The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Quote:

Too funny!

 

[gryeyes]

John The Contractor is tied up with some other jobs right now, but he will come over this Saturday or Sunday to install my new built in dishwasher. He had dropped by with a salvaged mirror and some empty egg cartons, so he checked out the new dishwasher and under the cabinet and sink to see how much work it would take to deal with the non-standard installation in this quaint little house of mine.

We spent some time torturing Sarge the MW Tom with the mirror. Sarge is just young enough to be a bit intimidated by that "other" Tom instead of challenging it. Hehehehe. The mirror is going to replace a broken one but it's large enough to cut into two pieces: one for the dresser mirror frame and a piece to put out in the yard for poultry games.

I've been reading the dishwasher user manual. I have never had a dishwashing machine. Wow. Now I have to think about detergent types and rinse agents. Hmmm.

But there's a sanitize cycle perfect for reassuring others the usual first pet-licked "cycle" of dish washing won't kill them.

 

[Arielle]

I can't believe the UPS driver put his hand out to my dog!!!!!

Let me back up. I forgot that I was expecting a package today so my now one and only dog was in the house with me to socialize as all his friends and family have moved on to doggie heaven. The door bell rings. Darn. Run for coat. OPen door, dog moves up to stand beside me. I tell him" IT's ok, Wait" Him meaning the dog. I'm signing and I see the hand reach down. I pray and gulp at the same time. Angel sniffs and waits. WHew! Good dog!

Really-- this guy needed to make friends with my dog????

This wasn't the regular driver--he knows to not approach the 6 foot picket fence. He was smart enough to realize 3 barking rotties is NOT the time to stop and make friends. He would toss them a milk bone though.

I love my dogs and spent a lot of time and effort training them and socializing the best I could considering very few people will interact with a Rotweiler. I spent months driving them to a weekly group class. THe instructor would pat them, one woman would pat them, NO ONE else came near. Of course I was rather put out. THese dogs need human interaction more than most dogs. ANd my dogs were far better behaved and learned quickly. By summer the instructors suggested doggie day care. Every day I drove 30 minutes to drop off and back home, then back at the end of the day.

HOw Many people were happy to tell me my dogs would kill my baby, even the OB wanted my to get rid of the dogs. I cried all the way home, then decided he was not a good judge of dogs. His dogs lived outside left in a kennel, never in the house. I listened to my trainers. I put up dog barriers. THe dogs had there own room and the kids couldn't get in.

My kids started learing how to command a dog on the black lab. WHat a hoot. Pull on the leash too many times and he quit. Laid down. Not moving. DOne. THey graduated to the Rotties, Heidi first. She would look at me, "Do I have to?" I repeated my sons command and off she went. As their skills improved I let them have at dealing with Barron and ANgel. Barron was super smart and very opinionated. A tough dog. THe boys learned how to command that dog without touching him. How to out think him and learn what motivated him. THey learned.

Their run is theirs. Only family allowed, no chickens, no turkeys, no cats.No hands belonging to strangers. In the house, they are layed back. THey hardly notice the cats, and stop by a brooder to see the new chicks. Rotties are so villianized, is that a word. The best dogs I have ever had. Sorry for the long story.

Figured you all have dogs and would understand.

PS. His name is Angel,name for a gun fighter in one of the last romance novels I read before having kids. Perfect name for him, a bright cheery face and a wiggling stump of a tail that never quits. HE's an ANgel.

 

[insanity]

My hubby thinks we need a duck or two .....because their so cute. I always thought they were annoying. But trying to be open minded and all can anyone suggest a breed that is quiet, egg laying, and flightless.

 

[wolftracks]

I can't believe the UPS driver put his hand out to my dog!!!!!

Let me back up. I forgot that I was expecting a package today so my now one and only dog was in the house with me to socialize as all his friends and family have moved on to doggie heaven. The door bell rings. Darn. Run for coat. OPen door, dog moves up to stand beside me. I tell him" IT's ok, Wait" Him meaning the dog. I'm signing and I see the hand reach down. I pray and gulp at the same time. Angel sniffs and waits. WHew! Good dog!

Really-- this guy needed to make friends with my dog????

This wasn't the regular driver--he knows to not approach the 6 foot picket fence. He was smart enough to realize 3 barking rotties is NOT the time to stop and make friends. He would toss them a milk bone though.

I love my dogs and spent a lot of time and effort training them and socializing the best I could considering very few people will interact with a Rotweiler. I spent months driving them to a weekly group class. THe instructor would pat them, one woman would pat them, NO ONE else came near. Of course I was rather put out. THese dogs need human interaction more than most dogs. ANd my dogs were far better behaved and learned quickly. By summer the instructors suggested doggie day care. Every day I drove 30 minutes to drop off and back home, then back at the end of the day.

HOw Many people were happy to tell me my dogs would kill my baby, even the OB wanted my to get rid of the dogs. I cried all the way home, then decided he was not a good judge of dogs. His dogs lived outside left in a kennel, never in the house. I listened to my trainers. I put up dog barriers. THe dogs had there own room and the kids couldn't get in.

My kids started learing how to command a dog on the black lab. WHat a hoot. Pull on the leash too many times and he quit. Laid down. Not moving. DOne. THey graduated to the Rotties, Heidi first. She would look at me, "Do I have to?" I repeated my sons command and off she went. As their skills improved I let them have at dealing with Barron and ANgel. Barron was super smart and very opinionated. A tough dog. THe boys learned how to command that dog without touching him. How to out think him and learn what motivated him. THey learned.

Their run is theirs. Only family allowed, no chickens, no turkeys, no cats.No hands belonging to strangers. In the house, they are layed back. THey hardly notice the cats, and stop by a brooder to see the new chicks. Rotties are so villianized, is that a word. The best dogs I have ever had. Sorry for the long story.

Figured you all have dogs and would understand.

PS. His name is Angel,name for a gun fighter in one of the last romance novels I read before having kids. Perfect name for him, a bright cheery face and a wiggling stump of a tail that never quits. HE's an ANgel.

I raised, trained, showed and imported Rotties for over 20 years. My last one, my beautiful boy Abbaddon, died 7 years ago. These are amazing dogs. I went through the same thing with an OB when I was regnant with my 16 yr old son. I had 3 of the dogs at my house, 2 at my parnter's house and 7 more that were co-owned at the time. I was still training up until 3 months before Dakotah was born, only because I was in labor (thanks SON!) for 3 months! Anyway, I have 6 kids older than him. The dogs gaurded my kids like they were gold. One thing you can't do in front of them is swat a kid. They don't tolerate that at all! I've alwasy introduced my dogs to delivery people. At least the ones who show up regularly. We did have an Angel from an A litter, but she was a she. My partner's nephew got that pup, but he lived with my partner, so basically she was there for the kid and he heled with things and learned to train. His mom ket trying to get me to help him with an A name and I told her to let him name her. Technically, she was his. Angel though, because my partner didn't know sqwat, but just had to get into Rotties, was spoil, didn't get corrected enough and I would have to work her for 2 months before a show, just to get her to listen. I figured out then, that I wasn't going to have another partner when it came to dogs. Granted, for some of them, I needed his money, but I used to tell him, I was the only woman that hadn't slept with him and could still get money of of him. And he always said "Yeah and it's always 10s of thousands!" LOL

Anyway my kids could walk those dogs anywhere. I had had them take one of my Akitas when they were small and wanted to walk down 2 blocks to the store. I saw little but 11 and 12 for my older grls. Akitas are way more protective then a Rottie and they won't let anyone just walk up to their kids, so they would take Roshi along and I knew nothing would happen. I could only see them from the upstairs bathroom window till they were 2 house away from the store. They'd always ask to go without her, because she would growl and people would walk into the street away from them, then she'd smile (really smile) and keep them walking. So the Rotties did the same thing later with all the others. Dakotah's first word after Momma was DOG!

The thing with Rotties when I first started with them, was most people had no idea what they were. They had never even hear of them. I go throught that now with my Cane Corso. But I had my first one, Zarra with me at the Berkeley fleamarket one weekend. I had a stand up and Zarra was about 4 months old. There were lots of kids that wanted to play with her and my younger ones running around and I let everyone meet her. Lots of questions go on with breeds no one knows or have never been around. So I had walked into the BART station to get more water and was walking back to the stand. There was a couple maybe just a coupleof years younger than me, and i wasn't old back then, walking and looking around. The guy sees me walking Zar through, grabs the woman and practically shoves her into ta tree and says "LOOK OUT! That's one of those Pitt Bull dogs!" First he had no idea what he was talking about and second, that was a stupid move if you're trying to NOT get bit. I just looked at him and then my mouth got involved. I looked at the woman and said "You need to find a man that knows what he's talking about." Then at him I said "First, she's a Rottweiler and she's 4 months old. And if you talk the time to research, you'll find that Pitts were once concidered the perfect dog for children, things like Labs and Sherherds weren't even one that list. They were breeds that are OK for kids," It's not the breeds, it's the breeding and the owners." I swear, my blood pressure is up right now thinking about him. He was the first person to act like an idiot around Zarra and I think she wanted to lay with them, but she idn't break her "heel", so their loss. The woman did kind of grin though whe nI set the guy straight. That's like jumoing back when you look at one of my kids!!!

Another problem back then was keeping them from being stolen. I used to walk Zarra through a not so great area of Oakland. One night I saw 4 guys in a car drive by real slow and then they turned around and drove up next to me. I put her on the opposite side where she would be against building and one guy jumps out while the car kept up. He asked how old she was and I said 2, she was 6 months, so that made her small. Then he asked if I had pups and i said I only had her and she was spayed. He asked why she was spayed and I said that I show dogs and her ear carriage was wrong, so we spayed her. He turned and got in the car and I heard him say "We don't want that one, it spayed!" BTW Zar was perfect. LOL Thise ears were awesome. Some of the best of any of them. hehe

My Isis looks scary to people. They ask if she's Rottie/Pitt or back when she was little Rottie/Sharpei. I sisn't want to show when I picked her out. She not marked correctly, so has brindle markings like a Rott. And I get people who tell me that they are getting a KIng Corso, or a Cane. First they do the same thing that people did with the Rotties. They'd say "Is that a Rock??" and I'd say "No, it's a dog."" Cane is pronounced connie which means Dog in Italian. The are coursing dogs. Cane Corso. And don't get me started about when back with the Rotties, I had to get into breed hstory to everyone who thought they came from Dobies and Pitts.

 

[gryeyes]

My hubby thinks we need a duck or two .....because their so cute. I always thought they were annoying. But trying to be open minded and all can anyone suggest a breed that is quiet, egg laying, and flightless.

 

Cayugas. Perfect!

Check out the breed at Metzer Farms' website: www.metzerfarms.com

 

[insanity]

Last year I got m brindle mastiff Echo and brought her home. At about 6 months or so the neighbor said he was concerned for his grand kids about my dogs, the pit specifically. I corrected him on her breeding, told him she wouldn't hurt a fly. Then warned him not to trust my Aussie, she has territory/abuse issues. When in the car or on a walk everyone wants to pet the Aussie so I have to be on my toes with her. Almost nobody approaches Echo, she looks so sad when she doesn't get the same attention as her friend. If people only knew the personalities of the breeds they might rethink their actions.

 

[wolftracks]

Last year I got m brindle mastiff Echo and brought her home. At about 6 months or so the neighbor said he was concerned for his grand kids about my dogs, the pit specifically. I corrected him on her breeding, told him she wouldn't hurt a fly. Then warned him not to trust my Aussie, she has territory/abuse issues. When in the car or on a walk everyone wants to pet the Aussie so I have to be on my toes with her. Almost nobody approaches Echo, she looks so sad when she doesn't get the same attention as her friend. If people only knew the personalities of the breeds they might rethink their actions.

Exactly

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My hubby thinks we need a duck or two .....because their so cute. I always thought they were annoying. But trying to be open minded and all can anyone suggest a breed that is quiet, egg laying, and flightless.

I got mallard/calls and they flew away. Do not recommend.

The I got pekins, black swedish and rouen. Highly recommend. Too fat to fly, or even get off the ground, adorable, moderately quiet (so much more quiet than the mallard/calls!) and did I mention adorable? Easy to care for once they know where home is. They come home every single night, go into their coop and I just close the door.

Now you didn't ask about MESS.

 

[insanity]

Now you didn't ask about MESS.

I realize they are messy but plan to use it as leverage on the hubby.."Come help clean the chicken coup their your ducks out there." lol