Canis erectus

[quote name='pyrless']Also, since my husband refuses to let me name our pets after my favorite band, I call them Sasha Ramone, TZ Ramone, Muffy Ramone and Harley Ramone. It annoys the p*** out of him! [/quote] :D That's fighting dirty! :D

I recently fenced off part of my back yard and can give you some approximate prices as I remember them. We don't have alot of money so we went for the most economical option that would work for us. We used a 5 foot 2"x4" wire mesh fence, it's not the sturdiest fence in the world but my girls aren't ever interested in escaping the backyard so it works for us. - 100 foot roll of 2"x4" mesh- $70 - Metal fence posts- $3-$4 each (figure one post for every ten feet) - Package of heavy gauge wire- $2 I also needed to get a couple of tools that I didn't already have: - Heavy duty wire snips- $10 - Post Driver (optional)- $20 You'll probably also want a gate: - 5' Chain Link gate- $35 - 2 Chain Link fence posts- $10 easch - Gate hardware (hinges, latch, post caps)- $5 - 2 bags or quick dry concrete- (can't remember but I think about $10 each) We ended up buying at Lowes but prices all around town weren't really any different. Cost us total about $200 but we didn't have very much to fence off.

Most of us probably realize that when we name our pets we do so mostly as a formality. Most of the time they go by one or several different nicknames when we speak to them. So what are the silliest/funniest nicknames your pets go by? China has a rude habit of peeing on dog beds or pillows so that Zoey won't lay on them, so we often refer to her as 'Princess Tinkle from Pee's Alot'. We've also taken to calling her 'Pork Chop' since she gained some weight as she grew older. Zoey probably goes by 'Ding-A-Ling' or 'Stampede' more than she goes by her own name. Fred has the most nicknames by far, he probably wouldn't be able to remember his real name if he wasn't able to remind himself by saying it repeatedly. There's the obvious ones like 'Chicken', 'Pigeon', 'Harpy', or 'Vulture', but he also gets called 'Little King Dickley'. When he's feeling like a tough guy we'll call him '[i]El Pollo[/i]', but it has to be said right, with alot of melodrama and a cheezy Spanish accent.

Look again JM, that's TWO weeks, sounds kinda gross to me too. Actually I'd be inclined to say that's it's not a bad idea per say, but it sounds to me like alot of lazy people. Mind you though, there's plenty of times (20 below in the dead of winter) when I wouldn't mind not going outside.

Verminous little bags filth! Can't stand them, and this town has more squirrils than Bill Gates has money. When me and the girls are staring up at them in the trees wondering what they might taste like I can swear I see the buggers sneering at us. Fred hates them too, spotting them too close to the house will send him into fits. I actually have a hilarious story about Fred and the squirrils. After we first moved here the summer before last I was sitting on the back porch with Fred so he could get some sunshine and fresh air. After awhile he spotted the bird seed on the ground that was scattered from the feeder by the squirrils (this was before I realized that it's inane to spend $6 on a bag of bird seed that the squirrils will only destroy in a weeks time) and he decided to hop down and go see what it tasted like. After a bit a squirril came down out of a tree and headed for the bird feeder, note that the squirrils here are quite brazen, especially the ones at my house since the old people in the apartments next door are always feeding them. This squirril thought that he was going to eat some more of my bird seed, but instead when he got too close Fred squealed and charged him with his wings out and his little 'hat' (his crest) standing on end. I started laughing so hard that I could barely watch Fred hopping after that tree rat across the yard. By the time I could get myself together and decide to go collect Fred, he was stomping around the tree that the rodent had ran up and was hitting his beak on the ground and screaming like an angry mob. Ah yes, that was fun, I'm laughing aloud right now just remembering it.

Little update Caught her eating some dirt again this morning, oddly enough from the same exact spot she was eating it before. I asked one of the vets about it today when I went to work and the first thing to come out of her mouth was 'pica', same with her normal vet when she came into the conversation. I guess it's pretty safe to rule out medical problems as she had an exam and some labwork done pretty recently. I was too busy to ask many questions about it today but basically the doc told me to toss some green beans in her food and see what happens.

We tend to get rawhides. Not very often though because if she she wants China will have fully ingested a proper sized rawhide by the end of a day. Thought about trying Nylabones or something similar, though I don't think the dogs will go for something artificial.

Yay!!! Turds, my favorite subject! China hardley ever gets a 'hanger', but if she does ahe simply grunts and pushes and strains till it comes out. She likes her personal space a bit too much for me to get close enough to pull it out while she's going. Now Zoey is a lifetime subscriber to the physics of centrifical force. Due to her indescriminate diet she will occaisionally get a hanger, and when she does it's time to get out of the way quick. She starts bucking and spinning in circles hoping to fling the sucker out, and when that doesn't work she sits back on her hips and start spinning in place. After that she'll stand back up, give one last push and it's free. Oh yeah, sometimes she'll pick one out with her teeth, ew!

I'll have to keep in mind what you said about the nose to nose gretting Rotten, I didn't realize that but thinking about it it makes sense. Either way, China didn't have much of a choice seeing as how she was on lead and won't turn her back on any dog that's strutting around like it might have to get rough with someone. I'll just have to find some other venue for China to get some occaisional socialization at. Oh and I saved them from the fray only marginally. LOL I reactively jerked back on their leashes so hard I might have strangled them.

That's pretty sad. Snakes of the Elapid family are deceptively fast and rather agressive. They also tend to be quite toxic and I believe that a ggod protion of your venomous snakes are Elapids. The snake was probably looking for shelter and the mom dog felt the need to defend her pups, the snake still feeling itself in danger probably lashed out out at anything that moved and killed most of the puppies. A low brick or concrete wall outside a fenced yard will keep out alot of snakes. The Brown Snakes are not one of my most well learned species but I believe that they are 'ground' snakes, their natural tendancy would be to follow a brick wall rather climb over it. BTW I read a comment in that thread where someone mentioned being chased by a snake. That is a myth, snakes don't chase people, period. Especially not when they are defending themselves. Also I think I remember reading somewhere that wombats will sometimes maul dogs, is that true?

You know, it seems like any time you do a favor or a good deed for someone anymore, even if only once, they'll pretty much expect it from you any time.

I noticed last week that they finally put gates up at the 'dog park' here. It's not really a dog park as much as it is a city park that happens to be fenced and where all the dog owners take their pets. Problem was that there was never any gates to the fence entrances so I've ever gone but a couple of times. So now that the park is entirley fenced I thought we'd go today and try to work on China's socialization and let Zoey careen across the park. All was good at first, I went awhile after dinner time so that it would be quiet there. And when we arrives there was only a woman with a Lab puppy (8 mo.) and a Pointing Griffon who were both nice enough dogs. Zoey had a good time even though she didn't really play with the other dogs, she was happy enough to be able to run at full tilt without worrying about ramming into something. China did pretty alright, and even though the puppy was move a little too quick and was too personal for her taste, she did seem to want to check the other dogs out and even took a playful posture a couple times (mind you I kept China on leash the whole time). All was well and reasonably peaceful in Barstow Woods until a new-comer arrived, and I was the only one that had any idea of the the chaos that would soon ensue. The new arrival brough three dogs with her and obviously she wasn't concerned about checking out what other dogs were in the park because all three dogs came through the fence without leashes. One of the dogs (I'm guessing some sort of Rott mix) headed with the tail strait up and the head held tall. China does not do well when another dog walks up and tries to dominate her, she'll just rise to the occaision, so I figured it was time to go. I'd already called Zoey over to me when I saw the car pull up so I began leashing her and was getting ready to head for the fence. At first it seemed like things would be ok, the new dogs were between us and the gate so we had to stop and greet. China and Zoey sniffed noses with the Rott mix while the other two new dogs (a Sheltie and Keeshund looking dog) went and greeted the other two dogs. After that those two came over to greet and sniff China. That became too much for her, and either she decided to express her dislike of being surrounded by strangers or the Rott mix was getting too cockey. In either event the outcome was that China incited a riot. Of course Zoey lunged forward because anything that's good for China is generally good for her, but then the Griffon came went after it as well, and the Keeshund-thing started spinning circles and yapping hystarically. It was crazy, and stupid me was standing in the middle of it all. I jerked my girls back as quick as I could and started heading out. A couple seconds later neither one of them looked the slightest bit like anything ever happened, while the other dogs continued to snap at eachother while their owners tried to get them under control. :roll: I think we're done with the dod park now, at least China is. I guess I might take Zoey back by herself sometime, she can normally behave herself and she did have a good run today.

No dirt cuisine today, at least not that I noticed. I'm just going to keep an eye out for a few more days. I'm beginning to get the hunch that there's a perfectly stupid explaination for China eating dirt, because that's just the way things tend to go at my house. I'm not going to rule out the possibilty of a vitamin/mineral deficiency though. I don't think there's many dogs at all that will turn down a good ice cube.

Regarding the snake bite issue, I'd like like to add in that most dogs will leave well enough alone when they encounter any snake. There's a proven theory that basically states how large and otherwise competant predators, both wild and domestic, will steer clear or be generally apprehensive of even the smallest reptiles (particularly snakes). Almost all snake color and pattern variations follow a few basic guidlines, which means that almost every non-venomous snake species has a basic color configuration that resembles that of a venomous species. The average carnivore can't differentiate between species (most humans can't either) so they are instictivley trained to treat snakes with snakes caution. Most of us have probably seen a great huge dog dacing circles around and barking at a 5 inch harmless species of snake before. And said same dog wouldn't think twice to charge after a deer or a fox or raccoon (all far more dangerous to dogs). If you think about it, dogs getting envenomed would be far more common if they chased and dug after snakes the way they do squirrils and gophers. I'm not saying that venous snakes aren't a legitemate concern for our dogs, but most of our dogs are naturally smart enough not to mess with snakes whether we know it or not.

Zoey's a licker too, espescially when it's the weather's hot and you've sweating. It's not the normal dog lick though, it seems like her entire tongue is making contact with your legs and feet. Then she kinda slowly drags her tongue along, all slobbery and you can her tongue scraping against your skin. Oh, and if she licks your hands or feet, her tongue wraps around your fingers and toes trying to get any possible toe cheese out. It's kinda gross but I don't mind most times.

Ok so I wasn't very far off base. Thanks Courtnek, I'll have to keep a closer eye on her for more dirt eating the next few days. I might just bring her to work on Monday and just have the panel run, though it'll be be just my luck to have the values come out normal and China's just decided that she likes the way dirt tastes now. :roll:

After letting the girls out this morning I started to call them inside for food when when I noticed China eating something in the yard. She was laying down with her back to me so I first thought she'd dug up a bone or found somehing dead and rotten. Oh no, she was eating dirt, and relishing it. Dirt was going down by the mouthful. Has anyone else experienced this? It's new to me and I'm wondering if it might be assosciated with a diet deficiency of some sort.

What a great story. The thing that really gets me is how old the beast was, especially so when you take into account where/how he was living. The text isn't entirely clear in regards to dates but I'm guessing that the story was written in 2002. The miners found him 16 years prior to that and I think it's safe to assume that he was an adult dog at that time. So he probably klive to be [u]at least[/u] 17 years old. That's just astounding! I kinda like that he stayed behind in the wastes, it's been his home from beginning to end (he can't possibly still be alive). So RIP Auditor, may legends never die.

OK it's kinda difficult to tell by the pics, but I can tell she's got sort of a spaniel-ish type coat. From what I can tell the head looks all wrong for a Basset though, it's not large and strong enough, I'd guess she's a mix that ended up looking 95% Basset Hound looking.

At a guess I'd say you're looking at an adult dog somewhere around 100 lbs and close to 30 in at the whithers. There a sort of formula that's commonly used to estimate adult size, I don't remember it exactly but it's something like double the weight at six months age. The rule doesn't always hold true though and I've seen plenty of exceptions and mixed breeds are always a crap shoot.

Actually I agreed with quite a bit the author had to say. It wasn't really a statement of 'facts' so much as it is painting a more realistic picture about most of these breeds vs. the promotional descriptions that AKC and most breed clubs give you. Not a perfect list by my standards though, I'd swap the places of Pit Bulls and German Shepherds. An ideally tempered Pit Bull wouldn't even rate the list IMO but the fact remains that Pits are just as much a victim of BYB's as any other breed and there are some 'naturally bad' one's out there. I'd also probably wipe Dobies from the list and replace them with Chessies.

She could also be herding you. Some dogs, such as Heelers, are notorious for that, Though I don't know the solution for that particular problem. Probably extra excercise and/or a job to do.

Yeah, even fencing doesn't make your dog completely safe. Coyotes can generally jump anything less than a six foot fence despite their small size. Interestingly I've noticed the coyotes from back home are quite a bit larger than the ones I've seen elsewhere, they could easily jump even a six foot fence. Folks should learn that if you have a small dog or cat and they live in coyote country (that goes for any bold predator, I bet you'd be surprised how many pets go to birds of prey), you just have to keep an eye on them while they're out, and viola, everyone stays safe.

China hates rain, if there's water falling out of the sky she goes out, pees, and comes right back in. If she has to take a dump, she'll just hold it and hope it's not raining later. This is really stupid because she got the super dense Husky coat, and on top of that her fur is naturally rather greasy (takes forever and a day to give her a bath). So she's water proof, and hates the rain. :roll:

I know what you mean Courtnek, it's really sad that as soon as people see wildlife as any kind of inconvenience, it's time to exterminate them. At my old house in Calif there used to be a coyote that patrolled at night. Sometimes I'd see him going up the road after everyone had left the bar. I liked having him there and he did the good service of whittling the stray cat population down every now and again. What gets me even worse than the coyotes is how indiscriminatley people kill snakes. I've counted over the years the number of rattlesnakes I've spotted, and over the years the number has gotten smaller and smaller until my last year in Calif in which I didn't find any. People refuse to believe that snakes are not a problem. If you live in snake country (I'm talking about venomous species) you should educate yourself and your children, most pets are wise enough to leave them be. And when people realize that snakes are not nearly as much of a danger to themsleves and their families there shouldn't be any need to kill them. If you don't like snakes go live in the city! Alot of the snakes that people kill are completely harmless and are victims of human ignorance. Ok, rant done.