The dog musing/vent thread

Ha, I had a vet tech call Jubel a she/her right after looking at his stitches that needed to be removed after his bowl obstruction surgery. While he is a neutered boy it is still quite clear he is a boy when you look in that area. He gets called by female pronouns often due to his name and peoples interpretation of it but right after looking at stitches inches away from his boy parts?

What makes me /facepalm more often is the occasional staff member at his daycare calling him a girl. One of them does it frequently and they aren't new, not sure what is up with that. *shrug*

From someone I know to be pretty involved in aussies (has her own) "If aussies had tails then why bother, why not get a BC?"
...What???
with all due respect, HAVE YOU MET A BORDER COLLIE? TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSONALITY TYPES! JUST DIFFERENT EVERYTHING!
Why do people get so wrapped up in tails? IT'S A STINKING TAIL. This is a breed you LOVE, why is adding a tail such a big deal?
I really need help understanding.

Somebody clue me in. Breeders I kind of get it (there was that huge post about importance of tails that sizzle wrote and I get that)....
but pet owners, people who claim to LOVE the breed, does it really bother you THAT much?

Don't get me wrong, I own a docked dog and I love how he looks, but I can't imagine not getting another aussie just because it would have a tail.

So if I cut off a border collie's tail it's now an aussie?

If you want a tail and an Aussie just go English Shepherd. Duh.

PS. I wish Cohen still had her tail. Really, really wish.

Apparently yes! That's all it takes!

It is HILARIOUS to me to think that people honestly believe that Merlin would make a good BC if he had a tail.
All you would have to do is meet him for literally 8 seconds and you can clearly see Merlin is not BC material :rofl1:

I'm kind of on the fence about it.

I LOVE Merlin's dock. I think he looks adorable, doesn't affect his movement blablabla so I don't have any regrets when it comes to that

that said, it wouldn't bother me one bit if the breed went more towards tails.
I love my aussie for so much more than what is or isn't on his butt so I just don't see the big deal.

I think the tail is pretty important as far as movement goes, especially in sports. The rapidly wagging nubbin is cute and all, but Cohen would be a more balanced dog with a full tail. Plus Aussie tails are normally gorgeous.

if it's a bob tail ES, does that turn it back into an Aussie?

What happens if it happens later in life? Like an amputation? Does it go from a BC to an Aussie?

Not arguing the gorgeous tails, but I LOLed when I read this. I know multiple people have seen videos of your unbalanced dog doing walking handstands.

I am loving that it is lightish until 6:40 now. It seems like recently it was dark at 5!

Also, Mia's eye looks a LOT better. It's 100% opened. A little red but no green goop coming from it anymore. Yay.

And Summer's ear fringe is stuck together with spit. Now who did that and how? Hmmm?

One year at Louisville we were crated next to a bunch of obnoxious yapping dogs. Somebody I know walked by and said something about "stupid shelties" (yes she thought it was a joke knowing I have shelties.)
"Aussies," I said.
"They have tails," she says.
"I'm pretty sure I heard her say they're mini aussies."
"But they have tails."
"Her bag says Aussie Agility..."

We compromised and decided they were really ugly shelties and the lady was from Australia.

HAS TAIL
CANNOT BE AUSSIE

Snowball, I know you got a lot more walks than usual in the last few days because the weather got really nice. And maybe you're developing arthritis in your old age and it was bothered by the ice and snow, or maybe you stepped on a rock funny, or slipped on the icy path when I didn't notice, or something else happened to cause you to hobble around the house on 3 feet like a sad amputee looking for pity....

But how come the moment we go outside your foot is magically better and you have no reservation about trying to pull me down the icy sidewalk?

I'm pretty positive Joey may have just had a seizure. He was lying in his crate calmly and then all of a sudden I heard a loud thrashing in his crate to the point his crate was rocking. He was making weird noises and he expressed his anal glands in his crate. I got him out of the crate and he stumbled for a minute looking confused and then spent a few minutes pacing back and forth in my room before he went and laid down on one of the dog beds in my room. Does this sound like a seizure?

I'm calling my vet in the morning.

It scares me because seizures are something you have to watch out for in this breed. Considering he probably didn't come from a responsible breeder in the first place I would imagine they probably didn't health test his parents either.

Also my husband said this happened earlier this evening too.

This is very useful thread.. Got to share something about my pupps too here same thing

I'm living with the world's dumbest cat.

Astro has prey drive. It has developed as he matures, and as of right now, he mouths cats that he catches - but he's pretty intense about it, and I would never trust him loose around a cat (and that's fine, because after this lease is up in September, I'll never have a cat again).

I have a baby gate up between the living room and the rest of the apartment; my room connects directly to the living room, so basically there's "Astro turf" and "kitty turf." The cat has now figured out how to get over the baby gate, but Astro can't. Astro is crated during the day while I'm at work, for added security.

There's never been a problem from Astro in this situation - the **** cat keeps clawing his way over the baby gate, landing on the other side, and thinking "oh ****" as the dog races over to him. But he'll do this 10 times in a row! I put him on the other side of the baby gate, and he just comes back over it, only to get hounded by Astro again.

Oh, and when I think of it, I shout "leave it," and Astro is a good boy and will do that. But sometimes I'M so flustered from having to deal with this situation for the 10th time in 30 minutes that I forget, and if not told an alternate command, Astro is after the cat in seconds.

This animal has claws. He is not declawed. Does he ever defend himself or put Astro in his place? No. Does he claw the heck out of ME when I rescue him? Yes. And I have to rescue him, every time. The last time, I grabbed him and held him up to carry him back to safety, and Astro started jumping up and grabbing his legs! I think the way this particular cat is - always runs, and then freezes and doesn't swipe when caught - is only making his prey drive much worse.

I don't know what else to do. This **** cat has all the protection in the world, if he would just STAY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BABY GATE. His food, litter box, and favorite person are all on the other side, but no, of course he has to jump onto the side with a dog that pins him to the ground. He has 60-70% of the apartment to himself, Astro has the rest. I don't know how to manage this situation any more than I am - I feel like, between the baby gate that Astro always obeys, and the daytime crating, the dog is micromanaged to within an inch of his life, but the **** cat wrecks it.

This is why I'm a dog person /rant.

Annoy!

A company in a different city is using a photo of Cohen to promote their Comp OB classes. I don't own the photo, but I highly doubt they've purchased the rights to it.

I would email them! That's false advertising isn't it? Since they didn't train her and I'm SURE did not ask for permission

Yes, it sounds exactly like a seizure to me.

1. I'd be doing blood work up asap

2. Stop crating him. A friend had a bad incident with her dog a month or two ago who was prone to seizures. I did not get all of the details though others did. Long story short, he was stuck in the crate and he had to be euthanized.

I emailed the photographer and he said he'd email them. I'm going to leave it with him 'cause, hey, maybe they'll offer to buy the photo (though not likely). I think it'll just result in them taking it down. If it's not down or paid for in a few days I'll approach them.

The tail discussion is cracking me up. Especially since I know of tailed Aussies (agree, pretty!) And nubby BCs (natural nub). That said some of the working Aussies I know are pretty BC-like, though I still think they are closer to ES.


More importantly, to Beanie's post: Aussies are the only breed louder than Shelties, haha.