Another Dog Thread

[81flames]

I was in the same boat as you a couple years ago. After a lot of reasearch, I decided an older dog was better as people kept telling me that puppies are as much work as babies! There are some organizations in Calgary that bring in animals from high kill shelters in the US and Mexico. These dogs are placed into foster homes. I would highly recommend checking out their websites as these dogs are coming to you from a home environment and not a shelter. This allows you to ask the foster parents questions and they can give you an idea of how the animal behaves in a home environment.
There is a massive adopt a thon involving many of these organizations at Bowdog this Saturday. It might be worth going and chatting with some of the people down there.
Some of the organizations are AARCs, little mutts, pawsitive match, oopsedaisy.
It's just another option you have that I find isn't well known.
Good luck! Dogs are amazing creatures that being so much fulfillment to your life.

[Burninator]

My girlfriend and I just adopted a 7 month old dog from the City of Calgary two weeks ago. We both grew up with dogs but this was our first foray into being fully responsible for one. I would recommend reading some books to get an idea of what owning and training a dog is like. This one was good. Personally I wouldn't watch or take tips from the Dog Whisperer. His techniques are not support by most rescue agencies, dog behavior experts and trainers. Understanding how dogs think will help with the training a lot.

Puppies are a lot of work and my girlfriend and I didn't think we had the schedule to raise one so we looked at older dogs. 7 months is still pretty young and we need to keep a close eye on him, but he is almost 100% house trained now and isn't trying to destroy as much anymore. Keep in mind that the vast majority of dogs given up to rescues never had any obedience training. So I would consider that a must for any dog regardless of age. Not only for the dog, but for you as well. Most rescues require this anyways.

Most importantly though make very sure a dog fits into your life.

Here is our little guy. We think he is a Dachshund/Beagle/Pug mix. He is chocolate brown and no idea where that came from. We might do the DNA testing to settle our curiosity.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Personally I wouldn't watch or take tips from the Dog Whisperer. His techniques are not support by most rescue agencies, dog behavior experts and trainers. Understanding how dogs think will help with the training a lot.

What I've noticed about most critics who try to discredit The Dog Whisperer - including my beloved vet - is that they are generally skilled dog trainers with the inclination, training and time to put in a lot of work.

The people who love the Dog Whisperer and swear by his techniques are generally ordinary folk without a similar mindset.

What his critics don't necessarily like about Cesar in particular is his touching the animal and, they think, creating a paranoid animal as a result.

They also say the concept of "pack" and "alpha," the centrepiece of The Dog Whisperer's world, has been largely discredited.

Nevertheless, for ordinary folks, its fairly true the results from his techniques can be just as dramatic and rapid as you see on TV.

With our two new dogs, pulling on a leash and inattention was a problem so I just gave his normal corrective techniques a try. Within ten minutes in each case, I had a dog walking beside me and slightly behind me, a remarkable transformation.

I think you can probably go either way. Just depends how much time you want to put into it and what your own personality is.

Pete and Ruby . . . . pulling no more . . . .



Cowperson

[Table 5]

Cowperson, you're dogs always look so happy. They are clearly living the canine dream.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

I actually think Fish are such an underrated Pet as well. It's just a shame the upkeep and cleaning is so time consuming.

90% of the time I'd rather sit back on the couch across from a beautifully set up fish tank then across from a TV.

Once it's up and running it doesn't take more than 45 mins every 2 weeks.