Let's See Your Dogs!!

HAHA sounds like a handful...
But must be SO worth it every time those blue eyes lock onto yours..
Not to mention the goggles.. LOL

 

ever since people wanted to own MWDs, ive been seeing a trend of ALOT of 6 month old MALs and Dutchies up for sale, because people realize that they aren't companion animals. they require absolute attention, as if they are always going to be children. At least for the first 6 years on average. They are a lot of work, but its rewarding in its own way. The Dutchie and Mal are what the GSD was about 40 years ago, until people ruined the breed. They are overbred, plain and simple. They get heavy, which has caused them to suffer from hip and elbow issues. Most are great companion animals. But it would take extreme breeding control to get them back to where they used to be.

 

Check with the local tennis clubs. Mine gives me garbage bags jammed with older balls.

 

Any time dogs are bred for a look rather than characteristics, it's not good for the dog. I don't hunt, but I always buy my Labs from hunting breeder's. They are generally looking to improve the line, or breed for character traits rather than body type or what the head or nose might look like.

 

that last part of no over breeding is one of the reasons why I got this dog. People don't realize that this breed also has mal traits, as they used mals to help bring this breed back from destruction.

there are also LOTS of different pedigrees associated with this breed. And some people still breed mals with them and get fci certs.

 

I think every dog has his/her own tendencies and skills. What Boomer destroys another may never even damage.

My pup, ok so he's 5 never mind that, is a very aggressive chewer. I think it comes more from the Catahoula side. He can skin, pop, and shred a tennis ball in 5 minutes or less.

Kong toys crumble in a very short time, an hour or less for most Kong rubber toys. Fabric types vary depending on construction. We tried everything we could find to keep his chewing needs "fetish" filled. Even hunting trainers fell before his chew.His last pig femur last about a week and a half, including the obligatory day or two of proudly showing it to anyone/thing that might not have seen it previously.

We found Go-dog-go brand toys seem to old his interest for a week or better before they bow to the tooth. I think this may be a as much a factor of their "coolness" as the special fabric of which they are made. This is after all the same dog that will carry around a bone or cookie for days every where he goes in the house. He was trained to and does keep all outside toys/treats/ outside and inside stuff inside. He seems almost as OCD as his accountant parents.

He also has Chuck-it brand fetch balls, the glow in the dark version. He is on his second set, I keep 3 on hand. I am not including the 2 or 3 that were lost due to his human throwing them over a fence or getting it magically caught high in a tree. He has has hours to play with and chew them on his own. I think he chooses not to destroy these because they are the fun time toys with Dad.

 

This is my black lab Bruce! He passed a couple weeks ago, but, the dude still lives on in spirit!

 

This is Jersey (left) and Buddy (right).

 

Sorry to hear that. Beautiful dog.

 

Thank you, he was doing what he loved when it came to end tho. No better way to go.

 

Have you tried supplementing his diet with raw meat? Fed in chunks large enough he won't try to just swallow them. That will give him something very natural to chew on. Chicken leg quarters, bone and all, fed raw work well for us. Raw chicken bones are just fine to feed to dogs. It's the cooked ones that are bad. Actually any cooked bones are potentially harmful. Chicken leg quarters purchased in bulk are less expensive than most brands of dog food.

 

These last forever. $7. My current dog chews on this for at least an hour a day. Took a little over a year before I replaced it because it was getting too small. His teeth have zero tarter also. It keeps them perfectly clean. As the pieces shred, they clean the teeth.

 

That is one adorable pup!

 

Heres mine. This is her back when she was a pup, her name is Luna and she's 2 now. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

This is her now.

 

My mal (again) Mishka. She is a lot like me...lol. Small circle of "friends & loved ones", plays all the damn time (which is why we got her), and doesn't take shit from anyone. She discovered fire Saturday. Had to keep telling her to back off, until she finally felt the warmth to HOT. Then she just did this the rest of the time. Love her to bits.

Side note: I guess you can kinda see the wife's new puppy on the left (a little too dark and facing the wrong way...she wasn't the target of this photo). I'll have to post her up when I grab a shot of her. That one came to us by chance the day after we put down Pongo (our 15+ yo. lab) last month. Good therapy for the wife, as he was a damn good boy, and we were pretty broken up when we put him down.

 

Most dogs require a shit ton of maintenance and people don’t get it. My first lab was a comeback to the breeder because he was out of control. Training and exercise solved that. Same with Riley. He’s a great dog because he’s doing his “job” and has exercise, etc.

 

Mals are essentially half sized GSDs with 4x the energy.

 

I'll never buy a Nyalbone ever again. My wife picked one up for our one year old Chesapeake, years back. On the label it said, "Virtually Indestructible". Bullcrap. In less that an hour he had chewed the knuckle off the fake femur in one chunk. I didn't see it happen. But that little knuckle looking piece was nearly the size of a ping pong ball. It got lodged in his intestines. I didn't know it at the time. But the next day he just laid down. He had puked a little, right before. Off to the emergency vet. $2500, and a day later, he finally pooped it out. Never again.
He can destroy anything.

 

This is the newest additional to our family. Mr. Dusty Bottoms-