The Official "Dogs of the DMF" Thread

[cyrus buelton]

Thank you all for the well wishes.


Our Little Buddy is in the big doggy bed in the sky sleeping under numerous blankets with just the tip of his nose sticking out, like he always has done. He is probably eating Taco Bell all the time.

I have to go pay the ER bill and pick up his collar tonight. We won't get his remains for 10-14 days, which will be another hard trip to the last place our little guy was.

The worst is we pick Greta up tonight and have to break the news to her. She won't understand and will be very lonely without her partner in crime.


Thank you all for the well wishes; it means a lot to us. We really don't "know" any of you, but this community is close and all shares sorrow together.

And to Rat........definitely something you sign up for when you go pick those little four legged annoying puppies when they shit and piss everywhere. You watch them turn into loyal, loving animals. You develop a close bond. And then one day, they slip through the bonds of Earth and get to lick the Doggy God and continue to live the life they always have, but probably get away with a lot more!!


Thank you all.

[GLantern]

I'm really sorry to hear this CB, we lost our lab recently it is heartbreaking.

[SacDuc]

So my dogs got out the other day. I thought that I had not shut the door tightly while I was outside working on the very damn fence that will be keeping the little mongrels in the front yard. I beat myself up pretty badly over it. Barely slept that night because I was so pissed at myself for endangering the dogs like that We live on kind of a busy street and the shepherd likes to run.

As it turns out I probably DID shut the door tightly, one of my dogs is just an escape artist. Here's the bask story.

Most dogs that can reach a lever handle will figure out how to use the lever and will open the door just by leaning into it. Fewer dogs learn how to open a lever handled door that swings into the room they are in. My shepherd figured this out the first time we left him alone in the back office while we ran errands. There he was greeting us at the front door when we got back. 

The doggie daycare place we take the boys to occasionally has a series of three gates the dogs are brought through to go from the front desk to the common play area or vice versa. The latches are supposed to be doggie proof. The latch needs three separate movements in three different directions to open it. One day when I went to pick him up I was told that our shepherd Fritz was the third dog they have ever seen figure out that latch. I chuckled and thought, That's a good boy, smart dog." I few weeks later I actually saw this in action. I was amazed at how fast he opened that latch! And it was hilarious to see the girl turn around from closing the first gate and wonder "where the make the beast with two backs did the dog go?!?!"

I was wrong. That is a bad boy. Shortly thereafter he let himself and the other two  out of our backyard through a standard latched chain link gate. On goes the pad lock. He nosed at that a lot but hasn't been able to pick the lock yet.

Then he started opening the sliding door and screen that goes into the back yard. So I bought a little device that is basically a wingnut that operates a clamp that attaches to the track so the door can't slide. I watched my wife put it on. So did the dog. We hadn't been out of the room for more than a minute when we here him pawing at the sliding door. The damn dog had unscrewed the wing nut and was about to let himself out to the back yard (which has 6' fences btw).

At this point I was thinking about putting the little bastard in a straight jacket and throwing him in a tank of water.

So for his grand finale today he managed to open an in swinging door with a knob type handle. Think about that for a minute. How the make the beast with two backs does a dog even do that? I am 99% sure he does not have opposable thumbs. And KNEW I had shut that damn door the other day. Grrrrrrrrr . . .

Luckily he only seems to do this (and his other escape tricks) when my wife and I are out in the yard and he wants to see where we are at. Unfortunately once he's out he seems to want to revert back to his days on the street and go roaming. The other two just follow along. 

Any suggestions?

sac

[RAT900]

This is Naji....he's a 2 year old Cane Corso my daughter rescued down in Philly while working intake at the local veterinary clinic. He was sold by a breeder to a "family" that evidently had plans to make him a fighting dog. They butchered his ears...I am not against doc's and crop's but use something better than a curb-sharpened butter knife and leave some residual cover

and they tried to beat him mean...all they succeeded in doing was just beating him under...he didn't have a fighting dog's temperament and they just worked him over with their frustration. He ran away and spent 4 months in the woods in a Phil park on his own before they caught him.

The owners returned him to the breeder and got their money back...the breeder brought him in to be put down....my daughter talked her way into keeping him ...a month later she lost her job and was up here at home in October with us and the dog.  

He is terrified of men and would take off every time I came into a room...then slowly he got used to the idea of me...but only if I was sitting....then I could come into a room and he wouldn't run...then he got real used to the spit-roasted chickens I would bring home from the market and bait him with....and so on...

now? he won't leave my side and he is able to play...he boxes like a damn kangaroo and is extremely careful with teeth when he mouths my hand or arm...I have never seen a gentler dog

I knew he was worth the effort..he just had this pathetic timid hopefulness in his eyes that tore my heart to shreds...he is an endless sponge for affection and reassurance.......and he actually is feeling somewhat safe enough now that he is guarding his adopted domain with tentative "wuffs" at the mailman's daily visit

my daughter left him with us to start a new job...she said she wasn't sure when she would be able to take him on again...but I know what she had in mind all along...she saw that empty spot my Shepherd left...and well you know the old saying that nature will fill a vacuum

what ever they did to him, they weren't able to beat that small remaining spark out of him...it was still there and it now grows and prevails....its a rare dog, hell its a rare human too..that can get that level of a shit start in life and still come through if they get a chance

I wasn't ready to sign on for another dog but you never are ready .....until it happens.

[Grampa]

Carl..... book that dog on Leno

[SacDuc]

Rat,

That brought a tear to my eye. Your daughter is wonderful for saving that dog's life. And good on you for taking the time to rehab him. He is great looking dog! Thank you so much for giving him a good home. The poor guy. No living creature deserves to be treated the way that dog was. He's lucky to have you. And you're mighty lucky to have such a good friend now.

sac

[Triple J]

Sac...our neighbor has a serious escape artist dog (although it can just jump 8' fences...not quite as smart as yours  ). She got the Invisible Fence system installed at her house. Works wonders.   Other than that...exercise the damn thing until it's too tired to escape. It might kiil you first though.  

Rat...great story...or at least great ending.   That is why the majority of breeders suck, and why I will never ever support a breeder. Most (not all obviously) care more about a profit than where the dog ends up. Beautiful dog as well. 

[triangleforge]

Rat -- he's a very handsome fellow!  We've got a 15 year old Shar Pei who was rescued after living the first seven years of his life on a 3 foot chain, starved and beaten. If any creatures have a right to be pissed off at the world, it's dogs that have been abused like Naji & our Ruffles. But like yours, our guy has the most gentle heart I've ever seen in a dog - not a mean bone in his body.

Fortunately, he's no escape artist like yours, Sac, because when he does get out (entirely my fault the last time it happened), he's off on an adventure at full speed and zero sense of direction. Unless we'd fount him, there's no way he'd have made it back home.

[SacDuc]

Sac...our neighbor has a serious escape artist dog (although it can just jump 8' fences...not quite as smart as yours  ). She got the Invisible Fence system installed at her house. Works wonders.   Other than that...exercise the damn thing until it's too tired to escape. It might kiil you first though.  

We call our dog Fritzy Pants the Good Time Party Dog because all he wants to do is play. ALL. THE. TIME. The dog is one year old and simply does not get tired. One time I pulled up to the daycare place and there he was running around as usual. He had been there for about eight hours. When the girl brought him out I jokingly asked, "So have you ever seen him lay down? heehee." She paused for a moment and said very seriously said, "No. No, I haven't." He was in the pool there swimming for two straight hours the other day for the christ sake. Five mile walk? Easy. Couple mile jog. Simple. Chase the ball until MY arm is tired? More please!

For all the energy he has he seems to be happiest when he is "working." When it is just me and him and we are doing training stuff he shines. I just haven't figured out a way to teach him that it is his job to stay in the yard if he manages to get out.

All of my dogs could get over our 6' fences if they really wanted to, but so far they have never tried. So I've got that going for me at least.


sac

[RAT900]

Sac...I know the dog you speak of....two modes  full tilt and dead out...we also have a female Border Collie Pit mix...she does laps around the walls on rainy days and when that gets boring she tries to mount Naji...she is 1/3rd his size and it is just tragically bad canine porn watching her play strap-on girl with him...he just wanders along oblivious to this insane ball of tireless energy bobbing and hopping away on his backside

[JBubble]

RAT, thats such a wonderful story and a beautiful dog.

Sac, Mother and I have a high energy pup too, though we're lucky that she's not an escape artist (she did try to eat a 5 lb bag of flower  ). The only the thing we've found that consistently works are hikes with elevation changes and having a pack on Grace.

Hope you can solve the Houdini problem!

[metallimonster]

Sac,

I have a Wolf/Shepard mix (search Kitana if you want to see her) and she used to do the whole escape thing when she was Fritz's age.  Now she knows her yard and won't move from it even if we try to get her too.  Dumbass eighteen year old kid next door came through our yard (long story) and left the gate open a couple of months ago and it was open for a whole weekend and she never left the yard once.  Shepards are very smart so Fritz learning to open things doesn's surprise me.  He'll learn to stay in his yard when he gets older.

[SacDuc]

 That is encouraging. Thank you.

He had a little break through the last time he got out. About two blocks from home he actually came beck to me when I called him. He head was down and he peed a little as he got close. He knew he was being bad. But he came back. He is very trainable. He'll learn. I hope.

sac

[Grampa]

bob says.... " dogs are the dumb"

[SacDuc]

Yeah well, Bob hangs out with you. What does that say about him?   

sac