DOGS

[Charles Cook]

told him it's Monday, and we have lots of work to do......

View attachment 1741481

you're on your on today Boss.

 

[Sahara]

She looks, and sounds, like she might have some Malinois in her.

Could be, I will research that further. She is a mixed breed of some sort. Her personality traits fit Ridgeback in every way, but I will look into Malinois and see if that fits. She has an ear tattoo so at some point she was important to somebody, but not all tats are registered if they dump the dog.

 

[Charles Cook]

Just chilling on the deck.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Haven’t posted on Cora in a while.
You may recall that we got her just over a year ago as a forest fire refugee. She was in a shelter but was labeled as aggressive so nobody wanted her. When the shelter heard that we were rescuing cats and looking after them on my friends farm they asked if we could take four more cats. And an aggressive dog.
<snipped>

I always have a ton of cats around and taking in an aggressive dog always worries me, good job on making it work out.

 

[Sahara]

I always have a ton of cats around and taking in an aggressive dog always worries me, good job on making it work out.

It took a bit of doing. Her initial reaction was to chase and kill anything that moved. It took a while to convince her not to kill everything and she is no problem now. Two of our four cats groom and hang with her, one is terrified of her and avoids her, and one hates and dominates her. It’s kind of funny, she is a 82 pound killing machine but she is terrified of our eight pound cat Gary and will avoid her at all costs.

 

[sam dupont]

Her head looks Ridgeback, but it's hard to tell from those photos.

A couple moved into my neighborhood and they had a dog about the same size as my 70 pound Cook. The dogs hit it off and liked to play with each other. The other dog liked to play rough, and liked to growl. When my dog started play rough and growl at the dog park, I discouraged him. I also tried to avoid play with the neighbors dog. Dogs have a language, and when they know each other growling isn't interpreted as aggression. With a strange dog, growling can be misinterpreted easily or bring out another dog's fear aggression and fights ensue.

My boy the first time he met this Lab puppy. This is what I like to see:

 

[Sahara]

Generally when she meets new dogs it involves the usual butt sniffing and posing. We find that if we give them space things work out well. If they are crowded then their patience runs out fast.
I walk her out of town and avoid other dogs as much as possible. We are blessed with millions of square kilometers of empty space here but occasionally we come across other people that think the same thing.
She has all of the Ridgeback personality traits to a “T” times ten, and that’s what makes them a handful for those that aren’t prepared for dealing with them, especially those that figure all dogs are essentially the same. I used to think that.
It’s hard to describe, but they are super alpha. They genuinely think that they are in charge, or are at least your equal and that you are subordinate to them. As many sites quite correctly point out: you cannot change that. They are not out to please you and don’t really care if you are pleased. You can bribe them to obey you, but then you have to always bribe them. You cannot force them to do anything, and as one site points out, if you are one of those who beats their dog you will be beating your dog every day and accomplishing nothing. If a person is looking for a dog that will fetch, beg, roll over and do tricks then these are not the dog for you.
Once a person learns how to deal with them they are amazing dogs. You sort of have to deal with them as an equal.
First off, you absolutely must exercise them mentally and physically every day. You must. Doesn’t matter if you are tired, sick, or it’s forty below and blizzarding out, you must exercise them. Even when I had Covid I ran her every day. Completely transformed the dog. It doesn’t take much, minimum of a half hour. Generally from the time we leave the house to the time we return is just under an hour.
For mental stimulation you give them a task to perform. In her case it’s carrying her ball. Before I figured that out she was unmanageable, roaming away from me, looking for things to do or chase. I was concerned that she would go in the bush and not return. One time she ran a few hundred yards ahead and ran onto the highway, nearly getting hit by a semi. When I gave her the ball to carry she became focused her job, dutifully carrying it by my side, about ten feet in front of me. No more wandering, just focused on her job.
She doesn’t like to crap in the yard, and will hold it until I return from work at 04:00 to walk her. I doubt if she’s crapped in the yard ten times in over a year.
She puts herself to bed every night around 11:00. She will get up and stand by the door. I let her out for a pee and she runs out, pees, and comes back in and goes to bed upstairs, every night. In the morning we let her out for a pee and we have breakfast. When we start the vehicle to go to work she puts herself back to bed. All without being told or prompted.
You have to give them a fixed amount of food, no more. They will eat any and everything, all day long, if you let them. Then you have to burn off some of those calories every day.
Wild meat is like crack cocaine to her. It has the same effect as giving a six year old boy a big slice of chocolate cake and two cans of Coke to wash it down. It literally has that effect on her.
Their strength is off the scale, and you have to be careful of it. She will accidentally knock you down, or scratch you very badly with those big toe nails and enormous strength. Yet she is fantastic with children and prefers them to other dogs and adult humans.
There’s so much more to these fascinating animals. We are still learning how to deal with her every day.

 

[padam]

Generally when she meets new dogs it involves the usual butt sniffing and posing. We find that if we give them space things work out well. If they are crowded then their patience runs out fast.
I walk her out of town and avoid other dogs as much as possible. We are blessed with millions of square kilometers of empty space here but occasionally we come across other people that think the same thing.
She has all of the Ridgeback personality traits to a “T” times ten, and that’s what makes them a handful for those that aren’t prepared for dealing with them, especially those that figure all dogs are essentially the same. I used to think that.
It’s hard to describe, but they are super alpha. They genuinely think that they are in charge, or are at least your equal and that you are subordinate to them. As many sites quite correctly point out: you cannot change that. They are not out to please you and don’t really care if you are pleased. You can bribe them to obey you, but then you have to always bribe them. You cannot force them to do anything, and as one site points out, if you are one of those who beats their dog you will be beating your dog every day and accomplishing nothing. If a person is looking for a dog that will fetch, beg, roll over and do tricks then these are not the dog for you.
Once a person learns how to deal with them they are amazing dogs. You sort of have to deal with them as an equal.
First off, you absolutely must exercise them mentally and physically every day. You must. Doesn’t matter if you are tired, sick, or it’s forty below and blizzarding out, you must exercise them. Even when I had Covid I ran her every day. Completely transformed the dog. It doesn’t take much, minimum of a half hour. Generally from the time we leave the house to the time we return is just under an hour.
For mental stimulation you give them a task to perform. In her case it’s carrying her ball. Before I figured that out she was unmanageable, roaming away from me, looking for things to do or chase. I was concerned that she would go in the bush and not return. One time she ran a few hundred yards ahead and ran onto the highway, nearly getting hit by a semi. When I gave her the ball to carry she became focused her job, dutifully carrying it by my side, about ten feet in front of me. No more wandering, just focused on her job.
She doesn’t like to crap in the yard, and will hold it until I return from work at 04:00 to walk her. I doubt if she’s crapped in the yard ten times in over a year.
She puts herself to bed every night around 11:00. She will get up and stand by the door. I let her out for a pee and she runs out, pees, and comes back in and goes to bed upstairs, every night. In the morning we let her out for a pee and we have breakfast. When we start the vehicle to go to work she puts herself back to bed. All without being told or prompted.
You have to give them a fixed amount of food, no more. They will eat any and everything, all day long, if you let them. Then you have to burn off some of those calories every day.
Wild meat is like crack cocaine to her. It has the same effect as giving a six year old boy a big slice of chocolate cake and two cans of Coke to wash it down. It literally has that effect on her.
Their strength is off the scale, and you have to be careful of it. She will accidentally knock you down, or scratch you very badly with those big toe nails and enormous strength. Yet she is fantastic with children and prefers them to other dogs and adult humans.
There’s so much more to these fascinating animals. We are still learning how to deal with her every day.

Sounds a little like our Jocko’s personality, but he’s a boxer so not really worried about him killing anything.

I think you will have to keep one eye on that dog at all times.

 

[33 IMP]

It took a bit of doing. Her initial reaction was to chase and kill anything that moved. It took a while to convince her not to kill everything and she is no problem now. Two of our four cats groom and hang with her, one is terrified of her and avoids her, and one hates and dominates her. It’s kind of funny, she is a 82 pound killing machine but she is terrified of our eight pound cat Gary and will avoid her at all costs.

My 75 lb deaf GSD will leave my bed almost immediately, if my 18yr old tuxedo jumps on.
The two hundred pounder GSD's don't care.
All three were raised from puppies with her.

 

[Sahara]

Sounds a little like our Jocko’s personality, but he’s a boxer so not really worried about him killing anything.

I think you will have to keep one eye on that dog at all times.

Yeah, and I don’t mean it to sound all grim; far from it. They are amazing animals, super intelligent, and a joy to have IF you put the time in. An hour every day. Most sites recommend that you never have them off leash, but we don’t believe in that so we walk her where the chances of meeting up with other dogs is slim. She can and does get along well with most other dogs but we don’t want her getting hurt or harming another dog.
If a person has a farm or acreage these dogs are ideal, and pretty much burn off the calories by themselves. When I go elk hunting in Alberta I take her and she stays on my buddies farm. Everyone likes having her around as she is always happy. She is very wise to the ways of coyotes and wolves, which is important to surviving on a farm. Dumb dogs get turned into a skull and backbone pretty quickly.
Apparently they were initially bred in South Africa to hunt lions in a pack. I can believe it.

 

[71dodgechargerrt]

Great story Garth, investing the time pays off.

 

[padam]

Yeah, and I don’t mean it to sound all grim; far from it. They are amazing animals, super intelligent, and a joy to have IF you put the time in. An hour every day. Most sites recommend that you never have them off leash, but we don’t believe in that so we walk her where the chances of meeting up with other dogs is slim. She can and does get along well with most other dogs but we don’t want her getting hurt or harming another dog.
If a person has a farm or acreage these dogs are ideal, and pretty much burn off the calories by themselves. When I go elk hunting in Alberta I take her and she stays on my buddies farm. Everyone likes having her around as she is always happy. She is very wise to the ways of coyotes and wolves, which is important to surviving on a farm. Dumb dogs get turned into a skull and backbone pretty quickly.
Apparently they were initially bred in South Africa to hunt lions in a pack. I can believe it.

Reminds me of Buck.

 

[ckessel]

Dogs do like their downtime, like us, but I agree they need to burn off energy OFF the leash, Just like nose miners. Whenever I take Zeke and Toga out, just like I've done with our past buddies, my head is on a swivel. I'm looking out for possible other dog encounters, especially if they have not met, or critter encounters. These two are very sociable but since tiny boy, 140lbs, is kind of intimidating to see I always wait to see if I need to clip him up to the leash to avoid possible issues. He's a big social butterfly but he does like to play rough and if the others aren't used to that, I leash him back up or get on his case to avoid issues. He does like to send Coyote's packing when we come across them. Has not gone into attack mode, just get away from his dad and sis. One encounter I had with him made me very happy. He didn't hear me come home and when I got to the top of the stairs, he came smoking out of the house ready to kick butt. Barking, snarling, growling, haired up etc. When he realized it was me, he went to butt wiggle mode. My wife was in the back of the house with Toga doing paperwork and the front door was open. Gate was shut and latched. I was very proud of him for protecting his turf and didn't scold him. Instead I praised him. He is deffinetly a patroller.

 

[davek]

I wish I could let my dogs run free. Riley has attacked another dog that someone was walking by. I had to drag her off the dog. The other dog did deserve it, it attacked my girl dog Konga earlier that week. Owner knew it and didnt say anything,just walked off.

 

[ckessel]

Riley was taking care of business for his sis.

 

[ckessel]

I forced the pooches to go to the beach with me. Good and pooped out now after rinsing and toweling off. It's been almost two months since their last beach outing. I had them swimming etc for an hour plus.

 

[sam dupont]

 

[Budnicks]

Baron, he's 40#s now
he saw his 1st rain last evening
it was funny he didn't know what was happening
wiggle worm my photos suck
he turned 5 months on the 15th

trying to find a dry spot

all tuckered out, sitting be me at the computer desk

did his walk & he was asleep in like 45 seconds after I dropped the leash
his spot under the desk