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Dolphins save Doberman Pinscher stranded on sandbar
My Fox Orlando ^ | 3/2/2011 | Newscore

Posted on 03/02/2011 1:31:37 PM PST by Evil Slayer

A Pennsylvania woman on vacation in Florida took a tip from two dolphins to save a lost Doberman Pinscher that got stranded on a sandbar.

When Audrey D'Alessandro and her husband, Sam, walked out of their home on Marco Island, near Naples, Fla., to go fishing, "we saw these two dolphins, and they were splashing and making this big commotion" in a canal behind their vacation home, she said.

Although it is not uncommon to see dolphins swimming through the canal on their way to the Gulf of Mexico, Audrey D'Alessandro said that this time, "they were just there, in one place, splashing water against the canal wall."

(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxorlando.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: doberman; dobermanpinscher; dog; dolphins; jpb; marcoisland; rescue
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To: Salamander

OK. Next time a dog like does that I will put your advice to action. May I ask another question? Does it mean anything if a dog growls rather than barks at a human?


161 posted on 03/04/2011 3:51:17 AM PST by jla
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To: jla

Wow.

This is a super-complex issue to explain with words.

The -expression- of the dog means everything, whether it’s growling or barking.

If the mouth is wide open and the back teeth are showing during a bark or growl, it’s 99.9% “display” behavior that is usually a sign of fear aggression, fear or “bluff”.

If the lips of the dog are -forward- over the back teeth and only the very front teeth are showing, *that* dog means it.

Barking is more an alert for the dog’s owners.
[Sort of a “Come see what’s happening!!”]

Growling [depending on the rest of the dog’s body language context] can just be a fearful head-fake meant to keep you from getting close to it because it’s afraid of you.

This page gives some illustrations but doesn’t address the many nuances of each expression.

http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

The “Aggressive” pic doesn’t give many details about ear position/body stance/lip position, etc but it’s a start.

If it helps any, my breed expertise is Dobermanns.

If they’re growling/barking at you it’s just a warning/potential threat behavior.

Their “silent rush” is what you really have to worry about.

Right now, Odin’s inside, ferociously barking at something going on outside.

If he were outside and perceived whatever’s out there to be an -actual- threat, his target wouldn’t even hear him coming.

But that’s _just one breed_.

My Ibizan Hounds, OTOH, could stand and bark and growl at you 24/7 and you’d have nothing to fear but a splitting headache from the noise.

They’re just mouthy, wimpy posers.

What breed of dog is doing this to you?

I could probably get a better fix on the situation if I knew that.


162 posted on 03/04/2011 12:41:36 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: Salamander
Pretty much the same with Labs (although you'll almost never see one in a 'combat' position).

My experience is that when a dog is rigid - walking stiff-legged on tip-toe, hackles up, tail fluffed, eyes locked - the S is about to HTF.

I have one that is silent as a fish -- you don't see her until she leaps up (without touching you) to examine your tonsils and look up your nose. Friend has threatened to get her a white coat and a stethoscope. The other two bark like maniacs whenever anybody sets foot on our property, but if there was trouble the first one is the one to worry about. She's quite funny and playful until she perceives a threat, then she's all business.

163 posted on 03/04/2011 1:35:24 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: AnAmericanMother

You have an ~excellent~ grasp of your dogs’ “language”.

I applaud you!

:)


164 posted on 03/04/2011 2:22:01 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: Salamander
It took the girls a long time to teach me - the oldest is 11 - but I can be taught!

Best way to learn to speak Dog is to work with the dogs in a performance event -- obedience, agility, flyball, hunting retriever, whatever -- because it motivates you to really understand what makes them tick.

My 11 year old has a vocabulary of about 200 words, I'm not sure how large my Dog vocabulary is but I usually know what she's thinking. (Anybody who says dogs don't have a sense of humor hasn't met her.)

165 posted on 03/04/2011 2:28:25 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: Salamander
Firstly, thank you very much for your time and effort in response to my question(s). I much appreciate it.
Now, I was only asking in general, and from past experiences, and what I might do in future instances.
But I will share an episode I had at my niece's a few years ago. She and her husband had a Rottweiler, his dog. My first exposure tyo this dog was when I arrived at there home. She seemed well behaved that night, allowing me to pet her without out any ado.
Well, next morn my niece and her husband left for work, (I was still asleep in my room), and 'Daisy' was supposed to be put outside. I got up, took a shower and went downstairs. Seated at the computer for only a few minutes I heard something coming down the steps. I turn in my seat and the dog is staring at me. Politely; in a normal tone of voice I say, "Hello, Daisy". At that moment the dog never approached, remaining about 6 ft away, but she started with that low, menacing growl. I stood up, facing her, (wrong action I now realize after reading your posts), and I shouted at her, "get out of here! Feck off!"
This did not produce the result I hoped for. I feinted a step to the side and she began to move, so I stopped. (All this time she never advanced towards me). So, as I was preparing to leave anyway, I got a 'bright' idea. One of Daisy's toys was lying near, so I picked it up, showed it to her and I tossed it across the living room, on the other side of a coffee table. Daisy 'fell for' this and as she ran one way I went out the back door.
Feeling mighty clever, I then realized that my car keys were up in my room, and by this time I could hear Daisy braking wildly on the other side of the door. So I grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, shutting it promptly after the dog, growling and barking, jumped up to the crack between the door and the door jamb.
needless to say, my niece's husband had to come back home and put the dog at ease whilst I collected my cars keys.

Thanks again for your help. I'll look on at the web site you've provided.

166 posted on 03/04/2011 3:31:22 PM PST by jla
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To: jla

Well, that’s an easy one.

She woke up and found a “stranger” in “her house”.
[who also “smelled different” because of the shower]

Dogs totally live in the moment so she may have “forgotten” you from the night before *but* more likely, everything “changed” when her pack wasn’t there, demonstrating ~their~ complete acceptance of you.

Case in point: our family doctor has known and loved Odin since Odin was but a tiny 8 week old pup.

About 9 months ago when Odin was only a year old and just beginning to “be a man” , we took him with us to see his “Uncle Andy” again and Odin adored him....until his “daddy” went inside, leaving “mommy” alone with this “suddenly strange man”.

He then growled, barked and placed himself firmly against my side and in between me and the doc.
[this is the dog’s job, BTW...guarding me when hubby is not present to do so, himself]

The doc understood completely and harbored no ill will...still loves the dog like crazy.

Last week we tried again [the dog’s behavior has been “polished” since the last meeting] and Odin was well-behaved, properly full of adulation and did all his fancy tricks for the doc, even carefully taking tiny bits of training treats from his fingers without so much as touching flesh.
[he adores little kids and they, him, so his gentleness in snack-taking is paramount]

Daddy went inside again and Odin just wagged his nub at the still-there doc, knowing him now as absolute, trusted friend.

[On the down side, this now gives my doctor free rein to murder me as the dog totally accepts him]....LOL

Tossing her ball was *brilliantly* clever and one of the recommended methods of defusing aggression....leaving your keys inside with her...well, not so much....;-D

I am happy to help in any way I can.

Feel free to contact me any time you want.


167 posted on 03/04/2011 8:40:43 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: AnAmericanMother

It’s very humbling to realize that a dog can learn ~our~ language yet we often cannot fathom *their* language at all.

What I’ve learned, besides reading many *excellent* books was from just watching them interact with each other.

If you watch carefully and closely, you can read what each subtle tilt of ear or tail, glance or tiny bit of posture change “means”.

Since I was basically raised by dogs, [mostly Dobes] because I had no kids in my neighborhood and “busy” parents, I learned to ‘speak’ both dog and horse pretty early.

It always annoyed my dad that I could get the horses to do incredible things and behave perfectly although they would act like maniacs when he was near them.

He simply didn’t “get” what they were “saying” and got quickly frustrated and angry with them.

Even “his” dogs only listened to me.

My teen-years WonderDobe had an incredible vocabulary.
There were even many words you couldn’t ‘fool’ him with by spelling them.

Odin is proving to be “psychic”, for the lack of a better word.
If I *think* something, he’ll react.

A good example is my Ibizans and Podengo.
They’re very playful, very noisy and bouncy silly, carefree things.

When they start their crazy “zoomies” in the middle of the night, I’ll think to myself “Oh, God...SHUT UP!” and without me saying a word, Odin will jump off my sofa and go over and butt between them, thereby showing authority and “demanding” a cease to the insanity.

I did not teach him that.
One night, he simply did it himself.

He also goes back outside and “rounds them up” when they’re running like maniacs around the yard and won’t come in...and “mom” is freezing awaiting their return.

I’ll just say “Go fetch the girls in” and off he goes.

Maybe he’d be a good sheep dog....:)


168 posted on 03/04/2011 8:57:30 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: decimon

LOL!


169 posted on 03/04/2011 8:57:59 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: Salamander
My oldest spent her formative years with Border Collies (doing agility) so she will herd on occasion. She's the mother-hen/housemother over the other two. Just a few minutes ago she thought their wrestling and play face-biting was getting out of hand, so she stood up from where she was gnawing on her elk antler, barked ONE bark, and lay back down. The other two broke it up and slunk to opposite corners of the room.

She was dis-invited from a no-cage boarding facility because she would herd the other dogs into a corner and not let them leave . . . .

170 posted on 03/05/2011 6:18:39 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: goat granny

I know some (two) homeschoolers who found a cat dead in the road and boiled down the bones and put it back together for anatomy class at home! eeek.


171 posted on 03/05/2011 6:52:15 PM PST by Shimmer1 (Froggie sez water nice and warm)
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To: Shimmer1

In one of my science classes the first year of college, we did a lot of disecting...The only one I was queezy about was dealing with an eyeball, sticking a needle into it to asperate out some fluids to check. Most of the dissections were not much different than frying a steak or fixing some liver and onions for my dad..Never experienced an eyeball in home cooking...:O)


172 posted on 03/05/2011 7:14:17 PM PST by goat granny
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To: AnAmericanMother

LOL!

Good dog with a sense of humor...:)


173 posted on 03/05/2011 7:16:13 PM PST by Salamander (I may be lonely but I'm never alone...and the nights may pass me by......but I never cry.)
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To: Daffynition

OMG daffy that is hysterical...


174 posted on 03/05/2011 7:23:51 PM PST by goat granny
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To: goat granny
Thanks gg. Etude de sandbar. An opus Vivaldi.


175 posted on 03/05/2011 7:56:47 PM PST by Daffynition ( DBKP ~ Death By 1000 Papercuts)
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