wyrddogs

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soggy

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man it´s so easy to talk shit about how other people "don´t train their dogs" if you never worked with a hard to train dog

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We have weave poles!!

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I imprinted on GSDs at age five and spent my childhood fantasizing about the GSDs I was going to own (a dog named Roger and a bitch named Amara) and then jumped ship for malinois in college when my mentor invited me to her French ring club. Then Malinois People drove me off and I fell sideways into tervuren. Perfect breed. 10/10 no notes.

I was a Small Dog Hater until my late twenties when I got a job at a boarding kennel. I was forcefully corrected by the small dogs there. I fell particularly in love with the schipperke and dachshunds because they were little bastards in the way that I like. I didn't want to go dachs originally because I thought their back issues meant they needed to be treated with kid gloves, then I met my friend's hunting dachshund and I joined the cult. I now own that dog's nephew. Perfect breed. 10/10 no notes.

There are plenty of breeds that I think I would do well with but don't want to own. I don't want a Dutchie because I don't like brindle. GSDs are too big. Beauceron are not enough dog. Border collies are too border collie soft. Terriers aren't hound-y enough. Hounds aren't terrier-y enough. Schipperke are too inconsistent in biddability and drive. I think on paper I'd do well with a GSP but in reality I'd jump out a window in less than 24 hours. There have been some sport mixes I've liked but they are so inconsistent.

I feel like I might end up with a basset of some flavor someday. Just as a pet. Someday when I have a much larger car.

Like Jay, I have a Texture Thing, but mine is wirehair. Cannot do it. Bad touch.

Temperament-wise, I don't jive well with soft, melty dogs. So that nixes a lot of herders and gundogs. I also don't like neurotic behaviors-- I love high energy, I love high drive, I do not like neurotic-- so that is some more herders, some terriers, and some gundogs.

Dogblr question: what drew you to the breed(s) you have? Are there other breeds that would fit just as well? Are there breeds that are everything you DON'T want in a dog?

[wyrddogs]

Ball number 8

By Luisa Albert

@luisa_albert_artist on Instagram

Traditional art, oils

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that's my childhood dream dog, right there

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KERMIT

Enthusiasm and stamina in nosework. More two-hide searches. Weekly "we love the glove" stuff to prep for tracking training this winter. Weight pull training. Did our first solo (aka just me, no roommate to talk me through) collection practice.

ZAKU

Alerts and stamina in nosework. Agility-- finishing the weave poles, weekly set point work. I need to do some remedial 2o2o work this week. Weight pull training.

LUCI

Alerts and precision in nosework. Did some place work with her today to see where roommate has her in training and she's doing fantastic.

sooo… what have you guys been working on with your dogs lately 👀?

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We have decided his name is Boomer

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It's come to no surprise that Luna has a better recall in the yard than Alice does. Attention is one of Luna's favorite rewards. Alice finds sniffing new smells to be more rewarding. But having a fenced in yard will help us work on that more. No pictures of Alice in the yard yet. They were all a blurry mess because she didn't stop sniffing long 😂.

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Caved and bought my own paddleboard. Took it out for the first time with friends and it was worth every penny.

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napping

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““I once worked with a fabulous specimen of a dog, from a breed and bloodline where they are intended to bite. And they do, well. This dog was selected for a job where the animal is required to be gentle and kind to people. This dog was given great training, mastered the complex tasks of the work, yet was unable to be kind and gentle to people. Genetics took over, and bites were given instead of kisses. I was asked to assess if we could make the dog become sweet and gentle, rather than wanting to bite. My answer was ‘Yes, however, one day when the environment is more stimulating, his ancestors will override your training and he will go in and bite “. This dog was euthanized. A totally healthy, nice dog, who was bred to bite, was euthanized because he did what he was bred for. This case still haunts me. If you want Cujo, get Cujo. If you want Lassie, get Lassie. But don’t be so naive that you think because Cujo is sold from “Kissing Lines” that you can turn him into Lassie. You might be able to 9/10 times, but the one time he does what his ancestors tell him to do, he will be a dead dog. A fabulous, young, healthy spirit is dead for being a perfect specimen of their breed. We, as humans, can be so unfair to dogs.” Monique Anstee Victoria, BCwww.naughtydogge.com”

— So this is important and applicable to a lot of things we’ve talked about here. More recently, a breeder I know is trying to get her Akbash pup back after a novice owner decided he wanted to turn the pup into a service dog, who is extremely stressed and overstimulated… Its not that they’re incapable of doing a different job, but like it says above… don’t think you can so easily tun Cujo into Lassie. (via fleshcircus)

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Reminder that health testing and breeding to avoid inherited diseases can’t be done effectively unless breeders have as much health information as possible.

If you have a well-bred dog please please please let your breeder know as soon as possible* if something like epilepsy, allergies, IBD, or other health issues come up. Not only can they usually offer support, but it can definitely impact and inform their breeding decisions for siblings or other related dogs.

It sucks when these things come out after the fact when knowing them before may have changed what risks were taken.

(*obvs if you are no contact with your breeder you don’t have to break that. But if you’re on ok terms with any littermates or relatives pls reach out to them instead)

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Weight pull practice last night.

I was going to leave Kermie home because vaccinations take him out, but he insisted on coming. Then I was just going to let him hang out but he insisted on participating. He did two pulls and ran out of gas. I honestly should have held firm and just said no, but this dog is very persuasive about being included.

Zaku did pulls at 370, 410, and 450 pounds (168, 186, 204 kg), then went back down to 370. He demonstrated to me that he clearly understands the game now.

He was harnessed, sat down while my friend hooked him up, and then when I said, "Ready? Let's pull!" he threw his shoulders forward and hauled ass. Extremely good pulling form with lots of enthusiasm. He seems to really enjoy it. The hot dogs and kisses aren't bad, either.

If we can get more people to stay until the end of practice, I want to have strangers hook him up instead of always using someone he knows. We've had newcomers try out the lower weights and then leave before we get to the higher weights. Which is understandable, but makes my training difficult. (And we know the world revolves around me.) XD

There's a weight pull trial late this year that my friend and I plan to go to. My goal is to have him pulling at least 510 pounds (231 kg) by then so his trial pull will be super easy for him.

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found this really cool article this morning about the history of the use of dogs to oppress BIPOC and particularly the use of the breed referred to variously as slave hounds and Cuban bloodhounds at the time, which was deliberately selected and trained as a weapon of terror. it's a horrifying history, but I think it's worth reading especially for American dog people as we face down a summer of police brutality that will come with the inevitable use of police dogs to perform the same terrorizing function—albeit with more in the way of fine grained, if often theoretical, control over the dog.

I still need to dig out sources to document the relationship between the Cuban Bloodhound and today's Fila Brasilero, because they are strong influences indeed. I am always thinking: what is the ethical underpinning of making the choice to preserve these dogs for the present day? Would it be better or worse to acknowledge their well documented history of colonial violence? We often keep dogs to preserve the parts of our culture and history we want to remember: what role does that play in the case of such a blood soaked, painful history of colonial terror?

Is the rebrand enough to justify keeping the dogs? How about breeds with Cuban bloodhound influence without being the modern form of the strain, such as Rhodesian Ridgebacks? How do the stories we tell about how dogs came to be help us form narratives about our own history?

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Boys have gotten some vaccine boosters, and Zaku visited my new vet for the first time. It's wild how visiting a vet office that offers reproductive services differs from a vet aimed solely at pet folks. The staff assumes a much higher amount of competency from me, and they don't push back or comment on some of my management choices (eg. keeping the boys intact) the way that the vet offices aimed at pet clientele have.

I mentioned that Zaku is thin right now because of Le Horny and she just nodded in sympathy. I know that Dr C at my previous office would have lectured me on proper nutrition.

The two big things that I'm noting from this visit are,

I told her about the inescapable diarrhea death spiral the house is caught in, and she told me that she and her colleagues are having an unusually large volume of clients with the shits. She also told me that this diarrhea has been resistant to the normal remedies. So it's not just us! I told her I'm currently giving Boyo some dewormer just in case and she was like yeah, might as well try that.

New vet was super confident around Zaku and excellent at handling him. He got a bit upset while being stabbed so I held his collar and shoved my can of wet food in his face, and she didn't even flinch. Just worked with what we had and got the job done. At my previous office, Dr S was visibly afraid of Zaku, and his fearful, halting movements, made Zaku go, "wtf are you doing?", which scared Dr S more. I talked with new doctor about it and she was like, yeah, that would set a dog like this off. She loved on him, which he enjoyed very much.

So it was a good visit. I feel very comfortable taking the boys here from now on. Just sucks ass that it's a longer drive with more traffic than my previous place. And there's a fuckton of construction going on, which makes the drive longer. Oy vey.

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(This is wyrddogs) I hope you feel better soon! For distraction: What made you choose TFT? My friend started with TFTs and currently owns mini RTs. She adores both breeds.

Hi! I'll be honest, there were three breeds that met my needs in a tiny dog, and TFT was the choice of the three mostly for convenience. I'm good friends with a reputable breeder who happened to have the perfect fit available, and here we are!

I needed the terrier spirit and athleticism, enough biddability for a fun sport/farm dog, and a small enough size that the dog would be safe with the ferret(s). Toy Manchesters and TFTs were my top two choices, and I was also open to an AHT. Fiver just came up at the right time from the right place, but I can't sing the praises of the breed loud enough after living with him.