sheepdog

I hate having to admit to being a total dummy, but I got an email today that said I have use 83% of my bandwidth, and in checking my site manager section I have Disk usage 6.29 / 20.00 MB Can someone explain to me in laymens terms what this means and what can/should I do about it? I still need to add some things to my web site.

He is quite a handsome boy. You are lucky to get hims, since many shelters do not adopt out pits. Don't worry about the neuter, he will make a better pet. I would advice you to ask the shelter why his owners surrendered him though. Better to know in advance if he has any quirks in his personality so you can make sure you avoid situations that might be a problem. Take it slow and easy until you get to know each other. And obedience classes are available at reasonable costs at some of the pet store chains. They are always a good idea, it gives your dog a chance to socialize with other dogs, and a well trained dog is a true joy to own. It is especially important to this breed, their reputation can use all the help it can get, and nothing says it better than a well trained, friendly dog.

Disgusting as it may be, a dog could be trained for this. The process was explained to me once, years ago. And NO, I haven't tried it, yuk. Does put a whole new meaning to the term "Service Dog" though.

Yes, they have been bringing in dogs from Mexico for quite some time now. It started with the "save a sato" program, which were idiots gathering up dogs off the streets in Mexico to "save" them. And yes, they are idiots, however well meaning they may think they are. They are breaking the laws and smuggling dogs into this country that could be carrying diseases that could have serious detriment to the local pet population here in the states. What is humane about saving the life of one dog if it carries disease to our pets and cause 100 of them to suffer and die? And I can't get past how they are constantly complaining about how many dogs don't have homes now, so why drag in more? Pups are comming in now, and they are very often sick and not properly wormed and vaccinated, and bound to die. Shortages of pups are to blame, not surpluses. Higher prices for dogs are also to blame, and breeding bans and tons of regulations on breeders are part of that problem too. Sadly, you are quite right, way too many people are concerned with the initial price of the pup, they think cheap is good, and what they can afford. The good news is today I heard that the California bill has been at least temporarally pulled. It is not expected to be reintroduced until January.

Well, your certainly right about strange things making news. It's too bad the dog happened to be a pit, like they don't have enough bad press allready. Fact of the matter is, ANY dog can exhibit this type of behaviour. Even young pups will occasionally grab your arm when you are playing with them and start humping. Leg humping on humans is a fairly common complaint from pet owners. People forget that dogs are animals. They live in our homes, and in many ways, they do have lots of "human" traits. But they are still dogs. They are driven by basic instincts, and aside from survival, the strongest instinct is to procreate. If a dog spends it's time with humans and that's all that happend to be available, well, as the old saying goes, "any old port in a storm." Dogs do not suffer from morality issues. They don't understand concepts of right and wrong. (Yes, they do understand that if they take your dinner off the kitchen table they will be punished, but they don't understand that it is "wrong" to take it.)It is a shame that the child was injured. I suspect the beating of the dog and the dog running caused more injury to the child than the actual act. Male dogs do not control the timing of the tie. The dog could not turn loose if he wanted too once tied, all the beating in the world won't stop that. All in all, it's a sad thing, the child was injured, the dog will most likely die, Pitts have another black mark on them, and all over what is really a freak accident.

"It's kinda hard for me to decide whether I'm for it or against it since I can see both sides of the issue."Yes, I do understand what you mean. If I look at this in the short term, in many ways it would be good for me as a breeder, cutting down on back yard breeders and the scads of poor quality pups they produce, either accidentally or on purpose. Especially since I have to take the blame for all the mistakes they make. But I have to look at the big picture. With the starting of restrictions on one person's right to breed their dog come, more restrictions will soon follow. Very soon almost no one will be allowed to breed dogs. The big problem with this bill is that it simply will not work. The people that are causing the shelters to fill up are not the kind of people that are going to abide by this law. It's just going to make it harder for ethical breeders and those who abide by the rules to continue to breed. Not to mention the infringments it will make on your rights to privacy, personal property rights, and other freedoms. Imagine how it will feel when the doggie police come knocking on your door demanding to be allowed in your home to inspect your dog! And what happens if it did work (which it won't) when so much breeding is restricted, and dogs become difficult to get? First off, prices will go through the roof. And when breeding can't be done in this country, you better believe dog breeders in other countries will be happy to ship them here by the boat load. With all the screams about puppy mills here in the states, can you even begin to imagine the animal suffering if China is allowed to mass market dogs???? There is no way the Chinese government will step up and regulate the industry like the USDA does in this country. They can't even protect their own humans and young children in sweat shops in those countries.

"i have noticed that you have recieved two different answers for whether or not you should open a new window when a link leaves your site."LOL, yes, I noticed that too. Was hoping for more input from more folks and then just go by the majority rules kinda thing. Since I have no intentions of being a web site builder as a profession, I will just be happy to learn to deal with FP, since it has allready taken me so long to figure out how to do what little I can manage with the program. I do enjoy tinkering with the graphics and such, and someday want to do live vidieo, but I am a long way from that point yet. Right now I just need to sell pups! I would still rather be playing with my pups than messing with these silly computers anyway.

Gophers (well, their holes and tunnels) are a hazard if you have Livestock, but other than that, they simply hang around and play Darwin in action, I guess...Now, here in Missouri, we are beign plagued with armidillo's. I have my suspicions that the conservation department planted the nasty things here. Nearly all the road kill you see these days is an armidillo. Their holes are HUGE, and definatly a threat to livestock. Aside from Fords and Chevy's they have few natural preditors, and are becomming a serious problem here.

"Frontpage is a terrible program"LOL, I have said that many many times! I hate to think of all the cuss words I have said when trying to deal with it. I have been working with it for several years now, and honestly I still don't know how to do a lot of things. Since I have had to struggle so hard getting the basic grip on FP, the thought of even trying to learn another program scares the c--- out of me. I just don't have the time to do that. I have read the how to's, even got the FP for dummies and the video professor cd, and I am still at a loss for a lot of things. Biggest problem has been getting things layed out evenly on the page. They tend to lay to the left and leave open empty space on the right side of the page. And what really drives me crazy is that something will be visible on my site, but when I go into FP, it's not there! Nowhere to be seen. I had a double row of google ads on the bottom of a page I was trying to fix last night, they were all the way to the left and I was trying to center them, I got one moved over, but when I was on the web actually looking at the page, there is still the top row there and all the way left. Since I can't see it in FP I can't fix it. Makes me nuts. I think the background is faded out enough to read the text ok. If you want to take a peek at it, it's http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Ah....magic wand, that's what that little icon was! ( I thought it was a pencil, lol) I don't find it in FP 03, but it was in 2000. The only graphics program I have is Microsoft Photodraw, which of course, is serously outdated, but it's all I got. I have yet to figure out how to do pm's but if I can't figure out how to do this on my own, I may take you up on the offer, which I do appreciate.Thanks to all, I have more to dig through and learn now.

This summer I have have been feeding my rabbits a lot of greens. Mostly noxious weeds, they love minors lettuce, and wild chicory, even begger lice plants. They will eat stick tight plants too, but they aren't crazy about burdock and won't even touch polk. I feed them an abundant supply, and try to include at least 3 different plants, and then the next day I take out the old uneaten stuff and put in fresh. The old stuff is mostly big stems, but there is some times some plant tops. I throw it under the cages so it gets well covered in manure. My question is, will any seeds from the leftovers survive rotting in the manure and sprout? I usually put the straight rabbit manure right in my flower beds. I know I could compost it and heat it up and kill them, but lordy, that is just too much work! I'd have to shovel all that stuff twice (or more if I have to turn the compost pile) and I just don't have the time or energy.

Great post! I had read about most of those studies, except the low cholesterol levels. That's interesting. I also read a study that in children that were raised in homes that had pet dogs where less likely to suffer allergies when they grew up.

Well thanks to Xisto my web site is up and running again. I have most everything put back, just need to do a fair amount of fine tuning. I have questions on a couple topics before I do much more on it. Which is best for links on your site that leave your web site, to have them open in a new browser window or just go direct to the site? I heard somewhere that they should open in a new window, as you don't want people to leave your site, but do you all find the new windows to be annoying?And which looks best, text that scrolls and the background doesn't move, or to just have the whole page, background and all move? I kinda the text moving over the stationary background, think it looks cool. But I don't want to annoy anybody. And one more dumb question. I just got Front Page 03, I had 2000, and boy is it different! I'm slowly figuring it out. (although in all honesty, I wasn't very good at FP to start with) One thing I haven't found is the tool that allows you to remove the white background in your graphics. Is it still there or did they leave it out of the newer version?

"trick with asthma is not to find the magic cure for it, but to eliminate whatever is causing it in the first place."I agree with this completely. And not only "things" can cause asmatha. Some years ago I was haveing 2-3 severe attacks per week. They were bad ones, would knock me completely off my feet, sometimes for 2 days. However, since I divorced my husband, I have not had a serious attack in years. The stress of living in a very bad relationship was the cause, not particularly any one "ingredient."

One good thing about animal testing, the placebo effect doesn't work on them. They have no idea why you are giving them a pill, so they can't fake feeling better like humans can. I suspect there are benefits to gluc. Like everything else, it may help some and not others. I rarely have a cold. Maybe it's cause of the Ech? My guess is it is more likely due to occasional accidental contact with kennel cough vaccines, lol

Well, I never thought of rubbing the green goo on my hair! Aloe is sometimes called the burn plant. No home should be without an aloe plant. It does wonders on burns, wether from cooking, or even sun burn. I usually buy Aloe juice by the quart. If you use a harsh mouth wash with alchohol or peroxide, rinsing aftwards with aloe can alleviate the damage to your gums from the drying/burning of the mouthwash. It also works good on eye infections. Not many products are safe to use in the eyes, but it is fine. I use it a lot on dogs, for their eyes. Bug eyed dogs like Shih Tzu's and curly haired dogs like poodles commonly get eye problems and the aloe clears them right up.

"I can barely answer them when they ask me what my goals are, which is pretty scary, not knowing what you want anymore." And there in lies your problem. Until you decide what your goals are, it is pretty difficult to set a corse of action in motion. One thing to do, analize your money situation. Know exactly why you are in debt and start making changes to rectify that situation. Adjustments to your lifestyle may be in order. So many young people today think they have to have "everything" at once, a new car, expensive clothes, etc, recreational expenses that may not really be needed. Simple things can add up quickly. Sure, after a hard day at work you feel you are "entitled" to something, maybe a few beers with friends, but that is money out of your pocket that could be used to get you out of the slump you are in. And yes, you are definatly in a rut. I think you need to find a way out of it first, to help you think more clearly about the future. Maybe a change of scenery would help. Does the company you currently work for have stores in other parts of the country? Maybe a transfer to get you out of where you are now. Just finding another job may help. The military is not a bad idea. Benefits are good and you would do well with a change of pace. Enlistmenst are just for a couple years, and since you feel you have "wasted" quite a few years allready, what's a couple more even if it doesn't work out. Of course, there is the possiblity that you are simply suffering from "burn out." You haven't had a vacation in awhile and you may need some time away. There are ways to find "cheap" entertainment, but be sensible about it. I can certainly understand not wanting to be a starving artist. There are only a small percentage of people that can ever make it in this field, much like profesional athletes and movie stars. You have to be realistic about your chances. As the old saying goes, *BLEEP* in one hand and wish in the other and see which one gets full the fastest. Maybe it would help if you just set a small goal. I am going to pay off such and such bill. Set your mind to it and get it done, the satisfaction of accomplishing it will do your emotional stability a world of good. I think you will get a lot of good input here. At least it will make you think and maybe figure out a solution on your own. Think about all the good things you have working in your favor and appreciate them. You are young, healthy, and at least have a job! Good luck!

Sorry, shouldn't of abbreviated. It's Komondor. A breed of livestock guard dog. Emphises on GUARD. They do not herd. They simply live in the fields with the sheep/goats. In sheep herds, it's hard to even see the dog, their long corded coat blends in with the rest of the flock. The breed most likely originated in Hungaria. When you think about the breed and the job they do, I find them one of the most amazing creatures man ever developed. The breed is very old, some form of it has been bred for over a thousand years. To develope a breed that would bond to other species and live in harmony with them and actually kill members of their own species is simply mind boggling. Just last week I was watching a whole bunch of baby goats playing king of the mountain on one of my female koms. She just layed there and let them bounce all over her. But I guarantee you if a stray dog or coyote had passed through, it would die quickly. They need no training. All the instincts have been bred into them. They do of course, need to be born and raised right with the goats (or whatever animal you wish them to protect) to make the best guards. They can be a bit odd at times. I thought it was pretty funny, last year we raised a big steer. When the steer came around the goats the dogs would chase him away. BUT, when our steer got out and went to the neighbors cattle herd, the koms followed him, and kept the neighbors cattle run off from our steer. Unfortunatly, our neighbor did not see the humor in his cattle not being able to eat the feed he was putting out, so we had to fix fence and bring our obnoxious beasts home. Unfortunatly, I gave up on growing my own pepper plants. Was too late in the season, and so I just found some Anaheim pepper plants from a swap meet vendor that had some a bit more reasonable than even Wally World. I bought one Cow Horn pepper plant from Walmart, they are supposed to be large, and hot. My better half has been promising to learn to make chili reno's, so I hope the plant does well! We had high hopes of getting a decent garden planted this year, but things just didn't go like we had hoped. I have a really good spot fenced off next door, where I used to raise my market garden, I have worked the soil up over the years and picked rock till I was blue in the face, and planted and tilled in lots of cover crops, so it is a pretty good spot now, even if we don't get to use it much. It's always there and I can always hope!

Nice looking dog. I have no problem with pits. It's those dang Chihuahua's ya gotta watch out for, those little ankle biters will eat ya alive! Since you are from California, are you aware of the new law they are trying to pass about all pets over 4 months of age have to be spayed?Now rats, no way. Sorry. Vermin.

LOLOLOL, I have dogs, sure don't need any extra exercise! Nothing will keep you in shape like bench pressing a bulldog! Weight lifting? Sure, pick up an 80lb sheepdog, put it on the grooming table. That'll keep you fit. Or chase down an exhuberate pup while he runs circles around you. Unload 50lb sacks of dog feed a ton at a time. Drag water hoses and buckets around, and push push push that wheelbarrow. Exercise? I think not.

Thanks for the link, I'll have to check that out. Raising koms for livestock guard dogs is a delicate art. You don't really want them socialized. They are not supposed to bond with people. You want them just tame enough you can catch them to administer shots, wormings or treatment in case of injuries. They make better guards that way. Unfortunatly, not enough and you end up not being able to catch them, which is the situation I have with this one dog now. She is beyond redemption, which I don't really mind, if I could just catch her and get her moved back to where the goats are now. She would be fine if she was with her own flock. Not all dogs can be pets, there are still some that, like us humans, have a job to do and work for a living.

Ebony was my Standard Schnauzer and constant companion for many years. She was seldom if ever more than 5 feet away from me. I suppose she may of been suffering from seperation anxiety, but since I never went anywhere she couldn't go, it was never really a problem. She passed away (old age) about a year ago. I still miss her. Anyway, she had this thing she used to do that was hillarious. If you would start patting her on the butt she would just go crazy! She would drop her front end to the ground, leaving her butt sticking up in the air and would yowl and make all kinds of weird noises, would keep turning her butt towards whatever direction your hand was patting and also would cover her eyes with her paws while she was wallowing in the floor. If you could see her eyes, they would be rolled back in her head almost to the point that all you could see was the whites of her eyes. It was so funny!

Ok that makes sense about the trap now. I always wondered about that. Since there arent a surplus of feral kitties here, I don't suppose I need to start a trap line. I suspect sooner or later a few cats will drop by, find a mouse hunting paradise, and take up residence. I have a friend that does work with a lot of different rescues, next time I talk to her I'll see if she knows anyone doing the TNR and at least volunteer as a drop off for fixed ones. And on this trapping subject, do you have a link for the Ace place, or do they have a web site? Or maybe you can tell me, do they make a giant sized live trap? Since we moved the goats, I have one dog (komondor) I can't catch, she comes in for feed, but I can't get withing a 100 yards of her. She has spend her entire life protecting the goat herd, and was not socialized much with humans, and could care less about us. "But here's the funny thing: I've noticed that people who have challenging climate/conditions usually produce the best gardens"Your absolutly right. And the reason for that is people in those type situations WANT the garden more, and work harder at it, pay more attention to the little details, and just in general stay on top of the situation better.

I see this is an old post, but this is one of my favorite topics so I hope the moderators don't mind me dregging this one back up.I take a lot of herbs and supplements. I really think they keep me going. Some years ago I actually had a doctor (well, ok, a chriopractor) advise me to take raw adreanel gland supplents for my asmatha. I was having frequent attacks, 2 or 3 times a week. It made a huge difference, cutting me back to maybe once a week. I eventually discovered the cause and eliminated it and have had only minor problems since. For pain from injuries, especially bumps and bruises, zinc helps. Female problems some years ago were fixed right up with Black Cohosh. While he hates popping pills, my better half has a lot less muscle cramps and spasms if I can get hime to take magniesum/calcium, not a herb of course, but a good supplement nonetheless, and I have to start somewhere with him!I take vitimain E and D in the winter only for the most part, it helps greatly with my dry hide. On a daily basis, I take echinacea, St. Johns wart, and gensing. I had a hard time finding the wart for a long time, and I swear my concentration just vainished and I felt like my brain was turning to mush. When I finally found some again I noticed some irritability after starting to take it again, so I just backed off and took less and skipped days between, until it leveled off. Now at least I can remember my name when I wake up in the morning. As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on glucosamine& chondroitin. Recently saw a news bit on it, they say it doesn't help, but doesn't hurt either. I really can't tell much difference with or without it. Lots of people swear by it. I still get pretty stiff and sore, but who knows, maybe if I wasn't taking it I couldn't move at all!

I hope they do pin it, cause I'm having a tough time figuring out how to do it. But I'm kinda slow about stuff like that. One question, is a website link permissable as a signature?