Hector

Bailey also likes to be vacuumed with the hand wand. That must feel good. And Sue, he does hear the sound the camera makes when the lens is coming out. This morning he could not see the camera, but he heard the lens noise and then quickly left the room. And he won't hold still very long for me to get a picture. I don't know how professional dog photographers get puppies to hold still for pictures.

My Bailey is a 3yo BC/Sighthound-X. He likes to keep track of me and everything I do. When I am running the upright vacuum cleaner around the house, he is right here with me. I have to tell him "move" to get him off the next place that I want to vacuum. But then... suppose I want to take his picture. Just now he was lying on the floor behind me in the computer room. I picked up my digital camera from the desk next to me, and placed it on my lap for two minutes. Then I removed the lens cap and turned it on, which very quietly extends the lens. In a half-second, Bailey is up and leaves the room. He hates the camera, almost certainly because he doesn't like the flash when I am taking indoor pictures. So with a noisy vacuum cleaner he stands right in the way. With an almost silent camera he does a hasty exit.

My first dog, Pattycake, was a Lab/Elkhound with a very strong prey drive. I got her from rescue when she was about 8 months old and fortunately I didn't have any cats. I took her out running and I rode a mountain bike while she ran alongside on a leash that I had wrapped around my left hand. We normally went along about 12-14 mph. But if she saw a cat up ahead she would break into a flat out hard run. She would quickly tow me up to 25 mph as she ran to where she had seen the cat. Fortunately that cat was always gone by the time she got there. But it was a very serious run after prey. We had a fenced back yard that had rough sawn cedar wood slats. Occasionally when I opened the back door to let her out, there would be a cat in the yard. She would go after that cat with a vengeance, but fortunately the cats could always escape by climbing over the fence. She never caught one, but it would not have been pretty if she had. I cannot imagine any possible way that I could have ever changed her behavior toward cats. It was a very deep seated instinct that told her that cats were the enemy and needed to be dealt with. I doubt she would have eatten a cat. It was more like cats simply didn't have a right to exist. I would not trust your dog alone with the cat. I think that is asking for trouble.

I feed Beaverdam Pet Food to Bailey and Sadie. This product is made and marketed by a family business in Delaware. I buy it at a Mennonite Feed Mill in Loveville Maryland for a cost of $17 per 40 pounds. I think it is a premium food at a regular price. There is no meat "by products" in the dog food. My dogs have done very well on it.

Music to a Father's Ears

Your new pups are beautiful. I think it is wonderful that you adopted both and kept them together. My son has a dog which is definitely an Aussie-Catahoula-X. The somewhat speckled coloring of your two pups is similar to his dog (see picture).

The first flower of spring is now blooming in our front yard. A gardener I ain't... it just popped up!

Lance Mackey's Moment On The Sea Ice Dog People Excel In The Iditarod by Andy Moderow The bond between dog and musher isn?t easily understood, but if anyone could present it clearly, Lance Mackey came close with his description of what occurred 5 miles out of Nome. Lance? s wife, Tonya, says she never saw her husband cry throughout a long battle with cancer, which he managed to beat. A mere 5 miles from Nome, the Kasilof musher admits that tears filled his eyes. Spectators waiting for this year?s 10th place finisher heard over the loudspeakers that Lance had stopped a short distance from the finish line and was busy with his team. They heard that Lance was having a somewhat emotional moment with his team, and that his arrival would take a few more moments longer as a result. Even then, the point didn?t get through. Maybe that is because the spotter vehicle didn?t hear what Lance was saying to his dogs. Sitting around in Nome Thursday evening, Lance recalled the final moments he spent with his team on the Iditarod. As any musher will tell you, arriving in Nome throws a musher into confusion: After 1100 miles on the trail focusing completely on the dogs, some mushers even question whether they want to reach Nome, as when they get there, so much changes. Lance knew that things would change when he arrived under the burled arch, and that the people and excitement would distract him from his dogs. Pausing on the sea ice a few miles from Nome, Lance had one last quiet moment with his team before the ?re-entering? process began. Wind whistling overhead, he set his brake and walked to the front of the team. Patting his leaders vigorously while looking straight into their eyes, nose to nose, he told them: ?Guys, when we get there, I won?t be able to tell you, because of all that?s going on. I?m telling you now: We did it. We did it.? One must wonder if these lines were sincere, or just borrowed from a Hollywood movie: Yet with more knowledge of Lance, you learn that the musher?s moment on the sea ice was completely heartfelt. Wife Tonya laughed and shook her said as she spoke about her husbands relationship with his dogs. Since installing a ?dog door? into their house, on more than one occasion Tonya has woken up to find Lance asleep on the living room floor, surrounded by their 9 housedogs and several members of his racing team. Lance isn?t an actor: The words he spoke to his team came from his heart. He?s a true dog person. Many others in the race have similar emotions regarding their teams: It is hard not to bond with a team over the 1100 miles of the Iditarod or the 2000+ miles in pre-race training. His recent climb in the standings also demonstrate that dog people excel in the Iditarod, and that Iditarod's next generation is coming up strong. Take for instance other race competitors, like Jessie Royer, Aliy Zirkle, Bjornar Andersen, Jason Barron, Cim Smyth, Ken Anderson, Melanie Gould, and William Hanes: Each is somewhat younger than the usual suspects out hunting for the Iditarod title, and all have fewer Iditarods under their belts. Yet the future is bright for this group: Each managed to make the top 20 this year. Jessica Hendricks certainly belongs in this group, but she finished just outside of the top-20 in this Iditarod, a vivid reminder that in dog racing, no position is guaranteed: If you don?t believe me, take a look at the runs of Martin Buser and Ramy Brooks this year. With so much young talent towards the front of the race, the future of the Iditarod is strong. Lance?s story of his conversation on the sea ice is a great indication that, in 20 years, when the usual suspects of today?s Iditarod have retired, the race will be alive and well.

Bad luck comes in batches. Here is my favorite (worst) story about self-inflicted injuries. When I was in high school I played a lot of basketball. So one time I sprained my right ankle pretty bad. I went to the doctor, got it x-rayed and taped up. I had to walk on crutches. While on crutches I went to a basketball game. After the game while crossing the parking lot on crutches I sprained the other (good) ankle. I managed to get home, but then could hardly walk. The next morning I was pulling the most recently injured ankle up to tape it and I sprained my back. That really hurt. So I went to the doctor to get my back taped up. He put me under a diatherm infrared heat machine. That made my back feel better, so when I got home I lay down on a heating pad. Well wouldn't you know it, I got too much heat. I got second degree burns under the tape on my back. That was hurting a lot. So I got the tape pulled off and there were blisters there and the skin on the blisters pulled off with the tape. Then I had raw open sores instead of blisters. That hurt a lot. I couldn't walk because of the sprained ankles, I couldn't lie down on my back where the raw wounds from the blisters were, but I needed to lie down because my sprained back hurt. I fixed up a place to lie down across two padded benches with a gap between them. The burned area of my back was located at the gap between the benches, not touching anything. I had to apend about three days on that bench before my back started feeling better and by then my ankles were getting back to the point where I could walk again. This all tended to make me rather upset with my stupidity. Some of the things we learn from experience we would rather not know.

While hiking in mid-winter in the mountains my dog decided to dig moles out from under the snow and eat them. It was pretty much a one bite process to eat the entire mole. I let her do that. Two days later she developed a nasty throat infection. I took her to the vet, and got anti-biotics and that cured the infection. So her mole-eating cost me about $90. That was the last time she got to eat moles.

If you do use the slingshot, I suggest that you shoot a soft object, like a rubber eraser or a wad of modeling clay. That would get the dogs attention without injuring him. The only risk of harm to the dog is if you hit him in the eye, and that would be very bad. But if your aim is good and you avoid shooting where the eye is anywhere close to the target area, then you should be okay. In your situation with hardwood floors, I would not be considering a water gun. You seem hesitant to consider noise. You know your dogs and I don't, but with my dog a noise would be a great deterrent. You can buy little compressed gas noise horns, intended for bicyclists to use to scare away dogs or alert other drivers. They are small, portable, and not very expensive, and they put out a BIG noise.

The Weather Channel has reported that Sunday was the worst single tornado day in US history. It is certainly sad that lives were lost, but considering the extent of the tornados it could have been a lot worse. If I were building a house in a tornado alley location I would definitely want a reinforced storm cellar in the basement. In April 2002 an F4 tornado hit La Plata, Maryland and passed about five miles from our house. A few days later I drove my car through the area to see the damage. Downtown La Plata could not have been destroyed any worse with a big bulldozer. It was just a pile of rubble. There was one residential area where we saw two bare/clean concrete pads where homes had previously stood. Both homes had been cleanly lifted off their pads and deposited in a heap about 200 feet away. Being in a center room or bathroom in one of those houses would not have provided any protection. So I think that having a storm cellar would be good *insurance* in tornado alley.

Ak dog doc, thanks for providing information about cold weather and airplanes. What you said generally confirms what I was thinking, namely -45F is too cold for piston planes to be practical. I appreciate reading about your perspective on the Iditarod. There is so much work and effort that goes on behind the scenes in order to make the race possible. I wasn't aware of the extent of veterinary work done on the dogs prior to the race. It is looking like Jeff King will win and Swingley will be second. This is a really good race.

AK Dog Doc -- I'm a big fan of the Iditarod, but I have never been to Alaska. If I ever do travel there it will likely be in the summer because I don't tolerate the cold temperatures well. Flying from checkpoint to checkpoint to follow the race sounds wonderful. But I have one question -- when the temperature is -45F as it has been at Cripple the past few days, can small aircraft operate at those temperatures. Of course during the daytime it "warms" clear up to -15F (wow! a heat wave!). Do the airplanes have engine heaters, or do the engines have to be started and run every hour, or what? Just wondering how the Iditarod Air Force is able to keep their planes flying during the super cold weather? It seems like a parked plane would have the engine oil thicken up to the point that the engine could not be turned over. Here is a nice story from the race: Ruby, Alaska, Mar. 11, 2006 ? This Iditarod seems to be the race that sees more loose dog teams than any other; there have been at least four, and now five - and this last one is the most remarkable because the team stopped on command, and waited while its master, Ed Iten, walked back up to the sled. For that remarkable feat, Iten credits a little leader named Zoey. Iten doesn't have a sit-down sled. He stands on the back of a traditional set of runners. Yet even standing up, a musher about halfway through the Iditarod can fall asleep, and fall off. And that's just what Iten did on the way to Cripple during the cold, dark night leading up to his 24-hour layover. One minute he was going along, and the next, he was awakened by a painful thud to the back of his head. He'd dozed off and literally tipped over backwards. Dazed, Iten looked up the trail and saw the back of his sled some 50 feet away, going up and over a small rise. Without thinking, he yelled, "whoa!" which every musher says to tell the dogs to stop. His small black and white leader with pointy ears, Zoey, stopped the team. Then he gave a command that perhaps few distance mushers teach, but many probably should. He said, "Stay!" I asked if he ran up to the team, and he looked surprised. "There's no way I could catch up to my dog team," he said. He sat up, and walked up to the waiting string of 16 dogs, went up the line and gave a lot of loving to Zoey.

The 2006 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is now in progress. The mushers and dogs race 1112 miles from Willow Alaska to Nome Alaska in a time of about 9 days. Once the race starts the clock is always ticking. However there are two mandatory 8-hour rest stops and one mandatory 24-hour rest stop. Normal practice is for the actual traveling/running time to equal the resting time. The dogs are specially bred to be long distance racers. The average weight for a dog is about 50 pounds. Have your sound on and click this link for a nice 2-minute video of: Iditarod Athletes In Action (Requires Macro Media Flash Player)

Very interesting thread. I have learned a lot about BCs and related issues from this board. I fully support keeping the Border Collie as a working breed. The Barbie Collie movement is a mistake. My dog is a BC-Whippet-X, that I got from rescue as a puppy. From the BC side he inherited intelligence. From the Whippet side he has keen eyesight and is a great natural watchdog. He is also a mellow companion house dog. I feel very fortunate in having a dog with the characteristics that are most important to me.

I recently read the book "How Dogs Think" by Stanley Coren, PhD. It is a fascinating book based on a lot of scientific research and the author's own first-hand experience with dogs. It gives a good explanation of the many factors that can cause a dog's personality and behaviors to be "bad". For example, stress in the pregnant bitch can cause the puppies to have problems. And the way that the mother dog punishes puppies for out-of-line behaviors can have a major effect on how the puppy's personality ends up. There are factors like this that you would never suspect, but scientific studies have shown they definitely influence the puppy's personality for his entire lifetime.

Vicki, I have been following this thread and I just re-read your starting post. You wrote "He's the same about his nails being trimmed and he had to be muzzled at the vet's when he got his shots a couple of months ago." I am sorry that you got bitten and that now you have this dilemma. From reading your post it is hard to get an exact picture of Sam's behavior. In view of what happened a question arises: since Sam had to be muzzled at the vet's then might it have been a good idea to muzzle him again with a real muzzle before trying to work on his ears? My intent is certainly not to make you feel any worse, but I can't help but think that a more cautious approach would have prevented him from biting you. Could it be that in his "previous life" a human was rough in handling Sam and he now feels that he needs to protect himself from unwanted advances from potentially mean humans that might hurt him? Just trying to look at it from the other end of the leash. I don't know if the euthanasia option is cast in concrete, but in case you are still considering alternatives here is one that might be worth checking on. Visit here: http://bestfriends.org/ It is the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab Utah which is a no-kill shelter. You can e-mail them at bfnetwork@bestfriends.org . It might be that they could take Sam rather than having him euthanized. Then the problem would arise as to how to ship him there. I would contribute $30 toward an air-freight ride to get him to Las Vegas, NV. From there it is a four hour drive to Kanab. That sounds like a long trip, but at least you could look into it if it sounds feasible.

One time many years ago I was nipped by a dog while riding my bike. The tooth just lightly broke the skin. I was a mile from home and of course I didn't know the dog. There was no way to catch the dog, as it ran off after the incident. I didn't seek medical help. Using my accumulated knowledge since then, it was a mistake to not get medical attention. If this were to happen now I would want to get rabies vaccine. I made the assumption that the odds were slim that the dog was rabid, but it would be fatal to make the wrong assumption.

One important issue pertaining to this thread has not been discussed -- the potential liability the owner would incur if his/her dog (which had prior biting/aggression issues) were to ever seriously injure someone. I don't have time to do the research, but in today's litigious society I suspect that monetary damage awards could be very large. Does the dog owner have liability insurance coverage as part of a homeowner's policy? What is the liability limit of the policy? Does the policy say anything about covering a dog with known aggressive tendencies? Does the owner have an "umberella liability policy?" No matter how much a person loves a dog, it would be hard to justify getting hit with a huge damage judgement (try $1,000,000) because of the dog's agressive behavior. If the dog did seriously injure a child, and if it were proven that the owner previously knew about the dog being aggressive, then that would set the stage for a major award of monetary damages.

Here is the question I am trying to answer. Is the Beaverdam (BD) dog food that I am now using okay, or should I go to a higher cost "premium" dog food? The BD is costing me $ 0.38/lb. On the Internet I found Pinnacle Dog Food (PDF). There is a dealer nearby from whom I can buy the PDF for $40 for a 30 pound bag. That is $1.33/lb. So the PDF costs 3.5 times as much as the BD. Is it worth that amount extra? The only higher priced dog food I ever tried with Bailey is IAMS Lamb and Rice formula. That gave him diarrhea and I had to discontinue feeding it. The IAMS people were good and gave me a full replacement coupon and I used it to buy a Chicken formula which was okay. Following are the ingredients in the BD and PDF. --------------------------------------------- BEAVERDAM PREMIUM PET FOODS (302) 349-4155 HI-PROTEIN $0.37/LB. Crude Protein 27% Crude Fat 12% Crude Fiber 4.5% Moisture 10% Pork Meal Ground Yellow Corn Chicken Meal Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Citric Acid and Rosemary Extract) Dried Beet Pulp Corn Gluten Meal Fish Meal Brewers Dried Yeast Salt Potassium Chloride Chicory Extract/Inulln Yucca Schldlgera Extract Vitamin A Acetate d-Activated Animal Sterol (source of Vitamin D-3) Vitamin E Supplement Vitamin B-12 Supplement RiboflavIn Supplement Niacin Supplement Choline Chloride Folic Acid Biotin Pyridoxine Hydrochlorlde Thiamine Mononitrate Sodium Selenite Manganese Sulfate Zinc Oxide Iron Sulfate Copper Sulfate Ethylene Diamine PINNACLE CHICKEN AND OATS DRY FORMULA $1.33/lb. Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein not less than 25.0% Crude Fat not less than 15.0% Crude Fiber not more than 5.0% Moisture not more than 10.0% Ash not more than 5.18% Caloric Content Calorie Content kcal/kg 3645 Calorie Content kcal/cup 400 Nutrient Analysis Vitamins Function As Is Units Vitamin A Eyes / Coat / Bones / Skin 5,760 IU/KG Vitamin A, True Retinol Eyes / Coat / Bones / Skin 4.660 IU/KG Vitamin D3 Vigor / Bones / Teeth 1,726 IU/KG Vitamin E Reproduction / Fetal Growth 178.00 IU/KG Thiamine (B1) Nerves / Digestion 10.00 MG/KG Riboflavin (B2) Eyes / Skin / Enzymes 12.10 MG/KG Pantothenic Acid Growth / Nerves 69.70 MG/KG Niacin Nerves / Coat 113.00 MG/KG Pyridoxine (B6) Blood / Growrh 11.20 MG/KG Folic Acid Growth / Maint / Blood 1.55 MG/KG Biotin Metabolism / Skin / Coat 0.469 MG/KG Vitamin B12 Blood 0.086 MG/KG Choline Liver / Kidney / Nerves 2,620 MG/KG Minerals Function As Is Units Calcium Bones / Teeth / Muscle 1.12 % Phosphorus Bones / Teeth / Muscle 0.93 % Potassium Body Fluids / Metabolism 0.93 % Sodium Regulate Body Fluids 0.25 % Chloride Regulate Body Fluids 0.20 % Magnesium Bones / Teeth / Muscles 0.11 % Iron Blood 170.00 MG/KG Copper Blood 19.80 MG/KG Manganese Bones / Teeth / Muscle 40.00 MG/KG Zinc Reproduction / Skin 98.00 MG/KG Iodine Thyroid 5.68 MG/KG Selenium Bones / Muscle 0.72 MG/KG Amino Acid/ Fatty Acids As Is Units Arginine 1.65 % Lysine 1.43 % Methionine 0.51 % Tryptophan 0.25 % Histidine 0.54 % Leucine 1.78 % Isoleucine 0.87 % Phenylalanine 1.03 % Threonine 1.04 % Valine 1.09 % Omega 6 3.84 % Omega 3 0.34 % Aspartic Acid 2.31 % Serine 1.21 % Glutamic Acid 3.29 % Proline 1.66 % Glycine 2.06 % Alanine 1.55 % Cystine 0.34 % Tyrosine 0.58 % Available in 7.5 lb. bags and 30 lb. bags.

Thanks for the replies to my question. Maybe I ?think? too much, but here is what I have been thinking: the ancestors of our dogs were the wolves, and science tells me that the wolf species has been on the planet for about 30 million years. They obviously knew how to eat to survive during that time period and they didn?t need human help to feed them. Wolves are carnivores. They kill and eat other animals. That means they naturally eat protein and fat. The Beaverdam brand dog food is 27% protein, 12% fat. I would guess that when a wolf kills and eats prey (say an elk), the wolf is consuming 75-80% protein and 20-25% fat. Does that sound right? If the above assumption about the wolf eating the elk is true, then what is wrong with the Beaverdam formula of 27% protein, 12% fat? Is the dog getting too much of something or not enough of something? 17-month-old-Bailey (who has been eating the Beaverdam for six months) is not overweight, is strong, agile, and healthy. What kind of long-term ill effects might he suffer from eating only this formula? I could easily supplement that diet with other foods if that would be beneficial to his long-term health. But my starting point is to ask what is WRONG with the Beaverdam diet? None of the answers thus far specifically address that question.

I have been buying this brand of dog food for 8 months; our dogs love it and have been healthy. The price is $14.75 for 40 pounds. I buy it at the local Mennonite feed mill. Based on the ingredients, can you tell me if it is a good dog food?

Losing a furry best friend is indeed a difficult experience. You have my sympathy and best wishes. The only way to never have to experience such a loss is to never have a furry friend. That is not a good choice. I was age 49 when I got my first dog. I missed so much by not having a dog for all those years.

Bailey has no problem with thunder, gunshots, or firecrackers. I got him used to loud noises by doing target practice here at home. And he has no fear of the vacuum cleaner. He gets in the way while I am vacuuming and I have to tell him to MOVE, which he understands. The only noise that scares him is when something clangs on metal. That kind of frightens him. I think that is because when something close by falls down and almost hits him, then he is afraid of getting hurt.