Posted on 08/11/2011 5:08:33 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
I saw a cross between a labrador and a basset hound once...That poor dog wanted to run so much, but it’s body just couldn’t.
Awwww....that’s sad...:(
The neighbors used to have a Beagle/Basset mix and she looked like a long, fat Jack Russell.
They knew for sure what her parents were but you’d have *never* guessed either breed just by looking at her.
Now they have an absolutely elegant little Parsons that I just adore.
[and they got her *free*! talk about luck!]
Exactly so. They are a FIGHTING dog, and that comes out in their behaviour. Normally, they are calm, but, as one British journalist wrote: “Then one day the dog’s eyes turn glassy, and it springs its big surprise.” Once their blood is up, in the mood for fighting, they will tear anything to pieces.
If you have a Sheltie, it will keep trying to herd other animals, being a sheepdog. A poodle will do tricks and perform, even if not trained, because they descend from circus and actor’s dogs, and they love attention. A pitt bull will fight.
I dunno, a stupid owner sounds like a reasonable explanation for attempting suicide by Odin.
For all you know, the Golden Retriever may have said, “Please, put me out of my misery, you have no IDEA what I go through!” to Odin just before lunging at him.
:-)
Seriously, it’s tragic how many dogs never realize their full potential because of lazy, irresponsible owners, poor training, poor socialization, or a combination of the above.
“A poodle will do tricks and perform, even if not trained, because they descend from circus and actor’s dogs”
Oh, dear God...~no~ they don’t.
http://www.poodle-place.com/poodlehist.htm
FYI, the French very successfully used them as fierce police dogs, as well.
The Standards are not a breed to be trifled with.
Hope your “breed knowledge” improves soon because so far, it’s not scoring any points for your argument.
I’m sorry...I can’t formulate a cohesive reply because I’m still gobsmacked that somebody thinks “Poodles came from circus dogs”.
True knowledge is uncommonly rare.
~These~ are the people handling the dogs yet we marvel when things go badly.
All is lost.
/facepalm
it’s like I tell my dogs when they are depressed that they should be grateful to God that housecats aren’t 100 lbs
there would be no dogs or loud children
In particular, marking and hunting drives are more readily observable than in most other breeds. Even Toys will point birds. Classified as highly energetic, poodles can also get bored fairly easily and have been known to get creative about finding mischief. Poodles like to be in the center of things and are easily trained to do astonishing tricks involving both brains and agility. They have performed in circuses for centuries, beginning in Europe, and have been part of the Ringling Circus in its various forms from its inception. The Grimaldis, the famous British clowns Kenneth and Audrey Austin, "developed a stronger circus act" with a clever poodle ...
Some of them don't even need to be trained - they start dancing and performing - I have seen it with a poodle owned by someone I know.
The standard poodle was originally bred as a water dog.
Not a circus dog.
A hunting dog bred to flush and retrieve waterfowl.
I think we can give this one to Black Veil.
Although we all agree that a standard poodle is not a circus dog, it appears the miniature and toy varieties, the ones Americans think of when you say poodle, were indeed bread down to circus freaks.
Re your post 194, I certainly can understand why you and millions of others choose to raise a puppy, so that you thoroughly understand the adult dog it will be. I would only posit that when one chooses a senior shelter dog you can be reasonably sure that what you’re seeing is what you’re getting. It could be reasonably argued that there is a good reason why a dog is a senior: he or she has been a good dog throughout his or her life.
I am sure it’s my nature (an overdose of sentimentality and softheartedness) but I can bring myself to adopt only senior dogs. They are the ones overlooked when most people adopt, and I feel sorry for them.
My current dog is Harvey, a stray beagle that the adoption shelter estimated was at least 10 years old when I adopted him in late 2009. And he is a wonderful companion to me.
Tje downside is that I never have my adopted dogs for long and their demise always breaks my heart.
Why are you telling *me* this?
I already knew the breed’s history.
You didn’t.
Actually, my first dog was a toy/miniature Poodle cross and she was quite a ferocious hunter and staunch, fearless defender of my 7 year old self.
While my dad’s expensive Brittany couldn’t find a bird [literally] right under his nose, she would be out in the field ‘pointing’ the pigeons we had set everywhere in training cages.
She regularly presented me with the “prey” she’d caught in the stables.
For all that she was a “circus freak”, she was an extremely bright and serious little dog.
Poodles rank #2 in IQ, surpassed only by Border Collies.
[regardless of size, they all possess the same level of intellect]
http://www.slate.com/id/2063086/
It happens more often than I ever imagined.
Just in my little podunk area, we've had two parents kill their kids in the last month or so.
Horrible.
The Numbers
Children under the age of 5 in the United States are more likely to be killed by their parents than anyone else. Contrary to popular mythology, they are rarely killed by a sex-crazed stranger. FBI crime statistics show that in 1999 parents were responsible for 57 percent of these murders, with family friends and acquaintances accounting for another 30 percent and other family members accounting for 8 percent. Crime statistics further reveal that of the children under 5 killed from 1976 to 1999, 30 percent were murdered by their mothers while 31 percent were killed by their fathers. And while the strangers, acquaintances, and other family members who kill children skew heavily toward males (as does the entire class of murderers), children are as likely to be murdered by their fathers as by their mothers.
Chaining a dog somewhere in a yard, by itself and cut off from its ‘pack’, as a natural pack animal who desires above all else, -companionship, is just about the most psychologically damaging thing a person can do.
There’s a reason that “solitary confinement” is used as the harshest punishment in prisons.
The constant straining and slamming against the chain to set itself free and be with its people really screws up -any- dog’s mind.
When I was a kid, the neighbors had a GSD named “Bozo” chained up out behind their house, who had a reputation for being suicidal to approach.
One day, the dog was screaming and barking so loud, I couldn’t bear it anymore.
I went to where he was chained and eventually, he stopped snarling and snapping at me long enough for me to examine him.
His chain [no *collar*, mind you] was _deeply embedded_ in his neck.
Part of it was completely invisible, the skin having grown completely over it but about 6 inches was a raw, bloody mess where the chain was either breaking back *out* or hadn’t been completely covered by skin, yet.
Hi ‘owner’, being a useless welfare slattern, didn’t call a vet...she called her brother who, without benefit of anesthesia or surgical expertise, hacked the chain out of the dog’s neck.
They figured all was done and well, now.
I went over and brought him a proper collar and applied antibiotic powder to his wound daily and eventually, he healed up nicely.
He was as pleasant a dog as you could want, after that.
[and became inordinately fond of me, as well]
And so ended the neighborhood kids’ fear that “Bozo would break loose and get us!”.
If he did get loose, he’d just bring you a slobbery ball to toss for him.
With the exception of my childhood Poodle and Odin, I have *never* had a puppy.
All of my rescue Dobes and Ibizans were at the very least, 6 months old.
[the youngest Dobe was a hair over 10 months and the oldest was estimated to be about 4 or so]
I never had any regrets or problems with any of them.
They were all wonderful dogs who seemed to have a gratitude that that I can only explain by assuming they understood their lives had been spared.
Bless you for taking in the old timers.
It’s a sin that an old family pet has been abandoned by those who *should* have stuck by them until the bitter end.
They will never forget the kindness and mercy shown them in their last years.
Though your heart may break, their hearts were healed.
That’s some small comfort for you, I know.
Agreed on the severely damaging effects of chaining dogs. (I’m a supporter of Tami Thayne’s Dogs Deserve Better organization which just bought Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels for housing abused and neglected dogs and giving them foster care). It’s inhumane and absolutely breeds aggression — and yes, in any dog. So glad you helped that poor baby out as I know he was so grateful!! And yet it’s never the owner for some people — always the dog: wrong breed, wrong type, blah blah blah. No wonder our country is in such dire straits when people have forgotten how to think and ask the pertinent questions when faced with media reports!!
Thank you so much for the kind and wise words. They are indeed comforting.
You mentioned old family pets who have been abandoned by those who should have taken care of them. Sadly, that seems to be the case of many of the old guys and gals in the shelters. How someone could do that is beyond my understanding.
OTOH, some are there because of the death of their owners. My Ringo was in that situation. His owner died and the family did not want him. Largely because of his age he was on death row in a Baltimore pound where some kind soul rescued him and turned him over to a private outplacement shelter where I learned of him. I had him for four wonderful years until his death last year. What a grand dog he was!
Again, thank you.
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