What made you get into dogs?

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#21
Weirdly enough, I was actually scared of dogs until I was 7! I distinctly remember that my neighbor had a Saint Bernard and I was going over to their house and I cried when the dog came up to me because she was so big :lol-sign: my obsession probably started when we got an Aussie x BC mix from the shelter when I was around 8. That dog was definitely too much energy for our family, and my parents didn't really research how to train the dog, so, inevitably, my dad returned it to the shelter. After that I would check out dog training and encyclopedia books from the library and read for hours about dog breeds. I even got a dog breed encyclopedia for my 9th birthday, I believe, and a border collie stuffed animal. I was obsessed with Border Collies and German Shepherds in particular. BCs probably because my previous dog was a mix of it or because I saw agility on tv, but I'm not sure why exactly. I know I was obsessed with GSDs for two reasons; my dad always told me that German Shepherds and Huskies were his most favorite dog breeds, and I guess I just liked GSDs better, and my neighbor had had two German Shepherds (one elderly and one a puppy) and I would always go play with them and she would tell me about them. They were very well trained dogs.

Finally, when I was 10, we got another family dog, Crystal. She was five months old when we got her and ended up bonding more to my dad than anyone else (oops lol) even though my dad told me it was my dog. I trained her many many tricks right away, and was obsessed with her. As I got older, I realized that she did have many issues; she wasn't socialized enough, she had reactivity, she was scared of a lot of things. Also, I wanted a running buddy, and Crystal has luxating patella and it isn't recommended for me to run.

From probably ages 14-15 I begged for another dog. My dad repeatedly told me it wasn't going to happen. Once I turned 16 I basically quit because I didn't want to handle a not quite 2 year old dog and starting college. And of course, once the begging had stopped, I was idly checking Craigslist with my sister and we saw an ad for GSD x Siberian Husky pups. I literally had the most wicked smile on my face; my dads two favorite breeds. So, expecting him to say no, I asked if we could at least look at the pups. He looked for a while at the ad, and then said "ok, let's go". And without expecting a puppy at all, we picked out Hero.

And that's how I became obsessed with dogs and have 2 dogs, only as a teenager haha. The only problem with being 16 with dogs is that I am very limited to what my parents want/don't want me to do with the dogs. I'm hoping that my parents will allow me to pursue agility with Hero, but I'm not sure if they'll be ok with the money needed to be spent... Oh well! :rolleyes:
 

Dogdragoness

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#22
In short? because I liked them more than people (still do). Growing up, and all the way through school, I had very few friends, if any, I had my dogs, that was good enough for me (they still are).
 

Cali Mae

Little dog, big voice
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#23
I was another child who was on the nerdy side and super into animals. I remember always borrowing this one dog book... it had maybe a dozen pages with different dog breeds and other pages detailing other aspects of owning a dog. Then my parents bought me a dog breeds book too at one point, but with more detailed descriptions.

We got Moses when I was five though, so I would say my interest in dogs started growing around ten or eleven. It started with 4H and doing the local "dog show" and moved onto me building jumps in the yard and luring Moses over them. My whole reasoning behind Cali was to get into agility and dog sports but there just aren't any venues here so mostly with her it's just tricks and fun things like hikes and fetch.
 

Dogdragoness

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#24
I was another child who was on the nerdy side and super into animals. I remember always borrowing this one dog book... it had maybe a dozen pages with different dog breeds and other pages detailing other aspects of owning a dog. Then my parents bought me a dog breeds book too at one point, but with more detailed descriptions.

We got Moses when I was five though, so I would say my interest in dogs started growing around ten or eleven. It started with 4H and doing the local "dog show" and moved onto me building jumps in the yard and luring Moses over them. My whole reasoning behind Cali was to get into agility and dog sports but there just aren't any venues here so mostly with her it's just tricks and fun things like hikes and fetch.
OMG! I could have written this! Right down to the building of the jumps iin the back yard haha :rofl1:
 

JacksonsMom

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#25
Umm I mean I was always a 'dog person' since I can remember. I begged my dad for a dog starting at the age of 3. We got our Golden Retriever when I turned 4. Got our German Shepherd when I turned 10. She was my first real insight into a bit more training etc, even as young as I was. I used to read so many dog books etc. And as a kid, all my fav movies were usually dog-related LOL. Always had dog toys.

But when I got Jackson when I turned 18 is when I definitely got "into" dogs as far learning about nutrition, sports, health and everything beyond just the basic. Joined forums etc.
 

Slick

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#26
Mine is probably the opposite of most :p

I wasn't allowed to have a dog growing up, and had very little contact with dogs. This in turn caused me to obsess over them, doing hours of research because I wasn't allowed to have one of my own.
I think if I had been allowed a dog as a child, I would've been a much more casual owner. But when you have years and years to research before getting your own, you do eventually learn useful stuff :rofl1:
 
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#27
We always had dogs.

Our dogs growing up were strays and stuff, they never saw a vet and never were spayed or anything. When I was so little, still in diapers, I would sneak out of the house and they would find me in the dog house sitting with Mama Dog and her puppies. I never harassed her and Mama Dog was never bothered by me, I guess she assumed I was her puppy. I remember the litter actually, I was around 18 months old. The puppies would run and climb all over me and I just sat in the middle of them. There is a photo of me and the puppies and sitting there.

When I was 4 I declared that feeding the dogs was to be my chore since I did not have any and it never changed.

We never had less than 4 dogs at any given time. Childhood was rocky and I have sense replaced all my human family with dogs and still do.
 

oakash

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#28
We'd always had dogs, but they were outside dogs when I was growing up. All of us kids hated that and eventually we were able to change their mind. Anyways, maybe 8 years ago we found Suzie wandering in the streets, and we couldn't find her original owners so we kept her.

I decided that I wanted to train her so I looked up stuff online and found Chaz and the rest is history. I'd always been a dog breed nerd though, and was always reading this huge book my mom gave me about every single breed
 

Kootenay

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#29
I grew up on a farm and was always just super into animals. We always had a dog or two growing up, and I loved them and loved training - I took agility classes with our Sheltie and liked teaching tricks and had a phase of being SUPER into dog sledding with one of my childhood dogs. Eventually I got a job as a dog walker, and then realized it really was "my thing" and I took a training course, and just got more and more into it.

Right now I'm actually the least involved with dog stuff than I have been for years, it's a bit weird. Just circumstantially I'm busy with other work, I'm still doing things with my own dogs of course, but none of my work is dog related.
 

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