i have dogs, but i lost my favorite in the past i asked the folks down the road if they had seen him ive found others of my lost dogs that way but this time the dog that most resembles me in many ways i have lost and i havent gone to look for him other than up in the woods... bad owner perhaps when i first came here i had a dog, my first dog a little whippet that would play chase with the coyotes and outrun em home but first night here he ran away a week later he had been brought home by my neighbor not a human one but a bear one this mountain has a bear that lives here it has a little cub bear the cub and my dog were outside my house in the dead of night a week after he ran off and got lost dog barking at the door, bear cub patiently sitting in the courtyard like a stuffed animal lets go look at the little bear i said then i spotted big bear outside the rails trying to jump over into the courtyard the whippet was brown and a goof with health problems but lived 17 years surviving a car wreck, broken leg and still outrunning coyotes. liver cancer slowed him down to a swollen lump on the ground for his last few months my recently dead pit lab was also brown and had lots of light pink fleshy parts everywhere unlike the other dogs with dark fleshy parts. he took a bite out of me once when i had to remove him from a fight, but it wasnt his fault, i had to punch him in the jaw to get him to not kill the other dog, his big black brother i loved that brown dog too, second dog ive felt a deep connection with in my life for a total of 3. he was all love though, except when it was clobbering time then he was all dog eat dog now i lost his son, very fluffy and also a goof like my first dog the whippet the goofy brown woolly lab pit dalmation mix just looked like a huge hairy brown dog with one of those goofy smiley faces that looked like CGI on a dog all my other dogs are black labs, all from the same gene pool and inbred with each other but every litter there is a weird goofy brown dog and those dogs end up being the ones that want to give the most love this one was a pup, all my other dogs have had wild lives out in the rough catching rocks and chasing tails of the woodland critters this one was lost after a few months this last generation only had 3 pups one was mysteriously lost on day 3, we think a coyote took it from the nest while mom was out hunting or it tried to walk away from the reservation and an eagle eye caught him but this one, the brown one, he had a bad hernia, born like that was supposed to get that big bump on his belly fixed but i couldnt get things in order now hes gone and my hopes are that one of the neighbors saw him and decided to keep him because who wouldnt, dude is irresistible he deserves a better chance with a home that isnt as wild as mine last week my dogs found a neighbor way far past a few hills in the nearby town they have chickens, my dogs had their chickens, and a turkey so some man came yelling at us for being irresponsible dog owners but one of my dogs was not with the pack i think maybe they kept him, which is ok considering his health issues maybe they can get him his surgery and have him protect their women poultry honestly his family picked on him all day, always beating him up because he was the weak link thanks to the hernia plus he was brown and not black and his foster father would beat the crap out of him his real father died, he was the brown pit and the pit and the big black lab hated each other because they had been alphas at different places pit was the alpha in the courtyard, big black was the alpha in the back always had to keep them separated or they would go at it to the death, deep level of hate and envy between the dogs all kinds of power trips concerning the female dog, the humans, and even things like which dog was given more free roam out wild and which one had to be tied down or put in the courtyard. it was a weird hierarchy between those two once could jump higher and escape the fence the other was smart and could jimmy open the door one could chew through twisted metal cordage the other was tied fine with just a regular rope all these and many more little things contributed to their alpha hierarchy but the pit was always the alpha up until he got sick, maybe too many fights and wounds big black has taken two chunks out of me too, i think he still dislikes me because of how much i played with the pit the pit was in the court, big black wanted to run free and would not stay in court but big black is still alive and bigger and blacker than ever his little sister is the killer in the family, she hunts down all the animals and wounds them so big black and little black can tear them up sometimes the chihuaha wants in on the action, that chick is crazy but i get her to roll over and coo when i count and get to 8. i do it like if its a little song scale, getting higher in pitch as i get closer to the 8 when i get midway through she is cooing, by the time i get to 8 she is howling like a big dog speaking of chick we have a rooster now his name is kookooroo like that chicken place that i used to eat at in pasadena in front of some really good vietnamese donuts i guess maybe im deep down hoping that maybe the cub is now grown and finds my brown dog and brings him home bears have good memories and bears are good people
Full disclosure: I met my wife in LA. So it's all good. But it doesn't make OC any less awesome to live in.
Don't know if you can link this or not. The one on the left is my best friend in the world, Griffin (or Griff). He's my constant companion when I'm home, greets me when I come out of the bedroom in the morning and walks me to the door at night. He's not pretty or particularly smart, but he's got good people sense. I walk him without a leash because he listens to me and automatically comes to a stop when he hears a car approaching. The one on the right is Bella, and she was born with a spring up her ass. She is a continual motion machine and runs like the wind, twice now she has all but caught a squirrel-the squirrel is lucky the tree wasn't 5 more feet away...and so was she. She is so aggravating because she can't be still and is constantly jumping up on us, but she's so sweet and loving you can't help but love her back. The poor thing is NOT smart, and at certain times she looks at me just right and I see Odie, the dog from Garfield, and bust out laughing. They are both rescues, we've had Griff about 3 years and Bella a little more than 1 year. This picture was taken shortly after Bella joined the family.
Wolfgang Dachshund mix. Age 8. Terror of the neighborhood. Big bark, big teeth. Loves to go for a ride in the car and bark out the window at old ladies. Chases rabbits, quail and small children. So, why is this bad dog completely owned by the cat?
Nice shape and good wind for that Aussieshep there. Good for you. Btw, me dag is me avatar. Murphy. 80 pounder. 11 years old. Black lab/ Bearded Collie mix. A true gentleman, and a gift from the Great Spirit. Truly. I love him with all my heart.
Ahh... the thread is over 2 years old, so a lot of the links are bad now. The Aussieshep is 14 now, so he doesn't quite move like that anymore. He had vestibular disease/vertigo a couple weeks ago, gave us a scare walking like a drunk and falling over for a week, but he's better now. How's Murph? 80 lbs? He's a monster.
Arthritis, not much can be done really. Walks every day though, makes the best of his outdoor activity every time we go out. Very quiet in the house, a very good boy...always has been. Lets the neighbors dogs know he's around, though. He's in pretty good shape though, for 11. People, who are drawn to him, think he is younger than his years. Some ask me if he is a wolfhound puppy, which is funny. He does look like one though, with a shorter muzzle. When people say he looks well cared for and healthy, it's the best compliment I could get. Tears you up, doesn't it, when they are ailing, and you don't know exactly what to do for them? The only thing wrong with dogs is they are here with us for far too short a time.
I think arthritis is inevitable for bigger dogs. Our AussiShep has arthritis and he's almost half the size of Murph. A pill a day and he does alright.
2 years old? I was here 2 years ago, and I don't remember this at all. I sure wouldn't have missed this if I knew about it. Anyway, great thread. Has anyone heard of this breed, Native American Indian dog? Almost extinct at one time, but was the breed that lived with indigenous Americans restored to a viable number. Awesome handsome and smart, I read. Anyone have a rare breed?