Life of a dog..............

[mh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeatherneckPA mh, how in the world did you manage to keep those beautiful blue eyes from washing out in red? That's a NICE photo.

pure luck, although the camera (an older canon elf) in general does well
w/ regards to the red - eye thing..

[Da Nag]

How in tarnation did I miss this thread? Consider me a sucker for dog pics.

Koko, Lulu and Yogi...our "kids":

[Rivrider]

Dawg, glad to see your girl is back in action.

Da Nag, those are three good looking "kids".

[Dawg52]

Excellent pics Da Nag. Fine looking kids.

[tangomonster]

Da Nag, those dogs are sensational! I love their sleekness, soulful eyes, and the color. And your photos are just as good as Wegman's famous weimaraner photos, especially the first one.

[Da Nag]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangomonster And your photos are just as good as Wegman's famous weimaraner photos, especially the first one.

Can't take credit for the studio shots, those were done by a great gal in Oakland - Tonya Perme Photography. Highly recommended...she spent over three hours shooting pics of the hounds and my wife. If you know Weimaraners, you know they don't just "sit, stay, look pretty"...getting good studio shots with more than one of them, takes some talent and patience.

Another of my faves from the photo shoot, which happens to contain one of the very few people I like more than my dogs...

[Urchina]

Good god, dogs are contagious! Look what we picked up at the Humane Society after Memorial Day weekend.... eighty pounds of young Labrador! So I guess we're dog people now (don't tell the cats).

[honobob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urchina Good god, dogs are contagious! Look what we picked up at the Humane Society after Memorial Day weekend.... eighty pounds of young Labrador! So I guess we're dog people now (don't tell the cats).

Urchina
Just wanted to give everybody and new dog guardians a heads up about training collars ("choke chains") like your dog has on in the picture. Be sure not to leave on the dog unattended as it could hook on a bush stump etc. and choke the dog. It's amazing how quick a dog can get that little circle attached to something.

Oh, good looking dog. Gotta love a dog with a good snout and expressive ears.

[Sarah in SC]

DaNag--those are stunning pictures--I love Weims! What funloving and entertaining dogs they are! I bet your life is very full, having three! Wheeeeee!

Congrats on the new dog, Urchina! what a beaut! Talk about some fun--80lbs worth--that's some serious escalation on your pet food bill! great!

And remember everyone--keep those dogs cool in this weather! My cousin's friend in Georgia lost her bulldog on Thursday while she was out of town. Her parents were keeping the pup and left it outside all day and it died of heatstroke. So sad! The heat is especially hard on those flat faced breeds.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urchina Good god, dogs are contagious! Look what we picked up at the Humane Society after Memorial Day weekend.... eighty pounds of young Labrador! So I guess we're dog people now (don't tell the cats).

Good for you! Fine looking dog. I plan to adopt one someday. One is about all I can handle at a time. Now if I were to move to the country someday, a couple would be good. Not sure I want the work that goes with a few acres in the country though.

[Da Nag]

Beautiful pooch, Urchina...and kudos for going the rescue route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by honobob Just wanted to give everybody and new dog guardians a heads up about training collars ("choke chains") like your dog has on in the picture. Be sure not to leave on the dog unattended as it could hook on a bush stump etc. and choke the dog. It's amazing how quick a dog can get that little circle attached to something.

Yup..great advice. Not necessarily limited to choke collars either, although they are worse than other types in this regard.

Our tactic is two-fold. We microchip for permanent ID. It's not foolproof, but every shelter/vet around us scans for them, and they all have readers that decipher all the various brands of chips.

For visible ID, if we're leaving the dog unattended for a while - we've got a big roll of 1" fluorescent construction tape. We just pull out a 18" length or so, write our name/phone on it with a package marker, and tie it in a knot around the dog's neck. It's weak enough, so that medium/large dogs can easily break it, if they do get hung up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC DaNag--those are stunning pictures--I love Weims! What funloving and entertaining dogs they are! I bet your life is very full, having three! Wheeeeee!

Thanks...they're the only breed for us, we've had them for 20+ years. They're about the furthest thing from a perfect dog for most people, but if you're a little whacked like the misses and me, they're quite entertaining.

Having three is actually a relief for us. My wife handles intake for one of the larger Weimaraner Rescue organizations, and when our foster homes are full and the need arises, we're often the half-way house for one or more additional dogs. Which might raise some eyebrows around here, but within the organization, we get zero sympathy. We're often referred to as "wimps" by those with 5-8 full time Weims...

[Sarah in SC]

Preaching to the choir, DaNag! I do Border Collie rescue, speaking of the furthest thing from the ideal dog for most people...and have met some Weim rescue folks down this way. Yeah, we have 4 of our own dogs, and have had up to 8 in the house, plus the 5 cats. We are wimps to the 10-12 dog households we know in BC rescue!

Breed Rescue is very rewarding, as you are able to select the best homes for the dogs you know best--unlike the shelters, that are just glad to get any home for theirs!

[Urchina]

Honobob, thanks for the heads-up. Our girl's got a training collar on in the picture because we'd just finished a training session. Otherwise, it's not on her.

Sarah in SC -- Man, I LOVE border collies. The shelter I used to volunteer at had a lot of them (and even more BC/lab crosses) and I fell hard for a couple but could never take one home. Our current situation is about as not-friendly to a border collie as one could describe (small kids and cats in a small space) but maybe when we get our farm....

Our girl is settling in nicely, though, and I think that in a couple of years, once our kids are in school, we'll try her out as a therapy dog at our local assisted-living community.

[mh]

The little guy on the left , 'sluggo' , is 22 (maybe 21) years old..

[tangomonster]

Aw, mh! Sluggo is so cute! Even for an old man (how wonderful that he has made it into his twenties!).

[Marquette]

So, our dog is probably part APBT. He's super-nice to people (characteristic of the breed unless you have a brain-damaged owner) but hit or miss with other dogs (he'll either want to fight them, or they will want to fight him... again, a characteristic of the breed).

Well, we were having a fun day at the park (park, not dog park) on Sunday... and he was ignoring the other dogs just fine... until some morons decided to bring their full-breed APBT and let him run off-leash. We just left before anything erupted... and fast. I'm kind of thinking I should have called animal control. There are well-behaved dogs and all that, but even the best-trained dog is going to revert to instincts at some point.

[Sarah in SC]

Marquette, I have a co-worker with an APBT, and a friend's husband is an AmStaff AKC delegate who testifies in lots of court cases. You are doing right by your dog to keep socializing him with other dogs and people (remember the AmStaff part of your dog's heritage involved being "nanny dogs" in nurseries)--they are wonderful family pets. My co-worker's is very people oriented but wary of strangers.

[Marquette]

That's one of the things that irks me about, well, stupid people in general and apartment complexes. They all say 'no aggressive breeds; no chow, no pit bull, no mastiff'. First, when they say no pit, I know they mean AmStaff... second, they should be saying 'no morons who breed their AmStaff to be aggressive'. I know those complexes are just worried about aggression towards other tennants, but it's unfair to try and pick on a breed. There's been a push for breed bans in the state but I think they've been beaten off so far.

They were bred to fight with other dogs, sure, but they're some of the most loving dogs towards other people. We were actually wondering how our dog would do in a personal defense situation... but we've realized that, while he's very comfortable with strangers, he's on guard when we're wary or when someone looks suspicious... and that's fine with me.

I guess it's kind of like the guns don't kill people argument. AmStaff don't kill people, irresponsible pet owners do.

He's part Boxer too, which really comes across in his fear of water and his need to shadow us around the house. Boxers hate to be alone.

This calls for another dog shot:

[Sarah in SC]

He is stunning! And I agree wholeheartedly!

[Marquette]

Heck, let's make it two... one of our roommates has two chihuahua. A long-hair and short-hair. This one is Violet...