Sophinator

Oddly enough, shortly after this story appeared on the news, I was reading a dog story by James Herriot in which a poor dog was left in a shed for months before being rescued. The part that got me was that the authorities in that case were just going to fine the owner and take the dog. When Herriot reacted with horror that this was the worst that was going to happen to the owner, he was told that the owner was simple-mminded and lived with his mother who didn't have much more of a clue. So I hope that's what was going on in Jiffy's case, that the owner just felt like plying the dog with food was giving it love. I mean, most people who neglect dogs and leave them out in the weather usually have skinny malnourished dogs. So I really want to give this woman the benefit of the doubt and hope she wasn't intelligent enough to know better. My question then becomes, why didn't a neighbor intervene or call authorities before the dog hit 120 pounds??? I can't assume they are all simpletons too.... I can't seem to find any updates on the dog.

My Sophia tends to accumulate a lot of hair in her stool. Usually, it's because she's grooming herself a lot. Sometimes it's because she's been playing with a toy and it rolls into a dust bunny/doggy tumbleweed corner. Or sometimes, it's not even her hair but a critter she's managed to devour. Could your dog have swallowed a bunny? Or maybe it really is her own hair from excessive grooming as you mention with your dog's dry skin condition. As long as her digestive system seems to be working properly, I wouldn't worry about.

When I first heard about this news story, I was baffled. How did a dog manage to get frozen to the pavement? And I was thinking, no way a BC weighs 120 pounds, obese or not. Then I saw the news video. I was in a total stage of shock. Still am. I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my head of a dog who manuevers like a beach master bull elephant seal because it's the only way to move that much bulk around. I understand that the owner will be charged for neglect, in leaving the dog outside all night. But they are also pressing charges for animal abuse, because overfeeding a dog to the point that he can't even walk is just as abusive as purposely starving an animal.

Thank you for stepping in on my behalf. I am new to the boards. What is ancient history to some of you is all new to me. Until there is a "statute of limitations" on how old a thread can be before a new member can't resurrect it, I may continue to "drag up" archeological posts.

I am also of the school that thinks they more you talk to your dogs the more they learn. (Of course, depending on what they're learning, this may or may not be a good thing.) Learning appropriate responses to commands is great. Learning other words, not necessarily all that wonderful. Like "bath." This has created somewhat of a problem with her toys. If I say, "Get your bunny" she'll run to the window and look outside. "Bunny" to her is a real creature that lives outdoors. If I say "Get your pig" she'll look through her toys until she finds the pig. "Pig" has no real-life meaning to her. "Pig" is the name of a toy. On the other hand, if we're outside and I say, "Hawk" she won't look to me to see where I'm looking, but will immediately scan the sky herself. (I mentioned in a previous post that she really intends to murder the hawk one of these days. Eliminating the predatory competition, I guess.) She also responds to "groceries," "laundry," and "take a shower" "make a phone call" by turning to a task-specific habitual action that she uses to keep herself busy while I'm engaged with any of these tasks. "Noodles" means any meal in which she gets tidbits of vegetables and meat while I'm preparing dinner whether there are actually any noodles involved or not. And, of course, she understands the concepts of "inside" and "outside." She even distinguishes between food items. If I say, "carrots" or "pumpkin" she'll run to the fridge. If I say the name of a specific treat, she'll run to the closet or the cabinet where that particular treat is kept. If I just say "wanna eat?" she'll run over and dance around her food bowl. I guess I could go on and on. But the point is that other than commands, I never went out of my way to teach her word associations. She's just picked that up on her own. And I'm sure that the more I chatter away to her, the more she'll learn.

My question becomes: is it the owner or is it the dog? I'm sure there are a number of psycho BCs out there--any breed that becomes popular in the general populace is going to have issues from overbreeding and downright crappy breeding. But what about the owners who get what is a high energy/very intelligent dog and expect it to be window dressing? For instance, I know of a guy (through mutual friends) who has two border collies and lives in a small apartment. Oh yeah, he walks the dogs--when he has the time. He has a reasonably active social life and works fulltime. His dogs are friggin nuts. Wouldn't you be if you were cooped up indoors most of the time and bored out of your skull? I'm thinking that Nurture not Nature created these two whacko cases. But folks look at dogs like that and say, "Border collies are hyper and crazy and really not that smart." Now this guy really takes good care of his dogs from a physical standpoint and would be horribly upset if anyone suggested he was mistreating them. He just doesn't get it that maybe he should have opted for a more couch-potato-ish breed that would mesh better with his lifestyle.

Sophia loves the snow!!! She runs like crazy, uses her nose as a snow shovel, and chases snowballs. But her absolute favorite is to roll in the stuff. She's found that if she gets on an incline, she can do the twisty-butt roll and toboggan down the hillside on her back. She'll do it over and over. The only time she's not really into snow is when the temperature is right around freezing. Then the iceballs form on her feet and her legs and she's very unhappy about that.

My Sophia has rat catching down to a fine art. I have a storm sewer behind my property and some of the neighbors aren't really careful with their garbage. So we have periodic infestations of large rodents. I gave up counting "how many" when Sophie topped thirty of the damned things. She has also taken out several bunnies, two shrews, one mole, one young raccoon, and snatched a bird out of the air in midflight. Yes, this girl is fast! I can well imagine her spotting a rat and telling a terrier, "Step back and let a pro handle this." If there were a scale of 1 to 10 for measuring predatory drive, Sophie would score 15! Yet this same dog respects cats and knows that a dog is a dog even if it doesn't weigh much more than a hamster. And yes, the only thing that still manages to evade Sophie are those damned squirrels. She's come close. She's also determined to eliminate the hawk that frequents our yard. That and the damned fighter jets. When they fly low over the house she leaps in the air to try to catch them. Don't know what she expects me to do with one if she ever does catch it.... By the way, does anybody else's hunting dog shriek when it's closing on the prey? Sophie does. She also does it when she is leaping against a tree trunk trying to get to a squirrel. Honest to God, it sounds like a dog in being beaten to death, but it is pure excitement.

I have never been on a vacation where I couldn't take Sophia. I do have a standing invitation from a friend to leave Sophie with her should the need arise. Sophie thinks of this friend's house as her second home so there would be no problem. That's a good deal if you have such a person in your life. Sophie would not do well in a boarding kennel. She is not a big fan of other dogs. And after being dumped at the shelter by her previous owners, she is understandably leary of kennel type environments. I think the best bet is to either have someone come to your house and stay with the dog, or have a neighbor come over to let the dog out, feed it, and play with it for awhile. I've done the latter for a couple of my neighbors in the past. In fact in one case, I brought the dog to my house for awhile thinking I was doing him a favor. He was beside himself until I took him home again. He was happier staying in his own house waiting for his own family to come back, even if he had to wait alone most of the time. Anyway, the beauty of either situation is that not only is the dog taken care of in an environment he's used to, but the mail and newspapers are taken in, and lights go on and off in the house at irregular intervals just like they would if someone was home. Just in case someone is "casing the joint." Burglars pretty much figure out that if the dining room light is the only light in the house and it is always on, or it always goes on at exactly 7:00 PM, nobody is really there.

I think it all had to do with the tension between the two dogs and Cody was responding in doggy terms. Chelsea was being understandably possessive of "her house" and "her people" and "her food." She threw down the gaunlet and Cody picked it up. By marking all over creation, he was making sure Chelsea knew he was taking no guff and was marking the house as his territory too. Not very acceptable by our standards but made perfect sense to the dogs, just like "territorial" disputes between kids can make us nuts. "Mom, he's on my side of the room. Mom, he's looking at me again." As an adult, listening to the bickering is maddening--who decided that Susie had possession of half the living room? But it makes a lot of sense to the kid. I agree with the posters who suggest that maybe Cody should just stay on leash and/or under supervision when the family gets together. It's not like Cody and Chelsea have to share the house for the rest of their lives.

Two occasions seems to spark my Sophia to do that immense, lung-cleansing sigh. One is when she is finally serious about going to sleep. You know, the bed is finally rumpled in the correct configuration, all itches have been attended to, etc. That's when I know she's finally done squirming and we can BOTH get some rest. The other is when she is going for the Academy Award Best Actress In a Melodrama...usually when she realizes that the answer to her question is "no" whatever the question may have been. So with her, it's disappointment, disgust, petulant anger, and so forth--all blown way out of proportion to the actual event. The sigh can even be emphasized by throwing herself on the floor like a silent movie star...I really expect her to put her paw dramatically to her forehead...it's way over the top!

One thing to bear in mind about Dachshunds. They're not technically terriers but their purpose is essentially the same, go after citters in the ground where you've got to be fearless and make your own decisions. The Master can't bail out you on this one. So I'm not at all surprised that Dachs have terrier temperaments. I've known some very lovely Dachs but they all have attitude. Ankle biters? As someone once pointed out, "People laugh at the idea that a little dog can be frighteningly aggressive. But they'd be screaming their heads off if a similar sized rat were running around the living room snapping at their ankles." I think a lot of little dogs get away with bloody murder because their owners don't take them as seriously as they would a big dog exhibiting the same behavior. Labs? I always tell people I've never met a Lab I couldn't learn to hate. Which surprises people because "Labs are so friendly." Yes, they are. They are also large, muscular, and very physical. It is not necessary for a dog to express his love for me by launching himself at my person like a rocket propelled cannonball. If I wasn't black and blue when I entered the owner's house, I don't wish to be black and blue when I leave. Nor do I wish to end up in the hospital with a concussion from being knocked clear into next Tuesday. Now I'm sure that somewhere out there, there are Lab owners who have actually taught their dogs to exhibit some degree of polite behavior. I have just never met these owners and their dogs.

Here's the scoop on Sophia's identity crisis. Shelter said border collie. I thought border collie. I've seen this little girl work and she is definitely border collie. Other folks: "She can't be a border collie. She's not black and white." Hollywood strikes again. That and the AKC, which says it won't discriminate on color but we know it's all a matter of time. "She can't be a border collie. She's too calm." That from the vet when I first took her in. She was still in the honeymoon stage. A few months down the road when Sophie was walking on his ceiling, the vet was thinking border collie too. "She's a Sheltie mixed with something else. That head doesn't belong on a Sheltie." No elucidation about what breed the head might fit upon. "She's a Brittany." I've gotten several votes on that one. Admittedly, she is leggy and feathered, but I don't think Brittanies have herding tendencies. They tend to point at the object of their interest, not lower the head and shoulders. "She's an Aussie. Look at her tail." I'll admit that Sophie is somewhat tail challenged. But I'm quite familiar with the working styles of the two. Sophie may be a BC/Aussie mix, but her style is pure border collie. I'm just not seeing any Aussie moves or behaviors here. No, I don't know what happened to her tail and at this point I don't really care. "She's a border collie." End of discussion from a lady I met who has been breeding border collies for years. Like many of the other posters, I am trying to come up with a really fanciful name for my "rare breed" dog just to see how many people would buy it. Several, I would think. In the meantime, whenever I get a comment about what a beautiful fill-in-the-blank Sophia is, I just smile, say thank you, and nod.

I don't put up a tree anymore so my Sophia is deprived of the chance to create mischief. In my childhood, however, we had an intact male Bull Terrier. Let's see. Intact male. Real tree. What do you think happened? We scrambled to pick up the now rather damp presents and we're quite relieved to see that that all the packages so marked belonged to immediate family! Subsequently, Mr BT spent the holidays in the basement unless someone was really, really watching him.

What would Sophie's voice sound like if she could talk "people?" I'm thinking Xena Warrior Princess here. Very no nonsense, got a job to do, don't mess with me. Come to think of it, Sophia does do a fair imitation of the Xena battle cry....