The Dog Lover Thread

[San Juan Sun]

24 hour update:

- Pooped twice in the house last night

- Slept in his kennel, started whining about 5:30 am. I got up and let him out, and he pooped twice outside as soon as I let him out. Good news, he likes to go outside.

- Played with the kids before Church, then back in the kennel.

- Got home, took him outside, and he urinated ASAP. I'm very, very glad that he likes to go outside. Sort of like my 3 year old boy.

- Met about 15 cousins today at Sunday dinner. Handled it all like a champ. He's not a spaz, but not in perpetual fear either. He definately prefers to be close to my 8 year old though.

- Not one single attempt to jump on anyone. He will chew on and play with a rope bone we bought him, but has not yet chewed anything else.

- Several naps in the laps of me, my wife, my 8 year old boy, and my 7 year old girl.

- The last two hours, he just follows my 8 year old son around the living room while we watch Cool Runnings. It's early, but they seem to be bonding.

[myboynoah]

24 hour update:

- Pooped twice in the house last night

- Slept in his kennel, started whining about 5:30 am. I got up and let him out, and he pooped twice outside as soon as I let him out. Good news, he likes to go outside.

- Played with the kids before Church, then back in the kennel.

- Got home, took him outside, and he urinated ASAP. I'm very, very glad that he likes to go outside. Sort of like my 3 year old boy.

- Met about 15 cousins today at Sunday dinner. Handled it all like a champ. He's not a spaz, but not in perpetual fear either. He definately prefers to be close to my 8 year old though.

- Not one single attempt to jump on anyone. He will chew on and play with a rope bone we bought him, but has not yet chewed anything else.

- Several naps in the laps of me, my wife, my 8 year old boy, and my 7 year old girl.

- The last two hours, he just follows my 8 year old son around the living room while we watch Cool Runnings. It's early, but they seem to be bonding.

Good job kennel training him. He's not going to poop or pee in his den, unless there is no alternative.

[FMCoug]

Good job kennel training him. He's not going to poop or pee in his den, unless there is no alternative.

Ditto.

Also, it sounds like you are doing a great job socializing him with other people, kids, etc. That is great. But don't forget to include other animals (especially dogs), especially for a breed that is known to be aggressive.

[LA Ute]

24 hour update:

- Pooped twice in the house last night

- Slept in his kennel, started whining about 5:30 am. I got up and let him out, and he pooped twice outside as soon as I let him out. Good news, he likes to go outside.

- Played with the kids before Church, then back in the kennel.

- Got home, took him outside, and he urinated ASAP. I'm very, very glad that he likes to go outside. Sort of like my 3 year old boy.

- Met about 15 cousins today at Sunday dinner. Handled it all like a champ. He's not a spaz, but not in perpetual fear either. He definately prefers to be close to my 8 year old though.

- Not one single attempt to jump on anyone. He will chew on and play with a rope bone we bought him, but has not yet chewed anything else.

- Several naps in the laps of me, my wife, my 8 year old boy, and my 7 year old girl.

- The last two hours, he just follows my 8 year old son around the living room while we watch Cool Runnings. It's early, but they seem to be bonding.

Sounds promising! Keep it up. Regular trips to the dog park might be a good idea too, sometime pretty soon.

[FMCoug]

Sounds promising! Keep it up. Regular trips to the dog park might be a good idea too, sometime pretty soon.

Hack.

[LA Ute]

Hack.

Sorry. I should have said your post inspired mine. But I was being more specific.

[marsupial]

My brother had a Rottweiler. This dog came at me, foaming at the mouth, snarling with hair on end on several occasions. I was still a child at the time and my dad intervened and kept him from attacking me. I had never done anything to provoke it. So, sorry Commando, Rottweilers don't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

My brother has also had three pitbulls. The first one was a mix with a Mastiff. Sweetest dog ever... to people. Would tear another dog to shreds, though.

The second pit was fiercely loyal to the family and especially my sister-in-law, but that little bitch bit danimal, my other brother (not her owner) and my niece's friend. I hated her. However, my sister-in-law is diabetic and this dog could smell when her sugars would get low and more than once she woke my brother up in the middle of the night just in time to get my sister-in-law to the hospital.

His current pit is afraid of his own shadow. He's sweet to dogs and people.

[mUUser]

Pits....in all their varieties (including the Staffies in my avatar), bullmastiffs, rotties, dobes, bullies, are all wonderful breeds. Good choices for good owners.

[Commando]

So, sorry Commando, Rottweilers don't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Every dog's different I guess. I hate hate hate effing German Shepherds.

[myboynoah]

Every dog's different I guess. I hate hate hate effing German Shepherds.

Why? Because they're so awesome?

[Commando]

Why? Because they're so awesome?

See? They are already causing discord even in venues far from their physical realm of influence.

[marsupial]

Every dog's different I guess. I hate hate hate effing German Shepherds.

The only German Shepherds I've encountered were great dogs and if they didn't have so much damn fur, that is the breed we would have gotten. Mike & Farrah Waters had the sweetest German Shepherd. My daughter would crawl around their house following the dog. She'd also sit in the exer-saucer and hand feed her Cheerios. It was sweet to watch.

I think my brother got a kick out of how badass his dog was and while I am sure he didn't want his dog to attack his baby sister, he didn't seem to be doing any training to prevent him from doing so, either. That dog ended up dying from a brain tumor, so perhaps that had something to do with his mean streak. No matter, I would NEVER get a Rottweiler.

[LA Ute]

Pits....in all their varieties (including the Staffies in my avatar), bullmastiffs, rotties, dobes, bullies, are all wonderful breeds. Good choices for good owners.

I tend to agree. Not the breeds for me, but a serious owner can make them work out. The problem is that too many owners just want to have a badass dog, so they get a PB. Those are the owners whose dogs kill other dogs and hurt people. A pair of our neighbors' PBs got out and killed a neighbor dog in the street right in front of my house. It was pretty horrible and I couldn't do anything to stop it. We didn't even know those neighbors had those dogs, so up to that point they had been were pretty responsible with them. Once the killing happened, though, the two PBs were put down. So the breed just worries me.

We live in a neighborhood where the average dog is a Labrador or a Golden, or something along those lines, so it was a little disturbing to know such pets might be in some yards. That's why I take pepper spray with me when I walk or run with our dog. She'd have no idea what to do if attacked.

[wuapinmon]

I think anyone who claims that a breed only attacks someone due to owners not treating their animals appropriately is deluded. You are letting an animal share space with your family. While tame and domesticated, they still have instinct. Just like some people kill family members, dogs are going to do the same. And, in the case of certain breeds, this instinct has been bred into them so the chances of an attack are far greater. I've been bitten many times as an adult, and people have always said, "I can't believe he'd do that, he's the sweetest dog."

[Babs]

I think anyone who claims that a breed only attacks someone due to owners not treating their animals appropriately is deluded. You are letting an animal share space with your family. While tame and domesticated, they still have instinct. Just like some people kill family members, dogs are going to do the same. And, in the case of certain breeds, this instinct has been bred into them so the chances of an attack are far greater. I've been bitten many times as an adult, and people have always said, "I can't believe he'd do that, he's the sweetest dog."

Just for the record, wuap, I was joking. The quip was a play on the "guns don't kill people" line. I'm still missing half of my upper lip from when I was attacked as a ten-year-old, so I have little patience for the excuses that apologists make for aggressive breeds.