B-Q

From our house you can occasionally hear what sounds like a lot of medium-large breed dogs indoors a couple of km's from our house. Its really weird, we hear it probably atleast once a day, all this distant barking/howling sounds that will go for usually less than a minute than stops abruptly. We've lived here for 18 months and its been going on the entire time. Buster and Mac ignore it but it sets Quinn off barking everytime. We can't think for the life of us what is is, there are no boarding kennels around and and it doesn't sound like a lot of little dogs so we're thinking its not a mill, greyhounds maybe? But there isn't a track around here. We google mapped the area and can't see anything we think is odd. Any ideas?

What an idiot.

I have a Quinn, love the name on her but as soon as I named her everyone asked why I called her a boys name. It suits her down to the ground though and she becomes Quinlay, Quincy, Quindelin, Quinno, Quinnie and Q-Dog at home. Our other girl is Mac, who everone thinks is a boy called Max.

Thats insane, one of our dogs in the past was a nuisance barker and we wern't aware of it because noone told us and it was only when we wern't at home , I can't imagine losing a dog to something like that.

I happily leave Buster at the kennels, well I miss him like crazy but I know he doesn't mind being there. However I had to book him in for surgery to remove a bump on his backside a couple of months ago and I had a knot in my stomach all day until I knew he was awake again and okay.

I do with Quinn because I got her to compete in sports with and won't have room for another dog for years now, every fall or slip or slight limp, if she sits crookedly and jumps too high. She's much tougher than I am. lol

Quinn 9/52 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr Maddog by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr HappyBuster by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr DoubleDorks by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr

We refer to each other in the house as "Mac's mum" or "Quinn's Mum" but I don't refer to myself as it. The best way I can explain the attachment I have to my dogs to other people is that I love them like if they were my kids but I don't because of all the stereotypes that would go with it.

I don't think its cruel, he looks so freakin happy, why doesn't he deserve a life just because he doesn't have use of his back legs, it obvisouly doesn't hinder him too much. There will be a home out there that will fall in love with him. If he didn't have quality of life I could understand not putting the effort into him but the video shows him playing with other dogs, playing on his own, running around outside and not looking too bothered by it at all. It may not be the best idea to put the resources into a disabled dog but its done now and he looks like a great dog.

Buster is 8 and never had his teeth cleaned, regular bones since he was young and we've never had a problem, often vets do a double take when they check his teeth then look at his age. This is my big toother boy. We use lamb brisket bones or beef soup bones as teeth cleaners.

I adore working breeds, mainly BC's and kelpies and they are probably all I will have for quiet a long time. I adore Borzoi's though and can't wait til I can have one in my life. Same goes for Bullmastiffs.I would also like a Malinois once I have more dog experience, I absolutely adore the breed.

GUess its time I finally get into this thread after a lot of lurking. Quinn and I officially start our agility foundation next week and start Pre Agility at Suncoast Fundogs at the end of March. I'm so excited its ridiculous, after 5 years of wanting to train a dog for this I'm finally getting to.

Yes, but I think you should have a plan in mind towards what you are breeding for and you need to be bettering the breed.

Your instructor sets out cones as markers for stays and sits and downs... your dog gets near them and thinks its a shaping game, follows your command at each cone and then dives on the nearest cone and starts offering nose touches and rear end awareness behaviours.

Quinn tries... but she's missing some subtlety. Maddog by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr I think she's about to come on heat for the first time, her and Mac (also female) have been flirting up a storm.

I'm not a smoker and apart from the occasional ciggie here and there in highschool I never really have been. For the last one I chose "Other" I don't mind people smoking out in the open around pets, they can move if it bothers them and there is air to carry it away, but one day I saw a woman in her car, all the windows up, smoking with her 2 dogs in the back seat, thats appalling.

Ahh. I've been so lazy. Getting back into it as of today and going to try to get out and get some more pics of Buster to so he can just start at week 9. So Quinn's week 9. Quinn 9/52 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr And Busters week 9. Buster 9/52 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr

I would like to breed one day. Not for a long, long time though. I still kinda have a fairy tale idea in my head of rolling around on the ground with 8 clean, happy, polite puppies and I know there is often a lot more heartache, tears and cleaning than that. Plus the sheer amount of extra knowledge of my breed, training, raising etc etc etc I would need will only come with time so I may well change my mind in future. Atleast I know that I won't go forward with it unless I can handle it and be sure that I was adding positively to the breed and breeding for the right reasons. "Because puppies are cuteee!" doesn't really cut it, even if you do all the right things.

I was pronouncing Malinois as Mal-in-noi for aggges. Its hard with some breeds though when you read about them but never get a chance to hear how they are pronounced, I still wonder about these. Ovcharka (Is it just like its spelt?) Cane Corso Bouvier des Flandres (I'm always too scared to talk about them because I can't say it) Italian Spinone (is it really Spin-own-ee like it plays in my head?) Fila Brasileiro (I know BSL means they arn't around but I love the breed anyway) Basset Fauve de Bretagne (Another breed I'm too unsure to mention out loud) And Daschund (I'm embaressed that I've never had anyone correct me but I know Dash-Hound is wrong)

I struggled with Quinn scratching for months, added some flax seed oil to her diet and it helped tremendously.

I love this about dogs, I'm not much good at confiding in humans when I feel crappy and I really don't appreciate being touched but its been a very crappy few months here with lots of tears and distress. Buster always comes and sits quietly beside me, or shoves his head into me and demands I hold onto him. Mac tries to crawl into my lap and Quinn doesn't really know what all the fuss is about. Buster knows me back to front, he knows when to get in my face and when to just sit near me and be present.

I think it depends on the dog and the kid. From the age of about 12 I would regularly take our 45kg Bull Arab mix most places with me, she couldn't care less about people, dogs, cats, cars etc etc she had a perfect loose leash walk and was reliable offleash. We actually wern't allowed to go out alone without her, she was an incredible judgement of character and knew how to stop something before it started. She was just one of those well rounded, fantastic dogs. I wouldn't let my kids do it but I don't think my mother necessarily made a bad decision by not letting us.

I say puppy. Though likely not for AT LEAST 2 years, probably a lot longer.

We've left vets and kennels for rough handling. With one of our old vets the last straw was when he picked Buster up to put him on the table roughly and slammed his chest into the corner of the table.

Normal, Buster was desexed at 6 months, started cocking his leg at 9 months and now marks everything. But only outside so it doesn't bother me.