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As if I don't have enough pets already, my new complex features an OPEN PET POLICY I'm very excited, and I am attempting to adopt a dog for me and my boyfriend
(well... mostly me, but he is a dog person)

Ever notice how everytime you look in the paper you see "free to good home ads" but then when your actually looking for a dog, they seem to disappear


Inky

Try www.petfinder.com
I will be getting my Shelti from them soon. The fee is usually around $200 to $400 basically its to cover the shots and all that jazz


"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

Wow... $200 to $400!! My doggie was $90 from shelter and was up to date on everything (well, coiencidentally she needed a new rabies in a few months, but if we would have waited they would have gave it... but we couldn't wait).

Many stores still sell puppy mill pups, avoid with at all costs. Some stores will say they don't, but still do... darn liars.

Even if a store doesn't get from a mill, they usually charge WAY too much for a pup.

Shelters are good places to go. If this is your first dog, an adult or at least sub-adult is good to go with. Potty training is usually taken care of and they cope much better with your work schedule. Also, you can get an idea of their personality so you can know beforehand how the dog will be with other animals.

Keep in mind that dogs are not cheap (certain things can help) and they are like having a child in the house. You have to feed, entertain, exercise, and interact with the animal, on top of vet check ups and flea/tick/worm meds. Also, if you get a puppy, you will have to spay/neuter it. Males are cheaper because... well, its basically goes, *snip snip... sew up* where a female is basically surgery.

If you get a puppy, here are some tips to go by:

-You get what you pay for in dog foods. The cheaper it is, the worse it is. This doesn't mean you have to get the most expensive food, just research some good foods and pick the best in your budget. I can get Danielle on here to reccomend some foods for you if you'd like. Also, keep in mind that many better brand foods take less to feed your dog, thus last longer, so that has to be weighed in (for example, a $20 a bag dog food may last 1 month, where a $40 a bag may last two months, either way you're spending $20 a month, and one of those ends up being much better for your dog...).

-Proper nutrition DOES result in proper dog health, way more so than in humans. This partially goes back to foods. If you have a highly active dog, and you feed it improper food, there will be a big inbalance. The dog will eat more to try and get more energy, resulting in the dog gaining more weight, thus resulting in health issues.

-Stay away from wet foods as a staple diet. Wet foods stick to the teeth and will rot the teeth MUCH faster which results in expensive vet bills and other health concerns. Rope toys are great! They brush the dogs teeth to get plaque other nasties off!

-There is a difference in active dogs and hyper dogs. Border collies are active dogs. They do not need as much exercise as they do mind stimulation. Yes, they do need activity, but you must get them thinking more than anything. However, dalmations are hyper dogs. They need a lot of exercise and movement. Keep this in mind when getting a dog into an appartment. A Border collie can live in an appartment just fine, just as long as you give them plenty of thinking activities (toys, teaching new tricks, etc.)

-Research breeds before getting a dog. Some dogs make better pets for some people than others, and some have tendancies to do "bad" things. Again, border collies, as most know, are hearding dogs. Around kids, many border collies will try to heard them, which includes some light nipping and biting, which winds many hearding dogs into shelters.

I'm pressed for time here at work so you can PM me if you want more info on puppy/dog tips and I/Danielle can answer questions for you.

Thanks for the tips

I always feed dried food to my cat, Fez, and I figured I'd do the same for the puppy. As far as a breed goes, I'm looking at some beagle mixes on wendsday. The dogs I like are all medium size, such as beagles, cocker spanials, collies, and labs. My complex (as well as most complexes) have a 50 lbs. limit. ^^

Inky

I would advise against cocker spaniels - they are notorious for having aggression/biting problems.

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Spend as much time as you can with your prospective puppy/dog and ask as many questions as you feel you need to to be comfortable. I adopted a puppy from a shelter, asked specific questions and took him home only to find out the one single question that concerned me, they either lied or didnt know the real truth about. .... he was deaf. The fact that he was deaf didnt really matter and he turned out to be one of the best dogs ever, I was more upset that I wasnt prepared. He ended up breezing through obedience classes and knowing as many words in American Sign Language as I could learn (and teach him).

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

I second the no-cocker spaniel thing.

Labs are considered large breed, averageing 65# +/- 10. However, you can find smaller mixes, and sometimes just smaller labs. I would reccomend a lab. They are smart, very loyal, easy to train, and over all good dogs. I grew up with a lab in an appartment. He did great. He was a very smart dog and even eventually learned new tricks all on his own. Yup, he just picked them up. His first trick that he learn on his own was to shake. We taught him to sit and lift his paw and hold it when he wanted a treat, however, one day he lifted his paw for a stranger when he met him and once the guy shook the dogs paw, he put it down and did whatever!

Anywho... what kind of dog are you looking for? Active, clam/laidback, lapdog, pursedog, playful dog, etc. Kids an issue? Trainability an issue? Etc.

I second the lab idea. My female weighs around 65 lbs....you might could fake it.... LOL A smaller lab mix would be a good choice. Labs are fantastic dogs. Only drawback I can think of is the shedding.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Petfinder is the best site for finding adoptable animals. All animals in the search have to be in a qualified rescue or shelter and they try to screen all the posts in the classifieds section to get rid of breeders or people in it for profit. Often times the animals listed in the paper are from really bad breeders just trying to get rid of their poorly bred puppies or older animals so they can have another litter. You end up increasing the overpopulation of pets instead of helping stop it.

For food try http://dogfoodanalysis.com/, http://www.dogfoodproject.com/. Most people try to get foods that are at least 3 star and notice a huge difference in the health of the dog.

Well, I'm supposed to look at some beagle mix puppies this afternoon Thier owner is moving and wants to ensure good homes, and there is no adoption fee (YAY for me!)

If that doesn't work out, thier is a lady who runs a kennel in Illinois I can contact. The only problum is that right now all her puppies are bull mixes.

It is shame about the overpopulation, Sham. I try to catch those types of ads, and am fairly good at it. I did a major research paper on those types of situations about a year ago. Indiana is one of the areas that have a large number of "puppy mill" breeders

I like gentle, playful dogs. Somewhere in between calm and active when left inside during the day, but ready to play when I come home at night. ^^ I like dogs that aare sweet and eager to be around people, and trainable. I don't want a noisy dog (I expect all dogs make noise, but I don't want say, a Yorki or Chiwawa) or a purse dog.

Kids arn't an issue, just the cat is (hence getting a puppy, give him time to get used to the cat) Of course, I want a dog that I can keep if I do have kids, but I figure if I get a generally friendly type of dog (lab, retriever, beagle) that they should be alright and fairly tame. ^^

Inky

I personally think lab would be a better choice than a beagle. IME they are a little more active than labs, also a little more chewy than labs as puppys. The roles reverse when adults as labs are know for eating anything, however it usually comes down to training.

Also, as for the quiet issue... why a beagle? Apparently you never worked in a pet store (some of the worst three months of my life) and had to deal with a beagle puppy that hhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwllllllllllll all day long...
Other than that she was a good fun pup. If you can get a laid back beagle, that would prob be a good choice for you.


EDIT: I was looking around on the "Dog Food Review" link and I agree with 3 star and better foods.

Also nice to know that I feed a 5/6 star brand of food!

I have to agree with Racso on this one....my lab only chewed one thing as a puppy (a piece of fabric on a chair) and she NEVER chews anything now....she's hard pressed to chew on a rawhide...she'd rather play fetch with it. She is a very quiet, almost shy barker. The only time I hear her voice is if I ask her to speak (then I have to coax it out of her) or if she sees a stranger or something weird....perfect guard dog!!

On the up note, I feed a six star dog food according to that site: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=848&cat=8

I pay plenty of $$$ for it, but my little Rosie is worth it.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

WWOOOOOTTT

WAY TO GO EVO!!!!

Innova is a good food, and EVO just puts them over the top!

Evo is pricey but good!


We feed Natures Variety:

6 star raw instinct
5 star praire varieties
again
some more
some more again
even more

Labs are pretty individual dependent. Some are great and some are a ton of work. Some are hyper and some are lazy. Some bark alot and some only make noise when they have a good reason. All tend to be friendly at least but it really depends. I've seen lab puppies that would chew through anything(ours liked power cables and phone cords) and others hardly chew. Probably because so many people breed labs from so many different bloodlines they've developed alot of individual personality instead of 1 constant standard. Add in the mixed breeds and you never know what you'll get. If your looking to adopt a mixed breed then breed is probably pretty unimportant when trying to find a dog with a certain personality. It likely won't hold true to any specific breed standard. You might have better luck evaluating each individual with something like the Puppy Aptitude Test: http://workingdogs.com/testing_volhard.htm than picking a certain breed because of it's usual temperament. Shelters and rescues often use something similar to get an idea of each dog's personality.

I've hunted down every little speciality dog/cat food store in the area and I can only find two 5 star foods with no 6 star. Everyone just sells nutro. I'm beginning to wonder why they even bother to advertise in the window they have nutro since there isn't a petstore without it. Every store I drive up to has the "We sell Nutro brand" sign on the front.

I agree...there is no such thing as a "standard" lab or their behavior. I've heard horror stories, I guess I just got lucky. Incidentally, my lab was bred from hunting stock, which has a distinct difference in temprament and body shape than a lab bred from "show" stock. Perhaps that's why she barks so very little.....can't scare away the game. I would have adopted from the shelter since I know that those animals desperately need homes, but I had to know the provenance of the dog I was getting because, for a while, she was a working dog with Customs and they frown upon mixes for the line of work she was doing (drug & illegal immgrant tracking)

On the Innova Evo, there is a mom & pop LPS here that sells it. I bought our dwarf hamster and many of my current fish from them, and they are really good. They ONLY carry 5 & 6 star pet foods. I have also starting feeding Innova Evo to my cats. You couldn't even tell we have a litter box in that house. Good stuff. Expensive? YES Worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

nutro, blah. Over pushed food. I would feed it to my dog if there was NOTHING else... but nutro tries to sell itself like a super premium. Eukanuba (yuke ah new bah... those who work in a pet store know what I'm talking about ) tries to sell itself like it kicks super butt, but it is just high end IAMS, and IAMS = CRAPS.

As for labs, yes they can very from dog to dog (and of course ignoring mixed labs, as with any mix breed you have no idea what you'll get) but I'm talking about the average. And again, most of it comes down to training. My dog trainer rescued a last chance lab(last chance meaning if it doesn't find a home or if it is returned AGAIN it will be destroyed) and now uses that dog as an example in traing classes and shes only had it for less than 1.5 years.

And as for mixes, who knows what you'll get in terms of personality. A lot of people have claimed that a Husky/Border Collie mix COULD produce a rediculously genious dog. If the right genes are passes, it would get its super eargerness to work and ability to learn from the husky and the smarts and eargerness to please from the collie, resulting in a dog that has a true drive to actually LEARN. A mind that gets pleasure out of pleasing the owner by learning, plus the great ability to learn and a drive to learn, not just please.

The problem is that both breeds have negetives that mixing the two would also produce a dog that has a sincer desire to be stubborn and be smart enough to know what not to do so it doesn't have to learn, even though the animal could learn anything.

wait a minute.... this is a fish site... not dog....

I actually went ahead and got the beagle mix. It says on her papers that she is a pit mix, and I think thats an error (Im gonna douple check that) A bull mabey, but not a pit. She is gentle, quite, but very attention-seeking. ^^ Her name is Taffy, and she is about one year old.

The only problum is that the cat doesn't like her (I figured it may be the other way around ) Fez (male cat) hisses whenever Taffy comes near him. Taffy doesn't seem to mind, but if Taffy comes to close to Fez, Fez paws at her. If Fez does this, Taffy barks and snaps. I'm trying to get the two to play nice and get used to each other. Keeping them seperated in the mean time. Any tips??

Inky

That's normal for a cat. They'll spend a few weeks hissing, spitting, and jumping on or ducking under furniture everytime they see the new dog or cat you've added to the house. I'd just tell the cat to cut it out and send her to another room if she gets too obnoxious and discipline the dog if it gets too excited or tries to annoy the cat further than it already is. Don't tolerate jumping at or continually barking at the cat although a quick bark after being swiped at can make a cat not want to continue doing it. They'd rather avoid causing any loud noises.

I hopoe they get over it. I got in the middle of them yesterday and OW! I got several scratches on my foot and hand, and a large deep scratch on my arm that spans from my elbow almost to the wrist They are more behaved now though, and none of them were hurt.

Inky

What about a greyhound? There are many in need of rescuing and they are usually good in small spaces if you take them out for walks. My aunt had one when she lived in a tiny rowhome. It was quiet, sweet, and not at all agressive. His only ambitions were to curl up on the sofa or lean against a human to be petted.

Unfortunately she was put down two years ago due to bone cancer.

Edit: Nevermind, missed your post on the beagle mix. Congrats!

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