Dogs and Allergies

[fireheart]

Not all big dogs are high energy. Great Danes - for example - are perfect apartment dogs. While they are big, they just love moving slow and lazing about. Actually, working them out too much is bad for them because it puts a lot of stress on their joints that they can't handle, thanks to breeding for purity all that stuff.

So basically, look into the dog and what it was bred for and how it responds to not being in its bred for situation (for example, a herding dog not being on a farm where it needs to herd - THEY TEND TO HERD CHILDREN. Not kidding, it's HILARIOUS.)

Is it bad that I now want to see a video of that?

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Is it bad that I now want to see a video of that?

Ask and ye shall receive.

Puppy attempting

You can tell it's a herding attempt because they're trying to dictate where the children are going, when they stop and go again. Though the dogs don't really have a chance in these two videos, if you see one go after a group of young kids they can actually do it pretty successfully. XD

I've seen a Australian Shepard keep no less than 6 kids in line for upwards of 20 minutes.

[Seshat]

Herding dogs will attempt to herd adults, too. We had to train our darling dog not to nip at our ankles* because she was trying to herd us.


* One herding technique in some breeds is to - very gently - nip the ankles of the stock to encourage them to move in the desired direction. The 'nip' is often nothing more than a bump of the nose on the ankle, or - as our girl was doing - nudging the ankle with closed teeth.


But yes, working dogs WILL try to work. One reason I laugh (inside my head) at all the people who say how 'cruel' it is to make animals work.
No, no, it's not. Horses want to walk and run and jump fences and so forth; depending on the breed of horse and how encouraging/kind his rider is.
Dogs want to guide the blind, or listen for the deaf, or sniff out things, or herd animals. Again, if the dog's person is kind and encouraging and rewards the dog well, the dog is even happier with it.

Intelligent dogs get BORED when they don't have something to do. Bored bored bored bored bored. Working keeps them happy and interested.

[Andara Bledin]

Intelligent dogs get BORED when they don't have something to do. Bored bored bored bored bored. Working keeps them happy and interested.

And bored dogs are destructive and behave poorly.

My brother has dogs. He doesn't do anything with them to speak of. One of them has taken to pulling loose bits off our house as well as eating any plant he can reach. >_<

^-.-^

[Seshat]

Oh hell yes!

Whenever Vi (our dog) is bored, she starts misbehaving. Never anything serious, because we intervene before that can happen.

But a sure way to cure her misbehaviour is to give her something to do. Anything. Play with her, do obedience lessons with her, give her a puzzle-meal, give her a new toy. Engage her mind, and she settles right down. She usually takes a nap after the intellect-challenging whatever, too. Or sits quietly with one of her pack.

[Bardmaiden]

Intelligent dogs get BORED when they don't have something to do. Bored bored bored bored bored. Working keeps them happy and interested.

Our old dog (long crossed the rainbow bridge) who was a poodle, taught himself without us doing any training to be a hearing dog for my grandfather who was loosing his hearing and tended not to notice the door or the phone ringing. So he would sit at my Grandfathers feet and bark at him then go and bark at whatever he needed to pay attention to and only with my grandad as he realised the rest of the family didn't need it.

He used to jump up and say hello to anybody who walked through the door, except once when he met our family friend who is in a wheelchair he just walked up to her and put his head in her lap and then sat beside her and made friends. She had been so nervious about meeting him as dogs tended to jump up at her and push the chair.

[Andara Bledin]

Poodles are a rather smart breed. They get a bad rap because the smaller varieties have been over-bred (most of the ones I've encountered have digestive issues) and they often have small dog lack-of-training issues, which makes people think they're stupid when they're just confused about where they rank in the pack hierarchy.

^-.-^

[Seshat]

Our old dog (long crossed the rainbow bridge) who was a poodle, taught himself without us doing any training to be a hearing dog for my grandfather who was loosing his hearing and tended not to notice the door or the phone ringing.

Colour me totally unsurprised. Impressed, but unsurprised.

As most of you know, my best friend A is schizoaffective. Vi (our dog) attached herself to A, and will sit with her during her depressions, and give her something to do - encourage her to play - during her manias. She doesn't do it the other way around!
Vi is also sensitive to my pain, and often sits with me during days when I'm in an unusual level of pain.

And yes, she has trouble when both A and I need her.

[Akasa]

They train standard poodles as guide dogs for those who are allergic to dog dander. Just saying.

[PepperElf]

you might also want to ask the vet - or a groomer too! - for advice on what to do with a dog to minimize allergic reactions.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery...307037,00.html
nice ideas there really.

they suggest things like minimizing contact, not letting the pet on the furniture, grooming etc

They train standard poodles as guide dogs for those who are allergic to dog dander. Just saying.

Good point. IIRC poodles don't shed. Technically they don't have "fur"... it's 'wool'. Some call it hair though. But it doesn't shed; it just grows like a sheep's would.



although... I'm not sure you'd want to card that stuff into yarn.

[Bardmaiden]

although... I'm not sure you'd want to card that stuff into yarn.

Somebody did with our dogs wool, was a bit rough though. The lady used to visit the museam we lived in at the time and did carding demonstrations.

[Andara Bledin]

There are many different sites devoted to poodles, and pages within them devoted to the spinning of their wool as well as other uses.

In fact, here's a commentary one, at Poodle Breed Guide, with links.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

o wow.

so technically you can make a dog sweater ... that's really a DOG sweater.

[wolfie]

so technically you can make a dog sweater ... that's really a DOG sweater.

Cowichan (native tribe on the west coast) sweaters are traditionally made from dog hair.

[Seshat]

Any fibre that's sufficiently long can be spun and used for something.