SHOW US YOUR PETS!!!

[gino]

QS, thanks for the compliment on my dog and great post, very informative.
I buy the treats at Petco and I am going to try and look into them further as I wasnt aware of issues with them. They are the plain almost freeze dried chicken breasts.
I dont have my property sprayed and never would, it was just something I never liked.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention I apreciate it.

Gino

[Quick Steel]

Gino: I just think your dog's head is amazing. He looks like he's thinking...."I could do that if I wanted to....But I don't."

The pet food business is very problematical. Even the fancy high priced brands. I'm no expert, but I'm confident your dog (and others) can thrive on animal protein. Certainly don't need grains and other fillers. Well, everyone has their own views and experiences with their pets so I'll leave the subject there. [Pet food and health is a good research project.]

[gino]

When I first got Blitz - then and now.

[johnnierotten]

He filled in real good.

[jmh58]

Gino.. That bottom pic is KOOL!! Looks like he is thinking "I could kick your azz if I wanted to"!! Beautiful dobie!! John

[tjmurphy]

Absolutely beautiful Gino. Man I love dogs

[gino]

Thanks JR , John and Tom I like him!

[On Edge]

He's beautiful, Gino!

[gino]

Thanks Bill

[FRJ]

Gino,
that dog is just plain impressive.
You must be proud of him.

[zp4ja]

lots of pretty pets shown here. Late to the thread so too many critters to address on a one to one basis. I can say, all these pets are lucky to have owners such as yourselves. Obviously well cared for and loved with proud owners.

Here is one I have. My first dog. My family raised German Short Haired Pointers when I was a kid, family dogs. Never had my own dog till I was 41 years old. Like bigger dogs and just did not think it was fair to have one till I had a large yard or the time to dedicate to a dog. I told the wife I never had my owned my own dog and she was having none of that. 6 months later, she blessed me with this dog.

Her name is Nikki. Loves to hunt and fulfills the label of Retriever. Always happy when she is retrieving a ball or whatever. My partner in the field when bird hunting. Loves the sound of the 12 gauge I hunt with, time for work. Doesn't bark, even if all the other dogs in the neighborhood bark, only barks when there is another dog or a person in the yard, if she don't know them.

10 weeks, 11 months and present, 6 years old....

[Quick Steel]

Looks like a great companion, And barking only at approaching strangers is great.

[tjmurphy]

She's beautiful ZP I like big dogs too, my black lab mix is about 104 lbs.

[zp4ja]

She is a good friend QS. Even if the fedex guy comes and she barks (which I want), a softly spoken "Enough" command and she knows it is all good and she has done her job and will stop barking.

Thanks TJ. She is about 85 pounds. A healthly weight for her in paticular. Any more and the vet gets after me and it is easier to get her into my lifted hunting rig too.

Here is her buddy. His name is Buddy. He is the enforcer and mobile security. I think he is a beagle (check out his "mask")/German Shorthair mix. 3 years old now. 90 pounds of solid muscle.

Some guy was giving away puppies at WalMart. My son was having a rough patch and thought maybe it would be good for him to have a dog to keep him busy and take his mind off things. So I bring this dog home. He don't look too excited about his new friend. A couple hours later, I ask if he likes his new friend. He says, "I wanted a pitbull". Nothing against pitbull owners as they are fine animals but I responded, "You're not getting a f@#$ing pitbull, it's my dog now". It wouldn't have been fair to this great dog.

As for the enforcer role...

We live on an acre and a half, unfenced. So I built a wooden doggie corral about 1500 sq ft until I fence the property. LIke my lab Nikki, only barks when nescessary and stops when commanded.

When required or commanded, he leaps over the 5 foot fence of his enclousure. None of the "the dog is in his kennel, no need to worry, I'm safe" applies here. Someone comes knocking that he don't know, the barking starts right when the dogs see them. Then Buddy waits till they are about 30 feet from the door and scales the fence, positions himself between the stranger and the door, every hair standing on end, exposed fangs and looking pissed.
Let just say he totally eliminated the trespassing issue we had with people short cutting across our property! A soft spoken "Kennel up" and he scales the fence back into his pen.

Others dogs on the property, the dog is fearless. 1 dog or 3 dogs, he don't care. He will take them on if need be or chase them off.

I have no doubt that this dog would give his life to protect my wife or I. He already saved my butt once. Snowstorm, middle of the night, dogs barking. Go outside, Buddy hops the fence and sits next to me. Next thing I know, a husky mix is running right at me in attack mode. He made it about 3 feet from me when Buddy went ballistic. He beat the crap out of that dog for about 30 seconds then chased him to the property line. Lost 1/2" off the tip of his ear in the process.

Love my dogs! I'm blessed to have them and I think the feel the same about me.

[gino]

Great lookin dogs ZP and it is awesome to have a loyal dog isnt it? I like my dog more than most people, lol.

[zp4ja]

Thanks Gino! Your dog is beautiful.

Yes, great to have a loyal dog. I take great care of them and they take great care of me. I too pefer my dogs over most people.

BTW, anyone ever do the raw food diet for your dogs? It is really healthy for them if you can afford it. I try to give them as much raw chicken, steak, hamburger, veggies as I can afford. The only time you have to worry about bones are when they are NOT raw. Do so at your own risk but I have fed many pieces of raw chicken to my dogs, bones and all, never an issue. And boy, do they love eating it. My dogs like the carrots, peas, broccoli, etc. I use them for treats mostly.

[Quick Steel]

Love my dogs! I'm blessed to have them and I think the feel the same about me.

ZP: You are either uncommonly lucky in your dog selections or, more likely, uncommonly good as a leader of your pack.

One problem for a lot of dogs, especially city dogs, is they have no "jobs." It is not the dogs' fault of course. Being carried around in a purse is not a job. Don't misunderstand. I like dogs of every size. I had a great Chihuahua who was best buddy with my German Shepherd. And the little one clearly dominated the Shepherd which was a funny thing to watch.

Anyway, respecting the nature of dogs and of their individuality can produce some great relationships as you know. Your dogs are lucky.

[johnnierotten]

Awesome doge ZP.

[zp4ja]

Awesome doge ZP.

Thanks Johnnie! I will try to find some pics of my reptiles I had. had a 16 foot 120 pound Burmese Python at one point.

Love my dogs! I'm blessed to have them and I think the feel the same about me.

ZP: You are either uncommonly lucky in your dog selections or, more likely, uncommonly good as a leader of your pack.

One problem for a lot of dogs, especially city dogs, is they have no "jobs." It is not the dogs' fault of course. Being carried around in a purse is not a job. Don't misunderstand. I like dogs of every size. I had a great Chihuahua who was best buddy with my German Shepherd. And the little one clearly dominated the Shepherd which was a funny thing to watch.

Anyway, respecting the nature of dogs and of their individuality can produce some great relationships as you know. Your dogs are lucky.

Hey QS,

Probably a bit of both on the lucky selections and leader of the pack. I am not perfect nor or my dogs. But we learn from each other and enjoy our time together. As you know, alot of time training helps with the bonding and we have fun doing it. It is a win-win. I love the fact they respond out of respect and not out of fear.

Couldn't agree more with you on the "Jobs" comment. How many people feel good about themselves without a purpose? Dogs are the same way. Leads to alot of behavioral problems if they don't have a job/purpose also. The wife has a Shitzu. Even for a small dog they had a job.

Great point on dog individuality and temperment. Each dog , same breed is different, but they all usually respond well to the job for which they were bred. I think I am lucky one to have these dogs in my life. When I look at them I am a very proud man. Not just for their looks, we know how that works with people, only gets you so far, but for what they do to enrich my life and perform thier jobs.

Jerry

BTW All,I am not the best dog trainer for sure but best thing I ever did with training was to teach non verbal hand signals to my dogs. Come, sit, down, stay, heel, etc without a word. Very easy to do. Saves the vocal cords or screaming across the property. I even taught them the "Look" command. If they aren't looking at me, hand signals aint gonna work. "Look" means stop what you are doing and look me for a hand signal command. Only took a couple of hours to train with a handful of baby carrots. Good for hunting dog also as you don't want to have to talk and have the birds take flight. Insert a soft "PSSST" if they are close enough.

Another tip is I trained them after I got Buddy, the second dog, to both respond to the same command. Instead of saying each of their names followed by the same command, I just say "Dogs" first before the command. Got 4 dogs, you probably don't want to repeat a command 4 times individually.

If your dogs destroy bones like they are nothing, get Buffalo bones. Hard as a rock. No dog will break that bone apart.

Got a good tip for house potty training if anyone is interested that does not involve the crate but a fishing or cow bell.

Sorry for the ramble but another thing I am passionate about besides knives is dogs and animals in general.

Regards, Jerry

[Quick Steel]

best thing I ever did with training was to teach non verbal hand signals to my dogs.

Very cool. All interesting observations.

[johnnierotten]

ZP..I would love to see the python.

[zp4ja]

ZP..I would love to see the python.

Hey Johnnie, I will try to find some pics. In the mid 80s so no digital pics but maybe able to find some. I can tell you this, I have a pic somewhere that I have the middle of her body on my shoulders, arms extended, with her head and tail almost to the ground. I am 6'2" tall. Might have been a pic awhile before she passed but that is what I recall. Been awhile since I have seen it, going off memory.

I also had numerous other snakes, Indian Python, Boas, Chamelions (they were fun), Bearded Dragons, geckos, etc. If I can find pics I will. but u know how that goes.

Jerry

[zp4ja]

Here is the link to the place I got some of my reptiles from among others...

http://www.prehistoricpets.com/

Still at the same place after my last purchase, 20 plus years ago so they must be doing something right.

Better display of reptiles than I have ever seen at ANY zoo, 20 years ago and I have been to alot of zoos.

Jerry

[johnnierotten]

Thanks for the site info.
Very interesting..me and the Ole Lady love reptiles.

[zp4ja]

No problem Johhnie! Still looking for the reptile pics. Will find them at some point.

Here is few more critters we had up until recently. We gave the goats away to a good home (hopefully not a barbeque spit) all but the hornless one. They were relentless in headbutting and destroying everything they possibly could not matter what we did to keep them busy. They would hammer their horns against the fence or shed for 4 hours straight, take a nap and start again. They did have a job too and earned their rent on eating the weeds around the place.

The minature horse was a handful. Not the dwarf variety, she stood about 4 foot tall and as big around as a whiskey barrel. This girl likes to escape as often as possible to get near the neighboring horses. One time I run after her in flip flops, BIG mistake! Once I got a leader on her, she proceed to buck and spin like a wild horse and stomped directly the top of both of my bare feet. Luckily I was standing in soft dirt at the time or a trip to the shed for duct tape would have been required. For the broken foot bones of course, not the horse.
We gave her to some people that had lots of horses for her to be with. We check up on her and she is real happy.

Last pics is the dogs playing in the snow. They sure love the snow!

Jerry