lizblackdog | (no subject)

You're Prince Edward Island. You're a happy person,
love life, and seldom complain. You're able to
see the best in any situation.You do live a
g-rated life and tend towards things
mainstream. People like you, unless they're
depressed.

What Canadian Province Are You?
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Nicked from

boywhocantsayno

Pleased by this, even though parts of the analysis aren't strictly accurate - because I do have a long-held L.M. Montgomery fixation...

Downloaded MSN last night and spent the evening chatting with

wuzit2u, as well as Ulva and Angelpants. It's a nicer program to use than ICQ.

Also discovered last night that my Enterprise S4 downloads are unwatchable thanks to some weird format that my Windows Media Player doesn't support, so it's all to do again... bah!

And before anyone asks (that means you, starfish) I did email my sister's friend last night... here's what I wrote in case anyone's interested:

Hi honey, I'm sorry I didn't get round to this
sooner...

Max's original owners bought him from some gypsies as
a puppy, they were told he was a lurcher.

He was five months old when my friend Dave met him -
Dave was walking his dogs in the New Forest and Max
charged up & attacked them. Dave got talking to the
owners when they finally showed up and learned that
they were totally unable to control him and basically
hadn't a clue what they were doing - but he took a
liking to Max and said he'd like him if they didn't
want to keep him. Two days later they showed up at his
house and gave Max to him...

Two months later, Dave had a fall & damaged his back,
and I got to know him around this time. He was unable
to handle a seven month old puppy as well as his own
dogs and I fell in love with Max, so I brought him
home. Dave had him neutered and had got some basic
training on him, but he was still a bit of a handful.

I had him for five weeks, then I rehomed him with a
family with three kids. They had some trouble with him
- he chewed their sofa pretty badly and he growled at
their youngest a couple of times when he was on the
sofa, but they were working on that - what made them
give him back was that their cat couldn't cope with
having a dog around. I can't remember exactly how long
they had him but I think it was around 6-8 weeks.

He's been back here since Sept 22nd.

Behaviour

Other Dogs: He gets very excited at strange dogs -
he'll run up to them and yap like mad at them trying
to get them to play with him. He's a tiny bit scared
and defensive at the same time; if the other dog is
friendly he's fine, if the other dog is more scared
than he is he may start bullying; if they bark back at
him he'll probably come & hide behind your legs. If
they're on a lead and carry on walking he wants to
keep barking at them till they're a good distance
away. It can be hard to stop him, but he's improving.
I always praise him lavishly for not barking at other
dogs.

Cats: He'll chase them if he sees them outdoors, or if
they run. He's good with Maisie, but Maisie is used to
dogs and doesn't run away from them. Dave had kittens
and he was fine with those too. He can get on with
cats but he'll annoy them if he's given the chance.

Children: One reported incident of growling at Ray and
Lynda's youngest child (six) when he was on the
sofa... I've never seen him be anything but fine with
children, but he might be better off without any very
small ones, like under eight or so.

Chewing: Like a furry chainsaw. He destroyed Ray &
Lynda's sofa, and he also chewed up Dave's phone and
his dentures while he was there. He's done minimal
damage in our house (chewed a small hole in the
leather armchair) but he always has access to raw beef
bones here, and he spends most of his free time
chewing on those. He really, really, really likes to
chew. A lot.

Barking: Max is pretty talky, and he has an irritating
shrill bark and an even more irritating whine... he
does both quite a bit.

Separation anxiety: He'll bark, whine and destroy
stuff if he's feeling anxious. I strongly recommend
that the new owner eases him gradually into being left
alone for any length of time. After a month I can
leave the house for three hours and find nothing
destroyed when I come back, so I doubt there'll be a
problem once he's properly settled in and feels
comfortable and at home. New owner should probably
have a dog crate, though. He is crate trained and
spent the nights shut up in it quite happily - note
that this was in the same room as I was sleeping in,
so he wasn't actually alone in the crate...

His training is going slower than Spike's did, but
that's only to be expected. He knows sit, stay and
'bed' which means go and settle down wherever you're
sleeping... he will pull on the lead if you let him,
but if you simply stop walking every time he does it
he soon stops trying (unlike Spike, who still pulls
like a train after a year and a half of that...) I
haven't taught him things like 'heel' or any sort of
formal obedience stuff, I've just been concentrating
on safety and good mannners sort of stuff... His
recall could be better, but he will reliably return to
my general area when called unless he's actually
chasing something. I have a hand gesture I use when
the dogs are loose that means 'run in this direction
please' and he's reliable on that now.

He's absolutely obsessed with hunting flies, bugs,
patches of sunlight and shadows. He also brings snails
in from the garden on rainy nights, and he'll eat them
if they aren't taken off him....

That's all I can think of for now... oh yeah, he's had
his shots for this year and he's just had his worming
tablets which are good for three months... and he's
thirteen months old now.

Thanks for helping me out. Lord knows I don't want to
part with him at all and neither does Spike, but if it
has to happen I can't think of anyone I trust more
than you... just please find someone who'll stay in
touch and hopefully agree to meet up for occasional
play dates with Spike and I....

Liz, Spike & Max xxxx

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2004-10-26 05:01 am (UTC)

From:

huntingdon.livejournal.com

no subject

I wasn't going to ask :p

Until later... :D

Well if that doesn't put them off then nothing will ;)

Date: 2004-10-26 05:35 am (UTC)

lizblackdog.livejournal.com

Just the plain unvarnished truth - I'm rather proud of it, actually... ;)

Date: 2004-10-26 05:03 am (UTC)

You're Newfoundland. You're not a complex person,
but it's not because you're not intelligent;
you just perfer the simpler things in life. You
can work hard and bear harder misfortunes than
most. It's too bad people underestimate you
because you're one tough S.O.B. when need be.

What Canadian Province Are You?
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