Soda-pop

ITA agree with RDM. I just wanted to add (and this may be unpopular) but please don't dump him off on someone else--particularly an animal shelter and make him someone else problem. In my opinion, a puppy with aggression issues is worse than adult with aggression issues because chances are, it's not a learned behavior but rather falls back on fundamental genetic temperament problems or a severe, severe lack of socialization. If you cannot, or do not want to put for the considerable time and effort forth to make him a safer dog, then put him to sleep. The world doesn't need another aggressive dog walking around and it's unfair to make him someone else's problem.

I always thought Laurae (Laur-Ray) was such a pretty name, LOL! Never occurred to me that it was Laura E! Soda-Pop is my dog's name. She came with it and I thought it was really cute and appropriate so I kept it. I got a couple of PM's when I first signed up asking it was from The Outsiders, which I confess, I've never seen! I should watch it. I think it's one of those essential pieces of the movie watcher's wardrobe.

If you have AVID, you have to have a form and mail it off and it's like $7. It's kind of a PITA. Also, a lot just plain aren't registered. They dogs are bought/adopted, whatever and they never bother to register the chip. The 80% is just my gross guestimate, btw. Not an official #. But I feel it's accurate of what I've experienced.

When we shelter folk scan your dog A.) We have good scanners. Most shelters have better/multiple scanners than the vets office because we scan so many animals. I'm not saying it's perfect, (it's not) but generally our scanners are good and most shelters have at least one truly universal reader. B.) When we get a chip most of us know what the number looks like for which company and we call them. If we were wrong, a lot of the time (most of the time!) the company will tell you who registers that particular chip. If they cannot, we are bound by law to track it down, so yes, we have to take the time to find the registry. The real problem comes with foreign registries. I had a cat with a Canadian Avid chip and no joke, it took me 30 full minutes to find who registered it. Even American Avid couldn't help (the company split to two separate companies) C.) There is actually a generic # and a website you can call (i can't recall it off the top of my head) that will tell you who the chip is registered with and will direct you to them. Chipping is a good backup, but a collar and id are the best front line. ETA: About 80% of the chips we find are registered to nothing or the people no longer reside at that address/phone number.

What kind of dog is it? Is it a type of border collie, a cross-bred dog, a type of aussie? I have no idea! I googled but I find different information. What is their general usefulness? Are they good practical working dogs? I'm just curious for curiosity's sake. Thanks.

only have the one, and she likes the IDEA of strangers (only women) but not so much the actual stranger-experience. She gets all wiggly and run around like a maniac but they can't touch her for a few minutes until she's decided they're cool or if the other dogs are around then she must be the one to get pet first. I think it's a nervous behavior. And men strangers = the debil in Soda's opinion. I think it's all a general lack of socialization.

yep! but only chows and 'pei's have ALL black/purple tongues and mouths. We got a dog at the shelter that I would have sworn was a pb black lab (maybe backyard bred) but he was a known mix between a lab and an chow (or something like that). I would have never guessed. Well, except he was aggressive, lol. (ETA: not that labs can't be aggressive, they can, it's just a little jaded shelter humor about chows.)

This. I don't yell at them but they know when I say "quiet" they'd better damn do it. It's one of the reasons I don't work in the dog section at work anymore--the barking drives me batty. It's stressful for the dogs, bad for the ears and stressful for the people but it doesn't seem to bother my coworkers so I'm the only one combating it, which really isn't that effective and makes me angrier that they are being so permissive and it's just a vicious cycle. Cats are so much quieter!

I got an awesome light up frisbee that we use at night. I've had it for a couple of weeks now and have used it 3-4 times. I have noticed that Soda has become much more interested in chasing the cars as they pass by as we walk home from playing at the park after a night-frisbee session. She has shown some interest before in the past but it was always fleeting and it's usually only large vehicles that make a lot of noise (semi's, buses, etc--and only at night). I would say she had previously wanted to chase them less than once every two months. Very infrequently and usually a "HEY! KNOCK IT OFF" worked. Well, today after playing with the light up frisbee she was much more focused on the cars. The first time I told her to knock it off and the second time I really got on her and grabbed her and got in her face (chasing cars is a big no-no, even though she's always on leash). Then I'll be danged if she didn't try it again, though a "HEY!" did snap her out if it. When I think back on the last time we played with it, she has shown interest in chasing cars but not like tonight. We used to have a light up ball and never had a problem but it flashed and the frisbee is a solid led light, though it does slowly change colors. Coincidence or anyone else have anything similar happen?

Anyone ever see Ghost World? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162346/ "I guess I just like Don Knotts" I guess I just like fetch. ETA: Since I'm in a movie quote kind of mood--Here's one for the opposing fetch side, courtesy of Mean Girls. "Gretchen: That is so fetch! Regina: Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen!" STOP TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN! lolol

I'm very sorry for your loss. I am glad that you were able to find someone to help mend Tucker's broken heart and rescue another while doing it and I wish you continued success in your agility and I'm sure your SO would be so very proud of you.

I think Soda and Cedar are sisters! LOL! Congrats! I know how excited I was!

two things have happened: A.) I nearly passed out B.) I got really mad that it's not working and starting blowing harder, which led to A.

does it fit in a chuck-it?

oh my goodness, I'm all teary. I'm glad he's getting his chance to live a real live life.

I have found that counter surfing only gets worse. My dog taught my ex roomies dog to counter surf and she's a pit/cattle dog mix so being naughty and willful is like, her MO. She's a beast now with counter surfing. Best to try to nip it in the bud. I (mostly) cured Cash by years of leaving 100% nothing edible where he could get it. Took a year or two but I didn't want to resort to an electric mat or anything. Probably could have crated him while gone but... what's done is done!

Soda is the only one of my three dogs that will "work to please" and even then, she'd really prefer a cookie. She does like completing tasks like penning sheep, where she can easily tell what needs to be done and work with me to do it. She is always excited after that. My other two (a malamute mix and a little black dog) would think I was simply insane to ask them to work for me or for praise alone. They would just walk away and give me the bird. I am not impressed by the trainer who can teach a border collie 150 behaviors. I'll be impressed by the trainer who can teach a chow chow 30.

I haven't read the whole shebang here but: If you've found yourself being more annoyed by her lately and it seems she has been getting more "annoying" then she may be amping up what she believe are people-pleasing behaviors to ingratiate herself to you.

I'm so very sorry. It will be a wonderful legacy.

i LOVE the product Tuf-Foot. I'm always pimping it out every time someone has paw pad issues but it really stopped LT's pads from getting shredded. When she was pretend-sheepdog she shredded 3 out of her 4 pads and kept injuring them on a rotating basis. I started using this and VOILA! no more shredded pads. She doesn't do anything anymore but it really really worked for us. I know someone with a malanois that had the same problem and she used Tuf-Foot with great success. http://www.tuffoot.com/

Soda is a back-talker. She's 4 y/o... and I suspect she'll keep on. Let's she's doing something obnoxious (pretty much everyday) and I need her to settle and I tell her go lay down and I hear "HurrrrooooRoooRoooROoo..." and she grumbles and lays down. If she's yipping for attention and I tell her to be quiet, again, "Hur Rooo Rooo ROOOO..." grumbles. It's pretty funny. Yesterday at work I took her into a meeting and she ran around like a maniac for about 5 minutes, then jumped on everyone THEN tried to steal some pictures and finally I told her to go lay down and I got some serious sass. THEN she tried to get up to run around again (she even got that sneaky look in her eye) and I caught her and told her she better not get up and to lay back down and I got ever more sass. She's hilarious.

Goodbye, Ute. You will not be missed. Happy Spay Day and I'm glad all went well! I'll weight a ute for you at work and let you know about how much it is. Jett's, what? 35 lbs? ETA: duh, n/m. 32.8. Got it.

I had a foster who had some serious arousal issues and when she would get "wound up" I'd slap one on her for about an hour and put her on a tie down. It helped. I've seen them used at doggie daycares for humping, barking, etc with a great deal of success--usually for about 15 minutes at a time. See, I'd use it for minor behavioral issues but never for major.

mine just stopped saying "no" to the various foster animals. I figure that's pretty good. I'm still working on the farm and other border collie but the power of bugging him about it every.single.day. will wear him out eventually. I'm a driven woman.

I'm so happy for you! Soda was a mess at the shelter. She wouldn't eat, just laid on the outer portion of her kennel and was super miserable. I got her home and she was really uncomfortable for a few days and then she started to warm up and she's a nuthead now. She's also neurotic about walking on the floor. It comes and goes. We're in a "I can't walk on the floor" phase right now, so I feel ya, but it's manageable. I also wanted to say that a dog can very easily pick up kennel cough despite being vaccinated. There a ton of "strains" and the vaccine doesn't cover all of them.