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- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,233
- 45,134
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- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Yesterday in our town I saw a guy walking his mastiff, and the mastiff was carrying his stuffed animal. It was wonderful.
D
I have three dogs. Two sleep under the covers and the third sleeps at the foot of the bed on the other side. If I was still married, and my wife thought like that, she'd be sleeping on the floor or the couch in the living room.
I was going to say "That dog's in the police force, how spoiled can it be?"
Then when I saw it was a Malinois I realized giving it a full-time job would probably be the thing that made it feel most spoiled. Those dogs are intense...
Whenever I get an email notification and click "view this thread" it takes me back to the first post. And every time it makes me happy all over again. What a sweet pup and a happy story.
Took Sadie for a walk as far as I thought she could go. She's lost so much weight and her back legs are slipping. That sucks. But thankful. Tired girl. See you tomorrow.
Intense for sure, ...like the German Shepherd, Doberman, Rottweiler, Chow, Husky, Malamute and several others used to be.
Many of the leaner built Pitbulls (UKC Standards) I meet, need a lot of exercise to satisfy their needs.
Out of the eight I've had, two were couch potatoes and the rest needed to run or hike at least 4-5 days a week to be happy and satisfied.
I like what many American breeders have done with the Doberman, they are still so smart and hilarious but not quite as intense as the original typical European ones are.
I tend to think that several working breeds really need to do what they were bred to do, and maybe should not be owned by a casual dog owner.
What are you gonna do with a Belgian Malinois, a proper Border Collie, a Boerboel, a Tosa, a real deal Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute.
Silas is a hugger. Just fyi. Loving this rare cloudy Sunday afternoon.
Totally... We had some friends who had a Malinois as a house pet, and she seemed like a neurotic mess all the time. I've seen similar with Aussie shepherds and their mixes. Sometimes they get into trouble. Not that Aussies can't live in a home, it's just that they often require certain accommodations to be at their best.
It's kind of a bummer, because as someone mentioned a few pages ago the dogs that are bred for work and not aesthetics tend to be the healthiest, and are generally less inbred than show lines. But there you may also end up with an animal who needs a job to be happy.
I've been wondering, where do you go if you want a robust, healthy dog for companionship? Go to a breeder of working dogs and ask for a puppy that shows enhanced couch potato potential? Or stick with mutts? Or are there healthy purebred dogs that aren't absurdly expensive?
I am a big fan of mixed breed dogs from your local shelter for most people who want a nice family pet.
The other answer to that question is my avatar and the words under it.
I've had seven Pitbulls live at my house in the last 15 years.
One was full time and the rest were fosters who needed some love and training and to be made ready for a good permanent home.
Some of them are creampuffs and some are a lot of dog, but all have been sweet loving companions and healthy strong dogs.
I certainly would not recommend some Pitbulls for some people but some Pitbulls are so easy it's ridiculous.
I'm a big fan of Pitbulls because they are many of the dogs in shelters who need a good owner, who've already had a bad owner.
They tend to be healthy because they were bred to be working Bulldogs first, then smaller professional fighters for gambling purposes, and then back to working dogs on farms in the USA when they got here, with a sideline of fighting.
The vast majority of them in the USA today are just good family pets with a certain percentage still being used for fighting/gambling.
They have spent relatively short amount of time being bred for show, so it seems that the AKC hasn't messed them up yet.
I think the AKC has screwed many breeds up badly when the emphasis is on trendy physical show traits over practical traits that the various breeds were created for.
I think any high drive dog can be too much for owners not prepared for that.
A Jack Russell can be way too much dog for a lot of people, an Australian Cattle Dog too, most Border Collies, some Husky and Malamute breed lines, many Mastiff and mastiff mixes, some Rottweilers, some Dobermans, some of the more serious hunting dogs can be a real handful.
It seems many working breeds today in the USA have whole bloodlines that have been made easier family pet versions.
Geeeeez I talk too much.
We just got back from a three mile hike on the muddy trails over at Southeast Metro Park primitive trail.
It was nice and cool.
MoMo is having a little nap now.
That's a nice place. We live northwest near Bull Creek. My old girl and I used to walk down the hill to the creek but she is 16 and doesn't have the energy. But my younger guy can make it. It's St Edwards park. Tons of space and most of the time it's really quiet.
We lived in Steiner Ranch for 22 years, lots of time at St. Edwards and the other stuff off 360.
Hundreds of walks in Turkey Creek off City Park Road. There was also lots of trails right in Steiner.
We live in Bastrop now and McKinney Roughs LCRA Park is about two miles from us, there are seventeen miles of maintained trails and a bunch of unmarked trails.
We also have a bunch of trails along the Colorado river east of Bastrop.
Momo is getting to hike the places that Loki and I hiked so many times.
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Was that the car door I heard?
