Might be getting a puppy... can this be done?

[KitEKats4Eva!]

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

Dog people are not that bad! It is just hard to give a warm welcome to yet the 1000th noob who posts about how to "bread" their dog, how they have to give up their 10 yr old dog because they just had a baby and it is too too hard to have baby and a dog, bla bla bla.

That's what I meant - many people on dog forums are really lovely, but because there is so much ignorance out there, and because every second post is usually about `I want to breed my chihuaha at six months old - I'm not a breeder but she's so cute!' and other similar things people who get on there and ask for genuine advice often get flamed because it is automatically assumed that they are useless ignoramuses who are going to leave their dog out the back 23.5 hours per day and yell at it if it barks.

Having said that, the dog site I am on is like that to a degree, but in the actual training forum, requests are answered with politeness and a great deal of interest, and a lot of great advice is given. Dog people (the ones of forums, especially) also generally seem to have the attitude that your dog must be inside 24/7, crated 10 hours a day whilst you are at work so they're never outside alone, taken everywhere with you, eating at the table with you and basically the most important, sole and number one thing in your life at all times. Which I can understand, cos I'm a bit like that, too, but often it's quite OTT and individual circumstances aren't always taken into account.

A lot of people go to dog forums and get scared off because the people are pretty intense, but if you show a genuine desire to learn and to accept advice, 90% of people will be extremely friendly and helpful, no matter how many `stupid' questions you might ask. And training questions in particular are received well, because, well, you are making the effort to train and understand your dog, therefore you can't be all bad!! LOL

And it's not only the people - I get depressed when I spend too much time on dog sites, purely because of all the ignorance and horrible people out there - not the members of the sites themselves, specifically, but the stories you hear and how much it wakes you up to how many miserable, desperate dogs there are out there. Sometimes I have to remove myself because it makes me too sad.

2dog - which forum are you on? Is it Chaz? That can be pretty intense and I get exasperated and have a break sometimes, but I've learned heaps and made some great friends there. Of course, Ruby and Chester are very popular on Chaz which helps!!

 

[2dogmom]

No not chaz, that was the one I gave up on after less than 10 posts. I am on dogforum org. It is pretty mellow and there are members from around the globe, which I think is very cool.

I know what you mean about "dogforum PC" though. I have enough of a thick skin that I get away with saying that we have no fence, I do not use crates, my dogs sometimes get table scraps (in addition to Nutro kibble and raw) and poultry bones and my dogs are healthy and happy, have Canine Good Citizen and are certified Therapy dogs. I still have scars from a scuffle on the old i-dog forum regarding adoption procedures by rescue organizations. That forum was one of the most likely to have several regulars jump down a noob's throat for an innocent question.

I was a little surprised at some of the things I learned to be "catforum PC" (for example declawing, indoor vs outdoor) that are probably unknown outside of the cat lovers' world though. I do like the fact that there is NO flaming on this site. Is it that cat people are different, or is the site so well moderated? Or both?

 

[KitEKats4Eva!]

It's both - this is a very rare site I think, in that there is next to no flaming, no rudeness, no anything - it is very well moderated and the people on this site tend to be here (to begin with) purely brought together by their love of cats, and then just make friends and stick around because it's so nice.

Also, the niceness is infectious - people tend to watch what they say more, because rudeness and nastiness is not the way it's done here. It's `catching', so to speak.

So Chaz was one of your bad ones? I'm not surprised - it's what I would call a `fundamentalist' dog site

There's also a lot of really young kids on there which drives me a bit nuts. It's quite `cliquey' (is that a word?) and people gang up on you really intensely a lot of the time. Particularly towards BYBs (which I'm pretty fundamentalist about, myself, but flaming isn't going to teach people anything) and anything to do with a doodle mix. You should have seen how hard it was to be the owner of two Labradoodles and try and fit in at Chaz! However, I stuck to my guns and I am happy to say I have brought a lot of people around to my way of thinking regarding Labradoodles - but I have to say with all the other doodle mixes I'm right up there with everyone else and find it really sad what's going on.

Oh, and I don't use crates either, so I'm one of those awful, awful dog owners that actually leave my dogs out the back while I'm at work! They have a lot to do - but apparently they could get poisoned, stolen, lost or hurt themselves if they are left outside alone for even two minutes!

I left for a long time, and only just started posting there again recently. I just hang out in General Dog Chat (and Training, of course) and the people who post in those sub-forums are pretty normal...lol

 

[celestialrags]

To th OP, your pup is adorable! such a sweetie. I have never been a big fan of little dogs (except I have always wanted a min pin or boston) but even I couldn't have resisted that soft little head and sweet face! Good luck, she should be a lot of fun!

As for the forum discussion, I have only been on one forum beside this one, and it was a "pet" site. They were just plain nasty little wenches. I don't think the difference is cat vs. dog people, it's mainly the set-up of this site. The one site had an "arguement forum" and you could just let loose and be as nasty as you can, ( i had to get a dictionary on a couple occations to understand their insults, LOL) This is a family site, and that is just not allowed here, I got a little flamed once (mabey twice

) when I first came here after the first forum, and I got a mod PM and my posts got edited or removed, so it has close mod watch here, so it will remain a nice friendly family info forum, where other forums (I assume, cats too) will try to add to a flame. I am not on a lot of forums, so I could be wrong, but I think that it's just the set up of this site particularly that makes it different then other forums (congrads mods/admins, on a job well done on keeping this such a nice place to be, and all the users for continueing to stay friendly so this is a nice forum to discuss any thing, even dogs, on a cat site

)
Like I said, it is only the 2nd forum I have been on, and other cat sites could be this way and dog forums are different, but I think it's not catvsdog people, but forum rules here. (I love it here, and most of the people)

 

[2dogmom]

Well I know what you mean about the "doodle" thing. More than once some newbie whould post about how they had gotten some mixie-poo or doggie-doodle and needed advice with feeding, housebreaking, crying or whatever. Instead of getting help though there would be a piranha frenzy about "designer dogs" and the OP would get berated. I got so fed up with it. After all, the poster already had the dog, and it is not the dog's fault that it was in a pet store or was the "mix du jour". But time and again OPs like that would get run off. The way I see it there are more and more of those mixie-poo owners and they need help and advice so we try to provide a welcoming atmosphere to anyone who genuinely wants it. I had the chance because I was one of the few early members on this one forum to kind of set the tone so it is a safe haven for that type of owner.

I do miss the old i-dog forum for one thing though: there was a manicurist who owns a Boston Terrier and every so often she would post "manicure time" where she had done the most outrageous things with her dog's nails! Actually if anyone is interested I found her pics http://groups.msn.com/SekcsZoo/dogmanicures1.msnw
(somebody has too much free time! j/k I love those pictures in her album, her dog's nails get better care than mine)

 

[pinkdaisy226]

Thanks to everyone that said she was cute... we think so! Actually, it's funny how we got her... I had a nightmare of a day at work, literally, it was like my class was doing everything they weren't supposed to. When I got home, my husband told me he wanted to show me something that would cheer me up... Lola was one of the dogs that the animal shelter brought to the TV show my husband works at, looking for a home. As soon as I saw her and said "awww" my husband was on the phone, saying yes I did want her and could we get her!

Anyway, little Lola is doing so much better so it's strange that everytime we take her out (which is often) she doesn't have to go potty (well, pee yes because she drinks water). And yes Sarah, I make sure to take her out every morning, first thing I do after I wake up - hoping that maybe she'll have save some and not used the pad.

Anyway, I'm glad I have some support here, as I always have questions, but I will go looking for a dog forum, sad as I am to wander from TCS!

 

[momofmany]

She is adorable! How is she doing with the cats? We adopted 2 littermate puppies about 3 years ago and it was an interesting adjustment with the cats. They thought the cats were their littermates and tried to play puppy style with them. Are you having that problem at all?

(and mine needed walkies about every hour for the first few months)

 

[pinkdaisy226]

Um... Baylee, surprisingly is doing well with her... sniffs around Lola and looks curious but then walks away. Jordan, on the other hand... he is always in Lola's face and has bopped her on the head a few times... I think he's more jealous. Lola is dying to play with them and whenever she sees Jordan she tries to run after but they don't take too kindly to it!