I Want a Dog

[WebCrush]

Get a Husky!!  Super friendly, loyal, smart, and if you strap on your rollerblades they can tow you around the racetrack.

http://huskies.webcrush.com/

[EX#996]

Get a Husky!!  Super friendly, loyal, smart, and if you strap on your rollerblades they can tow you around the racetrack.

http://huskies.webcrush.com/

LOL!!!

I did that with our pair of huskies and a set of cross country ski's that were too big for me.  The dogs had a blast pulling me along the trail even after I did a face plant in the snow.   ;D

Dawn  

[Hyperdyne_Racing]

 If you come in my yard, or in my house, my dog will attack you as she is trained to do.  She will not bite you.  She will corner you and hold you there until I or my wife tell her it's ok.  She did this to the water meter guy.  He came in the back yard, and she had him trapped against the fence....    Pointing fingers at a certain breed is plain ignorance.  They are all dangerous.  

Why you would ever send any canine to anything other than simple obedience school is beyond me.    Would you ever send your 5 year old son to a tactical school where he learns how to fataly assault someone???  The last thing you should EVER do with a canine intended for a family (espescially a Staffdorshire Terrier, American Bull Terrier etc..) is send them to a trainer who teaches them aggression and how to attack.  

Sounds as though you might need a low maintenance pet, that will be good with children.  Many dogs can be good with kids, I prefer the giant breeds (Mastiff, Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane etc..)  However gentle they may be. their sheer size can be rough with a new toddler.  I swoosh of a Great Dane's tail can clear a coffee table in 2 seconds, and however beautiful a Mastiff may be, not everyone can handle a 180lb - 220lb dog.  PLus the gentle giants need ALOT of attention and they have a short life span, 6-10 years.

Pugs are overly fun anf will play until no end, absolutely excellent pets and whomever said they are ugly,  :P ;D...  Dachsunds are great travelers and easily maintainable.  But if having a purebred pet is not a major issue, then there are over a thousand readily available happy Mutts :) that need a loving home.  

Best of luck in your search and bringing another good life into your home :).

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

(not a puppy, a dog from the pound--that's a whole other topic),

Both my dogs, Rommel and Monty, are pound puppies.  Is there any other kind worth having?
I think a greyhound might be a great choice for you, Tiff.  While I've never owned one, from what I've seen and been told, they are the most docile, loving, non-agressive dogs in the world.  They also sleep about 16 hours a day.  There are orgs that rescue racing dogs for adoption.  
(Hmmmmm...  16 hours of sleep.  Sounds nice!)
(Racing dogs.  I can relate....)

[cornercamping]

Why you would ever send any canine to anything other than simple obedience school is beyond me.    Would you ever send your 5 year old son to a tactical school where he learns how to fataly assault someone???  The last thing you should EVER do with a canine intended for a family (espescially a Staffdorshire Terrier, American Bull Terrier etc..) is send them to a trainer who teaches them aggression and how to attack.  

Sounds as though you might need a low maintenance pet, that will be good with children.  Many dogs can be good with kids, I prefer the giant breeds (Mastiff, Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane etc..)  However gentle they may be. their sheer size can be rough with a new toddler.  I swoosh of a Great Dane's tail can clear a coffee table in 2 seconds, and however beautiful a Mastiff may be, not everyone can handle a 180lb - 220lb dog.  PLus the gentle giants need ALOT of attention and they have a short life span, 6-10 years.

Pugs are overly fun anf will play until no end, absolutely excellent pets and whomever said they are ugly,  :P ;D...  Dachsunds are great travelers and easily maintainable.  But if having a purebred pet is not a major issue, then there are over a thousand readily available happy Mutts :) that need a loving home.  

Best of luck in your search and bringing another good life into your home :).

Because that's her job.  She is a protection dog, but a family dog at the same time.  Everyone says a dog can't be both.  Well, I'm not the only person that had done this in the past.   The trainer's recommendation wasn't to get a Staffshire, he said get a Bull Mastif.   In his opinion, Staffshire Terriers aren't as agressive as a Bull Mastif.   I bought my dog for $400.00 with AKC papers. The only Bull Mastif I could find that was a pure breed, waa a "Blue Bull" Mastif, and the owner want $4,000.00 per puppy.  :o  So, I got the Staffshire, which I'm more than happy with as both a family dog, and a protection dog.  At the same time, if you think about it, if someone breaks into your home while you and your family are sleeping in the middle of the night, what exactly would you expect your dog to do?  Well, I expect my dog to put him down and hold him there until the police come. The dog isn't trained to kill, she's trained to take control of the tresspasser with alot of agression and hold him there until I say it's good to release.  If a 72lb Pitt Bulll is snarling at you and snapping at your movements, you'd better do one of two things:

Have a gun.
Sit still and comply with what the dog is forcing you to do.

My dog is going to back you in a corner and not let you move.   That's what I expect her to do.

[Hyperdyne_Racing]

Bullmastiff's were initially bred to be usedas guard dogs.  The "Blue Bullmastiff" is actually a Neopolitan Mastiff.  Both of which exceed 130lbs and both can fatally wound un unarmed intruder.  The reasoning behind never including your companion canine and your canine bred for protection and service is that they cannot readily distinguish tresspapsser from not.  They also cannot readily distinguish roughhousing from playing.  All in all presents a negative situation when the dog attacks someone. And there are no accidents in the eyes of the law or your dog.  If your canine attacks someone, he meant to do it as an either retalitory action or a preventative measure, and the courts have record that you have trained your animal in such a manner as to attack, then you are held liable.  Your story woth the meterman only proves that your dog is unable to distinguish the difference between friend and enemy.

Bull Terriers are essentially sweet, loving dogs and with the right training are wonderful companions.  However, you can never deny the reasoning for the breeds introduction.  Due to puppy mills, inbreeding, and negative training, the breed has been labled negatively.

I'm not criticizing you for having a bull terrier, Dan.  However introducing an animal that has been trained to attack humans into a household is never a good idea.  Even Police K9 handlers will tell you this.  There only lease is that the spend 24/7 with their canines.  I respect that you have an animal with a traditionally bad name and given her a loving home, and that is what the breed needs.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

My dog is going to back you in a corner and not let you move.   That's what I expect her to do.

My dogs are going to bark, snarl, and otherwise distract you while alerting me.  The next sound you hear will be 00 buck racking into a 12 gauge shotgun.
At this point, you also have two choices.  You can die begging for mercy, or you can die quietly.  Either way is fine by me, but busting into my house while I'm there carries the death penalty.

[cornercamping]

The reasoning behind never including your companion canine and your canine bred for protection and service is that they cannot readily distinguish tresspapsser from not.  They also cannot readily distinguish roughhousing from playing.

Well, I kinda got what I wanted.  True, my dog gets upset with me when I'm playing with the babby in what she see's as an agressive state, but she knows not to attack me, not saying that she wouldn't if I became overly agreesive with the child or the wife.  For instance, the dog has no problem when I play with the babby, but if the babby starts crying for any reason, the dog stops whatever she's doing and comes to check out the situation.  If I'm rough housing with the babby she sits there and watches while growling.  Same goes if I wrestle with the wife.  It's kinda like she's trying to tell me to take it easy.  If I smack the wife on the butt while she walks by, the dog doesn't like it.  The weird thing is, is that no matter what the wife or babby do, the dog could care less. The wife can smack me all she wants, and the dog doesn't even flinch.  But, if I"m sitting on the couch next to the wife, and the wife says "Ouch," no matter what the dog is doing or where she is, she comes running over growling to see what the problem is. Then, I"ll tease the dog, by touching the wife and the dog goes nuts growling and barking.  The funny thing is all I have to say is good girl, and the dog jumps in my lap with her tail wagging and wants to be loved.   She's definetly a character. I'm still trying to figure out why the wife can do whatever and the dog doesn't care.  But if I do it, oh man.  The babby can do whatever.  She pokes the dog in the eye, pulls her tail, smacks her, throws toys at her, and all the dog does is lick her, or sit there with her tail wagging.  The school taught the dog what kids are.  It was pretty neat.  A small child is never to be attacked, and the dog knows it.  The neighbor kids always come in my yard when the dog is outside and play with her, and the dog has never been agressive twards them.  She actually enjoys it.  But, when their parents get close to the fence, the dog is ready to fight. That I like.  I don't have to lock my garage or worry about someone trying to get in my yard.  The dog learned at school what a child is.  It was neat because they had "dummies" of different sizes, and the only one the dog would attack was the biggest one that had a beard on it.  They even lined up different sized dummies and let the dog choose which one to attack.  The dog always went for th biggest one.   They also trained the dog never to actually attack, but run up as close as possible in an attack stance with teeth showing being as mean as possible.  Then, keep moving forward until the dummy had no where to go, and keep the dummy there until commanded to release.  IF the dummy lunged forward, then the dog actually attacks and goes right for the throat.  They also tought the dog not to be afraid of loud noises like gunshots.   But, they had a fake gun and if the dog see's it, instantly attack and don't release.  It's pretty neat. The cool thing was that I was involved with the whole training.  The dog learned from me.  I was told what to do, and how to treat the dog and react.  Each class was 5 hours long, every day, for 2 full weeks.

[cornercamping]

My dogs are going to bark, snarl, and otherwise distract you while alerting me.  The next sound you hear will be 00 buck racking into a 12 gauge shotgun.
At this point, you also have two choices.  You can die begging for mercy, or you can die quietly.  Either way is fine by me, but busting into my house while I'm there carries the death penalty.

100% agreed.  Same thing goes here.  If your in my house in the middle of the night, or you break into my house, you're a dead man.  I don't care what the law says.  The dog is going for your throat and in the mean time I'm getting out the .40 cal  and calling the cops.  If you gotta gun, the dog is going to strangle you and I'm going to put a hot one in your ass.  Screw the cops.  Response time in Detroit before I moved to the burbs was 45 mintues from the time you call 911 before the cops show up.  

[cornercamping]

Here's a link to pics of my dog by the way:

http://homepage.mac.com/ducelectronics/PhotoAlbum21.html

Her name is Mercedes, also known as Cede's by the baby.  :)

She's almost  3 years old.  Born in Feb. Weighed in a 72.4 lbs last time we went to the vet about 3 months ago.  

[EX#996]

My dogs are going to bark, snarl, and otherwise distract you while alerting me.  The next sound you hear will be 00 buck racking into a 12 gauge shotgun.
At this point, you also have two choices.  You can die begging for mercy, or you can die quietly.  Either way is fine by me, but busting into my house while I'm there carries the death penalty.

Hehh Hehh Hehh.....

The little Marty dog will let us know someone's here...  then....

Well Chris, you've been in our house and you know whats in every room.   ;D

Dawn  

[StumpysWife]

Our son is a smooth miniature dachshund, but he's built big at 17 lbs.    


He's like a big dog packed in a little body.  There isn't much a big dog can do that he can't.  He's extremely smart and easily trained if you stick with the training good for the first year.  He loves bird hunting (he's a natural with no training), swimming, walking.  You've never met such a loyal dog.  He loves babies and absoluetly fusses over any that come to visit.  

And, for guard purposes, his bark is big, too, but he has never bitten.  There's no dog hair or big poop to clean up.  He can go with us where ever with out it being a big project.  He's the most cuddly dog I've ever met, too.  And does he love the toys--just like his father.   ;D

The only downfall is he doesn't like two strokes so we had to get rid of one dirt bike.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Heather