sheepdog

I'm having the same problem, but I've been making posts for 4 or 5 days now. Still no increase in mycents. Since I don't have enough in my account right now to pay this months web hosting fee, it has me considerably worried. I can't even tell if I am getting close enough to having enough to pay it.

Even if I hadn't watched the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on TV the other night, by noon the next day I would of known what breed had won. From the time Wesminster ended that evening till noon the next day I had nearly a dozen inquiries for Affenpinschers. This is WAY out of the ordinary, Affen's aren't a well known or common breed, I normally get less than one inquiry a month for them. But it makes a good topic for a discusion on picking the right pet for your family.So often, when something like a new Westminster Champion, or a Tv Show or even just a television commercial, a particular breed will jump up to the attention of the general public, and everyone will want to run out and get one. This is absolutly the WORST way to choose a pet. But I see this all the time. You know all those people who contacted me following the dog show had not taken the time to reasearch the breed, and since they are quite rare, it's unlikely any of them had any experience with this breed. In the case of the Affenpinscher, it might not make a huge difference, Affen's are pretty good natured little dogs and adapt very well to a wide variety of circumstances. Even an unexperienced dog person could probably do ok with an Affen. But oh dear, I dread the day something like a Komondor wins Westminster! Now there's a disaster waiting to happen! Sure, they are cute little balls of white fluff when they are little, but they grow up to be huge raging killing machines, perfect for living with a herd of goats or sheep, but not in a city full of stupid, lawsuite happy people. The most important thing a person can do before getting a dog is to completely understand the specific charectoristics of the breeds you are interested in. Make sure to take everything into consideration. How much time do you have to spend with your dog, not only training, but grooming and exercising. How athletic are you? Could you run an Irish Wolfhound? (pretty unlikely for the average human) Or do you have a big enough yard the dog could get enough exercise? If you are athletic, do you want a dog to jog with you? Or are you more into niceslow walks? Do you already have other dogs in the home? Not all dogs get along with other dogs. And other non dog pets, like cats and hamsters. A lot of breeds consider these other animals prey, and therefore fair game to chase and snack on. Just how much room do you have in your home? What about people in the house who could have allergies? Just how much hair can you stand to have on your furnature, carpets, clothes, and on every single surface area in your home? If you are a neat freak, you sure better find a breed that does not shed heavily. Just exactly what purpose do you want your dog to fill? Just a buddy to snuggle on the couch and watch TV with you, or do you want someone to go hiking with you, or watch over your home and possesions? You also have to consider your financial situation. It's more than the initial purchase price of the puppy. Some breeds are just very high maintense and are more expensive to keep. Bulldogs for example can have all sorts of ailment and can get you into some serious vet bills. The beauty part of purebred dogs is that there are over 400 recognised pure breeds of dogs. All of these breeds have been bred for many generations to develope very specific traits that are instilled into the breed, not only in size and type, but also in temperment. With plenty of good reasearch you can find a breed that is the exact match for your own circumstances and personality. Just make sure you do your reasearch in depth. Read more than one accounting of a breed you are interested in. Think about the source of the information you are listening to. If you are taking the advice of a friend or even a breeder, remember, if they really like a breed they are going to gloss over any down sides to the breed. Even I can be guilty of this one. I am a huge Schnauzer fan. I find it virtually imposssible to say anything bad about this breed, but I'm sure if you find someone who doesn't like that breed they will certainly be able to tell you plenty of negitive things. While I can't say anything bad about a Schnauzer, there are a couple of other very popular breeds that other people just think are wonderful, that I find to be dumber than dirt. Try to actually meet members of the breed in real life. As many members of the breed as you can. There are always going to be some minor personality differences within each breed. And to finish off, when the last class in Westminster was chosen, the best in show from each of the group winners, I told the hubby that there were only 2 dogs in that last all important class that I could even root for, and usually my favorites are last, but amazingly enough, my 2 favorites won! Affen came in first, and the Old English Sheepdog came in reserve grand champion!

Dog can without a doubt be a real challenge. Sometimes they get the better of me. This was the case with Pippin, one of my female Komondors. I suppose I should give you a little background into this remarkable breed before someone panics and turns me in to PETA. Komondors are Livestock Guard Dogs. It is their mission in life to live out in the wild with their flocks of sheep or goats and protect them from any preditors that would threaten the life of the livestock. These are not your average little foo foo house pets. They live outside, year round, are hardy and tough and strong dogs, and quite capable of killing any threats to their charges, be it coyotes, wolves, bears, mountain lions, bob cats, or for that matter, any humans that might like to help themselves to your animals. In order to bond with their flocks, they Koms need to be born and raised right with the sheep or goats.(or whatever type of livestock you have, they can protect horses and cattle also) These dogs can never be kenneled. The very best of these dogs are born right in the barn with the livestock. I normally let them have their pups in whatever spot they choose, there was a great big dead tree in our barn yard that years ago they dug under the roots of, and I can't even imagine how many pups were born under that tree. But when Pippin came up pregnaunt this time, I knew bad weather was coming and I thought I would help her out, so I fixed up a really nice place for her to whelp. We gave an old doghouse a real good cleaning, and put it in the corner of the barn, and I got a big heating pad to put in it, and even got some plastic pipe to run the electic cord in so it would be safe from chewing. It took awhile, but I finally got her caught and put into her new pen, I placed a horse panel divider across part of the barn so she had plenty of room, and a pretty good size area outside of the barn. Just a perfect place to have pups. Or so I thought. Apparently, she didn't think so. 2 days after I locked her up she dissapeared She managed to dig out under one corner in the outside part of the pen. I searched all the places I thought she might have choosen to whelp in but there was no sign of her anywhere. Days went by and I never even caught a glimpse of her. One day last week she did appear, but before I could finish up what I was doing she slipped away and dissapeared again. So this past Saterday when she finally showed up again, this time I just dropped everything and sat and waited her out. I knew sooner or later she would head back to her pups and I figured I could follow her and find them. She was of course, pretty suspicious of me hanging around, so I tried to act casual and did some other odd jobs around the barn yard, and finally she started to slip off. I got the four wheeler threw the gate after she got a little way out of sight, but she stopped down at the pond for a drink and hung out there for awhile, I was just about afraid she wasn't going to go on to her pups. But finally she went down to the very farthest corner of our property and somehow slipped threw the fence and got over on the neighbors farm. So, I'm old and fat remember, and climbing barb wire fences is not my favorite fastime, but I really didn't have much choise in the matter. I climbed our property line fence, and started after her. She went threw the edge of the neighbors field, threw a lightly wooded corner, I nearly lost her in my slow struggles to get my fat rear end over that dang fence. Luckily, I caught just a glimpse of her as she went under another fence and into the woods, still heading away from home, and a long way too. Lucky for fat me this time the gap was big enough I could crawl under the fence too. I soon lost sight of her, but while I am no Indian tracker scout, she had been walking the same trail threw the woods for at least 2 weeks, so I was a good enough tracker to be able to follow her path. I didn't see her any more, but the trail kept going and going, so I kept following it. I actually almost walked right up on her before I saw her again. There was a very large old tree that had been blown over, root ball and all, and she was under the trunk of the tree. After a few cursory growls at me, for which I scolded her and told her she better be quiet, I was not real happy with her, she shut up and started wagging her tail at me. And there were 5 fat and healthy little pups that came toddling out to greet her. I was really surprised at how big they were, I was not expecting that at all. Their eyes were open and they are at the starting to walk around stage. And I hadn't thought to bring anything to carry them back in. So I spent the better part of an hour trying to get the pups back home. I'd gather them all up and walk until I either got out of breath or was about to drop a pup, then I'd just sit down real quick and keep them piled up around me or on my lap. The were pretty agreeable little dogs, never freaked out when I started messing with them or carrying them, and they'd stay right with me when I'd sit down. Of course, I was the very first human they had ever seen. So I thought their behaviour was excellent. It sure was a long walk back to the 4 wheeler, I was never so proud to see that thing as I was then. But at any rate, I finally managed to get them all back to the barn, though I was so tired, I think I ended up going to bed at 8 instead of my usual midnight, and I was sore and a bit brused the next day, but all is well that ends well. The pups still won't sleep in the nice dog house I fixed for them, they prefer the dirt behind the dog house, but at least they are here, and mom didn't try to lead them back off. Which I didn't think she would, but with my luck you just never know.

Sorry no one has gotten back to you. I really don't know they answer, I thought you could ad one when you got signed up. However, since the last upgrade to the forum, I've never even figured out how to add one. Maybe someone can enlighten both of us.

Wow, I'm sure glad I don't have the problem with my pups getting their shots as you do with dogs in the clinic. I'd be so beat up and busted up I couldn't walk three quarters of the time. I'd just get healed up from vaccinating one litter then I'd have to do another. Seems like I give shots every day around here. Ok, maybe not really that often, but it sure seems like it sometimes.

I did have a very simular cow situation like yours though. And the tip of my index finger on my right hand is still just a tiny bit crooked because of it. We had a very friendly cow we had raised from a calf on a bottle, she would try to sneak up on you and would suck your entire arm up in her mouth if she would get a chance. She was a full grown Jersey heifer by this time. She was following me one day and trying her best to climb into my hip pocket, and since she had grown a pretty nice sharp set of horns I was trying to discourge her so I picked up the only thing I had handy at the time, which was a flat large rib bone, and I swatted her on the horn with it, only problem was my finger tip was between the bone and the horn, busted the end of the finger, it was sitting about a quarter of the way to one side. Made me say many bad words.

I am starting to know how our former President Bush feels. It's just amazing what I get the blame for, even when I'm innocent. Couple weeks ago I get a not very nice email from a puppy customer complaining because I hadn't mailed them their dogs registration papers. So I emailed them back and apoligised, since I do often forget about that sort of thing. Anyway, I had to ask them for the date of birth the pups were born, and any information they had from when they picked up the pup, or had it sent to them. I honestly didn't remember the people, but that doesn't mean anything, I don't remember people under the best of circumstance. Sure, I can look at one of my dogs and tell you who the grandmother was, but don't ask me to pick out a puppy customer from last week in a police line up cause I probably couldn't do it. While I don't always send off for the registration papers and frequently send pups to their new home without them, I do always give the people a shot record, and the date of birth and the sire and dam information are on those records. Anyway, I finally heard back from them, and they told me that I had named the male puppy one name, and the female another, and they gave me the date of birth. So no I'm really starting to scratch my head and wonder what's going on. For one thing, I never name my pups, I leave that for their new owner. And for another, after I checked my records, I didn't have a litter of pups of that breed born on the day they said. I thought maybe they hadn't read the shot record right. So I really started digging. I went threw all my old airbills, and all my sold puppy notes. I even went to my Pay Pal account and went back over 6 months to see where they had made a payment on the pup. I did a search of my email account, and while I found several emails that we had exchanged back and forth, there was no kind of finialization email, like one that said "ok, we sent you the deposit," or "ok, we will be there on such and such day to pick up the pups." Nothing, not a dang thing. After hours of digging threw every possible thing I might be able to find a connection from, I finally had to email them again and try to explain my delema to them, I figured I was really going to catch hell over it, I was sure they figured I was trying to scam them or cheat them out of their papers, but I just can't send out dog registration papers to anybody that asks for some and have to do things right. So, finally a few days ago I get an email back from them. They apoligised profusly. Turns out I was not the breeder they bought the puppies from!!!! Sheeesh! Can you believe that one?

Actually, I would come closer to believing that we are currently living in hell on earth. That in fact there is no actual other place that is hell that we may go to when we leave here. I think this is hell. Or maybe it's just a test run to see how you do and see if you deserve to get to go to heaven. That would also explain some of the reincarnation theories, you have to keep coming back here until you get it right.

Glad to help with a little input. To me, it's good to see you truely interested in learning to do a very good job and do your best. I do have another tip. Nearly everyone has some type of idiosyncrasy about how things should be done in their home and they are going to want you to do things their way. This could be anything from hospital corners when you make up the bed, to coordinating the clothes in the closet. There may be a better or faster or easyier way to do something, but if they want you to do things a certain way, make sure you follow their instructions. My own personal fettish is the way my cast iron skillets are washed. I have yet to find a housekeeper who will do it my way. And if they are not properly washed, they stick like crazy and are difficult to use. I think I may of once done a tutorial about washing cast iron skillets here at Xisto. But every housekeeper I've ever had insists on doing it their way, and they all seem to think they know best. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "well, that's the way I wash mine" when they mess up one of my skillets. This comment is usually followed by, "I don't use my cast iron skillets, because they stick" Duh. Yet they won't listen to me and wash them in a way that prevents them from sticking. Funny skillet story. I told one housekeeper that I didn't want her to put my skillets in the sink in dish water. So one day I walked into the kitchen while she was working, and she was standing over the sink with the skillet raised up over the sink and was splashing soapy water up onto the skillet. I couldn't believe that one. I caught another housekeeper washing the skillet in the sink and when I told her about it she insisted that it was ok because there wasn't soap in the water anymore, saying, "see, look it doesn't bubble anymore." Just because the water isn't bubbly doens't mean the soap is not there anymore. I can't believe she thought the soap would magicly dissapear after it was put in the water. Anyway good luck with your job.

ROTFLMAO!!!!
Oh, I'm sorry, but that was just too funny not to comment on. While I hate critisizing others for the spelling as I'm not that good of a speller either, but that was just too cute! Dogs should never have vegetarian treatment, though they may occasionally need to see a veterinary.

I'll have to get back to you later with some more constructive comments.