Remarkabull

I have no problem with dogs that 'may' be HA or DA, my problem is how do we control the idiots that will want to own them?

We're one of those couples that always have to go home early from BBQ's and events because 'we have to feed the dogs' or 'I can't leave the dogs alone all night'. People always give us strange looks or say 'they'll be right' and 'they're not going to die you know'. Fortunately for me I have one friend (and her housemates) that love my dogs and live on 5 acres so every time we go out there I take Acheron with me. He has even been invited to their house warming party next weekend!

New people moved in a couple of houses down from us have a beautiful Dobe puppy, and people across the road have a British Bulldog (not that common in Darwin). I also see a guy walking a gorgeous Bull Mastiff pup around here and an old man walks his even older Westie behind our house every day.

I'm babysitting a friends Chi puppy ATM. He is smooth/short coated and is about 13 weeks old and is definitely not as stocky as the pup in the picture. He is however definitely purebred and has papers to prove it, so I would say that pup in pic is obviously from a BYB or has a little something else in there with the Chi.

Flash is for the comic book hero (although our Flash is a female JRT) it really suits her as she is always going from one place to another as quick as a flash. Barkley is from Sesame Street - when I first saw him he had a fringe covering his eyes that was orange (now he is black and silver - marked like a Schnauzer). Acheron is from Greek mythology and also a character from a book series that OH loves. He is a sexy, dangerous guy but overall he is good - just like a Doberman! ;) Our next dog will be a female British Bulldog and she will be called Simi - from the same series that Acheron is from - Simi is Acherons pet demon. :D

I've got 2 entire males here. A almost 3 year old Maltese X Shih Tzu and a 15 month old Doberman. No real problems between them but I do keep them separated when no one is home, just in case. I also have a 4 year old JRT bitch (desexed) and she is very dominant and bossy and regularly tells the Doberman off for so much as looking at her and he runs away with his tail between his legs!

One of the pet shops up here had Pom puppies for sale. They looked like poms but not particularly well bred ones, most probably BYB with a bit of something other than pure Pom in there somewhere. I asked how much and almost fell over when told they were $1100! The shop assistant (a young girl) then went on to tell me that they were purebred but didn't have papers as they were not allowed to sell them with papers. I should have said no love, they don't have papers cause any good breeder wouldn't sell their pups to a shop and these pups don't look all that well bred!

Great Dane

There was (maybe still is, I stopped looking at website cause I wanted her) a purebred female Dobermann up here in PAWS. She is 5 years old and a lovely looking dog. She was described as being good with other dogs and kids and needed a dedicated owner. I wish so much I could of taken her, but we are fighting council as it is to be allowed the 3 dogs we already have. I wonder what happened to her that at the age of 5 she was abandonded.

I have 3 cats and they co exist with the dogs very well. They often play with each other and will sleep together at times. However, if any of us humans get annoyed with the cats, the dogs (in particular my JRT, but the others will do it too) chase them or nip at them. All we have to do is clap our hands at the cats or say 'pssss' and the dogs immediately go for the offending cat. The 2 little dogs also tolerate our budgie climbing on them and will play with him but if he bites them then they will nip at him.

Acheron sticks his face in the water so all of his nostrils are fully covered with water. Not sure why he does it? Maybe he is getting more water in that way? Either way, it's pretty funny to watch.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I saw my friend at work today and she is pretty annoyed about the whole thing. We are hoping at this stage that they can't come up with the money for this pup and maybe realise that it is a bad idea ATM. The lease on the house is for 6 months and the house is also for sale so I don't know what they'd plan on doing if they had to leave there. They already have 4 cats (none desexed) that are allowed to run free whenever they please. My friend has asked if she can have one of the cats (6 month old male) who is very friendly and has taken a shine to her 14 year old son. She is going to get him desexed, chipped etc next week. I would love to say something to these people about a lot of things (including their terrible parenting skills) but I also don't want to make things too hard for my friend. She has been friends with this guy for a few years and he has helped her out when her marriage fell apart so she feels like she can't be too hard on him even though she is furious over the money thing. I feel sick about this, I am going out there tomorrow night and will try to casually talk about how much hard work dogs are and also how expensive they can be. I think his decision may actually be because when I go out there I take Acheron with me and they see how well behaved he is and think that all dogs are like this. They have no idea about how much work and effort I put into him. I so bloody angry at them for this.

Ok, so my very good friend lives in a house with a couple of other people (we all work at the same place so know each other pretty well) and one of them yesterday put a pic of a puppy on FB asking what people thought. I immediately felt sick and hoped that they didn't buy this puppy (they are a young couple with 2 kids, 1 is about 3 years old and the other is a newborn. They can not even afford a car atm and have only recently purchased a cot for the baby so it doesn't have to sleep in a pram anymore!) Anyway I called my friend that lives with them and she is fuming as well. They owe her money for the bond on the house they live in and are still $600 behind in rent. The 3 year old id a feral kid and I fear for the life of the puppy while it is small and then for her life once it grows up as she has never been taught how to behave around dogs and is rough and full on with them. I have just had a look again on FB and apparently the pup is 'Red Alaskan Malamute x Pure bred White Swiss Shepherd'. The pup is a female and is costing them $700. Please can anyone give me info on either of these breeds so I can at least try and talk them out of it by telling them as many of the 'bad' points of these 2 breeds as possible. For example, they are on a 5 acre block which is fenced but the fence is only 1200 high the whole way around and it is in a rural area with cattle, sheep, chooks and other dogs and cats all around them, so are either of these breeds fence jumpers and are they likely to want to attack and kill stock etc?

Sorry, I didn't word it quite right. I meant none of them have been a challenge to own or train. I have found them to be very biddable and super affectionate and almost needy at times (which would drive some people crazy but I like it ) Acheron is always near me if he can be and if possible he likes to be touching me, even if it's just my foot resting against him while he is lying on the floor. Not for everyone I know but I really like that about them.

I've found it to be opposite. I LOVE male Dobes the most. Mine are way more interested in me than themselves and would turn inside out to please me. They can be quite indifferent to other members of the family and will sometimes ignore commands made by OH and the kids (though this is not just the Dobe that does this, all of my dogs are MY dogs and will look at me after being told something by OH as if to say 'do we have to do it mum?') All the Dobes I've had have been very focused on me and are very careful not to pi$$ me off! I have not been challenged by any of them past or present.

I think she looks great. I love lean looking dogs and am amazed at how many people think that a fit healthy dog is skinny. My parents are terrible with over feeding their dogs and were always telling me my previous Dobe was too thin, no doubt they'll say the same thing when they set eyes on Acheron in a few weeks.

100% agree with this. I wouldn't give it to my dogs if they were giving it to me for free!

I do homemade barf and it works out alot cheaper than buying pre made BARF, and I also like knowing exactly what is going into my dogs. I buy minced chicken frames @ $2 per kg. 1kg is one meal between my 3 dogs. To that I add tinned salmon/sardines, eggs, yoghurt, flaxseed meal, kelp granules, sweet potato and any number of other things (depending on what I have in the house on the day). Every day is different and all the mentioned things are not added every day nor in the same combinations. I also buy bulk bones @ $27 per box for horse and buffalo mixed bones and that lasts abo9ut a month for 3 dogs, and I also buy fresh whole sardines, fish heads and beef hearts and some offal as well.

Agree, there are some lovely people here on DOL who go above and beyond in helping others out. It's a good feeling to know that there are people like this in the world.

Crack up!

I have felt an instant 'connection' to every dog I've owned (I never would have purchased them otherwise), however I do have a stronger bond with my boys than with the girls. I love my Doberman so much it hurts. I just seem to have a greater connection to that particular breed and their personality than other breeds, I can't imagine meeting a Dobe that I wouldn't/couldn't love, especially the male dogs, they are big sooky la la mumma's boys. :D

I often find that people are surprised and amazed when I tell them that Dobermann's are fantastic with kids. When I'm out walking the dogs I always steer kids towards patting Acheron over the little 'friendlier' looking dogs because they are really not at all interested in getting attention from people they don't know but Acheron likes everyone and will accept a pat and give a kiss to anyone willing to take it. I grew up with Dobes and my children grew up with one as well and I would sooner have a Dobe or Rotti etc around kids than a JRT for example. (not having a go at JRT's, I own one and she is great but I wouldn't trust her to be as tolerant of children as my Dobe). I suppose that although the smaller dogs might not be as tolerant they wouldn't cause as much damage if they did bite, hence why many people wouldn't feel 'safe' having a large or 'scary' looking dog around their children.

One of the local pet shops up here has 'Australoodles' (Kelpie X Poodle) I kid you not. I almost had a fit when I saw them and OH had to drag me out of the shop as I was very loudly commenting to other customers that it was completely stupid and thoughtless to cross 2 breeds such as those.

I never had any problems with my boy when we used it. He wasn't much of a licker but I did see him having a little lick immediately after it was put on him and never noticed any kind of reaction from it.

Wool fat. You should be able to get it from any chemist. I have used it in the past of my old Dobermann and it worked really well. He had a decent sized callous on each elbow and the skin returned to normal and his fur grew back over it. ETA The Dobe I used it on was named Sarge!