Just a few thoughts on dogs

[Ithaca Gunner]

A few of you fellows have recently lost your dogs, your best friend. I know the pain of loosing that special dog all too well and with the exception some service with "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" back in '68-'69 I've always had a dog at my side, mostly multiple dogs, as many as the house and property could stand at a time. I love em!..I love em all!

Well, some of these dogs came into my life unexpectedly and suddenly, one I took from an abusive owner, a criminal awaiting sentencing. Some we've taken in from people who got a dog and later decided it was too much trouble for them. A few we've rescued from shelters, but many more were before the former owners had to go that far. Our door has always been open for a dog in need, and those are the ones who most likely out to be special dogs to us. We have three right now we've taken in from people to share their lives with us, and they are just as special as any dog we've ever paid for. Funny how they just show up at times, and God has been good and wise to us, never giving us more than we can support, but opening our door at the right time for another. A few that have shown up here were simply lost, and each one no matter how long it took, were reunited with their families. The longest took five days, (no tag, but we finally found his people) and boy oh boy were they ever happy to get their best friend back! Once we found them and called them, they dropped everything and rushed to our house, they had feared the worst by then and what a reunion it was! One, a poor old skinny Black Lab showed up one day, hungry and in need of water. He was invited to stay, but had places to go I guess. He ate and drank, then rushed out the door and on his way to where-ever he was headed. Maybe that's all he needed.

Yeah, it tears the heart when they leave, but you must never say, "I'll never have another dog." for whatever reason, respect for the one who departed, knowing another dog will someday tear your heart again also, you think you're too old for another dog... There's plenty of dogs out there who need YOU...and you'll find you need them just as much. "Lady", the dog I took from the abusive owner some 14 years ago walks silently and respectfully at my side every November when I remove the flags from comrade's graves. No special training was needed, she just does it, like she knows. If it weren't for her, I don't know as I could do it anymore without the aide of Lady. I know she's soon to leave me and there'll never be another one like her, but that's what makes her special. I can't replace her with one just like her, I don't want to. Another dog will shine his/her own special nature and leave me with the memory of Lady. I believe I'm in the company of good men, (and a few ladies) here, share your dog, you would be amazed at the smiles you'll get and the new friends you'll make. Once in a while we take one to the local nursing home, the old folks especially need a dog once in a while. Just provide proof of shots and the home welcomes them. I've heard a lot of life's stories over a dog.


You guys who've recently lost your special best friend, I know you can't replace that, you hold that dog and memory close to your heart, but you'll be amazed how special another dog can be if you let them. You'll find out how much you need them as much as they need you. Take your time grieving for your departed pal, when the time is right, one will enter your life and brighten it in a way you didn't think possible again.

[fecmech]

Well said IG. I can't imagine life without a dog.

[jcwit]

I married my wife who loves cats, so I have learned to love cats. LOL

[9w1911]

I am a huge proponent of getting back on the horse asap. I like the fact that I had to grieve but at the same time I could ot live in my shell I had other dogs that needed the love just as much. So as sad as I was, still am, I had others that needed me and I them just as bad.

[toallmy]

Well said Sr. I read a post a while back and I believe It was Blackwater that mentioned dog is God spelled backwards , a small taste of unconditional love .

[OS OK]

Very well spoken Gunner...are we not most fortunate to be able to love, care for and communicate with our animals. Without a doubt, they always return more than they require, each having his own special attributes and personality...Life would be so much less without them!

Their unconditional love is addicting...OS OK

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I am hesitant to post this here (I considered starting a new thread), but it just seems like this thread might be a good place to get some hints and tips from the dog people here, of what breed (or what mixture) of dog to look for?

I've posted about my part-time job before(traveling to jobsites), and have used it as a reason to not have a dog. When I was growing up, my family always had a dog, so I do love dogs. Well, extenuating circumstances had made me retire...that happened last week. I've told myself a hundred times, I'd consider getting a dog if I was retired.

I live alone in a large house, with a big garden in a small yard, in town and I have two house cats. One is a scaredy cat, she'll be no problem. The other acts like she owns the place, that may be interesting to introduce a dog to? This dog would be a house dog.

So, I'm up to hear suggestions.
Thanks...



PS, Ithaca Gunner if you feel I'm hijacking your thread, send me a PM and I'll remove this post and start a new thread

[WebMonkey]

I married a cat lover.
I had a red doberman that died a year later of old age.
She now has 3 dogs that she says are "ours" but really aren't.
;)

[OS OK]

I am hesitant to post this here (I considered starting a new thread), but it just seems like this thread might be a good place to get some hints and tips from the dog people here, of what breed (or what mixture) of dog to look for?

I've posted about my part-time job before(traveling to jobsites), and have used it as a reason to not have a dog. When I was growing up, my family always had a dog, so I do love dogs. Well, extenuating circumstances had made me retire...that happened last week. I've told myself a hundred times, I'd consider getting a dog if I was retired.

I live alone in a large house, with a big garden in a small yard, in town and I have two house cats. One is a scaredy cat, she'll be no problem. The other acts like she owns the place, that may be interesting to introduce a dog to? This dog would be a house dog.

So, I'm up to hear suggestions.
Thanks...



PS, Ithaca Gunner if you feel I'm hijacking your thread, send me a PM and I'll remove this post and start a new thread

Just go to the local dog pound...walk the isles without saying anything to any of the animals there...they will all greet you and pull at your heart strings, but...only one will get through to you. Don't go there with specifications, just go and observe...that special dog awaits your doing this.
We never purchase animals outside of chickens...they have all been 'jailbirds' straight out of the pound...the best, most loving dogs in the entire world.

My last dog, 'Buddie' and I went to the Auburn air show and accidentally ran into the family that had to give him up...I didn't know these people but Buddie did and almost drug me 50 yards to catch up to the children...he was thrilled to see the kids again as they were too, so pleased to see Buddie.

Get yourself a 'jailbird' you'll never regret or look back!

'Millie', the cat is a ferrule cat walk up to the cabin that came about a year after Buddie...Buddie found her (a kitten) under the truck, she was his cat!

OS OK171744

[Grits]

Tomorrow I expext to have this pup at my place.171743 He is a rescue. His owner couldn't keep him anymore. She looked for three months for someone to take him. He's 10 so we will have a couple of years together. Better with me than in a shelter.

[Ithaca Gunner]

No JonB, you're fine here. Good to have you!

Like's already been said, check the shelter, you'll know when you've found the right partner to share your home with.

[shooter2]

We have been adopting Springer Spaniels from ESRA for years and have found that two dogs are more than twice as good as one. Ben is now six and Makena just turned thirteen. Makena is slowing down, but we are praying for some good times ahead. Can't be without a dog or two.

[bbs70]

Odd I should find this thread today.
I just came from vets office he has had my dog (Bogart) for 2 days now.
Prognosis is not looking good, vet doesn't know what the problem is and it looks like we'll have to put him to sleep.
I've go to the point that I know whats going to have to be done, but I'm giving him every chance to prove me wrong.

Just took him some tea because he needs liquids in his system, and he always liked my wife's tea, and he drank a lot of it.
I also took the other Husky, thought seeing her and I might help, don't know but it made me feel like I at least tried.

All 4 of my dogs came from the rescue/pound.
One passed 6 months ago a shiz tsu with no eyes and was the runt of the little.
I still have Fred the idiot mutt and Sadie the other Husky.

In 07 I had to put the best dog I have ever known to sleep because of cancer.
Swore I would not have another dog, 6 months later I had 4 of them.

Yes, I will miss Bogart, but I know there will be another one that needs some love and attention.

As said rescue dogs are the best

[Ithaca Gunner]

Well bbs70 I certainly hope Bogart does prove you and the vet wrong and has many more happy years of life.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Ya know, I never thought I'd like a smaller dog, but we took in a little 20lb. mutt a few years ago. Glad we did, she fits right in with the other four and makes great comfort as a lap dog in the winter. She acts like a big dog, just proves how much they grow on ya.

[Blackwater]

Great post, IG! It's just very hard to take until you're over grieving the loss of one of the truly "great ones." But Lloyd and the others will get through it. They're good, strong men. It takes a strong man to grieve the way we dog lovers grieve for our dogs when they leave us. A real "dog man" just ain't complete without a good canine beside him. The degree and kind of loyalty and devotion they give us just makes a good man want to return it, but sooner or later, we all, I think, realize that it's no slight to the old dog to get a new one. And like someone posted here recently, it's what our dogs would tell us to do if they could.

Having recently lost my beloved Llewellyn setter, very suddenly and unexpectedly, I understand how all these guys who've lost their best friends lately. We all have to go through it. It's the price we pay, in the end, for the wonder and awe the good ones always instill in us, and the devotion and love that they so generously give us, we just feel compelled to return to them.

I figured with a name that includes Ithaca here, you'd probably have bird dogs, mostly, like I've usually tended to. We don't have birds here to hunt any more, due to fire ants, lack of the old fence rows, coyotes, etc., but I still love my bird dogs. My latest is a Llewellyn/Mountain Fice mix, and she's a real force of nature, and keeps me amused consistently. She had her first encounter with a snake (chicken snake, luckily) recently, and I shot it so it might teach her not to try to kill them herself. Lost one dog to a rattler when she got bit the 2nd time. She was the only "snake dog" I've ever owned (or that's owned me?), and would attack and kill ANY snake she saw, and you could NOT hold her to prevent her from getting to it. I've never seen a dog as quick! Literally like a mongoose. Had a very large snapping turtle with a head bigger than my fist backed up in the shrubbery once, and I grabbed her and tried to hold her with all my might, but it was like trying to hold a greased pig! She'd take her little mouth and dance around, and lunge in like a snake striking, put her top canine teeth on the top of its head, with the turtle's mouth gaping large and threatening, and her bottom canines on the chin of the turtle, and withdraw like a flash. If you've seen the strike of a snapping turtle, you know how fast it is, but she'd tired this one down with her false charges, I think, and would likely have made a mistake sooner or later. When I got her collared and on a rope, I finally got her in the house, but it took well over an hour for her to calm down. Her first rattler bite, her head swelled up to twice its normal size or maybe even more, and she'd already killed the rattlesnake when we found her, and was slinging it around every few seconds, though it was clearly dead. I believe she detatched every vertebrae in its whole body! But it had bit her, and the vet told us we probably needed to put her to sleep. I bent down and looked into her eyes, and at her dew claws, and the fire in her eyes was amazing. And those dew claws made me wonder if she'd weather it out. I know it's anthropomorphic, but in looking into her eyes, it just simply wasn't in me to deny her at least a fighting chance. She did in fact surprise both me and the vet, and pulled through, and in a few days, was essentially back to almost normal, albeit a bit humbled. The 2nd snake got her near her heart, and she was dead in about 5 minutes. It was an unsurvivable wound, and all I could do was hold her head. She seemed to know it was her time, and seemed mainly to take pride in the fact that she'd killed this one too. She went to sleep as though she was satisfied she'd done her best, and what she'd come to do.

I'll never understand dogs, really. I just take them as they are and enjoy whatever they have to offer, and it's always great. I could never deny myself another dog, but it does take a bit of time to get over losing one. Great thread.

[DerekP Houston]

I am hesitant to post this here (I considered starting a new thread), but it just seems like this thread might be a good place to get some hints and tips from the dog people here, of what breed (or what mixture) of dog to look for?

I've posted about my part-time job before(traveling to jobsites), and have used it as a reason to not have a dog. When I was growing up, my family always had a dog, so I do love dogs. Well, extenuating circumstances had made me retire...that happened last week. I've told myself a hundred times, I'd consider getting a dog if I was retired.

I live alone in a large house, with a big garden in a small yard, in town and I have two house cats. One is a scaredy cat, she'll be no problem. The other acts like she owns the place, that may be interesting to introduce a dog to? This dog would be a house dog.

So, I'm up to hear suggestions.
Thanks...



PS, Ithaca Gunner if you feel I'm hijacking your thread, send me a PM and I'll remove this post and start a new thread

My best dogs have been a "mutt" pitbull mix and my other 2 mix breeds. My parents heavily favor Shelties if you like the miniature lassy look and they are quite easy to train. Inlaws favor terrier mixes and abroad relatives have large breed mixed. I like to rescue dogs if possible, but they're all fun if raised right.

[William Yanda]

+1 to the above. "As said rescue dogs are the best."

Lady appointments clerk at the VA in Bath, NY has a sign above her desk; "My favorite breed of dog is Rescued!"

[BRobertson]

Tomorrow I expext to have this pup at my place.171743 He is a rescue. His owner couldn't keep him anymore. She looked for three months for someone to take him. He's 10 so we will have a couple of years together. Better with me than in a shelter.

You Sir are a kind hearted soul!!

My Hero!!!!

[Petrol & Powder]

Ithaca Gunner, thank you for that post.

I just lost one special dog and I fear I'm about to lose another. I have said that when this last one goes, I will not go down that path again.
It's not because I fear the pain when they die, that hurts terribly when it happens, but rather when I must leave them when I travel. My old neighbors would take care of my dogs when work prevented me from being home and those neighbors were great. The dogs stayed in their environment, the neighbors loved them and all was well. The new neighbors may be willing to fill in and perform that same role but I don't want to impose that on them.

The dog I just lost was a big ferocious looking thing that loved every person he met. He was full grown and about a year old when someone dumped him off near my house. He stayed around for about two weeks and I started feeding him. Then I let him in the house one night, my other dogs welcomed him and it was all over. The next day I took him to the vet, he got all of his shots and he was mine (more like I was his when you get down to it). After about 12 more years he got very sick, nothing the vet could fix, just age. A year later he wandered off and I never saw him again. I wish I could have said goodbye. I gave him the best life I could and he gave me unquestionable loyalty; then he left like he showed up.
Maybe that's how it is supposed to work.

All of my dogs have been strays or rescues, just seems like we needed each other and it always worked out.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I understand completely P&P. There was once a huge Alaskan Malamute down the road, must have gone close to 200lbs. Very loving guy, wouldn't harm anyone. We had trouble getting him in the wife's car to take him home when he wandered , but loved every moment we got with him visiting. His untimely death due to cancer shook us almost as much as his family.

[bedbugbilly]

Ithaca - I don't think anyone of us could have said it any better than you. Your words say it all.

Every Sunday, when we visited my mother-in-law in Assisted Living - it was "dog day". We would take our two little dogs - a 10 lb Poodle and a 20 lb Poodle/Bichen mix - we don't have kids and they were her "grand kids". Unfortunately, she passed away this past May 2 but we still stop at the Assisted Living now and then with the dogs. On Sundays, it was not just for her. On the way to her apartment, we always stopped along the way at others who loved to see them. The joy and smiles they brought to the residents can't even be described. And, like you say, you hear a lot of "life stories" as they tell you about the dogs they had. Once in a while, we would take them to the Alzheimer's section and on man times, you saw a smile and a spark of a memory the resident must have had in relation to the dogs - perhaps bringing a memory of their dog back and even if only for a few seconds, it was worth it.

My wife and I have had many dogs. Each of them have been very special in their own way. Yep, it hurts when you loose one but thee are so many out there that need love and a good safe and secure home . . . and their dedication and love for you can be seen in their eyes and their attachment to you. Over the years, we too, have taken in strays and lost dogs. We've made every effort we could to get them reunited with their owners and the reunions have always been happy ones. We've even kept a few that we couldn't find the owners and we couldn't find a new home for . . everyone was special.

A lot more could be said . . . but so many wonderful thoughts have already been expressed and I can add little more.

For those who have lost their "best friends" recently . . . we feel your pain and our thoughts and prayers are with you. Take the time you need to grieve and then I urge you to give another dog a chance to experience the love and security that you provided for the one you lost. Cherish the memories as they were truly "special" . . . and then make new memories with another one that will have their own special personality to bring joy in to your life.

I have often heard those that don't believe that dogs and animals don't possess "souls" and they do not go to heaven when they pass. Every one is entitled to their opinion and thoughts. Mine are simple. As a Minister, I don't have all the answers - I can only establish my thoughts from what I have seen and experienced whether it be people or animals. But, personally, I have no doubt at all in my mind that our animals . . . . our dogs, and cats and horses, etc. that we love and which God has provided for us here on earth and which show us love and dedication as we do to them . . . when we ourselves get to Heaven, they will be there to greet us. Their aches, pains and illnesses . . . the same as our own . . will be gone and we will be reunited forever. Until then, they watch over us the same as those who have passed before us do.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Bedbugbilly, my wife spoke with our pastor about the same thing concerning animals in Heaven. Here's his reply, (as best I can remember). He also really didn't have an answer carved in stone when he began, but made some observations, one of which is from the book of Revelations and the riders on horseback, "So, we know there are horses in God's kingdom in Heaven. He plainly tells us so." He thought deeply and said, "We can believe the animal sacrifices the children of Israel made to God will be there, after-all God wanted them. He instructed Noah to save the animals...a pair of each because they are his creation. I've never given your question much thought, but yes, animals must be there with God in Heaven."

[buckwheatpaul]

Ithaca Gunner, I could not have said it any better or covered it any better.....thank you for your post....Paul

[Ballistics in Scotland]

We've been lucky with a rescue dog, a cheap petshop dog, casual breeders' dogs, and the daughter of my grandfather's Kerry Blue stud dog, who was a fighter of the fatal kind. I even have a friend who is now retired to Spain with Arabian wild desert dog, which probably hadn't been domestic in a hundred generations, but turned up in his garden in Oman saying "Give us a job?", and made a serious business of becoming a model house dog. All of these methods can work out extremely well, but some dogs end up being rescued because of health or behavioural quirks which don't show up immediately.

So when it came to what might be the last dog I will have health and strength to see through its lifespan, I decided to play it safe and go the pedigree route. It can be expensive, but you could still come out ahead of a free puppy and just one big veterinary crisis. I'd avoid any breed which is fashionable for showing, because they are so often bred in the maximum possible numbers at the expense of health, and doomed some breeds to serious congenital problems. Fashion, high prices and rarity are a temptation to excessive inbreeding. The Kennel Club in the UK, and probably the American Kennel Club, has breed information which should cover health and temperament. The probably have puppy finding service, including an assured breeders accreditation, and while with others can advertise, the out and out puppy-mills won't be using them.

One question we have to ask ourselves is whether to go for veterinary costs insurance. I would say if you can pay on your own, pick a particularly healthy breed, and don't do it. You would be paying for people who buy trouble in the form of notoriously unhealthy breeds, and if it is worth someone's while to assume the risks and pay business taxes and expenses, it is worth the other party's while not to let them.

It is a big advantage if you can see the puppies with their mother some weeks before pickup time. I don't think anybody can realistically pick a really good puppy at three weeks, but you can often see a bad one, and also whether the family are being responsibly looked after - and are a family, in fact. The puppy mills often have front men, advertising as private breeders. There is also a scam that some of them work, with fashionable and very expensive breeds. The breed associations impose limits on how often, and how late in life, they can breed from a female. So they combine litters, ostensibly from one young female.

My Lanty Hanlon's breeder was a veterinarian, and she told me people frequently register litters of eight or so puppies from a breed like the French bulldog, from which she believe more than four is unknown. Now good breeders have got rid of the only congenital health problem Irish terriers had, a painful cracking of the pads. It was found to be a recessive gene, and they simply banned breeding carrier with carrier by association members. But what happens with fake litters? Much worse things than sore feet can be perpetuated.

In my case I could trace descendants of the 1940s Lanty Hanlon, twenty or so generations on, in the United States Kerry Blue Terrier Club database. One was a Grand Champion of Russia not long ago. There are even photos of some of his much earlier ancestors. The database even includes Convict 224, the Kerry Blue Michael Collins named after himself. He wanted the Kerry Blue to be made the national dog of Ireland (the Irish Wolfhound being a Victorian confection of Scottish deerhound and Great Dane), if he hadn't died of politics first.

So one of my Kerry Blue distant relatives was a temptation. But they have quite a few health problems - not serious, but the point is that they are the same as they had in the 1950s. Breeders seem to have neither the gene pool nor the inclination to fix them. There are also lines I think you are meant to read between on temperament. So the Lanty Hanlon of 2015 is an Irish terrier, a very similar dog made of ginger cocoanut matting instead of soft smoky-grey wool. He is manic but loves man and beast of every description. A few days ago he went into his bouncing act on long grass and handed me a hamster-sized baby rabbit, alive and well. That was the size of rabbit my sister-in-law's Jack Russell in Germany swallowed - whole they say, which might be exaggeration - and made himself ill with. I just hope life was extinct on the way down. It is bad enough doing that to an oyster.

Border collies are marvelous dogs, not just intelligent but eager to learn, rather than just crafty. A good collie will feel uneasy when you use a word he doesn't know, and will glare indignantly for a whole second when you give him a hand signal a mere animal could see. But they are energetic dogs, which can't bear to laze around doing nothing like some. Gundogs from working strains are almost always good, and will know a lot of their job without training, Our Labrador used to steal kittens and run around the garden holding them, and the one we kept enjoyed that game till he was 3/4 grown. But purely show strains are very different. The American show strain of cocker spaniel is tiny and floats around in a fringe of silky hair, and show red setters hover on the fringes of mental subnormality. But a friend's deerstalking dog was a red setter from an Irish working strain, who would ignore shotguns and go all of a quiver the moment a rifle was handled.

The scruffy one is Lanty Hanlon at about six months, deciding that just because his friends the three Shih Tzus next door are barking hysterically is no reason why he should make a fool of himself. The other is the Dog that Came In from the Cold in Oman. She is a model of rectitude with Spanish dogs in Fuengirola, but sometimes seems to be thinking "I've seen! I've been!"


171882171881

[Ithaca Gunner]

Two of our dogs are Border Collies, the older is the one who walks the cemeteries with me in November collecting the flags. The younger is probably the best hunter I've ever had, nothing she loves more than groundhog hunting! Strange, but I'll except it...she gets all happy and jumps, twists, and barks whenever a scoped rifle comes out of the safe, (the Golden Retriever just looks on as if to say, "Ah, it's not a shotgun." and lays her head backdown on her paws).

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

someone in my town posted on facebook about this pheasant trained fella, he's chipped and up to date on shots...almost no other info, I sent a message asking for more details.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13615404_1213745945323974_4337959644189293414_n.jp g?oh=e180e47fdc66f559eb40ccbd5bfa92e4&oe=57FDC078

[Ithaca Gunner]

He looks like a Yellow Lab. Good hunters, smart and easily trained, good natured, loyal, about all you could ask for in a dog.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Two of our dogs are Border Collies, the older is the one who walks the cemeteries with me in November collecting the flags. The younger is probably the best hunter I've ever had, nothing she loves more than groundhog hunting! Strange, but I'll except it...she gets all happy and jumps, twists, and barks whenever a scoped rifle comes out of the safe, (the Golden Retriever just looks on as if to say, "Ah, it's not a shotgun." and lays her head backdown on her paws).wa

My thirty shilling collie was exceptional even by collie standards. I had a shepherd tell me "Laddie, it's pure sin for a collie like that tae be raised an amateur." But she was a pacifist, with no hunting instinct whatever. She could catch up with rabbits, but she gave up when they didn't want to play with her. The little cairn terrier bounced up and down in horror, and wouldn't walk within six feet of her all the way home, in case people thought they were related.

[BUCKEYE BANDIT]

I have never meet a man or woman that loved dogs,that I wouldn't consider a good friend.Most of our's have been rescues,or strays that adopted us.Sure gives you a variety.[smilie=l:.That said,all that have posted here would be welcome in my home at any time.

[dagger dog]

I thought you all may like this.

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Rudyard Kipling (http://www.poemhunter.com/rudyard-kipling/poems/)

[quack1]

JonB- unless his hips are going, you probably can't go wrong with that guy, or any lab. I've hunted with yellow labs for almost 40 years, they're amazing animals.
Here's my current one.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/blesk%20ringneck%20ithaca%202013.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/blesk%203%20wood%20ducks%20mid%20bay.jpg

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I have never meet a man or woman that loved dogs,that I wouldn't consider a good friend.

Most often yes, that is spot on. But I have know some that would have made better dogs than humans. Certainly being liked by dogs is a very fallible indication of a high quality human being.

When I hear of someone living out his life in fear, I think of the German soldier in a truck whom Adolf Hitler saw stealing his fox terrier, formerly British, in Flanders. Now there is a man who must have heaved a sigh of relief if he made 1945.

Labradors don't as often get hip dysplasia as some other breeds. It has been an uphill struggle, not won yet, to get it out of German shepherds. But labradors, unfortunately are quite prone to cancers. Some would disagree, but I think a labrador and a few others are just as intelligent as a border collie, but the obsession with obedience is rather more confined to his profession and specific instincts. No dog has a sly leer quite like a Labrador who is chancing his arm and knows he can get away with it. But a terrier just thinks you like him the way he is.

[DerekP Houston]

Most often yes, that is spot on. But I have know some that would have made better dogs than humans. Certainly being liked by dogs is a very fallible indication of a high quality human being.

When I hear of someone living out his life in fear, I think of the German soldier in a truck whom Adolf Hitler saw stealing his fox terrier, formerly British, in Flanders. Now there is a man who must have heaved a sigh of relief if he made 1945.


I have never meet a man or woman that loved dogs,that I wouldn't consider a good friend.Most of our's have been rescues,or strays that adopted us.Sure gives you a variety.[smilie=l:.That said,all that have posted here would be welcome in my home at any time.

I don't know what it is, but that holds true for most people I've met as well. And personally think they have much higher tuned senses and can smell it out on some people. There's barking and alerting to let me know someone is at the door or creeping around, and a *very* different low growl when they sense something I don't. Not saying cat people/cat's aren't fun but they are a different breed. My stray cat has a purpose....in return for shelter and food in my garage I expect it to keep all the squirrels and mice away from the house. She earns her keep and I let her stay, just wish she'd stop pooping in the garage.

Same goes for anyone I witness "abusing animals." I understand ranchers/cowboys have to break a horse and sometimes it looks cruel, but they have the best intentions of caring for their herd and co-existing. Some people are cruel just to be cruel and don't deserve the .10 lead investment I would gladly donate were it legal.

[shooter2]

Beautiful dog. BTW, is that an Ithaca?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I don't know what it is, but that holds true for most people I've met as well. And personally think they have much higher tuned senses and can smell it out on some people. There's barking and alerting to let me know someone is at the door or creeping around, and a *very* different low growl when they sense something I don't. Not saying cat people/cat's aren't fun but they are a different breed. My stray cat has a purpose....in return for shelter and food in my garage I expect it to keep all the squirrels and mice away from the house. She earns her keep and I let her stay, just wish she'd stop pooping in the garage.

Same goes for anyone I witness "abusing animals." I understand ranchers/cowboys have to break a horse and sometimes it looks cruel, but they have the best intentions of caring for their herd and co-existing. Some people are cruel just to be cruel and don't deserve the .10 lead investment I would gladly donate were it legal.

Yes, dogs can undoubtedly detect people's mood by smell - just as Al Swearingen in "Deadwood" did, although he might have been exaggerating. It isn't infallible, maybe because a lot of human misdeeds and wackiness are of a nature unknown to dogs.

Once while swimming in the Red Sea a cuttlefish came up and tried to converse with me. His language was bright colour changes along his sides, almost like flashing lights. But I stayed the same colour all over, and eventually he gave up, realizing that it was true about humans being stupid.

The wonder is that although the dog lives in a whole, coherent world of smell, he appreciates our weaknesses and strength, and deliberately sets out to combine them as a team. Some anthropologists believe wolves first started hanging around human encampments in the hope of scoring some scraps, or even a child. Then they started following the hunt (whose hunt I don't know) and the wolves realized that height off the ground, on a plain, was a fair swap for scenting powers. Jim Corbett the hunter of maneaters wrote that the tiger can be hunted because he doesn't realize that among all his prey species, man is the only one with a sense of smell no better than our own. So unless you surprise or pursue him, he will always come from downwind. You couldn't fool a dog that way.

Incidentally pure or nearly-pure wolves need knowledgeable training to be good pet dogs, but that will about do it. The risks are surely less than with a pit bull some peabrain has bred as a fighting dog for a few generations. People who have trained wolves report that they are a little worse than the average dog at understanding words, but very good indeed with body language. My desert dog friends in Saudi Arabia would stop jostling one another for food if I pointed a finger at them. They do not like the finger, which obviously imitates some canine body language. But with the impeccably-intentioned Irish terrier it took a long time for him to learn it was the prelude to a sterner talking-to.

[quack1]

Beautiful dog. BTW, is that an Ithaca?

Thanks, and yes, a 37 Ithaca 12ga. Serial says made in 1951. It's not original, though, was missing butt stock and stock bolt when I bought it. Found original butt plate and grip cap at gun shows and made a stock bolt, then made a new butt stock duplicating the factory dimensions and reblued the metal. Nice light gun to carry around.

[Grits]

Bedbugbilly, my wife spoke with our pastor about the same thing concerning animals in Heaven. Here's his reply, (as best I can remember). He also really didn't have an answer carved in stone when he began, but made some observations, one of which is from the book of Revelations and the riders on horseback, "So, we know there are horses in God's kingdom in Heaven. He plainly tells us so." He thought deeply and said, "We can believe the animal sacrifices the children of Israel made to God will be there, after-all God wanted them. He instructed Noah to save the animals...a pair of each because they are his creation. I've never given your question much thought, but yes, animals must be there with God in Heaven."
Isiah 65:25 says that the lamb and the wolf will graze together.

[robg]

Dogs are great judges of character

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Dogs are great judges of character

They are great at judging how good a dog you would make, but not so good on concepts, principles and devotion to logic.

[DerekP Houston]

They are great at judging how good a dog you would make, but not so good on concepts, principles and devotion to logic.

Just another tool in the bag. Nothing is infallible but together we make a pretty good team.

[Ithaca Gunner]

So many great posts here!

Grits, I had the pleasure of talking with a fellow last night about that very same thing and the conclusion was the same also.

dagger dog, that Kipling Piece always lubricates my eyes. I first read it in a book, "The Lost History Of The Canine Race". An excellent book illustrating the history of the man/dog relationship throughout history.

BIS, here's some amazing Border Collie's from Wales putting on a show for us. https://youtu.be/qniwI2hNhDs Brilliant!

quack1, very nice '37. My oldest one is 1953, my newest a 1982 Magnum Model '37. No other repeating shotgun quite compares in fit and handling to a '37.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I should be in your debt soon, for I have bought the "Lost History" from eBay USA for $3.97 in "like new" hardback, when it would have been an expensive book even with lower postage from anywhere British on www.bookfinder.com (http://www.bookfinder.com) .

I believe I have read and mostly own everything Kipling ever got into book form. That poem is extremely good, but the only thing I ever thought let down the reading public was the sickly sentimentality of the prose stories in "The Servant a Dog". It was written near the end of his life, and I don't know why he was losing his grip, but we don't grudge Ronald Reagan, Mohammed Ali or Billy Connolly doing so, when it used to be quite a grip.

I've only twice known a collie make a silly mistake. Once I stopped my motorcycle for a flock on the road, and the collie leapt onto my pillion, where they often ride with no hands nowadays. He realized his mistake in a second, and the shepherd thought it was hilarious. Dogs love being laughed at when they are trying to be funny, and it is no good trying to cure misdemeanors if that bit of human language betrays you. But they are ashamed of being laughed at for a mistake.

My collie used to panic when our cairn terrier went swimming - the only dog of ours that ever did, since when you have legs six inches long it is either swim or stay out of the water. I believe t collie thought her friend was being amputated at the Plimsoll line.

[bbs70]

Well, it seems I got a call from the vet yesterday morning, Bogie passed away, evidently from cancer.
Later on in the day I learned that my eldest daughter had to put one of her dogs to sleep.
Yes it happens and is to be expected somewhere in life, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I would like to take the time to thank Ithaca Hunter for the original post, it is making their passing easier to get through

[Ithaca Gunner]

bbs70, we're all so saddened to learn of Bogie's passing, and your daughter having to put to sleep her pal. We owe these friends so much and they ask so little of us, some simple food, water and our time, and that's about all. Just to be their friend. Remember all the days that Bogie made special, which would be any day he lived far outnumbered the few days pain that accompanied his passing. I remember those dogs that have left me, their bright eyes, bouncing paws, wiggling butts, and wagging tails...not a bad one in the bunch. Some pure breeds, most mutts, all best friends with unbounded devotion and loyalty. Ya know bbs70, we're rich men to have known dogs and have them in our lives.

I was born a rich kid! Yes, the young fellow giving his younger brother's bottle to the dog is me. At that young age I knew who my friends were.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn179/krag1894/001_zpse517ae1c.jpg

[Lloyd Smale]

another thank you to all here that supported me though my ordeal. There are some dammed fine people here!!

[Forty Rod Ray]

I think that it was Will Rogers who said that if dogs did not go to heaven, he wanted to go where they went.....

[44man]

I think that it was Will Rogers who said that if dogs did not go to heaven, he wanted to go where they went.....
I will follow that. Not at the gate for me, goodbye.

[DerekP Houston]

I think that it was Will Rogers who said that if dogs did not go to heaven, he wanted to go where they went.....

How could it be heaven without them? My personal belief is we all have our own version of heaven. maybe that doesn't jive with scripture or my view point is wrong, but how could I leave all my buddies behind? Some people are afraid of dogs for good reason; child attacks etc; and their version of heaven is dog free. I'd love to shoot my 6 guns with the big man himself. Can it be heaven for both anti-gunners and gunners? We aren't magically going to change our minds.

And I'm sorry you lost your best pal Lloyd and bbs70. I take comfort in the fact I treated them as best I could and hope they accepted me as their own.

[Lloyd Smale]

very sorry to hear it. Hopefully he and elmer are hanging together figuring out how to con treats out of the people in heaven this morning.
Well, it seems I got a call from the vet yesterday morning, Bogie passed away, evidently from cancer.
Later on in the day I learned that my eldest daughter had to put one of her dogs to sleep.
Yes it happens and is to be expected somewhere in life, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I would like to take the time to thank Ithaca Hunter for the original post, it is making their passing easier to get through

[Ithaca Gunner]

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn179/krag1894/dog5_zpsdsx1wgpj.jpg