Watch dogs

I remember years ago when I was small we lived in the poor section of the city. We were renters and my dad was trying to convince the landlord to let us have a "watch dog". Since I was little I thought why would my dad want a dog to wear a Timex or Oakley watches! I didn't make the connection until I was a few years older that he wanted a guard dog for our home. In the course of living in that place we were broken into twice. After the first daytime burglary I never felt the same again.

When I was a teen we moved to a place that allowed pets and at first we didn't have a dog. When I got my first job in an industrial area there was a malnourished dog that me and my co-workers watched as she evaded animal control. She was a very shy black Lab mix and had no hair on parts of her body because she had no decent nourishment for weeks, if not months. I and began to feed her and start to get closer to her.

My dad use to pick me up from work. I had been feeding the dog for about a week but I still could not get close to her. Then one day when I got into the car to go home the dog decided to follow. We lived only a mile from where I worked but it was a busy mile, traffic wise. She followed us over the freeway over pass as my dad drove very slowly. As we got closer to home a pedestrian saw what was happening and got a rope and make shift leash for us. I managed to get the rope on the dog and walk the last few blocks home with her.

As the weeks past and she grew back her shinny coat and gained weight, she became a self appointed guard dog. She protected her new home and her new family. She was my dad's dog after I left the house and got married. It was the guard dog he wanted for all those years.

Lost or found a dog?

I think we have all gone through the anxiety of loosing a pet at one time or another. All of my own dogs are mircochipped. Should they get lost and they wind up at an animal shelter or vet's office they can be scanned and I will be notified. Bit what if the finder of my dog decides to find the owner by looking for me by a classified ad or by searching the internet? Then my chances might be slim that my dog and I will be reunited.

One computer programmer thought the same way and 3 years ago came up with a data based website called Fidofinder.com, to find out more about the website and how it came about here is a video about it.

Destructive chewing

Destructive chewing in dogs starts when they are cutting their first set of teeth and will often continue until their second set of teeth are fully in. Dogs being dogs will chew on anything left within their reach. Plastic bottle caps that have fallen on the floor to that table leg that you forgot to shut the door to the room it was in. We can go around and pick up everything in sight and give the do it's own chew toy but be careful what type of toy you give the dog. If you give the dog a small stuffed dog toy and you have children that have stuffed animal toys you might find that the dog will not know the difference from chewing it's own toy to chewing on you daughter's favorite teddy bear.

Chewing and digging up parts of your rugs is a matter more of smell than chewing. The dog finds an interesting smell in the rug or carpet and wants to find out more about it. Very often the rug destroying act is a one time only deal since we often get so upset with the result the dog can tell from our tone and attitude not to do it again.

The only way to prevent destructive chewing and destruction of your items in your home is by training and not leaving the dog alone in the home.

The graceful Saluki

The Saluki is a member of the sight hound group of dogs. The dog breed is also one of the oldest breeds of dog in the world. The breed can be seen on ancient walls that date back more than 5000 years.

The Saluki is not as fast as the Greyhound but it has more stamina so it can run for longer periods of time. Watching a Saluki run in flat out linear motion is a vision of poetry in motion. The Saluki is also noted for it's jumping ability and can jump fences shorter than 5 feet with ease. This is a high energy breed of dog that if not given something to do will find something to do.

The Saluki comes in 2 coat varieties - smooth and feathered. The feathered type is the one most people are familiar with. The smooth type has no feathering at all.

Cattle dogs

Where I live there is a multitude of working dogs. We have sheep herders that have dogs to move the sheep from location to location. The sheep are used to keep the hay fields from over growing during the winter months. There are also hunting dogs. Our neighbor has 2 coon hounds.

I am the most fond of the cattle dogs and we have one. Her name is Kaydee. She is a mixture of McNab, Border Collie and Australian Shepard. She helps me with our horses. She helped convince one of our horses to load into a horse trailer when he really didn't want to go in. Kaydee also keeps an eye on the herd and lets us know if there is something wrong.

Her breed mixture is quite common as ranchers are not interested in breed standards as much as performance. If the dog cannot be trained or does work then they are not bred, period. I often see 2 or cattle dogs waiting in their owners trucks while their owners are in the feed store getting ranch or cattle supplies.

Dog beds

What is your idea of a bed for your dog? Is it an elaborate canopied four poster bed or just an old comforter thrown in a corner? I think that most of us have something in between the 2. The idea that pet beds should be an elaborate item stems from the idea that dogs are often treated as a substitute for a child. Often childless families set aside a bedroom just for the dog.

Whether the dog cares one way or another about the type of bed it sleeps in is probably a mute point. The point is, the dog is thought about and cared for.

Funny dog names

I think that we have all heard of a dog with a funny or unusual name. I have known dogs with the names of "Dog", "Damn It", "Pac Bell", "Patek Philippe" (named after a Swiss watch), "Pooper" and a few that were on the verge of being down right nasty.

The most common name for a dog is Bear according to the American Kennel Club. I must confess that I even had a dog named Bear years ago. His full registered name was Chief Running Bear. He was a Chow Chow.

Dogs and windows

I have never been a fan of window blinds. I guess that comes from being surrounded by them while I was growing up. I always saw them as dust collectors. As an adult dog owner I liked them even less. Our windows are the type that almost go from floor to ceiling. I live in a rural area and love to let the sunshine into the home. We also have deer and other animals that run through the yard at times. It is times like those that I am glad we don't have window blinds since our small dog would have probably ruined them by now. His frantic movements at the window while a deer wanders through the property would have probably pulled the blinds down around himself.

The dog would also have been entertained by the house cat if we had blinds, since she would be playing with the cords.

Breeds removed from dangerous dog bill in New Mexico

New Mexico is in the middle of drafting a dangerous dog bill. Only a few short days ago the bill was to list several breeds of dogs that would have to be registered with the state should the bill become law. The breed part of the bill has now been removed. The video news about the bill and the breeds mentioned is below.

Very light reading

Do you need a chuckle? Like short books? How about a short humorous book on dog behavior? The book is called How to Handle Living with Your Dog, written by Winkie Spiers. With a name like Winkie Spiers for the author the book has some promise there. Of course it is written in England so some of the terms might not be as funny to those who don't understand the English humor. The book is published by Short Stack Publishing and they are home of the How to Handle Series of books. They are also looking for some authors for their How to Handle books. The website at Short Stack gives one the impression that they just have humorous books on serious subjects. That's just what we need today, more humor.

The mothering instincts of dogs

I have seen cats nurse kittens that were not their own. I have seen cows nurse calves that were not there own. Dogs on the other hand seem more than willing to nurse other animals that are not dogs. The photo above proves my point. Here you have 2 tiger cubs in a China zoo whose tiger mother was playing naughty nurse by not having enough milk for the cubs. The dog came to the rescue.

Puppy training

I have always considered the 2 basic dog training obstacles to overcome is - housebreaking the new dog or puppy and training a dog not to chew everything in sight.

I have trained dogs that have been cat killers into cat lovers and shown Chow Chows in obedience classes at major dog shows and I still don't like housebreaking puppies or young dogs. I have had 2 dogs that were impossible to housebreak. They would be fine for weeks on end and I thought that they were finally trained not to pee in the house. Then it would be one day out of the blue that they would just squat down in front of my sight and pee on the carpet. I didn't know if it was a sign of defiance or what else might be going on in their heads. I actually gave up on both of them and they had to live outside. They were quite happy as outdoor dogs since they now had the run of the property.

That brings me to the conclusion that there are dogs that are perfectly content being house dogs and there are others that prefer to be outside all the time. If my theory is correct then no amount of dog obedience training is going to change that dog. We, as their owners must strive to find out more about a dog and try to learn why a dog is doing what they are doing before trying to change them. If more people did that less dogs would end up at the local animal shelter because the owner could no longer handle the dog.

Going shopping with your dog

I love it when a store in town encourages me to take my dog for a visit. Most of the time it is the local pet shop or feed store. The feed store usually has big sales almost every month and gives away prizes or promotional products. I just love getting those free dog products. Our local feed store is huge and they really know how to get us pet owners in that place to spend money. Last time they gave away dry dog food and I am not talking sample sizes here. They gave the 5 pound bags away. The only catch to get the dog food is that you had to bring your dog with you. We have 3 dogs and I piled them all in the truck for the trip for free food.

Dogs at work

There are many people that are fortunate to have their dog with them while they work. I know several people that work in professions that a dog is very welcome. The local feed store has a resident cat and dog. Most veterinarians have a dog in the office or with them when they make ranch calls. I am fortunate to work in a profession that my dog is with me, I am a free lance writer and my dog is either at my feet or sleeping under the office furniture. As long as the dog is well behaved I cannot see why more work places don't allow dogs in the area.

Dogs at weddings

I am noticing that more and more people are including the family dog at formal weddings. Most of these weddings are not at churches where most dogs are still banned. The dog is not just a guest but a vital part of the wedding like the ring bearer. A few of the dog owners even go as far as to have tuxedos custom made for their pet. The female dog would be wearing a bridesmaid outfit or just silk flowers. This is a wonderful idea as long as the dog has excellent obedience training.

Backpacks for dogs

Spring is almost here and many dog owners like to go hiking with their dogs. Having your dog carry it's own drinkable water or if the dog is large enough, carry your jacket when you get too hot would be a help. You can find many backpacks just made for dogs or design and make your own. It doesn't have to look like Swiss Army luggage just something that distributes the weight of the pack on either side of the dog.