Discussion split from NI and Utonagan owners thread Discussions

Four generations isn't long really when you think about it.

Not with regards to time I agree. A lot of Kiba's great great ancestors are still here (and so they should be) But with regards to how far removed they are from each other it's quite a lot. I mean...imagine your great great great grandmother and how far removed from her you are and how you would differ in looks and temperament from the genes that have come through the other sides.

Lol I might be talking complete nonsense here. Feel free to re-educate me.

Raina would be a useless guard dog and Ela has never guarded either but its strange that she has gotten more protective since i have been pregnant.

She has taken to sleeping by my side of the bed and the other night i was in bed with her lay on the bed next to me the lights were off and i was trying to get to sleep. My brother and OH were playing on the PS3 having a lads night and he came up the stairs to use the loo. It was late so he was being careful not to wake me, she had been fine with the OH coming up but she went all stiff this time. I wonder what she would have done if he had come in the room, this is the first time i have ever though she would do anything to protect me.

It is amazing how protective they can be. I was very suprised. Liadan (the quiet one out of our lot) is extremely protective of my mum if we are not there. Other than my dad she will not allow anyone to go near her and will stand and bark at the offending person until they leave. She has done this to the man next door, my grandad and auntie and uncle who were visiting from australia and were so scared of her they moved out

You probably have more traits similar or identical to those of your ggg grandmother than you know! It is not uncommon for a very strong physical resemblance to pop up quite a few generations down the line, or mental for that matter. My brother is the SPITTING image of great great grandfather, and look at the royal family - if you look at drawings of George IV, from the Regency period, photographs of King Edward VII are very similar. People seem to think that somehow genes are "watered down" by time, but they are not. Genes can be carried down through the generations, many generations, both in terms of looks and of physical traits, or indeed disorders/illnesses etc.

Could be 8 years...if waiting to breed bitches at 2 years....gosh - never really thought about it that way before!!

Hopefully not many

yes - but dogs are line bred - so you will often get common ancestors on both sides.

The idea being that you are breeding towards a dog who is conforming to a standard. You cannot really compare it to humans in that way IMO.

Well, not that many , but how many is too many? I know of four people that have used them and they are the ones that have been open about it.

Thats too many IMO .....

Actually - 1 is too many for me.

To feel that you have to resort to these methods with a dog who is meant to be 'easier' to train is something I find worrying.

I know a stud dog that was used at approx 8 mths (no older) and unfortunately not many breeders wait until their bitch is two years

do they? or is it another get out clause for some ?'oh its normal' :?
incidentaly, my n.i's recall is brill,

99.9% of dogs push their boundaries at some point ..

.... sounds like they have more recall issues than their sibe ancestors.
thought that was part of the reason for adding gsd into the mix ;?

I wont use an ES collar on my boy. If it gets to that point then he'll just have to deal with living life on a long line or only being let off where I know he's not going to get himself in trouble or kicked by people who think he's dangerous! Thinking of renting my own field in the future actually, just not sure how to go about finding one.

I am yet to see a NID with 100% recall, or very near to it. That includes some very highly trained dogs. I am not talking about a one to one setting, I am talking about a setting with distractions. (Obviously I cannot test my ideas on my opinion of what is very good recall to me, ref your dog as I have never met her or seen her in an environment to test it). Yes, I do put this down to the influence of the 'Sled dogs', how many threads has their been on here about not letting the Mals or Husky off lead...... I was not there in the beginning but yes, it has been said that GSD was added to obtain trainabilty. I do let mine off, everyday but I am lucky where I live there are suitable walks so I can do that. I would be interested to know if the new injection of GSD by some breeders has led to better recall and higher trainabilty.

Has he been kicked before?

I've had people threaten to, but never actually done it yet. some horrid people around here who know nothing whatsoever about dogs.

Hi there - mine does not have 100% recall under distraction (other dogs) but she is improving - if we walk away in the other direction she will definitely come - she doesn't like to get too far away from us. And we're definitely not the best trainers in the world, just doing what we can with her so I'm sure someone with more experience could get really good results. She'd never need an E-collar! Just trained to get food/play rewards when she comes.

I'd also add that I see plenty of dogs (esp young dogs) of many breeds which don't come straight away when playing with a group of dogs so I think it may be unfair of people to single this out as a particular NI fault.

Why would they threaten to kick your dog?

thats sorta what i was getting at