Posted on 01/11/2006 7:51:56 AM PST by presidio9
The poodle pranced to the top of the list of Manhattan's most popular dog breeds in 2005.
The poodle edged out the Labrador retriever and dachshund, the American Kennel Club said Tuesday.
Manhattan's standard, miniature and toy poodles snatched No. 1 from the borough's dachshunds, which slid to third from 2004's top spot. The Labrador retriever was ranked No. 2, according to the kennel club, which based the rankings on its national registration statistics broken down by ZIP code.
Next in popularity were the Yorkshire terrier, golden retriever, bulldog, French bulldog, Shih Tzu and Havanese. The 10th spot was shared by the Maltese and the pug.
New to the list for 2005 were the French bulldog and the Havanese, the kennel club said.
"These breeds appeal to sophisticated people who, while they may not have a lot of space in their Manhattan apartment, have plenty of love for a petite canine companion," kennel club spokeswoman Gail Miller said in a news release announcing the rankings.
The American Kennel Club, which was established in 1884, says it aims to advance the study, breeding and exhibition of purebred dogs.
See my post #35
Yup, I saw that - must've had a bunch of posts posted w/in 2 mins!
You're right, the ideas used are flawed. But then, so is most people's idea of "intelligence".
There's an obedience site where the man lists dogs who are difficult to train - and GS are 1 of them, e.g. People equate "intelligence" w/"obedience", but it's not the same. A dumb dog can be very obedient, a smart dog take ages and lots of muscle to train.
GS are usually very stubborn, but that is not the same as stupid (just look at the old "mule" insult - but they're not stupid though they've been called that for ages, just stubborn and don't want to obey you - sometimes for good reason). Not at all. I know my former GS was smart as a whip - outsmarted whole slew of Border Collies in their own home, apparently understanding their home better than they did - but somewhat stubborn (she was a dominant dog). She also knew what to do when I asked her to look for my cat who had gone into shock and escaped in a strange area. Actually she overall didn't take much effort to obedience train, but she did need the "muscling" to do it by and large.
It's as what I say about the human world - there is "intelligence", and there is "knowledge". Repeating the whole encyclopedia is not intelligence, it's having knowledge (and good memory). Intelligence is how you use the information. Same w/dogs - where training = knowledge.
I think "trainability" is an important consideration, because it generally gives novice dog-owners a good indication of how cooperative a particular breed would be. But this list is still deceptive because you sure wouldn't want to turn your average Border Collie over to a novice dog owner (talk about a disaster!) Very intelligent, very trainable, but also obsessive compulsive workaholics who will make your life hell on earth if you don't give them a job to do . . .
Better not to rely on a list, just talk to dog trainers and breeders before you buy!
-- although I still think the Afghans are about the dumbest dogs I ever saw.
Stubborn, you bet. Mean, you bet. Hold a grudge, absolutely. But never, NEVER stupid.
(of course, my family is from the country in the South and we actually know mules. I prefer horses because I like to be sure that my steed is dumber than I am . . . with a mule you're never sure.)
Never heard? Well that's what they were in the old days. I remember hearing that sort of thing from old movies and cartoons (Bugs?). Also, look at the "Swinging on a Star" song from the '40s - "...would you like to be a mule....he's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak."
Nope, in the old days they didn't hesitate to call them dumb. If they didn't move, they were "dumb" much more than "stubborn"!
I'm the proud and grateful owner of a GRROW dog. He is a peach, and I wouldn't trade him for anything.
(so now we have SHORT hair all over stuff. The Siamese cat hair shows on the dark colored stuff, and the Chocolate Lab hair shows on the light colored stuff. We have everything covered.)
I fell in love with a Goldenpoo at dog class. I hear the Labradoodles are nice too.
Both "breeds" (crosses really) have the personalities of Goldens, or Labs, and the non-shedding attributes of poodles, although they don't require so much clipping. The curls are looser than a pure bred poodle.
But, my solution is even more practical after more than 20 years of living with a Golden. I just decorate my house and choose my wardrobe to match the dog!
I'm told that Lab hair is even more problematic than Golden hair because it is stiff and sticks in the upholstery, resisting the vacuum cleaner.
I have a mini schnauzer, and they are the best dogs!
Smart and they don't shed!
What I really like is NO BRUSHING - at least only once a week I go over her with a fairly stiff bristle brush. Of course, she gets lots of pats daily. If she gets dirty, we just hit her with the hose. "Wash and Wear."
The Golden I have now has a fairly flat -- not too abundant -- coat. He does not she much compared to my previous Golden which was more fluffy, with a lot of wave. She shed like mad.
Don't get me wrong, he still looks beautiful and he still sheds all year, but he is not a hairy monster.
If you go here: http://grrow.org/ and enter the Website and find the button for "Success Stories" and click on 2002 and then scroll down to find "Magnificent Max" you can see his picture with one of the 9 grandchildren.
I know several folks who have 3 or 4 Goldens in their house! I always hope that they have a full time maid!
Here's my nutty girl . . .
Have fun with the agility - we've found it to be a blast.
Beautiful Chocolate Lab!
GRROW requires prospective adoptive "parents" to fill out a lengthy application after passing an "in home" interview. Among the questions asked is: "Describe your ideal "forever" Golden adoptee."
I answered that I wanted a 4 year old female, blond, rather flat-coated (wavy), housebroken and LARGE Golden with good hips. I specifically said that I preferred a large dog because I didn't particularly like those half-pint Goldens that they are breeding now. Besides, with big dogs, there is more to love, I reasoned. A couple of weeks later, a lady called and announced that she had a special dog she wanted me to see. No obligation.
I asked, "Oh, is a a female?"
"No, a male." (About 75% of the dogs up for adoption are males.)
"Oh, is it 4?"
"No, he's about 1 1/2 to 2." (I'm certain he was no more than 8 months old by the rate of his development after we adopted him. I've raised a Golden from the age of 12 weeks before, and I am familiar with how they look and behave at different ages.)
"Is he blond?"
"No, he is dark red, but he's really special and has good hips."
"Is he housbroken?"
"Yes."
"Is he big?"
"Yes."
"Ok, bring him out Saturday morning," I said, somewhat disappointed.
Saturday morning, Max hopped out of her van and put one paw on my front porch. I immediately decided that RED GOLD is the very BEST color! My husband was still set on a female, however.
We played with him for a while and he escaped from my pasture because someone had left the back gate open, unbeknownst to me! The three of us had a merry chase around the yard trying to recapture a lively dog who absolutely didn't know where he was, but thought that chasing is FUN! He had flushed a cat out from under my deck and was determined to catch up with it. During the chase, Max clipped my husband from behind on a dead run and knocked him FLAT on the ground, but we eventually caught the rambunctious dog and brought him inside.
I thought that this was never going to work. My husband wanted a female because usually they're easier to handle and, of course, he was nursing sore elbows from being knocked flat! The lady said that it was time to go and she'd leave us to think about the adoption. She said we had one or two weeks to decide. No rush.
My husband said, "You are not taking that dog ANYWHERE. He's staying right here, and we're adopting him."
She said, "I can't do that. That's against our rules, and besides, I didn't bring his papers and his food."
"You can mail the papers, and we'll buy food. We want to keep the dog."
"Really, I should take him back to my house and let you think it over." (She lived about 50 miles from me.)
"I hope you brought your toothbrush," my husband said, "because Max isn't going anywhere."
I signed all the papers, promising to take him to dog training and wrote them a check. My husband and I both agree that Max is just the best thing that has ever happened to us, and I hope he feels the same way.
He has an unusual life. He goes to work with us every day and accompanies us on all of our travels -- often 1500 miles, or more. He never barks, or whines, although he can. This makes him a perfect office dog. We had to leave him in a kennel for the first time over Christmas because we were flying, and we both missed him so much. We called and checked on him several times. The kennel thought we were nuts!
We asked Max's foster mom why she picked our application out of so many, and she said it was because of some of my answers. She liked the descriptions of some of the games we used to play with our previous Golden who died after 15 1/2 years. The other key word was BIG!
We were slow to acquire another dog after losing Terra because we were afraid that no other dog could measure up to her. However, GRROW brought us a dog who is even BETTER than our female was, as much as we hate to admit it.
Max is a real gem, and so is his foster mom.
I went for a couch potato and wound up with a crazy field dog . . . sometimes things don't work out the way you expect, but they still work out . . .
I just got back from spending the day in the FREEZING COLD and 25 mph winds (gusting to 40!) in the middle of a cow pasture with a bunch of other retriever people and their dogs. The Shellster is getting better - she did a double (after doing each half as a single) and she is learning to do blinds! (She lined two so I had to send her crooked so I had the opportunity to cast her - about a 30 yard blind. Good Dog!) But the Really Good Dogs - Shelley's good friend Tori the Black Lab among them - were doing 250 yard blinds across a gully. Ouch!
Wow! I'm really impressed. Of course your dog's ability in the field has as much to do with your tenacity and expertise as it has to do with your dog. I have never gotten either of my retrievers to be good in the field (my own laziness, mostly.)
Max just doesn't have the concentration. We went through intermediate obedience (barely) and about 3 sessions of agility (he has his own small course at home) but he just wasn't enjoying it. The winters are long here, and most of the training has been indoors. He'd rather run like the wind in a field off leash. 2 different instructors goaded me into using a shocker on him (total 2 times) and I didn't like the effect at all! I decided that it just wasn't worth it. We certainly weren't going to win any prizes, and if he wasn't having fun, then why bother?
Of course I've lost 60 lbs since then, and perhaps we should try again. I could probably keep up with him now! LOL.
I suspect that his original owner used an anti bark collar on him and that is why he NEVER barks, unless he is surprised by a strange animal. Then it's just one "Woof". When my trainer shocked him because he ran right into the observers after a triple jump in a room that was too small, he refused to go over those jumps for about a month afterward.
I switched trainers and the same thing happened at the new place when he got boisterous. He then walked slooooowly through the course. I have a $275 collar that has been used twice! If he is misbehaving (when company comes sometimes -- jumping to greet, etc.) all I have to do is to put the controller on around my neck and point it at him, and he calms right down. No collar -- just threaten him with the controller!
Then I found out that if I just point my computer portable flash drive at him that I sometimes wear around my neck, I get the same effect. Instant goodness!
They say they don't know who is doing the shocking, but I don't believe it for a minute. Golden's are too "soft" for shockers, IMHO. They naturally want to please -- even the hard-headed males.
The way it was explained to me is that the collar should be used at an extremely low level, just enough to annoy, not scare or hurt. The idea is to teach the dog that obeying the command turns off the annoyance. You do this by "collar conditioning" which is a long and careful process. And you never use the collar to punish, only to reinforce a command that they already know.
We went to a high-up Retriever Guru seminar (Evan Graham) and Shelley was the guinea pig for a session of collar conditioning and teaching the command "Come!" She never yelped or jumped - the typical collar (TriTronics) has 15 settings on low, medium and high for a total of 45, and we never got her above a low "2" and settled on a high "1". I sometimes bump her up to low "2" again if she's really jazzed.
I tune her up once every couple of weeks, and she comes like a shot.
Since Max has already had bad experiences with a bark collar (which does really hurt) he may not be a good candidate for a training collar. But we do have plenty of people who use them on Goldens - but very carefully.
Well, your trainers obviously are more expert than mine. I have a TriTronics, although it has 5 settings. It is a few years old. My trainer was adamant about setting it at the HIGHEST level so that the dog would stop in his tracks. I HATED it, so I have an unused collar. She was mainly worried that the dog would run in the street and get hit by a car, or tangle with a deer and get hurt. But, I didn't like it at all.
The video and instructions that came with the collar (and several other videos I purchased) were not really clear enough for the novice. It is really hard to get them right at the instant they are doing something wrong. LOL. I gave up.
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