Monah

I already mentioned this in my first post, but anthropomorphic behaviour has been occurring since human beginnings. IMO it is so ingrained in us that we dont even recognise it. We all do it, there is nothing wrong with it, it's how we relate to the world. Stone age cultures do it too. The more studies done, the more scientists understand that maybe humans are not the be all and end all of emotions etc. Re. the video footage of the lions and buffalo in Africa recently. Thought and 'emotion' were happening in some form there, ditto elephant behaviour and I'm sure much other animal behaviour. anthropomorphic is to give an animal 'human' emotions. Corvus, darwin was anthropomorphic, I think many scientists are, and it's a good thing. Like anything it can be taken to the extreme, as long as an animal is well treated and the family is happy etc. it should not matter how the individual sees that pet/animal. Some people, elderly, disabled, lonely, do see their pet as a major companion and relate to it in a human way. Whatever rocks your boat.

so very sorry Cas. awful news. RIP Donkey and Jake..xxx beautiful animals. so sad. xxx Much love to Ben,.

I agree with the 'it's because we are human' It's US, how we relate.. It's been going on for many thousands of years.. dogs ate at the fire, slept with humans (warmth, protection), hunted, guarded, protected, herded and a hundred other 'jobs' alongside humans. No wonder we think of them this way. There is a lot of proof that owing to such a close relationship with humans, doggs have developed different behaviours that wild animals and other domestic animals have not. ie, many dogs will follow a pointed finger, look to a humans eyes for information and humans expressions, have an understanding of our forms of communication/body language. As long as commmon sense prevails I dont see anything wrong with it. Some take things to extremes which is not a good thing, dogs are not humans, obviously. that's a good thing!!! I may not like them much if they were!!

lovely BIG boy now...

We have a working short coat BC, extremely high drive.. The NZ borders are shorter coated, but from what I'v seen, also vey high drive. This is Rusty, a pup we used to babysit.. and ours Boss.

Faintygirl, no way could I resisit that Matilda beg :p what a gorgeous honey she is!!

My girls both wait for their caffeine fix... Monah likes coffee, Roisin tea! Just dont ever say 'cup of tea' in her hearing..

I pine when I go to work ... #alsopathetic When I went overseas in 2003 for three weeks, I rang every day to see how my dog was. Mum would say, 'He's fine, he's fine.' My sister rang me and said flatly, 'They can't even mention your name to him because he goes looking for you.' Me too, I suffer separation anxiety. We have not had a 'holiday' since 1986. We did spend time driving to darwin and back when we lived there for a year. had a ball on both trips, even thought he way there it was below freezing at night, and the way back up to 48 degrees during the day ;) 4 cats 2 dogs, no problems staying anywhere at all. we bought a caravan for the journeys and sold it when we returned. I really want to go OS this or next year, so I will have to try and be less anxious. My girlchild and her OH can look after the animals. I freak out even if they take the dogs for a run. (and they are late 20s...!! people that age have kids for gods sake!1 and she is a wildlife scientist/vet tech and he is a nurse..) WHen I was working, I came home every 3 or 4 hours every day... I dont even spend a night away if I can help it, we do brisbane in a day trip. friends say to me, just stay!! have fun!! but it isn't fun for me. we cannot mention our sons name at all (he is in the navy), Monah goes into FIND mode and really suffers when she cannot find him.. Truly pathetic, glad I have company!! ;)

;) Snap!!! We tell ours, GO! or ON YOUR RUG! if it gets too uncomfortable for us humans seeing the pain on the dog's faces... I'm afraid we have even had the cats eat on the table, we cut up bits of our tea for them.. I and my kids have shared food, crockery etc. with dogs since birth. None of us have ever suffered any ill effects at all. animals are wormed etc. we are well behaved when we have visitors and the dogs have to be good, stay on the rug. I do understand our way is not for everyone.. It saves rinsing the plates before they go in the dishwasher, so saves water.. shock horror , my facebook pic shows Monah and I xmas day, she has her tongue down my throat.. ;) I'm still standing ;) :D

LOL, shyfig....one of my dogs destroyed 60 bromeliads over a time period, while under supervision it was a 'smash and grab and RUN'... completely trustworthy now.. but yes, it takes time and patience.

Yes, I was really worried about that pup. I thought of turning off....got upset. I dont know if he or the owner was more upset about the leg? Just shows what terrible damage a horse can do. I see dogs around horses feet so often.. He is a marvel. Love the light hearted moments of him finding a clean office...........and then all the crap was thrown in his room Gorgeous gorgeous english springer, almost tempted me...for later Next week looks interesting.. bit of a meltdown.

Hope you are all OK Narelle. Terrible times.xxxxxxxx Love to the wonderful hounds and viz, and the whippets.

more great posts. Maybe you could write up the most helpful stuff for your sister to try? I have a book on Portugese water dogs... (lovely breed). on every page is a large piece of advice.. OUT OF SIGHT = IN TROUBLE I think this can be said for many breeds and individual dogs. You have to realise the worse that can happen, and prevent it. When he is older, things can be more relaxed, for now they may just have to concentrate on the pup a lot more and 'see' things through the pups eyes (ie. what the pup is able to get hold of, do etc.. even if there is an electric fence, waving washing may be too much to resist)..xxx

re toys, even having heaps of toys will not prevent the pup finding other things to chew. the pup has no idea that one thing is a 'toy' and another thing is a shoe etc. The pup needs exercise, training, mental stimulation, human company. I'm sure your sister is a lovely person who loves her pets. I've had cattle dogs too and they are a pretty easy 'adult' sort of breed who mature fairly quickly compared with many breeds. she now has a more challenging dog who needs more from her. This may mean walking the dog daily together with a bit of training and encouragement to do the right thing and could take quite a while. Toys are great, but they don't prevent behaviours, they assist. Many dogs wont 'play' with a toy on their own, or once they have had itt for 5 minutes they are onto the next thing... Other things need to be in place as well. THe pup sounds like a gorgeous barrel of fun and energy, with a lovely temperament. I really hope they are able to hang on for a couple of years as it will be mature and wonderful by then xxxxx The most difficult time (adult size and puppy brain!!) may yet be to come. Everyone has great suggestions of how they have coped during this time, I'll just add one. seeing as she has some space, 9we do too). We will have two (or more) people far away from each other and call the dog to each and treat. The dog gets worn out, lots of running, AND learns to COME. if it's not possible to take the dog out for exercise for some reason, this is a great alternative, gets the whole family involved and is great fun too. The dog learns very quickly to come to each person, just say Fred, COME!.. ours have also learnt 'off you go!!' to go to the next person. They could extend it to getting the pup to sit in front of them when he comes.... or anything else. :D IT's great for when you dont have a lot of time and wears them out more than a slow walk.

I have to agree too. Poor dog. they have no idea. I 'could' have easily had the same problems with a few dogs and I've never punished a dog. there's such a thing as common sense. If something happens once... prevent it from happening agaain, chewed shoes? put them up high or out of reach. chewed pump? build something dog proof around it. etc etc. washing torn off the line? dont leave it out for the dog to play with, work out another time etc. or work around it. ;) I'm sorry for sounding harsh, this is almost the top of my all time (*^%$#$%^(*_)_)) moments. Bit of training, positive reinforcement and supervision and preventative measures would do the trick. THe dog has already learnt that these behaviours bring enjoyment. Prevent it in the first place. Dragging the dog to the object and punishing it :D :D

Are you still in Darwin? That sounds liike Marlows Lagoon? we used to go there too. There is an oval that branches off on the other side from the dogpark area, and we would take ours there for a quiet run, and also a big oval at the palmerston campus of the uni, inbetween the school and the uni. It is off university drive, HUGE area, rarely anyone there!! We had dingoes regularly at our back fence, they were not interested in the dogs at all, off hunting wallabies etc. I could not even find a nice 'human' coffee shop in Darwin.. (sorry NTsxxx) I think we're probably very spoilt here and the sunny coast etc...

Oh, I did not realise that re health. Maybe our council is not up to speed as we even had health inspections with several dogs at outside tables, and the MP for our area ate in every day, and also the animal control officer and her beagle. Many cafes on the esplanade have dogs too, I take mine to one right on the beach I found Darwin OK too. We took ours into the city for walks etc. and on the beaches. although I was always freaking out about stingers and crocs,,,, so I kept them on lead. There's undesirable dog owners in NT too (and everywhere else), very many neglected dogs , very very low incidence of any vet treatment/desexing/ care..

It's OK here. I dont like the BSL or the dog limit though.. we can have several dogs with a special permit. For basic dog ownership its' not bad. Plenty of places to go, ie, beaches, esplanade, bike track, most sporting grounds allow dogs and heaps of cafes. We had a cafe and had several dogs daily, regulars had a water bowl each with their name on.. and would have chicken breast as a treat, I was popular :D The kennel club is fenced and locked but members can pop in and exercise their dogs. we have a lot of dog activities, but as far as competitive and variety goes it's tough as there is so much travel involved. but we are in the country, so you expect it. The rangers are pretty good. the pound is affiliated with fostering and rescue. I've never had a bad experience with anything here, even when I've had several dogs (often had friends dogs for extended periods, and mums etc) and have several aquaintances in govt. who know and visit and never even mention it. I think if no complaints are made things are OK, but once a complaint is made they take action.

Nothing changed at all here..

My spin was 10kg at 8 weekks and the largest in the litter. Males are normally larger than females in this breed, often 10kgs larger at adulthood. sure enough, she ended up 'female' size and the males much larger than her Her paws too were really enormous (although they all do have very big webbed feet), hers were the largest. I dont know if puppy size relates to adult size or not, but it's an interesting concept to study, any uni students here??

2 acres, 2 medium dogs, high activity levels.(most days also have girlchilds border collie too) They only play if I'm outdoors. BC and viz go absolutely mental and use the whole garden, tearing around like maniacs ;) Spin has a run around but the others are so rough she generally sticks with me.. viz usually does flyball, agility etc. but ATM I have some issues so we are sitting it out for a couple of months.. All dogs get beach runs and off lead around the corner at an open area near the airport. Sometimes these things depend on weather (rain and floods recently), health, snake possibility (summer/long grass) They swim in the pool most days too. Have a fetch game every morning while I have brekky outside. 2 daily walks, bike rides when OH is home (I cannot ride a bike :D ) girlchild and her partner take the viz and the bc for bike rides and beach etc. along the esplanade here, takes about 2 hours. about once or twice a week when they are not at work. We spent a year in Darwin in a duplex that had a garden less than the size of my paved pergola here and I thought OMG! But it was so hot for the dogs, and the cyclone fencing allowed them to watch the world go by, inc. dingoes, wallabies, birdies and kids playing etc. that they were very amused. We took them to the uni oval every day for a run, and if cool enough, around the 'block' on lead (bitumen/paths very hot!) I was very surprised how well they coped after not having a large garden. However , when we got back home they went really crazy :p and made full use of the space and you could see they loved it. We will be moving this year or next to a suburban block, I'm sure they will cope very well. ;) when we had wolfhounds they had one big run (around an hour) at the oval, and needed a bomb under them the rest of the day to get any movement..LOL.

That's right Elina. we take our dogs, and cats, caravanning and have to plan things around where we are allowed to take them. We have often had to stay on the side of a road... Mind you, a few years ago NO parks would take them. As so many retirees are travelling with pets now, things had to change or the parks just would not get any business (so dollar related). I think one large group of parks under one umbrella, do not allow pets at all. Shame as these parks are everywhere.

They are aren't they? stunning lovely animals. I'm pretty sure they are one and the same..(dont quote me though, I'm sure someone will come and tell me how wrong I am..)

No, not too many gardens in greater London and yes,,, several corgis is a certain place We had one though.(garden, not corgi) I havent been back for a while, but my daughter lived there recently for 2 years( son for a while too) and saw heaps. Trains, pubs, Richmond and Hyde parks (off lead) etc.. Took lots of photos. All my rels have dogs too that go everywhere both kids are very observant though... they'll notice a dog etc. long before a freight train.. she has also lived in France and has many pics of dogs at tourist spots, in fountains, in shops etc. and she had 2 dogs there to care for that went everywhere Even large dogs, ie' Estrela mountain dogs etc. were taken out, off lead, and were perfectly behaved.

Not completely positive Raz but it's something to do with areas etc. One of the names (could be anatolian) covers an area and all the dogs of that 'type' in the area, then there are 'sub breeds'. a lot of central asian breeds etc. come under the same sort of thing. I think? (but I'm sure if you 'google' it will be there..) that Kangal is from anatolia, so an anatolian? I think the dogs are onee and the same and have the same dogs in their heritage/pedigrees. No idea why there are classed as two different breeds, but I couldd be completely off track. xxx Where is a breeder when you need them