The New Offical Mutts of the House thread

[FireFighterZero]

Dad took in a Husky that had been at the vet for 8 or 9 months. He called him Bud. He had been run over on the Rez at a month old and the owner abandoned him because he did not want to pay the bill.

That dog turned out to be un trainable. He was a friendly dog but would not stay home and would chase cattle, horses and cats. Never with any harm in mind but he did what he wanted all the time.

Dad worked and worked with that dog, but in the end he had to give it up. A family took him in and he moved to town. He fit in very well in his new setting. They had young kids that could wear him out every day. They hooked him to a sled and Bud would pull them around town all day.

We are still thinking about getting a dog in the spring. Not many rescue dogs around here, but we might look into something.

Sounds like you have quite a curriculum set out Dave!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Damn dog sounds like me.

 

[Burnham]

Yep...untrainable .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Arf!

 

[vl2007]

Here's the Husky we got from the shelter about 8 months ago. He's enjoying life! He goes on heal now, but is very difficult to train...

 

[stig]

Huskies are usually hard to train.
That is why I prefer to mix 50% Alsatian in.

Sure looks happy

 

[Peter]

Huskies and Malamutes are bred for one thing only, to pull sleds.

Great at their job, useless at anything else.

 

[stig]

Yes, but like wolf or Riesenschnauzer, they make a great addition to Alsatian blood.
That way you get a dog with a stronger personality and one less prone to those problems with hips, elbows and back that inbreeding have caused in Alsatians/ German Shepherds, whatever they are called.

If you want a pure bred Alsatian, look to the former East Germany.
They had some very fine strains, bred only for police and military work,and therefore with all the bad stuff weeded out harshly, before the Wall fell.
Our police K9 officers get theirs from some of those breeders and they are wonderful dogs.
I meet them when they train in the woods, and if i was ever going to have a purebred, I'd get one of those.
Met a 3 year old male last week and must admit, I would have loved to own him.
The East German strain is very dark, some of them look like Cory's avatar.

 

[Peter]

I would never have a pure bred shepherd, after the two rescue ones. Superb dogs, but the second one especially just fell apart at the back end. I think the sloping back end was a terrible mistake for the breed.

The only problem with a cross is that the temperament isn't a foregone conclusion, you could end up with a dog that looks like a shepherd but behaves like a sled dog. I am quite taken with the Pyrenean x shepherd idea though. Unless I can smuggle an East German pup in of course. They must have shot a lot of puppies to breed those.

 

[stig]

They did.
I was going to travel down to buy a Czech wolf dog, back before the wall fell.
Got in contact with the Karel Hartl, the army officer who started the breed originally.
His wife spoke German, so we could communicate via her. This was all before the internet, so we spoke on the phone.
Had everything set up to go pick up my dog, and they started talking about outlawing them in Denmark, so I called it off.
Didn't want to go around waiting for the cops to come for my dog, especially since I have a " When you pry them out of my cold dead fingers" feeling about anybody taking one of my dogs.

But I looked into the breeding programme, and it was pretty impressive.
Amazing what you can do, when you are not doing it for money.

 

[Mick!]

As a kind of "did you know?" Thing, I read somewhere that the name Alsatian was chosen to remove the Germaness of the name during the First World War in the UK.
(Alsace being a part of France bordering Germany, or a part of Germany bordering France depending on what part of the last 200 years you lived)
Could be wrong, CBA to check.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Youse guys ever think about a beagle or working dog? Something nice like that?

 

[pete mctree]

Beagles make poor pets imho - they are a working hound & there drive to track & run down prey is immense. Often seen heading off across fields with owners in pursuit

I'm considering a 2nd dog at the moment. Quite tempted by the malinois/Belgian shepherd. Very keen though & the choice of a lot of police forces at the moment.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Pits are my favorite.

 

[pete mctree]

They are a controlled breed here Butch - too many idiots owning them for status led to some serious attacks on both other dogs & people. The police are not keen on the either as it rendered there dogs ineffective.

 

[MasterBlaster]

They have a bad rep, for sure.

 

[Peter]

They are a controlled breed here Butch - too many idiots owning them for status led to some serious attacks on both other dogs & people. The police are not keen on the either as it rendered there dogs ineffective.

My Alfie had a run in with a pit shortly after I got him, it came hurtling 300 yards across a park all ready to tear the fat Labradors throat out, Alfie just stood his ground and as soon as the other dog was in range he just shoulder barged him to the ground and sat on him. Funniest thing I ever saw.

 

[Mick!]

When you own a springer spaniel, don't be suprised when it leaps into a pond after a duck. It's been bred and selected to do that over generations.
Jack Russells will dig and go down holes after game for the same reason. Huskies will run and run and run...
Pit bulls and the like were bred for a purpose. Making their owner look tough is a byproduct of that.

 

[FireFighterZero]

I just worry about the guard/police/killing dogs. I would bet that most people, not you guys, get them for the wrong reasons or are not smart enough to train them right.

 

[stig]

The Malinois is EXTREMELY active.
Unless you have a lot of time to put into working with it, it'll become restless.

Pits are outlawed here.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I love how Pits are so friendly.

Anyone ever watch this series?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Pit bulls are a friggen time bomb... Ya just never know.
One of my room mates had one.... sweetest one I ever knew.. sucked it's thumb and always wanted his momma... would have let anyone in the door... Doubt you would want to harm momma though...
Rob has a pit mix next door and all I want to do is shoot the bastard. That one is going to get in trouble soon.. mark my words. Too aggressive.
They love chicken... Fact is, they'll tear chain link apart to get to them.. why my bullets often find stray pits.
Very popular up here. Over run with them. The coyote and pit mix should provide some interesting times in the future

 

[MasterBlaster]

You can tell a bad one, pretty much.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Have some people we know that used to rent from us. They go through pits left and right ... had what seemed a couple of good ones in the beginning. Trained them etc.... Seems when they hit a certain age, a lot of them turn on the alpha male in their life (owner). Joe has had to have several put down over the years.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I bet those ones weren't neutered/spayed.