courtnek

the guy who played Hercules was pretty sweet too, but I like the Aragorn/rough look better.

I am a diabetic, and on medication to prevent glaucoma.... just to see his reaction, when the Dr. told me that I asked him if I could smoke pot - I thought he was gonna lose it right then and there!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

pentobarbitol???? Is that not a narcotic???? During the 1990s, FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) received reports from veterinarians that pentobarbital, an anesthetizing agent used for dogs and other animals, seemed to be losing its effectiveness in dogs. Based on these reports, CVM officials decided to investigate a plausible theory that the dogs were exposed to pentobarbital through dog food, and that this exposure was making them less responsive to pentobarbital when it was used as a drug. Because in addition to producing anesthesia, pentobarbital is routinely used to euthanize animals, the most likely way it could get into dog food would be in rendered animal products. Rendered products come from a process that converts animal tissues to feed ingredients. Pentobarbital seems to be able to survive the rendering process. If animals are euthanized with pentobarbital and subsequently rendered, pentobarbital could be present in the rendered feed ingredients. ok, they think it's safe? I wouldnt feed it to a dog, that's for sure

I voted for sporting, because I am a big fan of labs, goldens, pointers, etc.... but the choices are not exactly accurate anymore. Labs, goldens, shepherds, they all now fall into "working" dogs.... I feel personally'that any dog used for assistance, for guidance, for search and rescue is a working dog. just my opinion, of course. :D

sounds more like allergies than a cold. If it's not too hot where you are, yu can run a hunidifier (cool mist, not warm) on the floor near where she sleeps and it will help clear up some of the congestion

My lab usually ignores them, unless the tornado siren goes off. Then she gets nervous and whines...I dont know if it's the siren or that she senses something bad is happening. My Golden was scared to death of storms. (unlike Rowie!!) My mom would not allow him upstairs, but there was a bathroom upstairs with a sunken tub, and when the storms got bad he would sneak (literally!) past my moms door and into the bathroom, and lay down in the tub...when it was over he would sneak back downstairs. I could hear his tags jangling, but mom usually slept through it. He seemed to feel safe in the sunken tub for some reason.... :D

she sounds like an excellent breeder Cassie - we need more of those!! and I'm glad she doesnt place Newfies with little kids - not that they're mean, but they are large enough to bowl over a big man, much less a little kid.... I wish all breeders could be like her, and all owners as responsible as you are!! GOOD JOB!! even tho I know you'll miss your boys... :D :D :D

It doesnt matter who makes the food, or which is better, they will try to eat each others food....thats how dogs are.... they will eat cat food if given the chance..... they wil eat CAT LITTER if given the chance.... dogs/wolves will eat anything edible.

They seem to know, Abker, who would be the best to lead. They need a strong leader in the wolf pack, because without one they will not survive. Even those these are dogs, and get food everyday and shelter, they still respond intinctively to pack rules...Abby deos not feel that Cracker is a good "leader" - she thinks she will be better, and since Cracker is so submissive she is probablt right...Making Cracker "lead" when she doesnt want to is making her nervous and unhappy. I truly believe that Abby should lead, Cracker should be demoted, and I think both dogs will be happier because of it. and that's what you really want - peace in the household. They live in peace quite happily in a pack where the rules have been laid down, and the leader, leads.... :D

the best teething "ring" I ever had for a dog was ice....put down a towel and put some ice on it and let him chew away...it keeps the teething pain down, and they love to crunch on it. The only downside is that you might create an "ice monster" and he'll want some everytime he hears you open the freezer....lol oh and it also helps clean their teeth.... :D you can also make ice with chicken or beef broth in it - they like that even better!! just make sure it's natural broth, and doesnt have a lot of preservatives and stuff in it - they LOVE it!!

[quote]There was something really special about this girl I think there is something really special about you too [/quote] Amen to that!! You are doing work that needs to be done - it hurts now, but think of how happy Cozie will be in her new home. and dogs and kids belong together... thank you for caring... :angel:

I remember watching a show about a wolf pack that had to be moved from a park they were in to a new home on a wooded indian reservation. They showed the lives of the wolves from the beginning of meeting and accepting the humans as family members, to actually being drugged and driven to their new home. There was one wolf, definite Omega and bottom of the pile, that became a favorite of the people. He was the son of the alpha, but for whatever reason he was delegated to the bottom. After the pack was moved, the people left them alone for a year or so so they could adjust to their new home without human intervention. When they came back to visit, the pack recognized them immediately and welcomed them back. (!!! that really surprised me!) and they saw that the alpha was now getting up in years and losing strenght, and the Omega had started to plant himself into the alpha position. It was month or so long transition, where the Omega would roll over when the alpha came up to him, but he started leading the pack, running the show, and picked himself a female to be his alpha mate. The male alpha just sorta became a secondary member (although still respected) and let his Omega son rule. The point of this long tale is that the switching of ranks can be painless once it's been decided it's going to happen. Abkers question about rolling over reminded me of that show.... They are amazing creatures. The alpha just knew his time was up, the others knew it too, and the one who worked the hardest for his spot got it, even though he was bottom of the pile at first....

in a fight for the "top spot" - if the one dog gives up the spot to the other, the other will "roll over"...it's a way of saying "I am now in the top spot, but if you'l work with me, we'll get along...." It is hard for a dog to give up the top spot - it's also hard for the new winner to take it. In a packsociety they HAVE to get along - for the good of the pack - and so they givea little when rank changes. I think you'll find that once the role reversal has happened. Abby will be more than willing to accomodate Cracker.. and then they wont fight, and that's the bottom line... :D

Dont worry Abker - everyone thinks that!! Cat's cover their scent because they were originally desert animals, no other scents to cover theirs... Ben is obviously comfortable in his position as top dog of that yard... only when something unknown comes up does he spread his scent, a warning - MY YARD! STAY OUT! all dogs send scent - it's just part of their nature - to attract, to repel, to warn....believe it or not, they send different scents for every situation. :D

no. the spreading of scent has more uses than just mating. They use it to define territory, to declare themselves, to warn off other animals. The mating instinct is only one small part of it. They send pheremone messages every time they pee, salivate and rub the pads. And no, they dont "cover it up" (cats do that) - they are trying to send it all over!! lol :D

we should FLOOD him with email...keep him busy..her was my reply Mr. Rosenberg,. Those are statistics, and some of them are actually incorrect. The APBT (the so-called "Pit Bull) is actually less offensive to people than your average dog. They ARE dog aggressive, but that should not be counted as a statistic for people bites. The AST is more people aggressive than the Pit Bull, but all of you journalist people want to lump them all together into the same pile and yell "Pit Bull!" everytime something happens. The Rottweilers, Doberman's, German Shepherds of the world are GUARDING DOGS - wake up, why do you think the police and army use them? It a natural part of their breeding to guard - it's what they were intended to do. Is the dog responsible for the fact that some stupid owner did not bother to get it trained? Did not learn about his dog and it's characteristics? Thought it was "cute, and would make a good pet?" WHY IS THE DOG RESPONSIBLE????? APBT and AST's are not "bad" dogs...they dont deserve the bad rap they are getting. The criminal edge is the one that causes all this hoopla. Yes, they buy the dogs to fight, yes, the dogs are not always the best bred and the best tempered... again, IS THAT THE DOG'S FAULT? If we apply your reasoning to every bad thing that happens , then every person who shoots, maims, rapes, assaults and kills someone... that persons race/gender/beliefs should be wiped off the planet. Easy! Oh, but these are JUST dogs, right? They have no rights to live in a society where they are treated decently, fed regularly, exercised properly and trained and treated properly....they're JUST DOGS..... So we can wipe out the APBT's, the AST's, the German Shepherds, the Rottweilers, the Dobermans....they are all "bad" dogs according to your article....EXCEPT.... These animals are the ones that were used at 911 to find bodies, find the living, they protect us at our airports. They work hand in hand with our police to protect our streets......but they bite people so they gotta go.... Do you know WHY those dogs are "good" and other dogs are "bad"? Do you even have a CLUE? those animals used at 911, airports, police, military are TRAINED!! If well bred, if well handled and if TRAINED they are MUCH less of a threat to society than your average street thug.....no one is eliminating the street thugs.... The law will not eliminate dog bites by eliminating the dogs...ANY and EVERY dog will bite under certain circumstances....they are animals, plain and simple. If not properly cared for and trained, they become dangerous. But it doesnt have to be that way. The only difference here is size. No one worries about the poodles and chihauhau's - they are small. They can still remove a finger if the circumstances are right, however. Dog owners and potential dog owners need to be aware of the personal characteristics of the type of dog they want to get. They should be REQUIRED to have the dog trained professionally, unless they can prove they are capable of training it themselves. (which means they have trained dogs before, understand the type of dog they have and what is necessary to make it a functional member of their household). Unless the laws change to require that, this will keep happening. Not just with APBT's, AST's, GSD's, Rotties and Dobies...I was around back in the 70's when the German Shepherd was the "bad" dog. It's popularity caused bad breeding, inbreeding, health issues. Those dogs were labeled, like the Pit's are now, because they had the highest incidence of dog bites. Then came the Rotties, then came the Dobies....the more popular the dog, the worse the breeding ethics get, and the worse the dog behaves....THOSE are the places the law needs to have a firm hand. Obliterating the dog will not obliterate the bites. These people will only choose another breed to fight, guard, work..... and as far as your other statement that some Pit may take off a childs face? There is a Golden Retriever here, (WONDERFUL family dogs, EXCELLENT WITH CHILDREN) who indeed bit off half of a childs face....he is permanently scarred. Should we eliminate all Goldens, all Labs, because their Breed Standard practically guarantees they will never hurt a child? It comes down to the responsibility of the OWNER to make sure his dog is properly cared for and TRAINED....ANY DOG WILL BITE.... By the way, there are gun laws in place making the owner of the gun responsible if a child, or someone else, is injured by that gun. Dog owners should be responsible as well... Katy Courtney Illinois

Could be fatty tumors (I have some, you can move them around under your skin) You do need to see a vet, but you should be ok until Wednesday providing they DONT GET ANY BIGGER....If it starts to grow, then get your dog in immediately. And let us know, OK? :)

He's spreading his own scent. There is scent in urine, saliva and also the pads of the feet. They kick to rub the scent off and then the air picks it up and carries it. He was probably responding to the other dog, and also warning the birds away. The growl means he smelled something he didnt like, (stranger in the area maybe?) and the scent flinging was to warn it off.

[quote]we are taking our dogs to the beach soon...they are not water dogs so will probably only wade...is there anything at the beach i need to look out for? it's so hard to protect them sometimes when they are into EVERYTHING.... [/quote] I dont know if they reside in your country, but here we have things called Man-O-Wars; it's a form of a jellyfish. They are much smaller than jellyfish, usually blue and have 6-7 foot tentacles with poisonous stingers on them. They get washed up on shore, and you usually see them in the morning before the sun gets too hot. They look like little blue balloons with strings on them. If you have them there - KEEP THE DOGS AWAY !! They will sting anything that comes near them when they are stuck on the beach. I got stung by one in Florida as a child, and was sick as death for three days (so much for the vacation).

AS A GENERAL RULE - very few dogs will hurt a puppy. They seem to know that this is the next generation....HOWEVER - my guess is that Sorsha will get even more hormonally unbalanced with a puppy around, because she will want her own even more. You may have to watch the male, so he doesnt get jealous. He's still young, but he may consider the puppy is taking up too much of Sorsha's time. Is he neutered? If not, then definitely watch him. He may consider the puppy an "outsider" in his territory. and dont be surprised if Sorsha "mommies" the new puppy.... she may even try to nurse him. Are you planning on breeding her?

you might want to look at this from a different viewpoint. Abby obviously wants to be top dog...she feels it is her place. Cracker is timid, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but not a quality for top dog, either. If you are putting Cracker in the top dog position (eats, first, goes out first, etc) and she is naturally timid, maybe you should rather envourage Abby to be top dog. Change the ladder rungs. Go with me on this for a minute.... In a pack, the stongest, smartest and usually largets (but not always) animal gets to be Alpha. there is a male and a female Alpha. However, the female ALpha is allowed, and will, take down a male beta, even though he's male. It sounds to me like Cracker would be better off as being beta to Abby. The end result will be if Abby feels her place as top dog (below you and your family, of course) is secure, she will most likely stop attacking Cracker. If Cracker is naturally timid, Cracker will take to this role quite nicely. The mistake we make as people is that we feel everyone should be equal....and we extend those feelings to our animals. Sometimes that works. In this case, it's not going to. If Cracker was not timid, he might be able to hold his own, or wouldnt have lost the top position. I would see what happens if you start giving "firsts" to Abby, see if that settles them down. Some people dont want to rule....I think the dust will settle quicker if you let them decide who is boss. They're pretty good at it most of the time. Of course, you have to watch them, so seperating them when alone is a good idea. But when you're there watch them closely without intervening and see who takes the top spot. My money is on Abby. Letting Abby demote Cracker is not a bad thing, trust me. Just dont let them fight seriously. That's when you become Alpha and make them settle. Alex came in here, male, intact, wanting to be King. Freebee put him in his place and in no time at all the dust had settled. She was top dog, and that was it....even though he was male and outweighed her by 15 lbs. I dont know what gender Cracker is, but it works between females too.

How's she doing Aurora?

well, it didnt work out - Freebee and Karma just didnt really get along. But the good news is that I can come in any time and look over what they have, since I filled out the applications and all, and I've been "approved" (that cracks me up) to adopt a dog if one comes in that works out. I know that Freebee would eventually accept any dog I brought in, she didnt really like Alex at first either, but in a few days they were fast and good friends (the occasional dominance glitch, but that's to be expected) She is wary around most strangers and most other dogs. Her reaction to the lab really surprised me, because she took to her at once.... But I can see the shelters point of view as well. They dont know me, they have no reason to believe that the dogs will eventually get along...I know my dog, but they dont..... I started laughing when the lady said I had been approved. She looked kinda miffed, til I explained that I have been raising and training dogs for 30 years now....and all she could stammer out was 'Geez! You dont LOOK that old...." which just had me cracking up again..... I know that the right pup will come along....Maybe I should stop looking so hard and let him/her come to me.... thanks for all the kind words and support.. :)

thank you marble - I needed to hear that. The lady who owns her said "she does this all the time! she just takes off!" I asked her if she was aware that Labs run, plain and simple. Her dog (Sasha) is NOT spayed, and I said "if you spay her, her running will probably decrease" and she said "NOT paying for that!!" So I said "not having her spayed will increase the chance that she will run off, especially during heat.." "and then she will come home one day, pregnant..." and she actually said "the shelters wil take the puppies if necessary......" AAAARRRGGGHHH!!! GOD why are people so stupid????even SPAYED!! Labs run...it is in their nature to escape and wander the area.....mine does it whenever my son's friends leave the gate open...they are hunting dogs..open areas, fields, even neighborhoods are on their list of things to investigate... I AM SO UPSET WITH THIS..... that dog will get loose again, and probably be hit by a car on my street, which has a lot of trafffic...and there is NOTHING I can do about it... :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

are they related to the Whippet in some way? God, they ARE thin.... and you're right - some people might consider that thinness abuse... welcome aboard!!