courtnek

sorry Holz, I dont know. I have often wondered that myself.....

I guess I meant does it translate to something pertaining to the dog in particular? I didnt come out right, I dont think....

[quote name='"Mei-Mei"']Lhiannon Sidhe is afraid of the vacuum and will leave the room immediately once it's switched on. What a pretty name!! Does it mean something in another language?

Now Holtz.... Some of us have cats too. They are different, definitely, but not bad. You just gotta understand the way they think. I have two dogs who I adore, and a cat who I also adore.

they can be loners, their "packs" are usually just mother and pups, unless the food source is too big for a loner to handle. Then they kinda band together for survival. Around here they seem to be traveling in groups... and I think the reason is that they are hunting deer. Along with the smaller animals. We have a HUGE out of control deer population here. The governement will not allow them to be hunted, even in season, because the areas they migrated too also have people in them. (The forest preserves, mostly). They end up getting hit by cars on a regular basis during the fall and early winter, running across highways. So the coyotes have formed packs to hunt the larger animals. it's an adaptation from their usual way of life, but it appears to be working for them or they wouldnt have come back in the first place..... My neighbor had a deer jump through the window in her garage when it wandered into her yard and couldnt figure out how to get out....

It's not just for pulling, in fact it is touted for training purposes. The pamphlet was four pages long folded up!! with all kinds of suggestions on how to use the GL for training a puppy. I bought it because I had heard that it helps with pulling issues, but the pamphlet was quite good about other training issues. There's even a warning - DO NOT use this halter until you have read this entire pamphlet..... My dogs only real training problem is recall (labs...whatchya gonna do?) so this may help with that issue too....I want to get them used to walking on them first, then I'll try a little recall training.

Prairie, I agree with you in sentiment, but there's a problem with this plan. If Lucky takes the dog off the woman's property for any reason without permission, it's theft. If she finds April off property in the field, that's different. Then I would call the police or animal control and tell them this dog is off property all the time, and there are puppies to consider as well. She is not a responsible owner, obviously, and maybe the local shelter or animal control would take her away and find her a good home.... Other than that, there are no laws (unfortunately!!!) about letting your dog breed randomly.

she may have gotten seperated from her pack and was trying to join up with what she considered a "doggie pack"... I hope there were Coyotes at the other forest. They dont do real well alone and need the pack to survive... :(

Dont feel bad Prairie - my state is on the list, but like I said theres a huge divergence in the meanings of "reasonable" and "adequate".....without actually defining what "reasonable" and "adequate" means, the law is practically useless.... :evil:

Holly, check out this site: [url]http://www.brussels-griffon.net/brdinfo.html[/url] also, be aware that a Brussels Griffon needs ALOT of attention and to be with his owner constantly. They are not a dog for someone who has little time for a dog. They bond to their masters and follow them around like Shadows. Please do as HF suggested and check the breed out before deciding to purchase. This site is the Nat'l Brussels Griffon site with links to the AKC

GEEZ!! I'm a dogomaniac now!! LOL :D

Basically a troll is an agitator - someone trying to cause trouble....

That's interesting - mine are GL's but I was looking for Halti's.... They only had two Halti sizes - for Rufus' and Maas' - (toy and giant) so I bought the GL's....All the other sizes were sold out....It's interesting to know that a vet recommended the GL's.... Thanks HF. :)

I've often wondered if labs have part goldfish in them - they seem to be able to eat till they burst..... We're rooting for you and Daisy!! :D

We have similar issues with Coyote's. Thye have moved back into the ample forest preserve area's around here, because the game is good (racoons, squirrels, possums, skunks, etc) but they usually stay well hidden in the woods and away from the picnic areas when people are around. They will raid the garbage after hours however...Some lady had her two small children there and let them go wandering off into the woods (and there is a creek back there!! Some people!!) And they came running back screaming thay had seen wolves. She got all up in arms and wanted all the coyotes killed immediately - made a big issue out of it. I signed multiple petitions about that. Leave the poor things alone - they werent bothering you and why did you let your kids wander off unattended anyway - even without the coyotes, they could have drowned in the creek! The forestry service now has signs in every preserve warning people that there are coyotes in the area and to keep pets and small children out of the woods unless supervised by an adult. And it's always been the law anyway that dogs had to be on a leash in the preserves. Coyotes tend to leave adults alone, but pets and children are easily caught. The red foxes have come back too, and believe it or not, the other day I saw a bald eagle!!

The pamphlet that came with it was interesting. It said that lead wolves will take another wolf's muzzle in his mouth to correct them. I knew that, but for some reason never considered a head collar for the pulling problem. The 10 minute battle being won, they both settled down and walked right beside me and never tried to pull ahead, so maybe it is a pack thing. I am hoping to get them trained enough to wean them back onto their regular collars. We'll see what happens.

My Labs are atrocious pullers. Inside the house, I am Alpha, outside they have to be in front and dragging me down the street.... I bought two head collars today. The change is AMAZING...I went through ten minutes of head thrashing, trying to get the nose piece off, I DONT LIKE THIS..... but eventually they both settled down and I could WALK them, not being dragged and pulled down the sidewalk... We had a wonderful walk, no yelling, lots of praise and I came home with no injuries for once....I think this is a good decision for dogs who want to be free, and running, when you cant let them do that. I'm VERY happy with the head collars.... Has anyone else used them and what do you think? I had already bought "no-pull" harnesses to no avail...it didnt stop them.

Hmmmm. one more note. Both of my pups are Lab Mixes - "good with children" "Gentle" "the perfect family dog".... would I let Freebee. my black Lab Mix, encounter a child without supervision? ABSOLUTELY NOT.... Yes, she is part Lab, yes, she is generally very friendly. Would a child tick her off enough to be aggressive? Yes, I believe so.... You have to take the dogs at an individual level....They are not all Breed Specific.

In response to Hmmmmm.... I am talking about the average, walk-in-a-shelter-I-want-a-dog person..... You understand the potential dangers of your dog, and are responsible enough to keep it away from other animals if you know it is aggressive towards them. The majority of people wanting a dog havnet even bothered to check out the breed to see if it would work with their lifestyle. And alot of shelters dont have the means or money to do anything about that. So when I said "they probably wouldnt make good pets" that's exactly what I meant. Pets for people who are clueless who adopt an animal who has been fought, are not good pets. It's NOT the animals fault, but there is nothing requiring the potential owner to know what they are getting into. I am being realistic about this. I have nothing against APBT's and I feel bad that they are treated the way they are. But they are NOT the dog for the average, clueless pet owner. I still insist that not all of them are beyond adoption...although their nature is to be aggressive towards other animals, the one in the yard next door shows me that they can get along with other animals just fine if given the chance.

Try telling her that leaving April unneatuered could very well cause ovarian and uterine cancer, which requires LOTS of time at the vet and costs a WHOLE lot more than neutering..... Stupid woman would probably just have April put down anyway if that happened, but it's worth a shot....

Best of luck Daisymom - to you and Daisy

Could be better. There's a lot of wide "holes" in those regulations, like "reasonable" and "adequate" - they need better definitions of reasonable and adequate..... At least my state is on the list....

doesnt take much time - drive the dog to the vet, drop her off, come back later when she's done. Unless her vet is two states away it takes all of maybe an hour? Stupid woman.....

Cats do not suffocate children deliberately - it has been reported many times in the past. Unfortinately, what happens is that they curl up on the babies face to sleep and suffocate the baby accidently. Which is why you are not supposed to leave a cat unattended with a baby or small children. There is no malice here. They try to sleep on adults faces too sometimes, but we seem able to wake up easier than very small childern and babies. And troll, if you really dislike dogs that much you have walked onto the wrong site and are welcome to leave and not come back. I have nothing more to say to you. :evil:

Definitely play with his feet, gently. Realize that some dogs are touch sensitive, and the feet particularly bothers them when touched. You can test for touch sensitivity by taking his paw, gently, and slightly squeezing down on the skin between the toes. NOT HARD. With just a little bit of pressure. Most dogs will tolerate this for almost 30 second. A touch sensitive dog will start to balk within 8 or 10 seconds, and try to pull their paw away. Also, what is your mood when trying to clip? Are you tense, afraid of his reaction? They can sense this, and you might unknowingly be instilling fear by your own emotions. If you can get him to trust you by playing with his feet, and then control your own reactions, you might pull it off. Otherwise, you can get a body harness and put leads on either side attached to something stable, and muzzle him. This would be a LAST RESORT, but one of my dogs required this everytime he was groomed. If you do the clipping gently and praise him the whole time, make gooey nosies and talk to him, you may be able to get him comfortable with the procedure.