Dogs: Why? Why not? Vote now please!

[Tangled Metal]

This being our first we weren't ever 100%. That's not to say no matter what we'd have made it work once the decision was made. It's just that you can never be sure with your first dog.

We ended up getting a good one. It came within instinctive knowledge of the right thing to do. First walk we let it off the lead and it came straight back to our call.

I kind of think it trained us how to handle a dog. The more we learnt the more it taught us. By that I mean it was very obedient when starting out. As we learnt more about handling a dog the more it tested us but always seemed to dial it back down when we lost control if that makes sense.

First time at dog training after socialisation classes it was the only dog to do the recall despite never having done it and the others had been going there for a month or more. That's where the instructor held the dog one end of the hall and the owner called it from the other. Meanwhile all owners and dogs were either side of the hall tempting the dog to come over. Quite a challenge I think. When you have a good one you know it.

[pwa]

........When you have a good one you know it.

There speaks a man who loves his dog
I believe dogs come hard wired to want to please their humans by doing the right thing, and that usually only goes wrong when the human fails to give the dog the training it needs to get it right. The dog is constantly trying to decipher our responses to their own actions, and once they work out what we want they will give it.

[Tangled Metal]

I once heard that dogs are constantly looking at 1400 or so signs and markers with each other and humans. Humana can only spot up to 400. It's why they are n so good way picking up on things.

[kylecycler]

Thought Mick F in particular would like this, especially given the number of border collies involved - a demonstration of name recognition...

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglev ... nstration/

The flip side is a story I read years ago about a huntsman who had no names for any of his hounds - he just called them all 'Dog'. When someone asked him how each dog knew he was talking to it he said "I just shout 'Dog!', they all look at me and the one I'm looking at knows I'm talking to it."

[pwa]

Thought Mick F in particular would like this, especially given the number of border collies involved - a demonstration of name recognition...

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglev ... nstration/

The flip side is a story I read years ago about a huntsman who had no names for any of his hounds - he just called them all 'Dog'. When someone asked him how each dog knew he was talking to it he said "I just shout 'Dog!', they all look at me and the one I'm looking at knows I'm talking to it."

I wonder if it is possible to train a dog too much. All dogs need to be trained in the basics so that they behave in public and are easy to live with. But beyond that, I feel that additional training ought only to happen if the dog obviously enjoys it.

[Mick F]

Our Border Collie, Sailor, knows his name, he also knows the names of the cats, Nellie, Percy and Sadie.

Also, he knows we're talking about him as he recognises "him" and "dog" and even when we spell d-o-g.
He loves his toys, and we've called them what they are - ball, squeaky cracker, banana, jumbo, green meanie, etc etc etc.

He's a bit wayward, and not that obedient yet. He also escapes into the woodlands and across the fields. He's two next month and he's getting better all the time. He's our fifth Border Collie and he's five times more difficult and wayward than the other four put together.

I've erected temporary fencing around our garden so we can let him run without escaping.
Latest photo, only yesterday afternoon.

[al_yrpal]

Heres my new partners dogs.

Meg, a lovely natured 15 year old sheepdog. A bit unsteady on her back legs now but enjoys a walk and a bit of fun with a thrown stick.

Meg

And then theres Minnie, a Plummer Jack Russell. A bit of a handful occasionally. Full of growls, intelligent and very quick. A champion ratter if she gets a chance.

Both dogs are very intelligent and obediant

I walk them every day

Al

[Mick F]

Our second BC was Megan. We called her Meg.
Must dig out photos of Sally, Megan, Phobe, and Rascal. Four of them 1974 to 2006.
Fifteen years since Rascal died before getting Sailor. Rascal is a tough act to follow.

[philvantwo]

Got up Wednesday morning and our 14yr old Springer spaniel Flynn couldn't get up, his back legs had gone. Took him to the vets and they thought he'd had a stroke so sadly he had to be put to sleep. He was a lovely dog and went everywhere with us, house is empty without him and I never thought I'd be this upset.

[Ride-sleep-repeat]

Got up Wednesday morning and our 14yr old Springer spaniel Flynn couldn't get up, his back legs had gone. Took him to the vets and they thought he'd had a stroke so sadly he had to be put to sleep. He was a lovely dog and went everywhere with us, house is empty without him and I never thought I'd be this upset.

Very sorry for your loss.He was a fine looking lad.

We've just applied to Foster with a view to adopting a rescue.We want another as a pal for our Cocker and there are so many of the unfortunate souls that have no home.Fingers crossed.

[Mick F]

Phil, I'm so sad for you.


When our first Collie, Sally was put to sleep, it broke my heart. I'm welling up just thinking about it.

[peetee]

Our last dog was some 8 years ago now. Monty, a lurcher. He was rescued after being chained in a open-fronted tin shed with just a bed and blanket in sub-zero temperatures. We had seen him and reported the abuse. He was quite elderly and frail at the time and, with us, spent most of his life on the sofa. After a few weeks of settling in he clearly loved being loved again and had lots of company as we walked and boarded other peoples dogs back then. When you get to know a dog that had previously been abused you can see in its eyes when it’s content. For the most part he had his own space and the other dogs respected that, it was as if they knew he was frail and couldn’t join in with the enthusiastic gaggle. Nevertheless, they always used to go and say hello to him. One dog, however, used to turn passive Monty into a frenzied loon. She was a spaniel and liked to spend some time in the garden and Monty used to hop up and dance off to follow her round the lawn.
Although the time with him was short, about 9 months, I am happy that we were able to give him the care he so deserved at the time he most needed it.

[pwa]

In readiness for our pup when it arrives, I have been out in the garden today plugging those holes in our garden perimeter that a pup might get through. I bought 100 6ft garden canes to push in vertically through a hedge that isn't quite dog proof, spacing them close to each other or to adjacent shrub stems, then I wired them together so that the end effect is a bit like a chestnut paling fence but embedded in a pre-existing hedge. And it looks almost fully dog proof. A bit more work and it will be ready. When the leaves sprout on the hedge in the spring the canes will be invisible but effective.

[Mick F]

We bought plastic "events" fencing. 50yds of it including steel posts.
Sorry, can't remember where from at the moment. Give me some time, and I'll suss it out ............. but it wasn't eBay.

I think it was these people.
https://www.sure-green.com/plastic-mesh-fencing.html

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Knows his name.
Next time you call your dog Mick just insert another name instead of his real name.
Call him Captain instead of sailor.
But say it in the same way on the same attitude.
IIRC the reason why dogs get on so well with humans it's because dogs are social animals.