This GD dog!!!

[Raven]

Now that I have sworn off swearing on DU, I'll swear at this dog! This is the Newfoundland...she has swallowed a clock. If it is 6 am she has to eat because the food alarm went off. If it is noon, she has to eat and growls at me until I feed her. At 4:45 p.m. she starts it again. I could feed her all day long and she will still do this. God! These dogs are amazingly programmed...yesterday there was some blasting above me here...there was an alarm whistle and then the blast. The Newf went right under my desk and hid. Today there was another warning whistle and she went right under the desk...amazing that it took so little to program her! Why can't I program her to let me sleep past 6 in the am???

[FlaGranny]

1. It's obvious that she knows who's boss.

:-)

[Raven]

3. Well...yeah...no...I'm the boss...who am I kidding!

If you have never had the puss of a Newf right in your face at 5:55 am, just looking at you...very respectful...you haven't lived!

[MountainLaurel]

8. Ahhh, the subtle approach

The folks had a black lab mix who would stand in the dark six inches from my mother's face and stare at her until she opened her eyes, at which point he'd snuffle her with his nose. He loved to scare the crap out of her.

The pit bull, on the other hand, would walk across her to get off the bed.

[leftofthedial]

2. why do you have aGeneral Discussion dog?

erkkk! too much time on DU.

[patdem]

4. Get a small itty bitty dog you can control?

Newfoundlands are the type of dog I would LOVE...you wanna give him/her away?

[Raven]

5. Small dogs make me nervous.

This Newf is just a wonderful dog...a delight...you can't have her but I can tell you where to go to get a good one and I can tell you what to watch out for. My other dog, who is 13, is a big dog too...a black/lab collie...a "rescue dog"... the love of my life... but she will put her cold,wet nose right in the nape of my neck in the morning...she's very subtle!

[FlaGranny]

12. My dog has a unique way of begging for food.

She's so polite. She taps my knee very gently with her chin. She's an Eskie. My last doggie, a Norwich terrier would just claw your legs raw.

[patdem]

13. I lost my 'Poochy Woochy' about a year ago...a black lab/mix

what a WONDERFUL DOG...I never liked big dogs before Poochy Woochy...now my life is bereft without one!!! Where can I get a Newfoundland? I have resisted getting another dog...but I think I am about ready...I had my Poochy Woochy cremated and she rides with me in the car, because that was her VERY FAVORITE thing to do...ride in the car...and I would swear she examined what I did in order to drive the car so one day she too would be able to drive herself...I PRAY she is driving in another diminsion!!!

[blackcat77]

6. It's not the size of the dog

The most obnoxious dog I ever knew was my first wife's family's Chihuahua. The little b@stard would bite you out of spite and they'd just laugh about it. If it was sitting in a chair, they'd just let it. It was the boss and KNEW it...

OTOH, even a big dog can be taught that it isn't the alpha -- it just takes time and effort.

[DemExpat]

9. My little Jack Russell terrier

thought he was the boss when he was a puppy.....I had to learn quick to do some dominance/obedience training to get him to accept a lower place in the hierarchy!
:-)

DemEx

[DemExpat]

7. Obedience training to teach her who the boss is

will cure her of this dominance.....

Unless she is a puppy there is no real need to eat 3 times a day.

Good luck with her!
DemEx

[Raven]

11. OH GOD!You mean cut out a feeding???

It's 5:12 pm here...they are both looking at me with disgust...I am just a food puppet! I will feed them...they will inhale the food...then they will want a "bully stick"...I have created two monsters!

[DemExpat]

15. I guess you can't just leave dry food out all day for them....

.....right......??????:-)

DemEx

[primavera]

20. Sure, but listen to yourself

Every time they bully you for food, you give it to them. You're proving to them that their tactics work and all they have to do to get food when they want it is to come hassle you until you give it to them. Have you tried totally ignoring them and giving them no feedback whatsoever when they come begging? I managed to successfully break my dog of begging that way: every time he begged, he got no acknowledgement at all; when he laid down quietly and minded his own business, then he got food. It didn't take him long to figure out that he got food one way and not the other. You might give it a try.

[FlaGranny]

14. Well, the vets do say that some large dogs should not be fed

one large meal a day. It can give them volvulus.

http://www.barkbytes.com/medical/med0007.htm

[DemExpat]

17. But not on demand, though.....right?

:-)


I give my dog 3 small meals a day now that he is getting older, but always on my schedule.
Poor Raven, terrorized by these creatures! :-)

DemEx

[FlaGranny]

19. Yep, not on demand.

But these doggies are sure creatures of habit. I actually find cats more demanding than dogs, but maybe I've just been lucky with my dogs and unlucky with my cats. My last cat had to be fed by the teaspoon. She would not eat anything that had been sitting out more than 30 seconds or that she had taken more then a few bites of. Sometimes, she would eat if you stirred her food. If you didn't do it, she tormented you until you gave in. Forget dry food. If it wasn't absolutely fresh and wet, it did not get eaten. If she was hungry, she'd catch a rat and just eat the front end. Cats are fussy!

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Our smoke alarm went off the other day and Jessie (the wonder sheltie)

sat for about a minute then let out one small yelp. So much for her alerting us to a housefire in the middle of the night. I'll keep our batteries charged. For all that she looks like Lassie, I don't think she'll be warning us of any impending doom soon. She is an awesome back-yard, ankle breaking sized hole digger though.

[Raven]

16. As long as she looks big and barks big

that may be all that it takes for a watchdog. I don't think any of them are that good at alarms. My experience is that they hate loud noises and will hide rather than alert you. But my dogs would scare the hell out of you if you heard them barking but couldn't see their tails wagging! :-)

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. My next door neighbor has a Great Pyrenese/Golden Retreiver mix.

All the size of the GP with the puff ball attitude of a Retreiver puppy. Same thing, big bark-vase knocking over tail. A happy BIG dog is one of the cutest things on earth.