[at-l] OT - Man's best friend
pudscrawler at aol.com
pudscrawler at aol.com
Tue Feb 6 20:24:42 CST 2007
My Standard Poodles also are protected. And this isn't totally off trail because Claire (trailname GRIZ) has spent months on the trail with me.
They have an Invisible Fence which keeps them away from the road out front and allows them full run of about 1-1/2 acres of my place. Otherwise, their lives would be spent entirely indoors with me or in crates inside, waiting for me to return home.
They are like 2-year-olds, regardless of their training. They need someone who can anticipate the "what if's" that they will face if left on their own.
Still, even with their wonderful Invisible Fence (a company), when I'm showering or otherwise engaged so that I won't hear them if they are barking, I bring them in for the duration.
In return, I still have each of them, and they protect me as though I were a helpless child in return.
Kinnickinic
-----Original Message-----
From: jim.bullard at gmail.com
To: at-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 9:10 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] OT - Man's best friend
FWIW: I have two dogs. We had one get hit by a car about 10-12 years
ago and I've tried several ways to keep our dogs safe since. They
don't like being tied up, not even with one of those "trolley" things
(leash attached to a pulley that rides a long over head cable) and I
didn't like it much either. Too much bother when they wanted to go
out, I had to take them out & hook them to the leash & they had a
knack for getting the leash tangled up in stuff. One dog even took off
perpendicular to the cable in such a hurry one day that he yanked the
cable right out of the side of the house taking a piece of the house
with it. The chain-link "dog runs" are not only ill-named (no dog
except a chihuahua can "run" in an 8'X10' space), they are damned
expensive.
My solution was/is a couple of large rolls of farmer's field/stock
fence and a lot of cedar posts. I fenced in the bulk of my acre lot
and erected a self-closing gate that visitors must use to come into
the yard. Our dogs have free run of the yard (about 3/4ths of the
acre) which pleases them and me. When they want out, I open the door.
They only leave the yard when they are with me. No more dogs hit by
cars, they don't annoy neighbors or chase deer, etc.. And it cost no
more than an 8'X10' so-called "dog-run". They are happy and I'm happy.
BTW one of them is named "Gus" but he's a little blond mutt.
On 2/6/07, Rich kook <rich4hike at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This kinda off subject but I've seen some real "off subject" stuff up here
before...
>
> So I figure a decent stereotype for the general hiking community is a love for
dogs…
> (not dogs in shelters, not dogs that constantly bark, and especially not dogs
that take a dook near camp) By love, I mean the joy and companionship your dog
gives you: watching him run past right past the tennis ball, letting them lick
your ice-cream cone, or when you just know she's smiling at you…
> I guess it's fitting to write this on here seeing that I'm not on a dog-lover
list-serv.
>
> Anyways, I've had 2 dogs for around 7 years now. The older is a Yellow Lab
(Maggie) and the younger was a Retriever/Newfee mix (Guss). We live in the
boonies of rural North Georgia; hence, no fences, leashes, or muzzles on dogs in
the area, which is a risk the owner takes when letting his/her dogs run free,
but it's hard to deny the open acres to breeds such as these. With much time
and effort, we had them fairly well trained to not leave yard and to ALWAYS
listen, although they would wander from time to time but very rarely.
>
> After having both the dogs with me in and out at college (UGA), and seeing
them at home for 6-7 years, I departed to Washington D.C. this past August to
take a job – my dogs stayed home which was/is difficult; I can pick up a phone
or email friends and relatives but that's not so compatible with canines.
>
> At home during Thanksgiving, Guss went missing; he was in the yard warming his
black coat that afternoon, then we never saw him again. Our neighbors told us
their dog had been attacked either by a pack of dogs or coyotes and was real
banged up, but we never found Guss. I returned to D.C. in the middle of looking
for him/figuring out what happened. A few weeks later I flew back home to
surprise my mother to watch her Dance School perform the Nutcracker ballet. She
was thrilled and when I got into the car in Atlanta a little black fuzz-ball of
a pup jumped into my lap. We called him Jack.
>
> Jack was a mutt. A beautiful mix - curious but shy – black, fluffy rescue dog
who was found in a storm drain (apparently their owner ditched them!) with his 3
brothers and sisters. As Jack started growing, he reminded my Mother her Dance
School associates (she took him to work) more and more of our former black mix
Guss. He had Guss' personality, his looks, and interacted with humans the same
way. I had a great chance to get to know Jack over Christmas break when I took
my vacation, and I could see the resemblance as well. But even then I wasn't
sure if it was healthy to closely associate the two dogs - as if Jack were
replacing the memories of Guss, but I've had friends who simply keep buying
Collies or Black Labs, and even give them the same name. So I guess we let that
association happen. My question would be is that okay? Does anyone have a
similar story/imput that is positive to doing this? Or should we just get a new
breed and put the others in the
> past?
>
> This past month my mother and step-dad spent lots of time training Jack around
the yard, with people, not going to the road, and giving him a more freedom bit
by bit. Well strange things happen, and Mom was home yesterday morning by
herself and had let Jack outside with Maggie. Fifteen minutes later she hears
Maggie barking at the door (which doesn't happen unless someone pulls up the
driveway), she goes outside, Maggie takes off toward the road, and she leads my
mother to the roadside where Jack was lying. He must have been killed on impact
because of the small window of time and he didn't have any exposed marks.
> My question is still the same about association of dogs. The last thing we
are thinking about right now is getting another dog, but it will happen one day.
Perhaps we should have mourned Guss longer but the situation wasn't in our
hands. We took Jack in. I understand that life sometimes just isn't fair. I
couldn't imagine if this was a human situation, and I deeply apologize to anyone
who has been in that situation for writing this. My motive was not for others
to feel remorse, but to question a problem in which I have absolutely no Earthly
clue – in hopes of finding an answer.
>
> Thanks, it really felt great to get this off my chest and hopefully I figure
something out – I'm sorry for bugging ya'll.
> Rich Georgia à Maine 46 days.
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go
> with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started.
> http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail
> _______________________________________________
> AT-L Mailing List.
>
> Go here to unsubscribe or change your options:
>
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
>
--
Jim Bullard
http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/
_______________________________________________
AT-L Mailing List.
Go here to unsubscribe or change your options:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
More information about the at-l
mailing list