A sad, constant bid for attention

[SlaveNoMore]

Sidd Finch
Agreed. Like I said -- OG is Ice-T's only good album. But, it is really good, IMO.

FWIW, Body Count was totally awesome at the first Lollapalooza.

Only outdone (IMHO) by the Rollins Band*.


*Another sell-out shill

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

[Paisley]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
FWIW, Body Count was totally awesome at the first Lollapalooza.

Only outdone (IMHO) by the Rollins Band*.


*Another sell-out shill

Was there. Loved it. And Henry Rollins is hotttttttt.

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

Not that I am complaining, but does this count as a hot girl. The grill on top of this might be brutal, for example. Bilmore?

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
I love Newfies. They are the best dogs ever.

2. We had one when I was a teenager. A big, smart, very sweet-tempered dog. They're kind of like St. Bernards used to be before they got all popular and over-bred and retarded and shit. And I know from what I speak, since we had both breeds at one time or another when I was growing up.

I miss ol' Bear. *sniff*

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by spookyfish
2. We had one when I was a teenager. A big, smart, very sweet-tempered dog. They're kind of like St. Bernards used to be before they got all popular and over-bred and retarded and shit. And I know from what I speak, since we had both breeds at one time or another when I was growing up.

I miss ol' Bear. *sniff*

My mom raised (and showed) newfs when I was a kid. I have a particular appreciation for Best in Show after that experience. Dog show people are nuts.

They are very sweet dogs (and adorable puppies!) but they sure produce buckets and buckets of drool.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
How many of them have been caught dead in a Navigator?

As an aside, I live 3 blocks away from where Biggie was murdered. In a SUV.

Near La Brea tarpits? Late nights, when you've been drinking, do you guys ever sneak and go in knee-deep? you know, for the rush of seeing if you can get out.

[nononono]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Obviously, the biggest issue is whether or not you want to put effort into rehabilitation. It's the all of the behavior in the aggregate, including the bite, that matters.

Your dog sounds remarkably like my sister's dog, and it took her years to get to the point where he understands that she is God. (Which isn't to say that he won't take every and any opportunity to steal food. He's a lab, it's what they do.) She even ended up having to report her own dog for biting her when she ended up getting stitches after a try to pull the stick out of his mouth and get him to pay attention to her incident. He went to gun school when he was a puppy, and the trainer said that Holden was the first dog he'd ever had to put a shock collar on. He's nine now, and a lot of the behavior problems have sort of mellowed out of him, but the vigilant training also is an important part of it.

I rather like Holden, so I'm going to be biased towards trying to change the behavior than taking drastic steps. But if you absolutely do not think that you can do it, start looking for an alternative.

Some people like the Dog Whisperer. His methods may or may not work with your breed. (They're not great for pulik, but then pulik are a pretty special breed. Again, bias.) It sounds like your dog desperately needs to know who the alpha is in his house. I would talk to other owners of your breed and see if they have suggestions that are particularly helpful with this particular breed. Talk to trainers in the area and explain what happened. Talk to more than one to get a feel for whether or not they can handle the dog and whether the advice you're getting is consistent. I know a dog that has gone to Texas A&M here to work with a behavioralist there, and he ended up on Zoloft for awhile. It helped calm his neuroses down quite a bit.

And then, if you decide to give it a go, you'll have to start working with him diligently and consistently. And every member of the family should be aware of the rules so training isn't undermined. (For example, my father is notorious for feeding dogs at the table, even though none of them are supposed to be fed there. He claims they look hungry and refuses to accept the simple fact that there is no such thing as a sated Labrador retriever.)

I'm a member of a puli listserv on yahoo groups, and I'm pretty sure that most breeds have similar fan clubs set up all around the internet. (Some of the discussions are boring things about showing the dogs. But there's a lot of practical advice there on pretty much everything having to do with that breed, and the archives are useful for past discussions.) The nice thing about the listservs is that you might also be able to find a champion for the breed, familiar with that type of dog that would be willing to take on a problem dog if you ultimately decide that you can't handle him.

My dog's breed is routinely described as "not for everyone." And like an idiot, when we chose the puppy, we (I) picked this alpha pup, pick of the litter, instead of his less-beautiful-but-totally-sweet brother. In terms of alphaness, yes, with him and with this breed, it is a constant issue. I am the closest thing to an alpha figure (my ex- is completely inconsistent with him, which set the stage at an early age for the dog not to understand that no is always no) , and he (again a breed characteristic) does not hesitate at times to ignore me (they have an amazing thing of just standing nearby and looking the other way - it's so rude). He does not respond well to physical aggression, and I think the events of the evening leading up to this (he had been in trouble earlier and handled, which is never the right approach with him) probably set the stage. The only way to keep him behaving is to be the calm alpha, no-nonsense, but no raised voices or physical encounters. I'm not perfect at this, especially at the end of a long day, a stressful week, with two other needy things of my own underfoot. No excuse, just reality. He's been on drugs before, which didn't have a great effect, but I may try them again, after talking to a trainer.

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally posted by nononono
My dog's breed is routinely described as "not for everyone." And like an idiot, when we chose the puppy, we (I) picked this alpha pup, pick of the litter, instead of his less-beautiful-but-totally-sweet brother. In terms of alphaness, yes, with him and with this breed, it is a constant issue. I am the closest thing to an alpha figure (my ex- is completely inconsistent with him, which set the stage at an early age for the dog not to understand that no is always no) , and he (again a breed characteristic) does not hesitate at times to ignore me (they have an amazing thing of just standing nearby and looking the other way - it's so rude). He does not respond well to physical aggression, and I think the events of the evening leading up to this (he had been in trouble earlier and handled, which is never the right approach with him) probably set the stage. The only way to keep him behaving is to be the calm alpha, no-nonsense, but no raised voices or physical encounters. I'm not perfect at this, especially at the end of a long day, a stressful week, with two other needy things of my own underfoot. No excuse, just reality. He's been on drugs before, which didn't have a great effect, but I may try them again, after talking to a trainer.

About six years ago, my then-husband brought home a dog that he had seen injured while racing. In fact, he carried her off the track, to the orthopedic surgeon's office, where we spent a small fortune on surgery and rehabilitation.

Problem was, we already had two retired racers at home already. And we'd already had a pretty established pack order going on.

Within 2 weeks of bringing the new dog into our house, she made everyone of us bleed at one point or another. She and our other (alpha-ish) female really went at it, in a way that was actually pretty scary. Our male dog got bitten once and let it be known that he'd stay out of her way. She bit my then-husband while he tried to rescue her from some metal grillwork she'd gotten stuck in. Me, she bit a couple of times for really no apparent reason.

I remember sitting on the couch with then-husband and having a discussion with him that basically went "Well, if we can't make her a pet, no one can. So the choices are, figure out how to make her a pet or put her down."*

I'm happy to say that she's lying at my feet at the moment, happily snoring away. (I am less happy to report that she is also farting up a storm.)

Some of it was dogged (heh!) determination to make it work. Some of it was stupidity. You've gotten pretty good advice here. Don't be afraid to ask breed-specific listservs for advice. My dog spent a fair amount of time in a crate and in a muzzle at first. It was a way to moderate her temper and her propensity to bite when she got frightened or overwhelmed.

I will say she is mosly a love now, except for every once in a while when she will bark at me or show me her teeth. She'll instantly be remorseful, and there is no question who is in charge in this house. But every now and then, she does slip.

Still, she's a good dog. And I'm not sorry I put in the work to make her part of my family.

*I am not suggesting that we were model dog owners, or the only dog owners who knew what they were doing. But we already had 2 of these dogs, and were really involved in breed rescue and knew a lot about the dogs (both ours and the breed in general). At the time, it seemed like if people like us couldn't make it work, foisting her on someone else would have been unfair. At best.

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

I think this could be ABBA.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
When did you start ignoring me?

I'm not ignoring you. I'm slavishly imitating you.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Paisley
This is an excellent recommendation! However, that is exactly what I have requested as my next gift. Would it be bad form to give him one and then usurp it?

If he likes to grill, he'd probably like a smoker. I recommend the Bradley or the Cookshack. Bradley has a new digital control smoker that I would like very much.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
no. it's sort of a twin to my post, except Shifter is attracted to old chubby guys (hi wonk).

I can only assume your parenthetical here means that you, too, are attracted to old chubby guys, but (i) it's my birthday not yours, and (ii) I already told you I like you, but I don't like you like you.

[Paisley]

Originally posted by taxwonk
If he likes to grill, he'd probably like a smoker. I recommend the Bradley or the Cookshack. Bradley has a new digital control smoker that I would like very much.

That is a wonderful idea! Thank you!

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by Paisley
I know not of this thing of which you speak. Is this the XBox thing I just found on Google?

An xBox would be a good gift. I certainly liked opening mine, except now my wife is addicted to Vice City.