For animal lovers

[Rattus]

Again, I am infuriated by bad pet owners. Mischka, the neighbour's siamese, spent the day at our house but wanted to leave when we got home from work. I let her out, but checked occasionally to see if the neighbours were home yet to let her in. The last time I was out, Creamsicle (a large, fluffy orange and white cat) was huddled under the table on our front porch, covered with snow, because there is a major blizzard blowing. I let him in even though I fear he's a sprayer and my boys don't much care for him, or any unfixed cats actually, because there is a major blizzard blowing. I have no idea who he belongs to, but if I ever find out they are getting a piece of my mind. And I'm considering taking him to the vet to have his boys taken care of since his idiot owners apparently don't care enough to look after him.

[Newfherder]

I thought Newf was brought here on a space ship from another planet. Oh, wait, you were talking about dogs, not Newf the FORT member.

Is Newfherder an off-beat dog lover, or mutant outer-space alien? Let the debate begin!

[just1paul]

Well all I can say is that the Newfoundlands are normal...

[queenb]

And I'm considering taking him to the vet to have his boys taken care of since his idiot owners apparently don't care enough to look after him.

I doubt they would even notice he's missing anything--if it were me, I'd do it, if the kitty was so determined to hang around my house. I just can't understand people not getting their animals fixed. Although I did see an interesting article, where apparently some areas of New England don't even get enough animals into the shelter for people to adopt, so they are sending up some from here and Alabama, at great expense. That's hard for me to even imagine because around here, there are several shelters in most counties, and they are always overflowing with puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats of any and all descriptions.

[just1paul]

Again, I am infuriated by bad pet owners. Mischka, the neighbour's siamese, spent the day at our house but wanted to leave when we got home from work. I let her out, but checked occasionally to see if the neighbours were home yet to let her in. The last time I was out, Creamsicle (a large, fluffy orange and white cat) was huddled under the table on our front porch, covered with snow, because there is a major blizzard blowing. I let him in even though I fear he's a sprayer and my boys don't much care for him, or any unfixed cats actually, because there is a major blizzard blowing. I have no idea who he belongs to, but if I ever find out they are getting a piece of my mind. And I'm considering taking him to the vet to have his boys taken care of since his idiot owners apparently don't care enough to look after him.

I would do it and keep them as your own. These people don't care.

[brunette trixie]

Remote Goddess - I can sympathize with your dilemna, my dog Chico is very aggressive and territorial. But lucky for me, I don't have any children so that's not an issue. If your dog isn't ill, maybe you could try one of those training programs that are geared especially toward curbing dog aggression.

[canuckinchile]

remote I can sympathize with you, and hopefully you can figure something out. I do agree though that I wouldn't keep a "biter". It's hard with adopted dogs (not sure what age you got him) to know their background sometimes. We have a very sweet, lovable Mastiff but I sure had to spend a lot of training time with her as a puppy. It took a long time to teach her that my 13 year old was the boss (and actually it was more training him!) I hope you find a solution.

On another note, I was really happy to see the Beagle win "Best in Show" at the Westminster. What a cute dog!

[Gutmutter]

Although I did see an interesting article, where apparently some areas of New England don't even get enough animals into the shelter for people to adopt, so they are sending up some from here and Alabama, at great expense. That's hard for me to even imagine because around here, there are several shelters in most counties, and they are always overflowing with puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats of any and all descriptions.

Well believe it - I hardly ever have to advertise in the paper to find homes for kittens because I have a waiting list of people who know I provide them. Pom used to have a waiting list of folks out her way looking for kittens. We'd meet halfway to hand them off. When I do advertise I always get about 20 more people calling than I have kittens.

[MRD]

English Mastiffs' beautiful heads weigh more than the whole dogs of most breeds. Gustav and I took handling classes with a Mastiff named Ernie, who's head must have been bigger than a basketball. I'll never forget the first Mastiff that I ever saw. It was at my first dog show, and a big male was trying to sit in his owner's lap If I ever switch to a short-hair breed, English Mastiffs will be my first choice.

I'm starting to see a few Tibetan Mastiffs at shows (OK, I've seen one ). They are a lot more Newf-like in appearance--big, thick coats, more proportionate heads . . . Neapolitan Mastiffs (think Hagrid's dog Fang in the movies) are fairly hideous in person. I was starting to like the breed based on photos, but seeing two champions in person was enough to put me right off the breed.

Bullmastiffs aren't even on my radar. Too small.

On a slightly different show-related topic, today I volunteered to be a steward at the local dog show this April The Chief Ring Steward assured me that she'd do her best to have me at the same ring as the Newfs.

We Fell in LOVE with the tibetan mastiff last night in the dog show. He looks almost EXACTLY like Waldo except a WHOLE lot bigger. We kept calling him the Waldo dog. He was so cute and that face! The funny thing was as they were talking about the breed and showing this dog, they said: "the Tibetan Mastiff has a watchful face" at that moment they showed this dogs face and it had the same dazed and clueless expression we often see on Waldo. My daughter and I burst out laughing. We said, "Oh, so Waldo's really just being "watchful' then."

I'm glad the beagle won. Rosie was almost a beagle.

And Newf, I thought of you when they showed the Newf. He was gorgeous. Well most of the dogs were.

I did have to smile a bit at the judge that judged the working dogs. Most of them probably were twice her size and weight.

I'm telling you that I could not have one of those dogs that have to be constantly groomed. It got on my nerves at the handlers that were always, always, always combing dogs in the ring. They NEVER stopped. I'd need one of those Rasta dogs that has the dredlocks, because I just don't think I could go in for the constant, constant grooming.

[MRD]

Ok, you guys decide.


Tibetan Mastiff




Waldo