many have websites, and many of them will bring animals to adoption events at places like PetSmart. It may take a few weeks of searching, but when you finally decide, you'll know you're getting exactly the right dog for you and your grands.
DoggieBytes - sounds like you're either a quality breeder, you've worked in an animal shelter, or you work with a rescue. Agree 100% about AKC - that's the dirty little secret of the animal world. I once talked to an AKC rep who admitted that even if a dog was born with 3 legs, was blind, and had green fur, they'd issue AKC papers to the dog if the breeder claimed the parents were purebred. No quality control whatsoever - it's mostly based on the honor system. And we know how unscrupulous people can be if there are $$$ to be made.
Quality breeders tend to only have a litter once every few years, and are very picky about where they'll place their puppies. People who think animal shelters can be picky about adoptions have never worked with a quality breeder - breeders can be much more picky than shelters!! If you want to buy from a breeder, a quick and easy method of knowing whether they're a quality breeder or not is to ask them why they chose to mate the puppies' parents. If it's a good breeder, you'll get a long boring dissertation about the parents' bloodlines, with words like cross-breeding, outbreeding, faults, CERF, OFA certification, etc. Bottom line is that they breed only with the idea of improving the breed. You may not understand most of what the breeder is talking about, but you'll know that the breeder had good specific reasons for breeding the parents!
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Before I got Spookie, I was considering a Havanese. Looked at one breeders website. Oh my! The contract she put on her pups! Had all the usual blah blah, then you WILL use this brush, shampoo, food, guess that was to weed out the lookers like me. I never contacted her.
I also agree the AKC isn't what it's cracked up to be. I'd rather contact the breeds parent club for a reputable breeder.
My Kris is all Poodle, also he is a rescue. He came with baggage, terrified of kids. But a good boy otherwise.
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Had a hilarious moment in the kitchen this morning. Princess finally noticed my black cat calendar while I was making hubby's coffee. Picked her up and she tried to bat at the cat on the calendar!
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WOW JUST WOW!!!!!!!!
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Wow, Spooks,, that is incredible!! How awesome is that???0 -
Hi Natsfan
Great post and yes I do work with animals for a living. I am not a breeder though. The problem for me would be, if I bred a litter and found out one of the buyers was mistreating one of my pups, well I just cannot guarantee that the buyers would have functioning knee caps....for long. ;-). I couldn't handle it and bad buyers do slip past good breeders radars.
Another part of the problem is the general puppy buying public doesn't take time to do research either. When places like Petland still sell "purebred" puppies and people believe these dogs are healthy well bred dogs... SMH.
Some breeders do go over board with the contracts too, I agree with that.
The breeder I was going to get a puppy from is what I call a walking pedigree encyclopedia! She's amazing, plus she's in the medical field (biology) and has deep knowledge of genetics not to mention she's a BHOT....breeder, handler, owner, trainer of the dogs she competes. If you work your dogs you know your dogs. Now that's my kind of breeder!
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Hi Dogbytes. What breed do you work with
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I workwith all breeds and types of animals. From llamas to sugar gliders!
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you're a vet? Somebody here I think has Shiloh shepherds. Just saw a cool article about them,
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Not a vet, I wish! I'm being somewhat vague to protect my privacy but I will tell you it is involving animal care.
Shilohs are nice. Not real GSDs though, they are too big, not adhering to any GSD standard and much more mellow (generally) then what Captain Von Stephanitz ever envisioned for the working German Shepherd.
Shilohs and Kings fill a niche for a certain look and temperament, which I'm totally cool with, but they are separate breeds....not GSDs
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For pet friendly places: marriot has some you can search by state, hitlon does too.
try this place
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For pet friendly places: marriot has some you can search by state, hitlon does too.
try this place
Mini-Aussies are recognized by AKC now. AKC has open up a lot of new designer breeds into the registry. I won't go into further details as to why. You can guess.
Airedale terriers are nice dogs too, but you want to keep in mind your activity, cost (grooming,etc), and size. If you are looking for a breeder make sure you can go check out the breeders house, know the health of the parents, a good breeder would have already work on housetraining, socialization, and training on a dog. Please, don't take a puppy before 8 weeks.
Here's an article about choosing puppy's.
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Was pretty chilly here yesterday, Spookie finally got to wear her new coat.
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Cuteness overload!While my heart breed is GSDs, I'm still a sucker for the little cuties!
Spookie's sweater is very nice, love the color.
FairyDogMom, Airedales are cool! I visited an OB class with a friend who was training her Yorkie, the trainer had Airedales, participated in Agility with them. Kind of rare though, you don't see a lot of Airedales around, at least here where I live. Also, for the dog nerds, I've handled a Black Russian Terrier, big boy with a big bark! Impressive and intimidating dog. Not a good dog for the average family though. The owner was going to do IPO (Schutzhund) but decided to go the agility route with the big boy!
(p.s. hope I didn't offend any Shiloh owners. They are lovely dogs in their own right and many people own and love a Shiloh!)
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Saw an article in Dog Fancy about the Russian Terrier. Yep! Big dog!
Funny story. Was at an agility trial dominated by Aussies and BCs. An Irish Setter was up next. (Don't see many of them either). He got off the start line fine. Then goofy took over. He grabbed one of the number cones and took off the wrong way. Laughing doggy grins, finally his handler talked him down the A-frame, cone still in his mouth. The whole arena was in tears, wish I'd gotten video
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hehehe when they go wrong in such a cute way..
I think I saw a similar video, not for agility but some other sort of OB test....I'll try to find it, was so funny.
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http://youtu.be/5iTTNRE-njM Here it is, cool test for recall under distraction too, but the Golden is too cute!
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how funny!!!!!
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pretty day here today
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I couldn't live without my rescue pug. After my mastectomy he was off limits and he and I were both miserable because of it. He's been great therapy.
He surfs in the ocean and paddleboards on the lake and loves it. For a smile...Here he is.
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Kris really isn't that dirty, he's in the shadows
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bump
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Saw this and thought of this thread... I miss my Tigger. (Still don't have a new furbaby and can't afford to get one either)
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That reminds me of my couch, Faith owns it.
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To be able to sleep like a cat
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awwwwwwwwwwww
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Gma - way too true!!!
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hahaha GMA!
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Faith was so good at the hospital while I had my test.
they took her in the back so she would not get anything
from the tests, she kept watching me threw the whole thing
and then she got to come over and was like I was gone all day.
Dogs and friends are wonderful!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRDsDgZivg4
