What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

[Erica]

Delta's now growled twice in a situation he wouldn't have before...one, lady approached to pet him (though she did it while I wasn't watching and I hadn't released Del to greet her). Once I did release him, he was all soft curved wiggles. Today, we saw an elderly female golden on our walk. I let his leash drop for the greeting, but he was stiff and growling. The golden did approach straight on but had otherwise nice body language. I moved Delta along quickly.

We haven't been seeing people or dogs often on our walks, so I'm going to first keep a close eye on his behavior and start walking him in more populated areas so we can do some cc. If there's no improvement in a couple weeks, we'll get a detailed vet exam (he has a normal vet appt soon for a vaccine booster for a standard exam).

[Nettle]

Both perfectly justifiable growl reactions IMO - each was a rude 'greeting' and he was doing no more than telling you/them that he wasn't happy with it. A vet exam is never wasted, but IMO neither incident is worth deep thought.

Old dogs are often on medication or carrying illness that smells.

[JudyN]

I was sitting on a log in the wood this afternoon with my friend the treat fairy and his two dogs (they both have mobility issues so don't cover much ground on their walks). Jasper was getting bored so started digging a hole in between us, just under the log. Max immediately gave him a telling-off, and J backed off. Twice more, J started digging in the same place, twice more Max got grumpy - at which point we left to have a bit more proper walking. Max was fine when J was just generally hanging around in the same place in the hope that the treat fairy would treat him again.

Is there anything significant about digging that might have annoyed Max? I wondered if Max might think there might be buried food and didn't want J finding it first, but Max's owner reckoned that that level of thought was beyond Max and it has to be said that Max is a bit thick. He was waiting for the treat fairy to throw him his fir cone earlier on the walk, oblivious to the fact that it was still in his mouth from the previous throw

Erica, Jasper had one of his sudden changes of mind from 'Ooh you're lovely yes do pet me' to 'Actually you're a bit scary GGRRRRAAAARRRHHH!!' with a policewoman the other day Luckily, she understands dogs and told me she had a grumpy old man of her own at home, though I'm not sure if she was referring to her dog or her husband

[Ari_RR]

Ari saw a policewoman the other day who was on her lunch break, trying to enjoy her sandwich or burger, which I didn't realize until it was too late... All she said was "hmmm.. that's a friendly puppy you've got there". God bless her. The 6 year old "friendly puppy" with crocodile teeth almost tried to wrestle the burger away from her. We eventually moved on, without getting shot.

[Erica]

They're justifiable growls, to be sure, but he also doesn't usually resort to them so quickly -- I've only ever seen him growl when he's injured or feeling yucky (torn paw pads from fetch/post surgery/etc) so with him it's something to take note of! We also, as I said, haven't been around other people/dogs as much as usual so it may be a bit of "hmm this isn't familiar and I don't remember what to do."

[Shalista]

Poor bax, it was warm so he blew his winter coat and now the snow is taller than he is and he doesn't want to poop outside because he's cold

[MPbandmom]

Poor Bax. Sky seems to have managed to just start blowing undercoat now, but is starting from the bottom and working up. Fortunately our snow was pretty worthless. Only a couple of inches of wet heavy stuff that has now turned to a sheet of ice thanks to the frigid temperatures.

The visit with the pet sitters went well. They reported that Sirius did bark, but both dogs went out into the yard and Sirius has a roll. She didn't take care of any business, but I'm not concerned about that as it was just a test to see how she would behave and likely occurred about 10 minutes after we had left the house. The pet sitters also reported that both dogs sat beautifully for treats.

Oldest was a bit miffed that I had pet sitters come in and wasn't planning on relying on him when time comes for our trip. He works in an on call type of job and those duties often take him too far away for too long to be able to stop by and let the dogs out. Plus his wife is expecting within a few weeks of our trip date and I wouldn't want to be expecting him to let the dogs out should he and wife end up at the hospital delivering the baby.

[JudyN]

Today I met a guy I see occasionally walking his dog. He's very demonstrative: 'Hi JASPER, boy, you're looking GREAT!!' with arms outstretched... 'WHAT a good boy you are!!!!!!!!' Jasper likes him, and enjoys his ear-rubs & neck-scratches, but does back off from the hands-over-the-head.

I'd only seen him once since he got a flat-coated retriever pup around a year ago, so I realised as J went up to say hello that the retriever was about a year old and probably intact J was VERY interested in sniffing him, but I was delighted that he didn't show any aggression. The retriever was pretty noncholant, which would have helped - neither looking anxious nor trying to play.

The man then set to scratching J's neck, with the retriever right next to him.

'Ooh, you like that, don't you, boy?'

'Grrrr....'

'Oh yes, it's really good, isn't it?'

'Grrrrrrrrrrr......'

'Um, I think that's a growl - you probably should stop doing that.'

'What? I thought he was enjoying it!'

I don't think he was growling at the dog - I think having that whiff of testosterone floating around was enough to turn him into generalised grumpy mode which would a moment later have been directed to the owner. He was fine when the man stopped scratching him - so I think he did really well, in not snarking at the other dog, and telling the man how he felt and not snarking at him either!

In other news, I saw a female lurcher the other day that I thought J might get on with, as she seemed quite lively (had just annoyed a couple of smaller dogs just for the fun of it, ignored by her owner ). J introduced himself but they didn't quite kick it off - he playbowed at her, but then put a paw on her back, and she seemed a bit insecure so they wheeled round each other a bit and then gave up. I saw what looked like a row of hackles come up all the way down her back and thought 'If I didn't know better I'd say that was a Rhodesian Ridgeback x lucher'. I've just had a google and found that it is a known cross - though the general opinion is they're not a recommended one...

[Shalista]

Bax gets a ridge all down his back when he's ticked and at 11pounds the odds of him being a ridgie are slim

[Shalista]

Today i learned there is a strain of rat terrier called a Decker rat terrier that takes down cougars, bears, and wild boar O.o there are pictures online of rat terriers bringing them down so its not just bullshit. Like, holy crap O.o i know Bax was a badass but really? rat terriers bringing down wild BOAR!??!?!??! and MAN these are GORGEOUS dogs. like peak physical perfection...... *dreamy sigh* that is ENTIRELY to much dog for me to handle but a girl can dream

http://www.spitfiredeckers.com/assets/i ... 40x444.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/or ... 6fa0d8.jpg

[Nettle]

I think some people have vivid imaginations, Shalista - and have likely never encountered a wild boar.

It isn't just these people - years ago I saw a beagle-sized European hound at a Show, whose owner told me they were used for boar-hunting. She assured me they could take down wild boar single-handed. Bless!

There isn't a dog yet bred that can take down a bear or a cougar, unless said bear or cougar chokes as it is swallowing it.

[Nettle]

JudyN, all my dogs can hackle the length of their backs, and much as I admire RRs, there is not a drop of RR blood in them.

I did have a deerhound lurcher who could raise a cape of hair like a maned wolf. It was pretty impressive.

[JudyN]

JudyN, all my dogs can hackle the length of their backs, and much as I admire RRs, there is not a drop of RR blood in them.

The rest of her was saying 'RR' too though - if I bump into them again I'm going to have to ask the owner!

[Shalista]

I think some people have vivid imaginations, Shalista - and have likely never encountered a wild boar.

*WARNING FOR VIOLENT IMAGES click at your peril*
http://newsletter.nrta.com/dec2004/deanhunting.jpg
http://californiacatchers.com/assets/picture%205357.jpg
http://www.deckerhuntingterrierregistry ... unter3.jpg
http://photos.imageevent.com/deckerrats ... %20hog.jpg

Like I said, people use BIG things they call "Decker Rat Terriers" to hunt wild boar

edit: also worth mentioning it looks like the ratty in the third pic down is a tripaw O.o kudos to him for going hunting still!

[Nettle]

They are NOT killing the boar - they are holding it. Sometimes called 'lugging' if they hold by the ear, though some dogs will hold by the tail or genitals, or get hold of a leg. Some will hold it at bay or "bail" it, which means barking and diving at it and not letting it get away. The humans come along and kill the boar.

Dogs need courage to tackle a boar. But they can't kill it - it is too well-armed and well-armoured, and the process would be very long drawn out and involve a lot of suffering. Boar dogs generally lead rather short lives albeit very happy ones. Not my choice of activity by any means, but that wasn't our discussion here.


Same with bears and cougar etc. Sorry if this seems pedantic, but it is important to have facts and not get carried away by other people's hype. There is a vast difference between hunting and bringing to bay, and killing.