posted
I dunno... we just got a puppy 3 weeks ago (my first dog ever!), and geez are they a lot of work. We also found out after we got her, d'oh, that our apartment doesn't allow pets either. We'd assumed they did, because two other people in our building have dogs. Oh well. So now we're raising a puppy AND buying a house, which is getting pretty crazy.
Free puppies, too, can be a little sketchy... unless they're total mutts (and therefore healthier than purebreds or purebred mixes), there's always a chance that they came from not-so-great parents and could have some serious health defects. There's some pretty stupid people breeding dogs out there, and it's the dogs that suffer for it.
But eh, if you really want one, why not just move? Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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That's a good idea. We love our little Boxer, but we know that we're going to have a much higher risk for cancer and heart problems down the road. It's weird, this purebred thing... I wish they cared more about the health of the breed than the tiny details of appearance. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Jehovoid, you'd be surprised at how well some breeds do in apartment-type quarters. Boxers, for instance, are strictly indoor dogs, they aren't equipped to be left in a yard unattended for long periods of time, but they do great as members of the family with lots of good walks and exercise outside. Our neighbor has a pug, who isn't even supposed to exercise a lot (I guess their airways collapse really easily or something).
So yeah, a fenced yard is great, if you own a house in an area where people fence their yards (the Northeast is so weird about fences!), but with our dog, we wouldn't be doing anything differently with a yard than we would with the field next to our building... we'd still keep her under close supervision all the time.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I suppose you have a point. But anyhow, I want a dog that can pull my unconscious body out of a burning house if necessary. On the other hand, I want a dog that I think I can take in a fight. I'll have to walk a fine line.
Posts: 3056 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Well, there's something like 160 breeds, plus mixed breeds and total mutts to choose from, so I imagine you can find something.
You know what totally amazes me? That we went from Wolf to Miniature Poodle in just a few thousand years. Just blows my mind.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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No kidding, KoM. I read a report by a guy who decided to produce bob-tailed Boxers, rather than docking Boxer tails shortly after birth. He crossed a Boxer with a Corgi, I think, and then bred one of the resulting puppies back into the Boxer line. It only took a few generations of puppies, about 10 years total, to produce a reliable line of bob-tailed Boxers. He got them reintroduced into the kennel club, and one of the bob-tails just won a Championship. Pretty darn cool.
It makes you wonder, though... if it's so easy to artificially create a trait like that, why not occasionally mix breeds with others to build on health strengths? Like breed Boxers with something that has a good strong heart, then reintroduce the heart-healthy Boxers back into the breed? I just don't get why there's so much of a stigma against mixing breeds when a) you introduce all sorts of strong new genes and b) it only takes a few generations to get back to the original breed standard appearance.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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*sigh* This is why people get mad at responsible breeders. You see most of them have a questionaire at least mentally if not an actually on piece of paper you have to fill out. At the top of the list are, do you live in a house or an apartment and own/rent and if rent does your lease allow dogs. It is simply staggering that people don't give at least this much premeditation to a creature that is going to be a family member for probably a decade.
Also a note on the boxer-corgi thing. The pembroke corgi is the kind of corgi with a naturally occurring bob tail. However because it is still a bit longer than a docked tail the pembroke people have gotten away from selecting for the gene and have been docking anyway. The reason why the experiment is being undertaken is because anti-docking and altering dogs in Europe and GreatBritain are getting increasingly stringent. The man who did the boxer corgi experiment recieved permission from the kennel club to do it before he started. Otherwise getting these animals entered back into the Stud book would have been extremely difficult. Since people have worked so hard to attain a specific purebred look, you can't just wantonly bring in a different breed and then breed away from it without permission.
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We've got legislation making its way through Parliament at the moment that would outlaw docking on all breeds. I hope it goes through. I'd love to see how our cocker spaniel would've looked with a full tail. (Hmm, that sounds like I'm expecting the legislation to restore my dog's tail to its original state. Wish it could.)
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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When I was a kid and our cocker had puppies, the vet said the docking had to be done within the first three days or she wouldn't do it. She said it'd cause them pain after 3 days. Or more pain... I can't remember, I was little. AJ?
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Docking and dewclaw removal are typically done within the first few days of a pup's life. They are too young for anaesthesia, but the bones in the tail have not yet joined together, so the procedure can be done quickly and with a minimal amount of pain. Unfortunately there is some pain involved. I'm glad that pointers (my primary breed of dog) don't have docked tails, but their dewclaws must be removed soon after birth. I bred a litter a year ago, and we had their claws done when they were 2 days old. I hated doing it, but better to do it when they are young and will have the least amount of trauma from the situation. My dog, Oscar Wilde, is a complete spaz and I have never once seen him stop wagging his tail and being happy, so I don't really think the experience traumatized him for life, so to speak. I think that in most cases tail docking and ear cropping are completely unnecessary (which is one reason I don't show a breed that requires either), but in the case of dewclaws, I think it's better that they come off. Too many sporting dogs suffer (potentially crippling) injuries due to the presence of a dewclaw, and I don't want to risk that on my dogs. (Plus, they are show dogs, and unfortunately they would be disqualified if dewclaws were present.)
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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