sheepdog

A good friend will come and bail you out of jail.But a true friend will be sitting right there in the cell with you saying, "Man, that was fun!" Your "friend" show's neither quality. How could threatening to kill you inspire you? What was he trying to inspire you to do, get in more target practice? Practical jokes are one thing, the old whoopie cushion on the chair is a good one, harmless and only causes a moment of embarrasment. But life threats are just stupid. That is not the way friends inspire each other.

Yesterday I finished laying the flower bed to rest for this season. All the canna bulbs are dug and drying now, they will be bagged up in a week or so and stored in the basement again till spring. I have some flower seeds still drying that I need to get shelled out and jarred up, hopefully I can get to that today before they get scattered everywhere. This is no minor task, I am so sore I can hardly move. My flower bed is well over 100 ft long, 3 feet wide and runs the length of my driveway. I did manage to get all the cannas dug in 2 trys, pretty good for an old fat lady! My flower bed is my major landscaping project every year. Actually, I work on it one way or the other nearly all year long. Now that the flowers are done, I will still work on it this winter, hauling wood ashes from the wood furnace and manure from the rabbitry and goat barn and spreading them out over it. Of course, the main work is the spring tilling and planting. I plant the canna's at the back of the bed, along the fence. Then broadcast a flower seed mix in front of them on the drivway side. The mix is predominantly zinna's, in all sizes and colors, and of course, the aformentioned cosmos. I have always added marrigold seed, but for some reason it does not germinate well, I usually only get a small scattering of marrigold plants. After seeding, I have to hand water the bed every day until the flowers germinate and get a good start, then the soaker hose I lay in the bed after the seeding can pretty much supply the water, though I am not overly pleased with the way it works, it doesnt' cover the width of the bed like I would hope for. After the plants get established well enough that I can recognise them all, I make several hand weeding trips down the bed. Of course, this year there wasn't much weeding, I definately got enough flower seed down to choke the weeds out. Then about mid summer I start harvesting seed to dry and save for the next year. This is a very time comsuming project, flower heads have to be picked at just the right time to have fully mature seeds and not be allready shattering and spilling the seed. I also like to try to harvest them when they still have just a touch of color so I have better control over the variety of color and flower size in the bed. This year I was really pleased early on in the spring when it first started growing. It was the first time I have ever seen flowers choke out weeds! I really got a great start on it this year. It was well up in the season though, when I realized I had gotten my seed balance WAY off and had planted far too much cosmo's. It was still pretty, but I like the color variations of the zinna's better, the cosmo's I have is either light or dark purple, or white. Does anybody know if cosmos comes in any other colors? I would also appreciate some sugestions on other flowers that I could add to the mix. They would need to be annuals, and not hybreds, so I can save my own seed. (the cost of seed for a bed this size would be well up in the hundreds of dollars if I had to purchase them.) I have a smaller flower bed in front o fthe kennel where I start new plants and try to get seeds from them in smaller quanities to add to the big bed, so far I haven't found a lot that works out, the main 2 flowers, zinna and cosmos pretty much take the bed over. This winter I am also going to work on gathering up supplys to make a railing along the front edge of the bed, the cosmos get very tall and tend to fall over. I am cutting long cedar poles out of the dozer decks and fence rows where we opened up some goat pasture. I am hoping to get enough to run the length of the bed, with long thin poles, setting on top of heavier stump size ceder logs. I think it will look pretty nice, but I will have to wait till the planting and the weeding is done before setting it up next summer. I also would like to make some stepping stones. I need an opening where the water hydrants are. I was thinking about pouring a concrete mix into some old dog water pans, and setting some aggates I have in the top of them before the concrete sets up. Does anyone know if there is something that you can mix into concrete to give it color other than the ugly gray it comes in? So....if anyone has some sugestions on flowers to add or anything else, I'm all ears!

10 is really pretty old for dog to have pups, it's the equivilent of a 70 year old woman having a baby, but they can and I'm betting yours may well be. Also the fact that she is overweight will cause her problems too. Do you know what kind of a dog she is bred to? Hopefully something small. Conception rates on the older dogs are not good, so she may only have one or 2 pups, but the problem there is that with only one pup in her, the pup will have unlimited room to grow and may get too large for her to have naturally, she may requite a c-section. Those are fairly common in Dachshunds anyway, but hopefully since she has had pups before, she will be able to deliver ok. If you see obvious signs of hard labor without pups comming do not wait too long to get her to the vet. Also, quite often the milk supply in older females is poor, contaminated, or non existant. If she delivers a live pup, you may have to bottle feed it. Not an easy task, newborns need feed every 2 hours around the clock. Good luck, I hope she is ok. Just let me know if you have other questions.

My web site always has been and probably always will be, a constant work in progress. Just aside from the fact that the puppy information has to be updated regularly, I keep thinking up things that I want to add to it. I usually run into 2 big problems though. Either I don't have the time to do the updates, or I don't know how to do what I want to do. I should be ashamed of myself, it's the busiest time of year and I haven't done an update in several months. Of course, part of the problem there is my computer is being a major pain and so I get discouraged and just don't feel like working on it. I don't think there will ever be a time when I can safely say, ok, it's done now.

Oh, that really SUCKS!!! I'd of been screaming mad. I'm not real happy right now with my isp, I can't stay connected to the internet, and it's been that way for months now, but they say it isn't their problem. I am seriously considering Wild Blue satalite. By the time I pay for the extra phone line and BS from them, it wouldn't be that much more expensive.

Well, you've got me on that one. I haven't a clue what substance in pineapples would be toxic to dogs. But I guess we'd all better start being more careful about leaving any fruit salad out where our dogs can get to it from the sounds of it. First grapes and now pineapples! As far as artificial sweeteners, I don't thing they are good for anybody, dog or human. Every few years they come out with a new one and when the new one comes out they decide the previous one causes cancer.

I really can't see India rising to the top spot. I suppose it's the cowgirl in me that can't see how anybody could worship cows instead of eating them could make it to the top. But China? Oh yea, they could be in the running. Especially since they are poisoning all of our dogs and children with toxic chemicals in the cheap garbage they sell us.

LOL, that's a good one, I'll have to remember that. It seems like every time I go in a store or somewhere I see children acting so badly I am just in shock. My parents would of absolutly knocked the crap out of me for carrying on like that.

Lots of different things come into play here. First off, what kind of dog is Dixie? One of the duties of our friend the dog is to protect it's owner and it's home. He may be doing the job he was bred to do. As dogs have a lot better hearing than we do, they will be alert to things we don't hear, and they want to warn us that something might be up. One thing that can be the cause of excessive barking is boredum, or lack of exercise. Does he get out much to run and play? Age also makes a difference, younger dogs, (just like youger kids) have a lot more energy than us old coggers. Also, how long have you had him? If he is fairly new to you and your neighborhood, it may just be the strangeness of the situation that is setting him off. He could be barking for attention, if you spend a lot of time with him when he starts barking. (by trying to quite him down) Try a different form of disipline, when he starts barking put him in a dog crate in a quite room and ignore him for a few minutes. Doesn't need to be very long, 10 minutes is fine, but don't take him out until he has not barked for a few minutes. Reward not barking, instead of barking. There are lots of ways to disipline bad behavior, try several things to see what works best for your dog. The penny can trick works well for some dogs. Put a few pennies in a metal soda can and tape over the hole. Shake it or even throw it at the dog when he barks and say NO! There are such devices as anti barking colars that deliver a mild shock when the dog barks, but I would certainly try milder corrections before resorting to anything that extreme. Do make sure he gets lots of exercise first of all.

Hi Thyta!Welcome to Xisto, I see you just joined today. I've just been here a few months myself, but even in that short time, I'll bet everybody know's how I'm voting on this poll! Dogs Rule and Cats Drool!

I think the judges ruling is absolutly stupid. If I am paying someone to do a job for me, they have no dam business farting around on the web checking their email and reading the forums at Xisto. That is not what I am paying them for. If they want to surf on their break or lunch time fine, but why should I pay them to screw around? I'd fire them too.

I guess I've outgrown cartoons. :rolleyes:If we are talking about favorite comedys, nothing beats out Red Green. I swear, you could pull him right out of Possum Lodge there in Canada and plunk him down in the Ozarks and he'd be right at home. I never realized there were hillbillies in Canada till I started watching his show. But since we no longer have the satalite tv, we really don't have anything much to watch. About the only other of the current show's I really like is Hero's. I do miss Stargate SG1, though since Oneil is off it's not as good. Not that I have anything against Ben Browder, I loved Farscape, wish it was still on. It was probably my favorite of the past sci fi show's, it had so many new story lines and was a whole new concept in the sci fi department.

Humm, sounds like your aunt and uncle really need some tips on housebreaking pets. Your dogs are just following the example set by the dogs that live in their household. Dog eliminate by scent, if they smell where a dog has gone before, that is where they will choose to go. And since a dogs sense of smell is so much better than ours, even a good cleaning of the carpets will not remove the oder enough that the dogs can't smell it. Their abilities to smell are at least 200 times greater than ours. The dogs can be retrained, but it would take a lot of work and effort on the part of your relatives. Just leaving the door open so they can go out if they want to is not going to work. Why bother going out when the toilet is right in the house? I am a big fan of the crate training method. There is a lot of good info available about in online. What they need to do is confine the dogs to crates for a few hours, or even overnight, and then in the morning, first thing, physically take the dogs to the back yard (or where ever you want them to eliminate) and make sure they do their business outside. Be sure to pet and praise them when they finish doing their business outside. Then they can be let back in the house. Any time they can't be closely watched, they should be put back in the crates, and then taken outside again when it is time for them to be out again. In the meantime, the carpeted area of the house should be off limits to them, blocked off with baby gates or whatever, to keep temptation away and give them a chance to figure out they are supposed to go outside. They will not get over their bad habits overnight, it may take plenty of time and patience to straighten them out. Your aunts dog definatly has some quirk in it's personality. It is difficult to say what triggers his reaction to your leaving. Especially since he will allow you to coax him into the back yard for treats or to play. And since he doesn't do it all the time. But there has to be something that triggers his reaction to you leaving. You might try some sort of reprograming training with him. Does he know any basic obedience commands? Like sit or stay? If so, just as you are ready to leave, call him to you, tell him to sit, then when he complys, give him a treat, then tell him to stay, then calmly walk out the door. Never run or bolt out the door, in many breeds the instincts are to chase whatever runs from them. Of course, you may have to do this every time you leave, but it is a better departure than getting pounced on. As to leaving your dogs with your Uncle, since they have been there before and are acustom to the household, most likely they will be fine. Very few dogs will pine way after their original owner leaves them, although it has happened. Dogs are one of the most versitile animals there are, they are quite good at adapting to what ever circumstances they may find themselves in.

My question is, do you think it makes sense to buy from a breeder who claims German bloodlines in their Rottweilers, or is that just a load of baloney? Or does it make more sense to import a dog directly from Germany? It isn't really the country of origin that matters, the trick is the "breeder" you will be dealing with. You can always ask the breeder here in the US to show you copies of the pedigree, to see if the dogs are imports. However, there are probably just about as many scruffy dogs produced accross the big pond as there are here. The exception being some countries have a dog warden that comes out when you have a litter born and will cull the litter for you, wether you like it or not. Any defects noticable at birth will get the pup culled, undersized from the rest of the litter, off markings, most litters are cut down about 50% If I am not mistaken, Germany is one of those countries that does that. This definatly does cut down on the numbers of defective dogs, but of course, not all defects are noticable at birth. So that is a point in favor of the imports, for sure. And I have seen a lot of really sorry Rotts when the breed came up in popularity. But there are always good breeders that do things right, it's just a matter of searching them out. Lots of breeders do import dogs. I have imported 4 myself, and have to say, they are super nice dogs. (not Rotts though, Standard Schnauzers and Welsh Terriers.) It is always a lot easier to deal with a breeder here in the states of course. Hopefully, you can even find one within driving distance. It does help immensly when you can see the parents, especially in dogs like Rotts where conformation is so important. Of course, you can't always judge temperment issues even seeing the parents. Dogs act differently around strangers. And dispite what many people think, temperment is not entirely dependant on genetics. The way a pup is raised, not only by the breeder but the purchaser of an 8 week old plays a role in the development of a pup. So, in most cases, buying in the US makes the most sense. I imported because of the very limited gene pool available in my breeds here in the USA. The most important thing is finding a breeder that you feel good about and are certain they arn't blowing smoke at you. It's usually not hard to do after exchanging a few emails back and forth. Having some basic dog knowledge is really helpfull, you can catch certain things that might tip you off to the fact that the breeder hasn't got a clue. One of my "pet peeves" are breeder ads that over use the word "love." "We love or puppies so much and we raise them with lots of love and play with them all the time and we want you to just love our puppies too" You can give a pup lots of love and attention, but if they have crappy genetics, it isn't going to make them a good dog.

Good to see you Misanthrope! I do enjoy your input here. Yes, if you want to ruin something let the government run it. I've seen it time and time again. Starting the end of January you will now have to have a passport to come back from Mexico, another added expense for us poor folks who head south of the border for our medications. So it is rather ironic that they can come here and get our high dollar medications for free and we as tax payers can't afford them. Crazy eh? I am still not finding anything on Canadian pharmacies, so if anybody has any other links I would sure appreciate it. Couldn't find any drugs or pricing on the one posted.

Well now, if you want to talk about dogs, I can sure do that. I can talk about dogs better than I can talk about just about anything. My whole life so to speak has gone to the dogs! Trap does have a forum for pets, so that would be the place for posts about pets/animals, but since you started here I thought I'd chime in anyway. What kind of dog do you have? Where did you get him/her, are you training it yourself? I do like your avatar, it reminds me of how I often feel about my computer.

Grandpa haslip?????Gads, I thought I was the old fogey around here!Have a Great Birthday!

Yes, mine is a horse story too. Was riding with a bunch of friends, one hot, dry, dusty late summer day. We were in a big field, the ground was dry and hard, lots of dead grass and hard stems and sticks, it had been dry for awhile. As it often happens for some reason we all decide to have a horse race. The rider next to me had a bozal on his horse, and had very poor control over his horse, and after just a short distance into the race, he plowed into my horse, almost, but not quite knocking me off. I was clinging to the side of the horse and trying to pull myself back up, but just couldn't do it, I was almost on the ground anyway. I threw my head back and realized that my weight all being on one side of the horse was making him run in a curve, and he was headed straight for a barb wire fence. I had the idea that the ground would be a better option than the barb wire, so I let go. The horse was still in a dead run so I had a lot of momentem going, I slid on my back a LONG way before finally comming to a grinding halt. The hard dry ground turned my back into what resembled a large package of ground beef. I didn't have enough skin left on my back to do a skin graft on a piss ant. Somebody went home and got a car to take me home in, but when I finally sort of got my wits back about me, I refused to get in the car, and rode my horse on home, about 3 miles. Probably not the smartest thing I ever did. Anyway, even after I finally healed up, for at least 6 months, I had odd bits of grass and twigs fester up and come out of my back. Itched like crazy.

Well heck, at least you didn't get your mouth washed out with a bar of soap! Do you have any idea how long you have to spit to get that nasty taste out of your mouth?? Especially if it's Ivory, it coats your teeth like wax and is about impossible to hack out.

You mean they actually did this???? When I saw your topic line I thought it was going to be another one of those deals like Bill Gates is going to personally send you a check for $232 if you forward this email to 15 of your closest friends.............LOLOLOL Maybe that's why in the future Taco Bell is going to win the Franchise Wars. (Remember Demolition Man? )

Can anyone tell me recipies of easy to make catfood which does not involve non-vegetarian stuff? Lots of people make their own dog food, and there is what is called the BARF diet. Sounds gross I know, but it stands for Bones and Raw Food. Making food for a cat may be more tricky. Cats have a higher protien requirnment. Average protien content for dog food runs from 22% to 27%, most commercial cat foods are 30%. They also need certain elements in their diet to control hairballs, since I am not an expert on cats I can't really tell you a lot about nutritional requirnments, but just a few pointers to get you started. 2) Chappatis are real good for cats!Whats a Chappatis?

Wow, gun dog training is becomming practicly a lost art. I have seen a lot of books on the subject though, I'm sure with some library or internet reasearch you could find some that would be useful. I had an irish setter when I was a kid, he was a great dog. You hardly ever see them anymore, I haven't seen one in years, used to everybody had one. Do you know if your dog was bred from actual hunting/working bloodlines? It would make training a great deal easier if he was from actual hunting lines and not show or pet lines. So many breeds today are far removed from their original purposes.

My question is this...My parents want a dog as a pet, but they've never had any experience with owning a dog. So can you please give some suggestions on breeds of dogs that won't be too loud, big or something like that... There are so many things to take into consideration when gettting a dog, especially when it is a first time down owner. But with over 400 recognized pure breeds of dogs, there are plenty of options. You have allready decided on small and not barky. And since they are first time dog owners, I would highly recomend picking a breed that is agreeable, and not too hard headed. For example, Lhasa Apso's are popular, friendly, reasonably intelligent, not barky, but if not handled firmly, they can become holly terrors if not made to mind. One of those breeds that if you give them an inch they will take a mile. How small are you thinking? Chihuahua's and Yorkshire Terriers are the smallest, but in some cases they are too small, in homes where there are young children they may not be suitable. And while Yorkies are very popular, they are about the hardest of all terriers to house break. Chihuahua's can be ornery little snots too sometimes. They often tend to be one person dogs. We have an adorable little blue and white long haired male Chihuahua, cute as a bug but he is SO funny, he snuggles up to whoever is holding him, and will try to bite anyone who trys to touch him when someone is holding him. Doesn't matter who, if I'm holding him he will snap at my hired girl if she tries to touch him, but if she's holding him he will do the same to me. There are a lot of terriers in the 15-20lb range (which I personally consider to be small) that might be good options. Cairns, West Highland Whites, mini shcnauzers all might work, providing you find one that is not barky, some are. Wire fox terriers are not real barky, but they are dynomite in small packages, love people but are fearless and will go looking for fights with the neighbors Rottie if it happens to wander into the Wire's home turf. What about hair coat? How much grooming do your folks want to put up with? And shedding? (note here, just because a dog has short hair does not mean it doesn't shed.) If you can keep one brushed out, a Shih Tzu may be a good choise. They are pretty mellow and easy going. Poodles come in all sizes and colors, they are very smart, and don't shed, but some are barkers. They also can spoil easily and think they are royality if they are overly catered to. But they might be a good option too. Think about some of the other things you would like to have in your pet and maybe I can give you some more ideas.

Don't know much about wolves. I don't know how simular they would be to domestic dogs. My guess is they would only cycle once a year, as compared to domestic dogs having 2 heat cycles per year. I would have to guess the gestation would be about the same. I would think placing the pups would also be a major pain. I mean, lets face it, there are a lot of people out there that can't handle a pet dog, imagine finding people responsible enough to sell a wolf pup to! Curious, how is a Mackenzie wolf different from other wolves?

It would of course, be a wonderful idea. But before you start, make sure you know what you are getting into. Running a forum can be a very time consuming job. You have to set up the site, (after finding a host for it of course) promote it, moderate it, and in general stay on top of things. If you are allready a medical student, you may not have a lot of spare time on your hands. A friend of mine and I started a site for dog breeders. It was a ton of work, but certainly worth it in the long run. One thing you wouldn't want to do is get a good board going and have people "hooked" on it and really into it and using and enjoying it, and then get burnt out on running it and give it up.