atghylin

I'm going to start from the beginning so please bear with me here... Back in the mid-80's Mom bought Dad an orange and white Brittany female as a part time hunter and full time family dog. She was named Millie. (This was before Bush took office and HIS Millie became famous for kicking him out of his bedroom when she gave birth.) She came from excellent hunting lines and she was the only puppy in her litter that was sniffing around the base of a tree when Mom went to the breeder's home to take a look. For as long as I can remember Dad always took Millie hunting with him when he could. They had a very strong partnership. To the point that when Dad could not take Millie with him she would lay by the front door and cry until he came home then propmtly turn her back on him when he did. To her it was an grave insult to be left behind when he went hunting. Unfortunately, about 6 years ago Mom had to euthinize(sp?) her because she had developed tumors in her throat. :cry: A few months later Dad picked up a 6 month old black lab, Abby, he had hoped would be his next hunting dog. This did not happen! Abby prefered to play "keep away" or "catch me if you can" when out hunting. To top it off she would stop playing with Dad and start plucking the bird she was suppose to retrieve. :roll: After several incidents like this Dad has firmly retired her to the house as a family dog only. He keeps saying he wants to get rid of her because she cannot hunt but... he has three grandsons, and a fourth on the way, that will be VERY upset if he does and he knows it. As he adores his grandsons greatly Abby will be staying put until she is called to the rainbow bridge. :wink: Recently my sister and her husband bought an orange and white male brittany to go hunting with. His name is Copper. Copper really upsets Dad because niether my sister or her husband have been very aggressive on his training. He is about 8 months old now and instead of heading out on his first hunting trip, Copper is sitting at home learning how to sit. Dad has become even more upset since learning that Copper doesn't have the first inkling on how to retrieve. What makes this even more upsetting to Dad is Copper's lines. He comes from several generations of Champion Hunters. SEVERAL GENERATIONS! And they have done very little training. :evil: Dad is always talking about finding a new hunting dog. He keeps mentioning a Golden Retriever but this is not where his heart lays. Mom, my sister, and I all see it when ever he talks about Copper. He gets angry about his lack of training. And keeps saying what an excellent hunting partner he would be if only my brother-in-law would get more agressive on his training. Then he starts talking about Millie. He always reminses(sp?) about their hunting adventures... they are adventures when he tells them. :wink: And you can see it in his face and hear it in his voice... he misses Millie a great deal. The first time in years he went to a field trial for hunting dogs was last spring and Mom says he brought his gun along just in case they needed an extra spotter. But he doesn't want another Brittany. :roll: There isn't a soul in the family that believes him. His heart lays with the brittany. :iloveyou: Mom has decided that some time in the next year Dad is going to get another Brittnay. Only this time he's going to get a Tri-colored one. He will, of course, get another female since he prefers to work with them as opposed to males. I would very much like to see Dad with a new hunting partner. I know he will be a much happier man with one. Soooo... I have volunteered to start the "hunt" so to speak. Mom works all week and is generally so busy over the weekend she has very little time to do any searching. I, on the other hand, am a stay-at-home-mom with no running vehicale to get around in, therefore I have more time to aggresively search. Mom had told me that Dad would like to be the one to pick out his new hunting partner so the best breeder would have to be within driving distance. As there are thousands of sites out there for "potential" breeders I would greatly appreciate some help, [b]if[/b] it can be given. But... more importantly I would like to have the Dogo seal of apporval(sp?) before I suggest a breeder I have found to Mom. I will be posting several sites over time to get your oppions on them. I know many of you may be able to pick up on bad things with these breeders that I or my mom would not be able to. With that in mind I begin my hunt and thank you for your help in advance. :D Amanda

[quote]yet another way is to set up a trip wire type thing across in front of the window, so that when they dog gets up there to peek out, he pushes the wire and sets off a correction of some sort. This is what I used with Goo, I used one of those things that give of a loud alarm sound when you pull the pin out, clipped it onto the curtain, and anchored a string tied to the pin to a hook in the wall. Goo got up there, went to push the curtain open, and set of the alarm, which brought me in to correct her verbally.[/quote] Hmmmmm.... I like that one. Thanks Goo. :D I'll set hubby's creative, tech oriented brain to work on it tonight. Though I think I'll ask for a mild shock that way Kurtis won't wake up if Felix tries to get up there while he's sleeping.

[quote]It's a Caviler (sp?) King Charles Spaniel. My parents want one now, so I looked up a bunch of info on them for them to read[/quote] Don't forget to warn them about the Cavalier's cost. Felix, my Tri-colored Cavalier, cost me $1200. I got an excellent deal on him, he's IKC registered and I could have easily paid up $2000 -$3000 for him but he was 6 months old and the breeder wanted to find him a new home. The Cavalier is a not a highly sought after breed hence the high price. I have also noticed that owners and breeders of the Cavailer are extremely proud of this dog and rarely let them go for a reasonable purebred price. I looked for almost 5 years before I found a breeder who would let me have a puppy. The main reason behind this... I have small children under at least 6/7 years of age (Kristopher is only 4 and Kurtis will be a year in 3 weeks). During the five years that I kept looking for a puppy to call my own I watched the price of a Cavalier pup go from $800 for an unregistered pet quality pup to $1500 for the same pup. Despite this pride of place, high price, and high standard for new owners there are still puppy farms for this dog. A good site to look at as far as finding a reputable breeder is [url]www.ckcsc.org[/url] They have a list of quality breeders and black list breeders (breeders who have been members of their club but have breed the CKCS in a puppy farm environment). None of these breeders would let me have a puppy, I had to find one that was not a member but also had a high standard for his/her puppies (not an easy task). I do not belong to this club as I do not agree with their restriction on small children in the home. But they do have an excellent source of information. :oops: Sorry about the overload of information but this is my breed and I can't resist giving no information out if I can help it. :oops: If you or your parents have questions I'll be more then happy to try to answer them for you. Amanda

[color=violet][size=7]CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/color][/size]

Blinds, unfortunately, are not an option. Kristopher discovered at an early age that the individual slats made the perfect lightsabers. :roll: Of course, that meant he had to break the string that held them in place first... he figured out how to break it only once to get at every single slat. Anyways... there are no more functional blinds in the house and I really don't want to go buy new ones so Kristopher can teach Kurtis how to break those too. I will try to alter the curtains and see how that works. I hadn't thought of that... but then again I don't do a lot of sewing. The mouse trap idea, although I liked it, didn't go over too well with the hubby... said he didn't like the idea of possible injurying Felix. Guess he likes the dog more then he lets on. :wink: Thanks again, it's nice to have friends like you. :D 8) Amanda

LOL! Silly dogs!

Have Fun! and Good Luck! :D :D :D

Glad to hear everything's going well for you and Sassy! :D I've kept up with everyone's thoughts and opions, though I haven't posted. I just wanted you to know that I've been here rooting for you two. *HUGS* Amanda

I especially like this... [quote]Please Note: I [b]do not[/b] sell pet quality puppies intact. EVERY PET that leaves here is spayed/neutered before it goes. No exceptions. Please do notask me about giving you stud service if you are breeding your bitch only to produce some pets. If you are serious about a show puppy, I will do my best to help, even if that means referring you to some one else.[/quote] Talk about nipping puppy farms in the bud!

Felix loves to sit in the window... ummm... well not the window exactly but on top of the couch which is backed up against the window and of course he has to be behind the curtain so he can see out the window, he ends up laying on top of the curtain and the couch at the same time. :roll: Last night he yanked the curtain down while barking at the nieghbors who just got home from work. He got over excited and in his haste to welcome them home he ripped the curtain down as a he fought it trying to get out from behind it. I've thought about moving the couch but there are only so many places I can move it to and none of them convient for the television (46" projection screen) or the front door. Either I block access to the door or I end up placing the TV where it can't be seen all that well. And I can't simply move the couch away from the window... I got kids and they would love the oppertunity to hide my hubby's or my belongings behind it. Plus the couch would end up being pushed back when people sit on it. So it comes down to a new curtain (which could get exspensive if he keeps this up) or methods of training him not to do this. I'd rather train him... if at all possible. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Amanda

LOL! I've always enjoyed this comic strip and BabyBlues! I remember Farley's death. :( That was sad. Unfortunately, we don't subscibe to the local paper so we don't get the comics. There's really nothing of true interest going on in Moses Lake.

Felix has all four of his dew claws. Until now I thought that it was too late tohave them removed. They don't seem to bother him, I just make sure to check their length often, and cut them back as needed. My mom was very surprised to learn he still had them the first time she saw him. I had always been told that they serve no purpose and should be removed at birth. But now I'm not sure if I should leave them or not. :-? You've all made very good points but I think I would like to do more research until I take my kitty in to see the vet next time when I will talk to him about it. (Felix doesn't need to go until next spring.) Are there any specific web pages I should look at? Or should I just do a general search? Thanks!

Cool! Thanks now I know where to look. :D

I think I'm just going to sit here and cry. :cry: They were just babies! There is no excuse for what that kid did. Hating the breed is NOT good enough. I'm terrified of the Afgan Hound because one attacked me unprovocked but I wouldn't go off and kill a litter of pups like that.

Wrinkles is sooooooooo cute! Where'd you find him? Huh? Huh? I need one too... well not me exactly. I know a little boy who's first birthday is coming up and I think he'll just adore a little puppy of his very own. :lol: Sorry... :oops: it's just that I've been looking for months and so far have come up empty. I try not buy gifts unless they are as perfect for the person I have in mind as I can get them. I saw Wrinkles and knew that another "abandoned" little guy like him would be perfect!

Question... How do you know that ALL people who have never learned to read an animal cannot do so? I only ask because I watched my husband, who had not grown up with animals, react quickly to prevent a bite to our oldest son, Kristopher. Kristopher was trying to become freindly with Felix when we first got him but the dog would have none of it and was trying to let the kid know by growling and backing up into a corner. (Felix had not quite settled in and become comfortable yet and Kristopher can be a bit overwelming.) Kristopher has a hard time backing off (we go round and round with him about this problem constantly) and wouldn't stop. After being told to back off, Kristopher did not and my husband smacked the kid lightly on the rump and then lectured him on not listening to either my husband or the dog. Seems to me my husband knew how to read the dog's body laguage just fine. Hubby and I have an agreement on the issue of bites during mealtime... Kristopher is told to leave the dog alone and Kurtis, my 11 month old, is put in his playpen to prevent bites. BUT if Kristopher chooses NOT to listen and gets bit it's his fualt not the dog's... he was warned after all. We do not hold the dog at fault for something the kid has started. Animals and children are supervisized all the time. I know where each of them are and what they are doing... even when I'm here on Dogo. If I don't I go find out imediatetly(sp?) In this article both owners and parents are to blame. The owners for not noticing and correcting a bad situation before it became worse. The parents for not supervising and pulling the child away from the dog with a reprimand. The dog cannot be faulted for humans' lack of a sense of responsibilty. Unfortunately, the dog will become a scapegoat for this unfortunate situation.

Thanks guys. I have tried to keep Felix's meals as simple as possible. I've also tried supplementing RAW with kibble and he stopped eating the kibble completely! One of the reasons I'm looking into this is because of the diet he was on when I got him. (Note: This is the breeder's mother's fault not the breeder's herself.) The breeder went on vacation and left the litter in her mother's care. She thought she had enough food for the puppies to last until she got back. Unfortunately, this was not the case and her mother went out and bought Old Roy. :x The breeder was unhappy about it and had not had the chance to correct the situation before I bought Felix. I bought and feed him Iams. I tried to ease him onto the Iams but he simpley stopped eating the Old Roy and picked around it. This is the same thing he has done with the RAW diet, he picked out the RAW stuff and left the kibble. :-? I guess he has chosen what he likes best without a qualm. The upside of this is that I no longer have to worry about him eating the kibble that my mom gives her lab, Abby. Abby loves to share her food with any dog that happens to be around and it has caused mom's Shih Tzu's obessity(sp?) problem. I know some people do not agree with this diet... my mother and sister sure don't, they won't even speak to me when I bring it up. But I can see a real difference in Felix... he's more active(I'm talking actual energy that last's longer not short bouts of hyperness), he's prettier(that coat of his is really begining to shine), his teeth are looking loads better, he has no need to run outside every thirty minutes now (he goes out every 3-4 hours)... in short he's not the same dog he was a few weeks ago. I clipped the hair around his pads last night (I try to keep it short to prevent nasty things getting caught or tangled in betweeen the pads and causing pain)and couldn't believe how much better they look and feel... they did not look this good the last time I clipped the hair back. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that not only is Felix a better looking, happier dog, but that he has had no problems with this new diet and while other's may not agree with it I couldn't be happier with the changes I see in him. I would also like to have more recipes for him and the kitty but have been unsuccessful in finding any so far. But no matter what this diet is to be kept simple and not increase my grocery bill any more then nessacary(sp?). That is the deal I made with hubby if I chose to switch diets and so far it has worked out quite well.

I'm not sure Felix even took notice of how close he came to getting badly hurt. I'm just thankfull he didn't get hurt at all.

Time outs! They work between species too. Wankel and Felix get several time outs during the day usually when they've started playing too rough with each other. I lock Wankel in the bathroom with his litter box for about a half hour and all is well after he's relised... at least until the next time. :roll:

I'm so sorry, Sharpeigirl.

I was sitting here looking for more apartments while Kristopher played outside in the front yard. He comes in and says "Mom, the guy needs you." I look over to see the front door is wide open. I tell him to close it before he lets Felix out... too late. Felix is gone. I grap a leash and tell Kristopher to stay in the yard. I'm walking the nieghbor behind Felix in my socks as I watch where he goes to see if I can cut him off somewhere. On the next street down from our house he comes straight at me then suddenly vears off to circle me. (This is his favorite game when runs off like this.) I turn around to watch him as a HUGE Suburban drives directly behind me and Felix runs straight at it. :shocked!: I froze in horror as I watched the front tires miss him by inches! I don't think the driver realized how close she actually came to hitting my dog as she continued to drive after noting that she had not hit him. Felix, on the other hand, was undaunted by this near miss... he just kept going while I attempted to get my heart going again. :drinking: Never, never, never again do I want to see that! By the way... the "guy" Kristopher was talking about was a salesman for Quick Solutions, some type of multi-purpose cleaning solution.

I found an adorable witch's outfit for Felix at Wal-Mart. Wankel will stay home this year, I think.

CONGRATS!!!!!! :laola:

Have you tried old, clean blankets? Ones you don't use any more? That usually saves quite a bit of money. Or if you want a couple of new blankets for yourself you could just give the dogs the ones you want to replace. Just an idea.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: