wyrddogs

[wyrddogs]

my sunny boy

[wyrddogs]

since police k9s came up yesterday they've been on my mind a bit and it is extremely transparent how the very same people who get hysterical about pit bulls think attack dogs used by the police are heckin good boys

[wyrddogs]

Do you have an interest in any non-dog creatures? (Either to keep, or just appreciate)

Someday I would like to own a rosy boa. My roommate/landlord has given me permission to get one, I just haven't had the time/energy/motivation to acquire the setup and also the snake. I've never owned a snake before, so I'm super nervous about it, which is also contributing to my dragging my feet. But I do want one! Maybe I can get around to it within the next couple years.

I dream of having cat-safe dogs again so I can have a kitty. Maybe someday. Eventually. Sigh.

If I felt like spending a billion dollars I'd get a cornish rex.

Every now and then I really miss my barn job (or rather, I miss Bear and Roro). Facebook has twigged to my horsie yearnings and is showing me a fuckton of horses for sale. I'm following Double Devil Wild Horse Corral for the photos of the cute horses. I absolutely do not ever want to own a horse, but... look at this mustang gelding...

Thank you for asking!

[wyrddogs]

a dog breed you love from afar but you could never personally own?

I've loved these things my entire life:

I would not be able to handle most border collies. They're too soft. And too... neurotic isn't quite the right word. But I've met a fair share of farm-bred BCs and even they skeeve me out with the wide-eyed vibrating. The fast twitch in shepherds is very doable for me, but turns me off in border collies. I'm not sure why.

There was one BC that I could have taken home and been very happy with him. He was returned to his breeder for being too hard for his owner, and was I believe put on cattle. I think I'd do well with a cattle-bred BC, but haven't met any in person.

I'm also super soft on livestock guardian dogs like the akbash, but that's a hell naw for me owning one. No thank you.

And of course, I have mad respect for a lot of sighthounds, longdogs, and lurchers. Living with them has made me love them, but they are very much not for me. I'm into generalist dogs, not specialists. But super super cool dogs.

Thank you for asking!

[wyrddogs]

The doberman is a graceful and elegant breed, dignified and beautiful.

[wyrddogs]

Do you have any future dog names saved and can we get a sneak preview? 👀

Sure! Here are a handful from the list, registered name idea is in parenthesis:

Byerly (Town Clown)

Mird (Clever Boy/Girl) - This was actually the name I had saved for Kermit, but then he came with a toad-themed reg name, so I didn't use this one

Mr Shine (Him Diamond!)

Ruthven (Basingstoke; Bad Baronet)

Scram (Safety Control Rod Axe Man)

Sundog (Dawn Machine)

I sort of have my name picked for girl dachs, but we'll see if it fits her when I meet her. (Still waiting for the bitch to come into season, so no news here.)

Thank you for asking!

[wyrddogs]

If you could have one of any dog breed in the world, which would you want?

I own them!

Every day I am filled with such wonder and joy that I finally managed to acquire my heart breeds. No other breeds (or types or mixes) appeal to me as much as Belgian tervuren and mini longhair dachshunds.

Thank you for asking!

[wyrddogs]

Ask me stuff

Por favor. Slow day.

[wyrddogs]

I feel like soooo many online platforms give terrible advice about getting a puppy as an employed adult, and it got SO MUCH worse since Covid. Feels like 90% of the advice I see is along the lines of “make sure to take 3 weeks off when you get puppy! Work from home for the first 8 months! Leave them alone NO MORE than 1hr at a time! Don’t crate train until 4 months!” and it’s like. man. I’m not saying you should get a giant guardian breed puppy while working 3 jobs and in med school, but also… at some point, it’s a dog. people have been working full-time and raising happy puppies for decades. it’s fine.

[wyrddogs]

@vaksthemutt As long as the dogs are getting some physical and mental exercise, and are settling well in the house, you're fine. Most dogs really don't need a ton. Social media rewards the people who are doing way beyond the normal with their dogs; frankly most dogs don't need that. A lot of dogs do fantastic on a sniff walk a couple times a week, maybe some enrichment at home if the owner feels like it. It's fine.

With all that said, here is what I do with my dogs. Caveat that this is my preferred level of exercise/activity, and I specifically got my WL terv so he could keep up with me.

MWF we do a leash walk in the morning, about an hour. TTh it's an off leash walk, again about an hour. We do another hour-ish walk in the evening. My goal for myself is to walk at least five miles a day most days. Zaku really needs the off leash time to run and run and run; the time I had to do leashed walks for a few weeks to let his tweaked back heal, we felt it.

Weekends we'll usually do a bit more. Maybe a hike, or an extra long off leash walk, or hunting, or paddleboarding. Or a dog show/trial. Or maybe we go somewhere for a training session around distractions, followed by a walk. I do try to have at least one weekend a month where we do our normal walks and then relax. If we had a dog show weekend it's really important Zaku gets an off leash run soon after so he can get himself settled again.

Wednesday night is agility class. Lately we've been doing weight pull practice once or twice a week. Nosework class is once or twice a month.

During my lunch breaks on my work from home days I'll do a training session, or some playtime, or the boys just hang out while I do yardwork. I make sure to have at least two days a week where we do zero training so they have a mental break.

On super hot days we'll forego the afternoon walk and go to the pond so the dogs can swim (or rather, Zaku will swim and Kermit will yell from the bank). In winter months I cram tracking training in here somewhere. In theory I want to do bikejoring but I have yet to find the time, so we haven't.

I don't provide stuffed kongs when I go to work anymore because neither of them cared. I'd get home to full kongs. I'll give a little milkbone snackie when I leave and that's it. Zaku is crated with a toy and Kermit is loose in my room. I drive home from work on my lunch break to let them out to potty and stretch their legs.

The boys could honestly get by on less activity, but it's what I like and I specifically got a WL terv as an upgrade dog when my bull herder couldn't keep up. Kermit really doesn't require this much activity, but he demands to be included so he is included.

I have a question for all of dogblr.

What does an average week, day by day, look like for you and your dogs?

I feel like the internet is really scewing what daily life looks like for most people and I really would love to know what it actually looks like.

I never feel like I'm doing enough.

[wyrddogs]

We have a litter of baby greyhounds on the ground right now, nine days old. Very fat, no eyes or ears yet.

Momma dog has been very protective of them, and is in particular targeting Zaku, most likely because he's extremely different in shape and energy than the sighthounds. We've been keeping them separate for Zaku's safety and momma's stress level. They normally get along fine, so we aren't worried about their relationship.

I was smooching the babies while momma napped, and Zaku crept over quietly to peer at us through the baby gate. I brought the brindle girl over so he could sniff her through the gate. He wagged his tail and had a very soft expression on.

Hopefully he realizes the he's going to have some new playmates in a couple more weeks!

[wyrddogs]

Lying cutely on the glider like he didn't destroy one of the cushions yesterday. 💀

[wyrddogs]

I will never be over how incredibly racist breed bans are. The language used, the way they are enforced and policed, the class divide on who can own these dogs and who can't....the history behind it all of it boils down to racism and very specifically anti black racism. They don't work because they aren't meant to stop pit bull attacks, they're a form of racism. In some ways one of the most insidious ways racism shows itself in laws, this kind of association game that drags something as common and innocent as a dog into structural racism, all in the name of safety (for who? who does and doesn't get to own a dog? what makes a dog truly a "dangerous breed"? what markers are we deciding that with? these are important questions to ask!)

[wyrddogs]

Henlo! It’s the Doggust 2025 Dog Lists!!! The Official & Alternative one for twice the fun!

Doggust is the monthly challenge where the goal is to draw a dog everyday for the month of August! You can use the official dog lists above or draw any dogs you like! Just draw dogs in August! Any dogs, all the dogs, or just one dog 31 times! Use any medium! Have fun!

The Official Dog List has been written with care not repeat any dogs from the previous years - cuz we’re gonna attempt to draw all the dogs!

Alternatively, the Alternative Dog List is here once again! Woo!!

Who’s excited for Doggust 2025?!

[wyrddogs]

Got this off Facebook, who got it from a breed magazine.

---

On Breeding, Exercising, And Handling (1971)

Florence Nagle, 1894 - 1988, was one of those remarkable dog people. She bred superb Irish Wolfhounds, judged all the hound breeds including Afghan hounds, she challenged the English Jockey Club and beat them, forcing them to allow female trainers, she challenged the English Kennel Club and forced them to allow female members. She has written on breeding, exercising, handling etc. She bred IW's for 65 years at her Sulhamstead kennels. Below is a transcript of her comments at a IW breed seminar from 1971.

The following notes were transcribed from A 1971 tape recordings with Florence Nagle (Sulhamstead IW's, UK) during a breed seminar. Mrs Nagle had bred Irish Wolfhounds since 1913 and judged all the hounds breeds including Afghan Hounds many times.

"I try to breed a dog that could still do the job he was meant to do. Quality, not quantity. I've only bred in all of my life from about eight or nine or ten bitches and never more than three times to the same bitch.

I only have about fourteen dogs; I never have more, and I keep my old ones. But you mustn't be sentimental about it. The thing is to look at your puppies and see if you've got one that's special. Keep that one, and then let the others go at fourteen weeks of age or so.

I've had to start over three times - we couldn't feed dogs during the wars - and I've always started from the back end, the rear end is more important than the front end, of course -- its the engine. A dog can propel himself with good hindquarters and a bad front but he can't drag himself along with bad hind legs.

Every dog probably has three faults. But some faults are much more important than others. A bad conformation is a shocking fault. The dog is going to pass that on to its puppies. An ear held a bit wrong, or a tooth out, is not a shocking fault. Other important things, the jawbone is more important than one or two broken teeth. Coat isn't the most important thing either.

You must breed for temperament, and don't let anyone tell you that inbreeding causes bad temperament. If you inbreed to good temperament, you'll have even better temperament, but if you breed to bad temperament, you'll have a dog that you can do absolutely nothing with. Should you have a dog with bad temperaments, you have no business selling it.

My bitches are very closely line bred, inbred, if you like. But you see, I have one advantage over you all. I'm very old and I know the ancestors all back. Apart from their pedigree, I know their faces and conformation and I've always inbred heavily.

People should not inbreed if they don't know everything way back. It's not a job for anybody that doesn't know what he's doing because you can stamp in as much as you can stamp out.

If you are a good breeder - a breeder who really means something to the breed - you don't produce a whole lot of duds. I've told this story often before; somebody said to me "Poor Mrs Nagle - how dull it is for her - all her puppies are exactly the same. She must be so bored with them." Well, that's what I've spent fifty years trying to get.

I bred so few bitches because I believe in breeding only from the very best. You want your bitch right all the way back and I think you get a lot of your conformation from her. I think she's 80% of your puppies. A great stud dog can uplift but you don't get a great stud dog very often, but you can see that your bitches are all right. It's not right to say "Oh that bitch, she's not very good but she'll do to breed from."

Some of the stock that is being bred today is from animals that shouldn't have been bred from at all. When you have mass breeding, that is what occurs. The best breeders are the ones who only breed from the very best, and it pays in good quality.

Believe me, you are not going to make money breeding good dogs. In fact, they're rather an expensive luxury. You can't mass produce quality. You're lucky to get a very good dog one or twice in your lifetime, even if you're being very careful. If you have more puppies than you can handle properly, they will get faults - not faults that they inherited necessarily - but faults from lack of attention. Even if they started good, they'd end up bad. You can't have quantity and quality.

Exercise - you've got to use your common sense and not tire puppies. Exercise must be free. You must never drag them or a dog of any age behind a car or bicycle. There's nothing worse.

Slow walking develops muscle, but there's nothing that develops muscle like a gallop. I take puppies out to a nearby field and let them run around. At about four months they begin to be interested in things and they go right around the field. As they get older, you see their gallop improving.

It's so important to do this when your dogs are young because you'll never have them as well muscled if you try to do it later. Take them out and let them go with another and gallop round once or twice - that's enough. Then you develop hindquarters and the second thigh.

Do you know what the second thigh is? It's between the knee and hock, If you muscle that up, you won't have cow-hocked dogs. Otherwise there's no muscle to keep the hocks straight when the dog is growing up.

You also want muscle on the shoulder. Don't get the silly idea that this is a loaded shoulder. If the shoulder is properly laid back it can't be a loaded shoulder.

Handling - a good dog, well made, rarely stands badly. Just let it stand and it will place itself beautifully.

No hackney action please. You never want hackney action in a galloping dog. The show crowd thinks it's lovely to see a dog prance along. It isn't, it's all wrong.In England we always make the dog walk as well as trot in the show ring. If he can walk well slowly it means his hocks are all beautiful as they should be.

If you have a first class dog, you still want presence. What is this? It's the dog that comes into the ring, holds his own head up, and then moves off, not strung up with a ewe neck.

Take your dog into the ring, let it stand on its own, and run on its own, and then you've that valuable quality called presence, which will always carry you. If you have conformation as well. It will take you right to the top."

Florence Nagle, 1971

From Afghan Hound Times

[wyrddogs]

Just a sweetie who wants belly rubs ❤️.

[wyrddogs]

Okay I can't find the dogblr post that inspired this so you just get my train of thought:

An acquaintance of mine was looking into getting a WL terv last year. She is a great fit for the breed-- has owned SL tervs and currently owns sporter collies. She did end up getting a WL terv earlier this year and I'm excited to see what they accomplish together. But we did have a conversation that stuck in my mind.

We were both volunteering at a tracking trial in December-ish last year and brought our dogs so they weren't sitting around at home. I had Zaku out on leash and he was quietly destroying a stick while we chatted.

My acquaintance, who I will call Janie, was telling me about the traits she wanted in a terv. She told me she liked Zaku very much, but she thought she wanted a dog that was more active. She kept looking at him and saying he was "too calm" and she was looking for something sporty with a lot of drive and oomph.

And I had to explain to her that Zaku has a ton of drive and oomph, but right now, as we are standing here on day two of the tracking trial, where he has spent most of the day just hanging out in the car, Zaku understands it is time to be chill, so he is being chill. I don't want a dog that is buzzing 24/7 because that would drive me bonkers. But when I ask him to turn on, he Turns On, and it's like steering a freight train or a rocket.

Janie said, "Hmmm... I guess you're right," but appeared unconvinced.

So yeah, something something just because my dog knows how to settle and quietly entertain himself when he's "off-duty" doesn't mean he has no drive or speed. I need to be able to live with him, and while he is absolutely super active, he isn't bouncing off the walls at all times.