mydogMilton

Does peanuts get along well with her? I was thinking of getting another dog (a lap one) and was wondering if a shih tzu would be a good choice?

I lost a beautiful little black cat when we lived in Aurora IL. We lived near a shady area and one day she just dissapeared... I cried myself to sleep every night. Even though that happened a long time ago I still get a bellyache when I think of her. I LOVE you LUCY, where ever you are!

Oh my word! I hope she stays that way.... Milt was a little bit of a backache.... might I say a very big backache. Poop in the living room, insane leash pulling, growling at my little brother, chasing after a heifer for crying out loud (for those of you who don't know heifers they are the most stubborn form of large animal I know), Running and biting after horses pulling an amish buggy.... ack! But in some ways I'm happy that he did these things. In a way you could say were growing together It sounds like Bula has a much more learned leader than Milt. Way to go!

Just think it be a cool post to start; especially since we focus so much on how we train our BCs, while for the most part they're training us (at least I know that's my case). So here's to you Milt! You have taught me leadership, perserverence, consistancy, how to discipline... myself :)and most of all the art of patience. I really needed you and you've made me grow in areas where I thought I didn't need it. You were an eye opener... And speaking of eyes that is my favorite part of you! At first I loved your tall elegance and poise but now...... your eyes make me forget all of your less then plesent moments and they are all I can think about. Okay this might be silly to the rest of you but knowing you're all BC adorers I think you'll understand Marissa

The wire was brand new and was not rusty at all would that still qualify for tetenus?

Yesterday Milton got very preoccupied with Scooter (our boarder horse) and he didn't see a low fence line (not barbed!) he jumped and ended up scraping the underside of his haunch and belly. It looked red but not dangerous so I applied some antibiotic and let him heal on his own. Unfortunatly he seems to have gotten more uncomfortable and often gets up and repositions himself, again and again.... Should I take him to a vet? At what point would you take your dogs if it appeared to be a minor scrape yet made them uncomfortable?

As far as killing animals... here goes..... I believe that living in tune with nature and working in it's natural cycles are fine... The Native Americans had most of this right. They would occasionally kill an animal for food, but at the same time would wacth the populations and never mass kill (as far as my knowledge goes in that). What ruins everything is when some person steps in and kills for greed. NO matter what it is this is always a BAD THING!!!!!!!! When in fact it becomes critical to kill an animal for food or safety, if handeled well, this can be an ethical thing. It is just what naked mother nature, take predetors for instance, would do anyway. Please I don't mean to offend anyone, I would just like to point out that as far as killing goes it shouldn't be to stop it compleatly, just the 90.0 ways of doing it wrong. One more example... b/c my family does not believe in the way factory raised poultry live their lives, we raise are own. They have fresh grass, bugs, sky.... everything they could want. When it comes time to bucther them we do it quickly with as little tramua to the bird as possible. Even if we were to let them live longer than bucthering date (and we have to some special favorites) they do not live longer than a couple months. It's the way they are. Hopefully I havent led you guys off to another topic. That wasn't my intention. If I have, sorry, again Marissa

Not to get you guys going again, I myself wasn't personally interested in this untill i saw their pictures .... what cuties!!!! I got the picture from Wilkipedia along with these quotes.....

Hey everyone, Just wanted to give you all a heads up that we took Milton to a BC owner/trainer, and found a great training method that works for all of us. The whole family is on board with this and Milton's becoming more balenced and happy Keep me in your thoughts as Milt is leaving his country home for a couple days when we take him with us to Allentown for the holidays. It's going to be mind expandning for him and it will tax me as we need to get on the ball with leash training before we go.... Over all I'm very happy about taking him out of his enviroment and giving him some new places and things to think about. It will keep him busy for a while, and as you all know BCs have to stay busy .....

No, I phrased that wrong.... Milton growls at others when he has a treat... Thanks Hoku's Mom it's good to know I'm not alone.

Milton is almost always with me in the house, sure there is the understandable moment when he's alone for a minute or two but that is about it.

I also wanted to clarify that my family is very supportive and loves Milton very much. I realize that I wrote with too much emotion in the first post and some have interpretted it incorrectly as being my Dad is a tyrannt. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is just worried mainly about the aggresive behavior toward the younger family members.

Eileen, thanks so much for that! I felt a little lost like everyone was telling me to give him up.... But what you said I think is true it's just a training issue. I do get way to mad at him! I'll make that public confession right now. I need to re-focus and remember that training doesn't work when I hold on to past emotions... The growling has occured with the youngest sibling quite often, mainly beacuse he's a tot . When he has a treat or is eating. He growls with just about anybody if the treat is good enough. What really shocked me is Sarah (the older one). In the past week he's shown aggresion to her which he had never done before. I had a talk with her and i told her it was beacuse she fawned over him way to much... she's trying not to do that anymore. Milton was around 7 to 8 months when we got him, they weren't quite sure about the age. So I settled for his birthday to be January 1st which means he is almost a year old.

Thanks Maralynn OMG! I just read the NILF and know what I'm doing wrong.... The problem is I "allow" him way to much and then punish him when he gets out of control. In the beginning I did a lot of NILF stuff and then got to busy (or so I thought) and stopped doing it. I'm getting back on track right now! I'm going to have everyone in my family read that paper, in fact I'm going to have a family meeting Thanks again guys!

thanks smileyzookie! You really encouraged me. It sounded like you had been there done that...