Lord_Pik

The red and orange items in the ingredients list posted by DP are the high sodium content items. Tyr is laid back and doesn't get excited unless you work him up to it.

I can't find a sodium amount listed on our dog food.. :hmmmm: we feed them MMillenia Solid Gold..

Luckily we live in a townhouse with gas heat, and two heat obsessed tenants on either side of us, so we rarely have the furnace on. Also saves lots of cash on the bill :)

Excellent snuggle tactics :D...glad to see a nice response to this feel-good topic. As far as howling goes, usually if DP and I and occasionally Eric (if he's not feeling timid) will start howling ourselves, and the dogs will join in. It's a romping good time, followed by snuggles for all. Unfortunately, we don't get to do it very often :(

No problem, because likely we are doing the same thing :D so I won't tell, lest I rob the both of us of our dogs :o

phew! In fact, I recognize a few more of those that ours use as well. Apparently some methods (such as forcing your arm around them) can be a dominance issue? Not that I care, cause it's sooooooooooo cute :loveu:

But of course. How could I forget? :hmmmm: I guess, like I mentioned earlier, my brain is running at half-gear ratio. :nonono2:

I was just wondering how each of your dogs let you know that they want snuggles? If you are standing, Kavik will jump up and try to pull you down to him for a hug, or if you are sitting or laying down, he pull plop down beside you and put the top of his snout across your upper lip. And then there is the age-old method: Lift your hand with his snout onto him. The BC stare helps his efforts a lot too.

Tyr seems to be drinking more than is dogly possible. He can drink two bowls of water in one sitting (and he does) multiple times a day. He drinks more than five times the amount the other dogs do. Could this be diabetes or some other health problem? Or do some dogs just consider water more important than breathing?

mistakes that work out in your favour are always a good thing :wink:

not a barn...just a....large house, with lots of airable land surrounding it....and few neighbours :)

I would not clone my dog for a few reasons. 1.A shelter dog could die because I was selfish. 2.The dog, having a different environment and a more mature trainer (older me) would not grow up the same way, and would be a different dog anyways. 3.There is no proof that the dog wouldn't just die ode day, because it's a clone. 4.I'm sure there are more reasons why it shouldn't be done, but I am tired and my brain is working half-speed to conserve on battery life.

heh, didn't even notice til just now, but I gots me my first paw with that last post! :angel: woohoo!! ... ahem.

A few weeks ago I would have said that Kavik's favourite toy was the Kong. But we have a magnetic dart board with flat-tipped darts that he stares at (in the intense Border Collie manner) for hours on end. He won't come, he won't eat, he won't play with the Kong or even bark at the door when it is knocked upon if the dart board is out. When we play, you sit or stand close to the ground, about eye height for Kavik in a sit. As you toss the darts, Kavik will leap at them, catch or block an ever-increasing amount of the darts (currently at about 3-4 out of 6 on average). I guess he ike it so much because they move faster than a running dog or cat (for herding), faster than the Kong, faster than anything he's ever had the chance to chase. And he won't chew on the darts either, just drop them and wait for the next one. We have to put the board away all the time to avoid further breaking his OCD mind.

Our cats watch TV more than the dogs do. Eowyn especially will watch TV, or video games actually more often. Also, she sits on the montior and watches as I enter this message. :D

DogPaddle and I have three dogs, all male, all currently un-neutered :-? ...they fight a lot (mostly play, but much of it is a battle for dominance). It surprised me that so many of you have more than 5, or more than 10!! But on further thought (and reading the posts), considering that most are working dogs, I am not quite so shocked anymore. Does anyone know the legal limit on pet-dogs in a household? We live in Canada, if that helps (wouldn't want you giving me the Australian number if the Canada number is different).

Tyr seems to be ok with his dews attached, but to re-iterate, we will likely leave them on until they become a problem. Given his level of activity and low top speed/lack of brakes, however, I don't believe he ever will snag them on anything. I voted yes, but like most of you, only if they pose a threat to the dogs health (as minor as a cut or tear may be as a threat)

A lot of clarification seems to be needed on this topic. I also voted yes, but I believe that no-kill should be amended to 'Kept in shelter as long as we are not overfull and the dog seems reasonable to adopt.' Some shelters automatically euthanize the dogs after a specified period, usually dependant on the shelters usual intake rate. I think if the dog is determined to be safe for adoption, and not very sick, then if the shelter becomes overfull, they should pass as many of the extra dogs off to foster-homes as possible, so that we have many less dogs euthanized. I for one would put myself on a foster-list for such a shelter.

mmm....betcha he went to his owner for kisses after that shot was taken too. :o

Your experience is very personal and it gets to me in a way that pictures or most other testimonials could. I had no idea that such things happen that way. I guess until you know first-hand (or second-hand in this case) what exactly goes on, you idealize it, try not to imagine what it would really be like, how horrible it is that sooo many living, breathing animals get put down daily. If they were humans, we wouldn't kill them all, we'd toss them onto the streets. Now that I think about it, perhaps we should authorize euthanization on ...certain...useless human beings. It would be more humane. But the government would jump down our throats for suggesting such a thing. So pray tell me why do we think it's such a good idea with dogs??

Luckily dogpaddle and I have gotten 0/3 dogs from puppy mills (either directly or indirectly).. Kavik was bought from a private breeder, and he cost quite a bundle too (approx $500). Tyr was taken from an abusive home mainly because we couldn't stand to see the cute thing suffer. We hadn't really intended to keep him, just remove him from the BAD place :-? , but he grew on us. And Zaphod we acquired from a shelter. All three of them are very well off, not nervous or anything, most likely won't ever fear-bite, and over-all obedient and easy to train. Shelter dogs are in fact more loving I find, because you took them from a stressful situation and love them so much.