Shooting Dogs

[NH Shooter]

Some great looking dogs!

After our black GSD Shadow died, it took eight years of gentle prodding from my wife to get me to start thinking about having a dog again. Then we found photos on the website of a rescue here in NH and I was won over. Adopting a couple of rescues who would have been otherwise euthanized at a high-kill southern shelter has been one of the best decisions we ever made.

In the world of dog rescue they say the dogs know they have been rescued. They also say that it's sometimes difficult to discern who rescued who. I can attest that both of these statements are true. Earning the utter, 100% trust of this dog and watching her blossom has been one of the most rewarding endeavors of my life.

A few more of the photogenic Gracie Rose, who has made this miserable old SOB open his heart in ways I never realized I could do;

[fixer]

1-Carry a stick (cane, putter, tool handle, walking pole, etc). I've never had to shoot a dog, but I've been nipped by a GSD while delivering papers as a kid, and not ever since then. I frequently carry, and used to habitually carry, a walking stick. I've used it several times to push a dog away, and to intimidate others - they seem to understand sticks.

2-the ones that will be aggressive also seem to understand rocks. Bending down and picking up a rock gets a lot of dogs to back off. Once in a while, they require the rock to be thrown in an educational way. The last time I had to actually throw a rock was on a persistent dog that didn't take the hint about picking it up, the command to go home or the loud NO, and I wasn't carrying a stick, or pepper spray, or a gun because I was stupid and lazy about it that day. Never again!

3-Bright lights at night work on some dogs, not on others. They work on lots of people.

4-A good swift kick in the ribs or face works on some dogs, too, but I'd rather have the stick to push them away with.

5- for dog language stuff, check out the Dog Whisperer, and those monks that raise GSDs.

In my experience, going to a stick or kicking and otherwise going hand to hand with a dog, escalates the situation in a direction you really, really don't want. I used to attempt the same tactics and about 50% of the time it made the dog go straight effing nuclear.

I had a stray pit fly across a field at myself and my lab one day. It instantly started attacking my lab. I could see fur and teeth. I grabbed a large stick nearby and beat on this dog until I was out of breath. Then it just turned on me. I wailed. I kicked. I yelled for help. My lab somehow got its attention and I got a prime opportunity to kick it in the stomach with everything I had and the blow stunned the dog. The owner came out and apologized. This was the hardest way to deal with a dog. My labs neck skin is so thick it healed up in a week and she never had any pain.

my big toe was bruised and still hurts in some instances.

In my experience if a loose dog or pack doesn't respond to a firm yell or your body language, and its staring you down you are about 10 seconds from having to deal with a chainsaw with fur. Throwing a stick or worse your own body parts into the mix will make the situation go nuclear.

Just my experience.

[LittleLebowski]

I love dogs and will always have one, but given my Wyoming cattle ranch upbringing, was always a little calloused compared to most on them. Having kids has only exacerbated that. I've had to shoot dogs and I've had to shoot horses. The latter was worse for me.

[Hambo]

I don't know if God created a more awful animal than the horse. The only thing horses have over ATVs is that you can eat the horse if it comes down to that.

[LittleLebowski]

That's a good looking Mal.

An adoptee off of Craigslist, I was his third and last owner (he had to be put down due to something in his gut). To say that I was shocked when he killed this young doe and drug her up to my daughter and I like a lion with its kill is an understatement.

[LittleLebowski]

I don't know if God created a more awful animal than the horse. The only thing horses have over ATVs is that you can eat the horse if it comes down to that.

You just didn't ride the right horses A good quarter horse beats an ATV hands down in rough terrain.

[JHC]

I miss this old boy. He was glorious in his prime and the most home protective of any of our six boxers. He's my favorite. As he aged, a couple/few years before this pic taken on his last day with us, he snarled and lunged at an friend of my sons when he got up to leave.

I flew off the couch, hurdled the coffee table and snatched him up to his back legs, while primal screaming and shaken-baby syndroming the hell out of him as I dragged him standing to the back door and flung him out. He never repeated his old crankiness. It was the first and last episode like that in his dozen years. I loved him deep. But he was too big for biting (80 lbs solid in his prime) and if he'd turned into a biter I'd long decided he was gone in 60 seconds.

Miss him still.

Attachment 16011

[LittleLebowski]

I miss this old boy. He was glorious in his prime and the most home protective of any of our six boxers. He's my favorite. As he aged, a couple/few years before this pic taken on his last day with us, he snarled and lunged at an friend of my sons when he got up to leave.

I flew off the couch, hurdled the coffee table and snatched him up to his back legs, while primal screaming and shaken-baby syndroming the hell out of him as I dragged him standing to the back door and flung him out. He never repeated his old crankiness. It was the first and last episode like that in his dozen years. I loved him deep. But he was too big for biting (80 lbs solid in his prime) and if he'd turned into a biter I'd long decided he was gone in 60 seconds.

Miss him still.

Attachment 16011

I support your actions.

[JHC]

Buster, in his prime. Attachment 16012

[RJ]

Hope the dog pictures and stories continue. I like dogs better than most people I come across.

Only had one problem dog in my life. Gromit was a shelter rescue Jack Russell terrier.

He had had Perthe's disease I think it was called; with necrosis of his hip, so he ran on three legs. In addition, he also came with Addison's disease so we had to give him steroids to treat that.

He was normally fairly benign (for a Jack Russell: which of course is like rolling a grenade around the floor hoping the pin does not come out).

I'm pretty sure he understood English; as there were may be 30 words or combinations he'd react to. I took to spelling things out; but he soon figured out that "go for a W" meant walkies lol.

He'd sit and wait on the coach for the Postman to cycle by with his bag (this was in the UK). You had to immediately intercept the Post before it hit the floor in front of the mail slot or he would go savage it to pieces.

I still miss him.


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