Grasshill
EX93
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A dog that may not be
In a few months, I am moving to a different property, opening a bed & breakfast, and looking for a dog.
But I'm not a dog person.
So it's a problem.
I need a dog that is good with horses, cows, and goats, won't plan on running away, is big enough (and looks mean enough) to discourage the guests from any inappropriate behavior, not so territorial as to attack any of the guests, and so easygoing that I, who again am not a dog person, will be able to provide it with a happy and good life.
Now, what type of dog, if any, would fit this criteria?
(I don't want a dog that has to be tied up)
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28/3/2005, 20:20
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littlemonty88
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Re: A dog that may not be
A Beethoven!!! 
Can't think of the acual breed cux i always get them mixed wit German Shep's 
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28/3/2005, 20:35
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Grasshill
EX93
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Re: A dog that may not be
I am having visions of a St Bernard jumping up on my lap, licking me across the face, and drooling down my chin.
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28/3/2005, 21:08
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littlemonty88
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Re: A dog that may not be
Haha thats the one. Their very cute!
You did said it would have to be big and easygoing!
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28/3/2005, 21:20
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ToB
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Re: A dog that may not be
Over here in the US a dog I find interesting is the English Mastiffs...This quote I found best describes them...
quote:
There are an awful lot of considerations to owning and raising a Mastiff. The first is size. Can you imagine a dog the size of a love seat walking through your house? Stepping on your toes? Can you imagine "an accident"?
Second in importance is biological and anatomical. Politely we point out that Mastiffs are flatulent. That means they fart. BIG farts. Big, room clearing farts. They don't care who's in the room, and they aren't embarrassed farting in front of your neighbor, your boss, your Mom, your Minister; if there is a bad time to fart... well, you get the picture.
And as if flatulence isn't enough, Mastiffs drool. A lot. Dreamy Mastiff lovers call it glisten, or some other euphemism, but non-Mastiff lovers like your Boss, your Mom, and others don't see it quite as romantically. At best it is a gooey mess, at worst it is a chunky, debris and food filled gooey mess. In all cases it can be more than you imagine if you haven't seen a Mastiff in real life.
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29/3/2005, 2:41
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foxleigh
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Re: A dog that may not be
shorthaired border collie.
they are extremely trainable.mine doesnt work cattle except when they come in the houseyard.he barks but not excessively when strangers enter the property(house yard drive) or pull up at the dairy .he is extremely friendly to everyone and loves children.he is not tied up at all but doesnt wander (being a person dog he sleeps/stays by the house while Im there, when i go down the dairy he waits there and then accompanies me home again.I think he would be agressive if someone were to harm me tho.
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29/3/2005, 14:38
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lilbrwncwz
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Re: A dog that may not be
Go to the local humane society/animal shelter and give them your requirements. Sounds like the perfect dog,now if it only existed. Find some old golden retriever cross that is to lazy to run,bite,or be in the way. Have you ever seen the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm ( I believe thats the name) Uppity people move to the country get a Gorgous Irish Setter and admire it as it just keeps on running far far away. Finally have some old dog that the have to pick it's tail out of the fireplace cause it so lethargic??
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29/3/2005, 18:27
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Rinky Dink
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Re: A dog that may not be
Try to find a heeler, or heeler mix. Pet quality good enough.
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29/3/2005, 19:43
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Benny19
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Re: A dog that may not be
my parents have black flat-coat retriever, all the ones they have ever owned exactly match your criteria!!
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30/3/2005, 12:05
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classcow
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Re: A dog that may not be
I would add a second to Border Collie. We have always had them. Very fierce looking to a stranger who comes to our farm but have never had one bite. Very protective but safe. Smartest dog to train as well.
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30/3/2005, 14:22
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smous
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Re: A dog that may not be
Bull Mastiffs I have owned:
Tarn, three quarter Bull Mastiff, purchased for R35 in 1981 (two Rand to the Pound in those days). Real one man dog, tolerated friends, awesome watchdog. A legend in his own lifetime, he sired most of the litters in our valley for a couple of years. I once came back from a two month army camp to find the dog chained to a pole. Maid explained that he would follow her home at night and either kill or maim all male dogs he encountered on the way. Dog owners warned her that if she didn't stop him following her, they would kill him. My boss didn't like him either. I lived on one farm, he lived on another, he arrived at my home one morning with his two dogs on the back of his pickup. They baled off and thrashed Tarn who was barely a year old at the time. Six months or a year later, I can't remember the time scale, he again arrived with his dogs in tow. The dogs jumped off eager to assert themselves again, this time the tables were turned, Tarn cleaned both dogs up and had them scrambling to get back on the pickup. From then on whenever they ended up back at my spot, they would cower down below the sides of the truck, with Tarn parading and growling below. Found him lying dead in the middle of the front lawn one afternoon, he was nine years old. Great hound.
Blaise, purebred pedigree Bull Mastiff, bought for R350 as a mate for Tarn. Magnificent specimen, good dog with one major blind spot, for whatever reason she hated small dogs. The wages of sin are death I am afraid and after she had torn apart Jos, a very precious Jack Russell ***** for the third time (never mind recurring vet bills) she was sent to meet her maker.
Kyla, purebred pedigree Bull Mastiff. Blaise's replacement, cost an arm and a leg, but turned out as ugly as sin, with a protruding bottom jaw, made up for it with a heart of gold and magnificent temperament. Run over on the highway, when she followed me out unseen, late one evening when we went to sit up for cattle thieves who had hamstrung a beef cow the night before. The rustlers never did return so all and all a bad night.
Sport, son of Tarn and Kyla. Tarn must have been firing blanks by now as Sport was the only pup in the litter. Grew up with the best combination of his father's looks and his mother's temperament. Sired three litters of pups. Unfortunately when he was about five I changed locations and on the new farm, he started hunting. If he had just gone on his own it might have been tolerable, but he took the whole crew with him for up to three days at a time. After nearly a year of this I put an end to it with a bullet. Traumatic, but once Sport was gone all the wandering stopped.
Tegan, Boerbull x Bull Mastiff. Red brindle, absolute character, talked when you stared at her. With Sport as mate she produced three litters of magnificent puppies. Only blot on her report card was when she and two of her grown pups would follow Sport on his rambles. Tegan must have been ten or eleven, when her back legs just conked in and she lost all use of them. The day I took her to the vet to be euthanased, she sat next to me in the front of the pick up, head out the window, happy as Larry, tongue lolling and with a wet nose. I blubbed all the way home.
I kept three of Sport and Tegan's progeny:
Strike was a magnificent red brindle dog, with a black mask, a massive head and a bull chest. Dumb as a stump, he took a year to learn to jump on the back of my vehicle and another year to learn to jump off. Just the size of him made him an effective watchdog, he would have let anybody onto the property, at least he eventually learnt to bark in the right direction. As a result of following his father, the inevitable happened and he got caught in a snare, (I have had four dogs caught in wire snares, two came back with them and two we found still alive after hours of searching when they didn't come home,) despite offering all manner of rewards we couldn't find him. He arrived home almost a week later, all tucked up and hollow gutted. I was so pleased to see him, I couldn't be angry; he also had a deep wound over his shoulder, under one leg and across his chest and neck, which I treated with purple spray. After about an hour when he still didn't relax and was dripping urine in little spurts, I examined the wound closer. The wire loop was still attached, sunk deep into the wound. I had to use pliers to cut him free; he healed up with no after effects except the hair grew back in white over the scar. If he hadn't been so big and got one leg through the wire, his thrashing would have throttled him. One breeder who brought his ***** to be mated with Strike, always came in an old Mercedes. After that Strike always got very excited when he saw a Merc. Not so dumb after all. Strike went downhill very fast in his last six months, he ended up looking like one of those old lions you see on the wildlife channels, all head and magnificent gaunt frame. Another sad visit to the vet, he was only about eight or nine.
Two litters later, I kept Skyler, his full sister. A throw back to her grand mother, she is no looker, but an awesome natured dog. She was stolen as a pup; someone must have left a door or gate open, because two weeks after she went missing, she returned home covered in ticks, one of my least favourite pups, I couldn't sell her after that. She also survived being caught in a snare, the noose caught her back leg, if we had found her a few hours later the wire would have hamstrung her. Because of her poor type, I never bred her; she is now eleven years old and grey muzzled and gets to sleep inside at night.
Red, is Skyler's littermate. Swapped for five straws of semen believe it or not. Owner left the dairy industry and in his new job was transferred to Swaziland. Red couldn't go along, so I took him back. Red is a stone killer, he grew up in the city, in a smallish yard, maybe this had something to do with his homicidal nature. As good a watchdog as Strike was poor, he has to live in the back yard as he would be a serial killer if given the chance. A legend for the wrong reasons, he only allows the maid (she feeds him) and myself into his domain. He lived on his own for a good couple of years, except when Strike managed to get into his half of the yard and there would be an almighty scrap. They had a fight in the house once, I slipped my belt around Strike's hips and dragged him away, I then tried to separate them with the security gate, but to no avail. We were testing the market with a spray on tail paint at the time; I fetched a can of this and blasted it directly up their noses. This did the trick. For the next two weeks I had two green headed dogs licking their wounds.
Red now has a trophy wife; Barkly is a young Boerbull *****. Unfortunately the first time she came on heat, I was on the road, and she killed my Jack Russell ***** (not the same one that used to get mauled by Blaise, Jos expired at fourteen years old a few years previously, the replacement was two when she met her untimely end.) South Africa placed a moratorium on the death penalty in 1992, in keeping with this trend; Barkly was given a life sentence for her transgression and banished to the back yard, where she gives Red hell. A good looking dog she is on heat right now, but I am afraid the old fellow is just not quite up to it anymore. Must be purgatory.
Turk is the new kid on the block. He is ten months old and reminds me of Strike a lot, he has the same colouring and should develop into a powerful dog. Already imposing, he has an even temperament and is well socialised. Purchased from dairy farmers down the road, he is a Boerbull x Bull Mastiff.
I presently own six dogs, Skyler, Red, Barkly, Turk, a Jack Russell pup named Taz and a seven year old German Shepherd called Joad, who is one eighth timber wolf and is brighter than all the Mastiffs put together – somebody has to point them in the right direction!
Turk
Last edited by smous, 30/3/2005, 14:56
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WWS-SA
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30/3/2005, 14:44
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Grasshill
EX93
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Location: Ontario
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Re: A dog that may not be
Smous: Turk looks lovely, and I very much enjoyed the stories of your dogs. Thank you for sharing them.
I am a bit wary of entering into the mastiff/bulldog breeds. My brother has one now and he is a doll. I do not think that I have ever been quite so attached to a dog as I am to this one. However, his puppy nature--while lovely for those who know him--might cause problems for strangers unaccustomed to dogs, or nervous around them. The lovable little guy is incredibly hyperactive, has a tendency to jump up, and when play fighting the only thing that will calm him down is putting your face two inches from his own and whispering 'Shhhhhhh'. I think that a stranger might not be quite so comfortable getting his face that close to Tyson's giant mouth. He growls at strangers sometimes and has adopted the habit of standing at the top of the stairs and not letting them up. I don't think that he would intentionally bite someone, but he does have a tendency to play it up a bit when men are around.
Border collies are very popular in this area. Our dog of choice, historically, has been a german shepherd/border collie cross. When they reach 4 or 5 years of age, however, they have tended to cease welcoming strangers onto the property. Almost jealously, they watch the stranger like they are waiting for him to slip up. One of them bit my aunt when she came over and no one was home.
On a farm, when most of the traffic comes from a rural background, the worry of being sued is minimal (farmers don't sue one another), but I am not sure if a cityslicker would be privy to this code of conduct.
I am curious about the Great Danes, Great Pyrenees, and Borzoi. Any comments, here? Borzoi likely would not work with the other animals but they look amazing.
Heelers and Retrievers look a good bet, maybe.
How many of these dogs are likely to bark through the night?
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30/3/2005, 16:59
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Grasshill
EX93
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Re: A dog that may not be
Thank you all for your insights, by the way.
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30/3/2005, 17:03
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Big Bird
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Re: A dog that may not be
We have a black Lab, and although she wouldn't do a great deal physically as a guard dog, on several occasions shes set off barking in the night then we've heard cars roar off, so she does a good enough job.
Not likely to bite anyone but might lick them to death which isn't too bad a job with our young kids.
Of limited use when getting the cows in for milking, but just the fact shes in the field charging about does make the cows focus on walking.
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31/3/2005, 8:46
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ghz
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Re: A dog that may not be
Smous,I have a feeling if we were to meet over a good home cooked meal and started swapping Dog stories we could go many hours.
If you can get a German Sheperd out of a real balanced, inteligent parents,and are able to raise it the right way there is no better dog or man-animal experience (in my opinion)
Right now we have an Old English Sheep Dog that is out of two generations of very intelligent dogs.And we are very pleased with her.
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31/3/2005, 13:14
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Buckeye
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Re: A dog that may not be
I have a German Shepard/Golden Lab mix that does really well around the house. She is mild tempered, she is really good with kids and hunts mice. She is very protective of the house, at night especially.
At the farm we have a registered Border Collie at the barn. He is not good with visitors, and not really good with kids, he herds them about. He is tenacious and good with cows.
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2/4/2005, 20:40
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Grasshill
EX93
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…
I got a little collie puppy about a month ago. He's the short-haired variety and ever so smart! He can't understand why the cats won't play with him.
We got Dad a golden retriever for his birthday last year and he is the most charming, affectionate, lovely dog in the world.
I'd recommend both breeds in a heartbeat.
My sister's boyfriend brought her a plott hound a couple months ago. She's a nightmare in the house, has a tendency to disappear outside, can't crate or tie her, can't leave her alone. What does one do with a dog like this? She's a loving little thing--sister doesn't feel right taking her back to the pound.
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18/2/2008, 17:39
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Grasshill
EX93
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…
An American breed tracing back to the German bloodhounds?
They were bred to hunt coyotes, wildcats, wild boar, etc. Not quite what Emily had in mind.
At the pound, they said she'd been running with a pack of wild dogs when she came in. It shows.
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18/2/2008, 20:16
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bauldy
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Re: A dog that may not be
I have a "dog" thats good with horses, cows , goats and sheep . It wont run away. Its big enough. Its not territorial. Its easy going.You will provide it with a good life. Also its not too thirsty ,it eats up the miles and its cheap to keep !
He's called HONDA and he has four round rubber objects where his feet should be !!
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18/2/2008, 20:44
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DaleKOntario
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Re: A dog that may not be
We had a Saint Bernard/hound/German shepherd cross that was friendly as could be. Had all the size of the Saint Bernard, and as stupid as a hound could ever be. Made a bag of hammers look intellectual.
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21/2/2008, 3:29
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Grasshill
EX93
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Re: A dog that may not be
^ Picture of the plott hound
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27/2/2008, 22:19
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