Our Pets, Best friends and Companions

[Hangtime]

Originally posted by LLv34 Jarsci
Nice pics!

Hawklore: that pic with hat on is outstanding..

Hangtime: tell the whole story about the stash , I found that part pretty amusing! (no doubt your daughter won´t)

Westies were bred as 'ratters' and badger dogs.. around the manor house, kept the rodents down.. in the field; fierce lil dogs that'll go right down the hole after badgers and wolverines. I suspect they were over bred for ferocity.. the damn things know no fear and routinely get killed by larger dogs because they just throw themselves in a wild frenzy at any dog bigger than them. When you walk 'em it's best to have 'em on a harness because they will shuck off a collar leash in a heartbeat to get at a squirrel, cat or larger dog. OTOH, they are quite freindly and sociable with people, demanding of 'pet me' attention, very loyal, gentle and friendly towards larger humans. Not so safe around toddlers unless the toddler is 'in the pack' and accepted by the dog... then they will attack any threat to the child in a flash.

They seem to have poor eyesight and rely on scent quite a bit... new 'things' are of intrest; they get an extended sniff. If it's in some olafactory range that smells like crap they 'roll' in it. They especilly like to cover themselves in carrion stench.

One evening when she was about 15 years old my daughter came home and headed straight for her room. That wasn't unusual.. what was, was the dogs reaction when she walked by. the dog 'alerted', then took off after her. After scratching and whining at the kids door she let the dog into her room... but went up the hall to use the bathroom. While my kid was in the bathroom, the dog fished the sack of 'stink weed' my kid had apparently just scored outta her purse, shredded the baggie and was rolling in it furiously when my kid got back to her room.. the Kid reacted to the sight of her super-duper expensive weed scattered on the rug with the dog inverted on top of it with a high pitched shriek and made a move to recover what was left of the sack.

Well, the commotion got OUR attention, we exploded off the couch just in time to catch sight of this goofy lill dog bolting down the hall; making the turn onto the linolium kitchen floor with her lil legs scrabbling for traction with the remanants of the baggie hanging in ther teeth, heading for the doggie door to the back yard... closely purused by my kid with a look of pure murder on her face.

We interceeded on behalf of the dog.. which was a good thing for the kid; I'm pretty sure she woulda dislocated both shoulders trying to go through that doggie door after the dog. After the interrogation, extended search and confiscation of parpenalia, grounding, subsequent battle with my wife, scream fight with my kid and accociated tribulations accociated with catching a rebelious kid red-handed I went looking for the dog. She was curled up in her dog-bed out back; smelling like skunk weed and pretty obviously happily stoned.

I got my first smile of the night.

"goooooooood dog." (wag of tail, lick of hand) "time fer a bath, burn out. otherwise, the kid will try to roll yah up and smoke yah." (ears drop at word 'bath')

Roxies up to 14 now.. not getting around too good. I fear this is her last year; she's got a collapsing trachea; has trouble breathing. Soon, we will go for the last ride together. I'm not looking forward to it.

[x0847Marine]

Here's the little kitty we got from the Shelter:

[CavPuke]

Charley (Bouvier Des Flandres) and Zoe "The Circus Dog" (Irish Setter).  Charley is 6 months old and Zoe is 7 years young.  Both great pups, love any and all people, plus Irish Setters are great bird dogs.

[xrtoronto]

Originally posted by Mr Big
Nice, Toad. I'd bet none of them ever bit your face of too.

Nuke what were the circumstances when Audry bit your face off?

[Hangtime]

If you blow gently in a westies face, they'll snap at you. My daughter made it a game.. lean over the dog, blow on her mussle or ears, *SNAP*

"Kid, that dog'll bite yah. She's telling you to keep yer face outta her face. Don't do that!"

(blow)

(chomp)

(scream, bit lip)

"Told yah. Smarten up, dummy."

It's been my experience that eyeball to eyeball close proximity 'face time' with a dog can be dangerous... if they show the propensity to defend that space, stay the hell outta it. That means if it's 'snappy' when yah try and 'kiss' it.. don't try to kiss it. Most dogs just don't dig 'kisses'.

[capt. apathy]

Originally posted by xrtoronto
Most people have a love of animals; Many have dogs and cats as family pets. Back in 1981 I was introduced to a friends pets and shortly thereafter I bought myself a bird. Her name is Chiquita; She's native to Australia but I bought her as a baby who had been hand raised here in Canada.
In 25 years she has become a source of extreme pride and together we have forged a bond like no other I have known.

I thought it might be nice to see who we have as our household pets and to share some stories.




The above picture of Chiquita was taken approximately a year ago. For about the last 15 years she has a slice of Eggo waffle toasted, with whip cream on it (and strawberries when I have them) for breakfast. If I don't have the Eggo's she will voice her displeasure until she receives her regular breakfast.
She also, like most birds, gets up at first light. At that point she comes out of her covered cage and walks down the hall and climbs into my bed and snuggles up beside me until I get up.
I don't think I would recommend getting a large bird because you have to be prepared to spend allot of time with them. To do otherwise would be cruel. She is very bright and loves people. She has never shown even the slightest bit of ill temperment.
The rest of her daily food in supplement to her dishes of seed mixture is really anything that is prepared for dinner. She likes pasta, meat (which was a surprise), french fries and her favourite desert is sliced banana.

Anyway, if you have a pic of your pet, post it and let us see???

nice too see I'm not the only one with a cockatoo for a friend.

I've had Toby for a bit over a year now.  he's going on 5 years old.  I got him from some friends of ours who weren't adequately prepared for the demands of raising him past the baby stage.

his bad behavior went away almost immediately once he arrived here.  all he needed was the proper amount of attention and some basic training (to get him used to obeying and to challenge his busy mind.

he learns faster than any dog I've ever had.  it took about 2 days to potty train him.  he has a litter box under his cage, if he can't make it to that he'll find a garbage can or get my attention to let him outside.  if we're riding in the car and I don't notice him trying to get my attention, he'll reach up and tug on my hair.  I just pull over, hold him out the window, he drops his payload and we're moving again.  he's only pooped on one person since I've had him (my daughters boyfriend), but it was more of a statement than an accident.

when the weather is decent enough he goes everywhere with me (except the grocery store and restaurants).  he loves to ride on shopping carts and tell the clerks 'hello' and 'thank you'.

his favorite thing is ridding in the car when it goes faster than he can fly on his own.  he'll face forward, looking out the wind shield, and open his wings and play like he's soaring down the freeway at 60mph.  the faster you go the more excited he gets.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Hangtime
If you blow gently in a westies face, they'll snap at you. My daughter made it a game.. lean over the dog, blow on her mussle or ears, *SNAP*

"Kid, that dog'll bite yah. She's telling you to keep yer face outta her face. Don't do that!"

(blow)

(chomp)

(scream, bit lip)

"Told yah. Smarten up, dummy."

It's been my experience that eyeball to eyeball close proximity 'face time' with a dog can be dangerous... if they show the propensity to defend that space, stay the hell outta it. That means if it's 'snappy' when yah try and 'kiss' it.. don't try to kiss it. Most dogs just don't dig 'kisses'.

I'm not a fan of most dogs myself.  I've had 2 seperate dogs that tried to kill me.  I'm not exhaggerating on that, I barely got away each time.  Add ontop of that many more dogs that only wanted to attack me...

[Hangtime]

Never met a dog that didn't like me after I introduced myself. Some were 'mean' by our standards, most not. None of them were a threat... but thats because I had my dog attack crisis when I was about 8 years old.. and I kicked its ass.  I'm convinced that they know if yer rattled, startled or scared... seems to put 'em on the offensive. Dogs just don't scare me.

Big cats scare me.

[lasersailor184]

Well, your dog scare crisis didn't happen with a Half German Shephard, Half Tundra Wolf breed when you were 10 and the dog still had 200 pounds on you.

[Hangtime]

actually, it was a siberian husky. he mighta had a few pounds on me. I wound up with stitches and the dog wound up in quarantine.

I was running through the dogs yard, yelling like an 'indian' at the same time.. the dog rushed off the porch and attacked from behind. Silently.  When the dog bit me (right on the left bellybutton cheek) I freaked and fought back... the dog stopped his 'instinct' attack instantly and retreated to his porch. The dog was normally a tolerant dog, but not well trusted around young children tho after that.

He got to be pals with my dog.. the three of us used to deliver papers together a few years later.

[Mr Big]

Originally posted by xrtoronto
Nuke what were the circumstances when Audry bit your face off?

basically she "snapped" at me because I was in her face, with my face when another dog came up behind her and scared her.

She's a great dog.

Chows pretty much have the personality of a cat. You should treat a Chow almost like a cat, and I fugged up.