HeavyPaws

My family on my step-dad's side has always had Danes, for literally generations. When he met my mother, it was a case of "I love you, but I hate the dogs", and so I hadn't met a Dane until I was 16, when I met mine. Yep, first dog, never had the breed, never even met the breed, and I got one. Don't give me the DOL "you're stupid" talk, I know it, I tell myself all the time Anyway, I love Dobermanns. I love Wolfhounds. I love Airedales. I love Saint Bernards. I love Greyhounds. I love Dogues. I love a seeminly endless list of breeds. BUT the breed that first left inch-deep impressions on my heart is the Great Dane. I love how they can weigh upwards of 60 kilos but they seriously and utterly believe that they are a toy breed, of a petite 2 kilos, and therefore you will not even notice their feather-light body drifting onto your lap from halfway across the room. I love how mine is not allowed in the kitchen under any reason, but she stand on her 'line' by the door and slobbers while watching me cook. I love how when I taught her "shake", I didn't take into account that this meant "by all means, use your shovel sized foot to repeatedly smash me in the wrist, fingers, inner elbow, breasts, sternum, throat and stomach" I love how they run. They remind me of ponies with mental development issues. I love how I buy her a $80 collar and a week later it's too tight. I love how the vet pales when he sees her, and realises his scales in the waiting room are at waist height. I love how I always end up sharing my bed, my pillow, my towel, my slippers and my morning biscuit. I love how beautifuly ugly she is. I will definately own another.

Now I absolutely must know where you work so I can come in for no other reason than to snoggle your dog. Of course I'll buy something, but the main reason is that sweet lil *makes baby talk noises* in your pic

Not so! They give you instant popularity I had a pocket of liver treats to train with, doled out half of them, threw the pants in the drawer, and wore them to a playgroup the next weekend. The second I came within 15 metres of them, all the dog's heads and ears perked up, they ran over to me and wagged tails all around my legs, weaved in and out, jumped up and licked my hands, and when I sat down they rushed me, kissing my clothes and skin. I had no idea what was happening, I just thought I was loved. Then someone told me I STANK of dried liver. The remaining shards had perfumed my entire drawer, so everything I was wearing smelled like I'd taken a bath in dried liver.

Some pet stores have the most overpriced rubbish ever. There's one near Thomastown that I went to and their beds started at $70 for a medium bed, and I was looking for their size XL. Ohh boy I was up for about $160 for just a bed. They also had hessian beds for $100+, they're just wool sacks with a mattress in them for Dog's sake!

I have a kid safe plastic bin. My friend had five Wolfhounds and lurchers, she had shelving above her cupboard, with a stepladder to get to it. She had a story about coming home and finding two guilty puppies on top of her old hiding place for the treat barrel {on top of the fridge}. They're climbed a chair, onto the dining table, from the dining table onto the kitchen bench, on the breadbox which was on the counter next to the fridge and then onto the top of the fridge.

I wrote to quite a few, just the same letter basically but with differences regarding names, places, etc. I need to help out with this stuff too, even though I don't own a restricted breed. Today it's their breed and I can point the finger like everyone else, but when the day comes that it's my breed on the chopping block, and everyone's pointing the finger at me, I know who really caused the problems for my dog. Me, for not standing up when the foundations were being set.

Our family "friends" are selling puppies they got from crossing their two god-only-knows-what staffies. One they got for $50 from a "proper breeder" in Diamond Creek, the second they got for free from a workmate because it had parvo. They're starting their own "breeding lines" that they plan to call Boxing Kangaroo Staffies, which basically means "buy staffy female from Trading Post, get her pregnant, the puppies are now called Boxing Kangaroo lines". All beautifully done from their backyard. Don't bother explaining why it's not a good thing. I did, and the response was that science has proven diseases aren't passed down in dogs. Science has neglected to tell you that intelligence isn't either.

I thought "When I get a dog, I'm going to buy it the best food. It's going to eat Pedigree everything" "Please kill me" is what I mentally pray whenever I remember thinking that. Also, and I'm putting this in little words so hopefully it will go un-DOL-punished, I used to think BSL was okay because the GS and the dobie were "bred for killing people and being violent" Okay, I was like, 13. But it's revolting thought to me that I used to be THAT blind

Buy him for her, 8 stud matings in advance. Everyone wins

I think he looks magnificent, and I'd certainly buy him. If I had any money. Which I do not.

I cannot make an informed or accurate vote on this, but I can say that I've met two purebred APBT imported from the states, and they were adorable, fantastic dogs. My range of experience with American Staffordshire Terriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers is limited to the god-only-knows-what "pure" mutts that people buy in droves from the Trading Post. I see a wide range of "proper" sizes, shapes, colours and temperament in these dogs, so it's hard for me, and probably the rest of the public, to distinguish between the APBT, AST and SBT. I have never met a AST or SBT that was bred by a real breeder {and here 'real' means responsible, registered, and conforming to the breed standard}, which to me is a real shame. I am, however, interested in learning the difference between these dogs, meeting purebred examples of the last two, reading into each breed's history and then making an informed decision based on that.

My mum's Pom got super glue on her. I had a tin of pure acetone, so I used a cotton bud {the ones you stick in your ear}, dipped the cotton end in the acetone, gently dabbed the glue and held the cotton ball pressed onto the glue for about 5 seconds, then washed the area with warm water. I repeated this a few times that hour and the glue came right off without irritating her skin, because I rinsed her with water straight away. Wear gloves while doing this and shampoo the dog afterwards

Ridiculous statement. My friend had two big male Iws, and three bitch lurchers, and when she told me how fast they could run, I laughed and said no way. I took her offer up and ran across her paddock. On prior agreement, she counted to 20 and then let them go with the command "go go go!" which she used to get them to flush rabbits from the grass. I was at about the quarter point when I turned around to shout "Haha! Told you!", when roughly 300 kilos of fur and bone hit me. I went over backwards, they landed on me, licked my face, stepped on my windpipe, clawed my legs up and down, left a bruise across my face from a tail swipe and also pierced my left earlobe. Really, one of their claws got pushed halfway through my earlobe. I also lost one of my gumboots, and to this day have no idea where it went. I have to say, limping back to the house while five dogs bounced around me and on me going "Oh,boy! What a great game! Keep running!" was one of the better experiences of my life. I highly recommend everyone try it at least once.

I think it's to look ridiculous. Dogs instinctively know we need to laugh at them, so they howl. My old family Dane {and I'm talking 13 years ago} used to howl at airplanes, and then attack herself because of the noise.

Are they easy to keep clean? I want a non-shedding bulldog. Will they stay that size? I want a teacup bulldog. Do they eat much? I want to spend less than $2 on mine per week sign me up if so

In no order of favour 1. Great Dane 2. Irish Wolfhound 3. Dobermann 4. English Mastiff 5. Borzoi 6. Saint Bernard 7. Greyhound 8. British Bulldog 9. Bullterrier 10. Border Collie

Never going to happen. Labs don't have a genetic predisposition for fighting with or killing other dogs. Fact is (and one of the reasons BSL debates are often unrealistic) is the often blatant refusal by the ABPT's staunch supporters to accept or acknowledge what they were bred for and what they still have a predisposition to do if not raised very carefully. For the most part.. the amount of socialising a Lab needs to remain dog friendly is vastly different to the work needed to establish and maintain a dog friendly ABPT (and yes, I know there are dog friendly ABPT out there... but it isn't the 'norm' for them to be accepting of most other dogs off the bat). Labs are bred for their amiable nature... and always have been. (yep, there are some not very nice ones out there.. but it is quite uncommon to find one inherently dog aggressive). Origins of pitbull- cattle herding

Grab yourself a bigger bargain and call the number in the Herald sun from last week. 'buy one get one free non-shedding 6 week old spoodles cute purebred' Two for the price of one Just be sure to buy male-female so you can continue those lovely purebred show lines in your resulting 20 odd litters.

I love the APBT. I've been lucky enough to meet a purebred couple that lived across the road from me, and they were the most wonderful dogs. When I came up to the house they'd squirm with joy and lick their noses, tails going mad wagging, ears twitching, and if you ignored them they'd do this little dance with their front paws as if they simply could not bear for you to go unlicked for even a second more. If I could ever own one, I'd be insanely happy. I think I could benefit the good relations with the public with a well-behaved APBT. Sadly, I know of no clubs or kennels I could contact. I fear they've all been driven away by the BSL madness and are wayyy harder to find now. I'll never give up on having them given the same status as, say, Labradors.

I personally would have no idea what it meant, but I've seen the behaviour in both a DA dog and a dog playing a game with me. In the game, I'll stalk towards her side. She can see me because usually she's looking at me out of the corner of her eye. Her tail wags in a wide arc, slowly, and she stands in a very alert position. When I get closer, the game is to see how close I can get before she breaks and licks me. I move slowly towards her muzzle and when I get close enough she usually leaps up and bounds away, then circles back barking and play-bows. When my cousin's dog does it when we come up the driveway, the dog {a Bc}, gets low to the ground, does 'the eye' and trots in a circle around us. When it gets closer, it stalks like a cat, then rushes up and barks.

Whatever my point was these particular people were rude and didn't listen to my advice of asking before touching. There are always wonderful members of the public who ask and often sit for soemtime playing with the dogs. My favourite is seeing people who come up and say things along the lines of "We're looking for a puppy and have been researching the .... breed, can we ask you a few questions about it?" Few and far between, I'm guessing, but while I've been stalking...*ahem*....I mean, looking at the bulldogs, I've heard one or two people ask truly wonderful questions

You don't leave the bag with stock out, you just use it to dribble the stock in a trail, and when you're through with it throw it away. I'd never ever leave my dog alone with a plastic bag I've never had the Kong thing happen, but I have heard of it, that's why it has two holes, I believe. Although a pet warehouse guy once told me it's like the lolly Lifesavers, if the dog swallows the Kong they can still breathe. Sounded ridiculous to me, but you never know

I worked in childcare for a year, and we had two amazing dogs there for individual children. One was a GR called Lucky with a four year old boy. He couldn't eat by himself {tube in stomach} and had Down's. The dog lay next to him the whole time, followed him when we took him outside, and barked to let us know if he rolled over or was in any trouble {sometimes he'd grab his stomach tube or would dribble} The other was a three year old girl with a two year beagle called SuperHero Powers {truly}. She had gran mal epilepsy and he followed her around, and if she dropped he'd howl for our attention, and lie under her head.

Yeah I'm stupid too. I thought there was no way a two year old Great Dane could reach me if I was sitting on the top of the back of the couch. I copped a paw to the face, a paw to the throat, a tail to the eyes and a lump on the back of my head where I did an unintended backflip into the wall. It was definately a case of domestic violence I know someone who had two fully grown male mastiffs and hid from them in her new {clean, mind you} wheelie bin. Funniest story I've ever heard in my life

I would fill a plastic bag, you know the re-sealable lunch bags, with beef stock, poke a hole in it with a fork, then walk around the backyard making a trail out of stock. Around trees, under bushes, on the picnic table, under chairs, along the fence line. At intervals I'd drop a piece of dried liver, bury a chicken wing with a tip poking out, throw some biscuits under a rock, and my best invention, using a bungee cord to anchor a loaded XXL Kong to a tree limb just out of reach. I filled the Kong with frozen peanut butter mixed with yoghurt, honey and banana, and shoved a bully stick in the smaller hole. She's start out on the trail, and because it's a strong and delicious scent, she'd rub her entire face on it the whole way across the yard without breaking contact. she looked like she was doing the kid's game 'Wheelbarrow'. Want to not see or hear your dog for roughly 8 hours? That's the way. My friend is an engineer and he rigged his BC's treat ball to a sliding track, which was secured halfway up his fence, on it's side. So she'd have to push the ball across the fence on the track to keep it rolling. It was only when it built up enough speed that it'd force out some treats. God only knows how it worked, I'm a Literature major, I'm not equipped to deal with that sort of brainpower . I always told him to market it, because he'd leave at roughly 7 in the morning for work, come back at lunchtime and she'd still be running the 50m fence line pushing this whirling ball with her nose. She was the fittest BC I've ever seen.