Just showin' off a bit.

[Doggy Daddy]

My wife and I just adopted this one on Friday from the animal shelter.
Meet Nikki Jo



About 2 years old.  Retriever and

Smart.  Minds very well.  Very active.  Gets along well with our other 2 dogs, and with my son's dog when they're here.

DD

[castle key]

Looks like a bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

Yes, that really is a breed of dog!!

[280plus]

Looks like a bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

So its function is to retrieve tolls from ducks? Interesting...

Nice new pooch, I've been lobbying for one more to pal around with the one we have now but I'm not getting very far with it. 

 

[Tuco]

Looks like a bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

My first thought exactly!
Cousin owned one.  
It made a hell of a commotion when left alone, but hey, that's what they're bred to do.

[AJ Dual]

I've never gone wrong with a 1-2 year old female rescue.

[Boomhauer]

I've never gone wrong with a 1-2 year old female rescue.

I don't even have to drive to the animal shelter. Wastes of oxygen dump their unwanted pets out here all the time...

[Doggy Daddy]

Looks like a bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

Cool.  Thanks for that info.  I'll be doing some Googling on that.

Nice new pooch, I've been lobbying for one more to pal around with the one we have now but I'm not getting very far with it.

Yeah, I had been working towards getting another for a while.  The wife has been all for it, but wanted to wait until her upcoming (I hope!) hospital stay is over.  I kept checking the pound's website, though.  When I saw this one's pic, I showed it to her and saw the cracks appearing in the defense .  Once we went out and met her "in person", it was over.  BTW, the pic here is the same one that was on the pound's site.  I've cropped it a bit.

It made a hell of a commotion when left alone, but hey, that's what they're bred to do.

Nikki hasn't done much barking so far, but then she hasn't been left alone yet.  One of our others, Dottie, sees herself as the resident warning system.  Stays quiet unless she sees a cat (invisible or otherwise) through the back yard gate.  Then she raises the alarm.  Not a commotion, just single barks spaced about 3 seconds apart until the "threat" leaves or one of us makes her come back inside and closes the doggy door.  She now has a co-barker with Nikki.  They've alerted on a couple of legitimate events now.

I've never gone wrong with a 1-2 year old female rescue.

I'll skip the obvious joke.  To avoid problems, we keep the household to spayed females.  (and YOU can skip THAT joke.  )  Nikki is now the 4th one from the pound.  Our strategy seems to be working good so far.  Vegas law allows 3 dogs in a household.  Six, if you get a dog fancier's permit.  We keep it to 3, though I'm thinking of getting the permit just to avoid the appearance of doing anything wrong, since my son and his dog are here a lot.

I don't even have to drive to the animal shelter. Wastes of oxygen dump their unwanted pets out here all the time...

I just don't have a proper response to that.  It's a tragedy all around.

DD

[Boomhauer]

I just don't have a proper response to that.

I've got an answer.  It's called kneecapping the bastards and it ought to be legal...

[Doggy Daddy]

Well... bought her a Frisbee today.

She's definitely a Retriever, she's just not a Letitgoer.   

DD

[Tuco]

.... she's just not a Letitgoer.   
DD

A trick I learned while messing around with hunt tests and field trials -
When the dog has a grip on the item, and wants to play tug, hold the item in one hand (Not tugging), while the dog has it mouthed.
Reach across the dog's back or along the side, and grab the web of skin between the flank and a back leg while saying "Give" or "Release".
Don't pinch any harder than necessary, we don't want to hurt the dog, just surprise it.
The dog will be like "What the heck?" and look back at the hand doing the pinch. 

Stand up with the Frisbee and say good dog - throw it again promptly for the reward.

Dogs being dogs, it might take seven repetitions before you get a release with just the command.

Some dogs being just stubborn, need to be lifted off the ground to get the release. 
Always use the same command at perzackly the right time.
Always reward with the throw. 

No release? you just walk away.

I want another dog.

[41magsnub]

Then there is my Mom's dog Beemer who I am dog sitting.  She is a chocolate Labrador retriever who does not fetch..  she never showed the slightest interest.

[Doggy Daddy]

I want another dog.

Dogs are special, aren't they?

I'll try that method for the release command, thanks.  She's the most persistent on holding on than any other dog I've had.  Not that I tried all that hard on some of the others.  It was entertaining just to battle it out with them until one of us would give up.  This one is going to get more proper training.

DD

[Doggy Daddy]

Then there is my Mom's dog Beemer who I am dog sitting.  She is a chocolate Labrador retriever who does not fetch..  she never showed the slightest interest.

Like our other two dogs.  No interest in toys whatsoever.  Both have some Chow in them, and I believe that's normal for the breed.

DD

[Boomhauer]

Like our other two dogs.  No interest in toys whatsoever.  Both have some Chow in them, and I believe that's normal for the breed.

DD

Got a chow mix that's the laziest dog you've ever seen. No interest in toys. Little interest in treat foods (you can throw a pork chop in front of him and it'll be a while before he gets up and eats it). So lazy...he does bark at the mailman, UPS, etc...but he does it while laying down. Without lifting his head.

[Doggy Daddy]

Got a chow mix that's the laziest dog you've ever seen.

Amber (lower left of my current avatar) is pretty close.  Sweetheart of a dog, but the most exercise she gets is pushing the doggy door open and going outside to take a dump.  Dottie (upper right of the avatar) stays pretty active.  She spends a large part of her day out in the back yard either laying by the gate and looking up the side of the house, or patrolling the perimeter of the yard.

DD

[vaskidmark]

Dog (chow/lab mix) would fetch until my arms fell off.  Bring it back and drop it at my feet, then look at me like I was an idiot that did not know my purpose in life was to throw stuff.  If I did not pick it up she'd push it towards me with her nose.  If I picked it up but did not throw she'd bump my leg with her nose.

Domino (English Springer Spaniel/brick mix) did not know how to apply brakes and would crash into walls chasing whatever was thrown to be fetched.  He had a few other traits that convinced me he had a brick in his head where his brain ought to have been.

Domino was the DEW Line.  Dog just took up position at the nearest entry point to whatever was out there and waited for her chance to maul it.  Both learned to stop the guarding behavior on command ("It's safe") and to allow people/other animals in on command ("Be nice!").

Neither one learned to respect an open door.  Domino would bolt out, then stop in his tracks and look around as if wondering "What do I do now?" and just stand there till someone came and led him back inside.  Dog would bolt and want to be chased around the neighborhood.  I just stood in the doorway and waited for her to come back (with my heart in my throat fearing she would go out to the main street and get hit by a car).  And yet I could drop their leashes and both would continue to heel.

I still miss them.

stay safe.

[castle key]

Well... bought her a Frisbee today.

She's definitely a Retriever, she's just not a Letitgoer.   

DD

Not familliar with the Letigoer breed!!!

[erictank]

My wife and I would love to get a dog (we both had dogs growing up) - but it turned out she's allergic to pet dander, among many (MANY!) other things.  No pets for us. 

Well, we could have goldfish or lizards, I guess.  No thanks.

You got a cutie there.

[Doggy Daddy]

You got a cutie there.

Thanks.  She's only been with us now for 5 days, but she has found her place.  At the moment, she and Amber are both lounging here on the bed by me.  Nikki is just a few minutes from snoring, having worn herself out playing.  Amber is less than a foot away from her and resting contentedly.

Dot is off somewhere patrolling. 
Life is good.

DD

[Jamie B]

Looks like a bit of Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

Tollers are great dogs.

Kudos, DD, on getting a rescue dog.

Our Golden was a 3 m/o rescue 3 years, and is a fantastic dog!

Best $117 I ever spent, which included spaying and all puppy shots.

If I ever get another dog, I am checking rescue dogs first.

With ours, our vet had her at home, and brought her to the office every day.

We saw her at the office, and arranged for a 3 week trial......3 years ago!

I figured with SWMBO that it was better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission!

Jamie

[Doggy Daddy]

This is "official" rescue dog #4.  That is, she's the 4th one that came from the shelter.  My son's dog was rescued from the street.  He was driving his plumber van down the road and this dog ran in front of him.  He pulled over, she got in and sat in the seat to "go home".  Great dog.  He still has her.

I could probably name a half-dozen others that were also rescued from the streets or from unplanned/unwanted litters.

And yeah, Toller (her nickname now) is quite the little helper.  I discovered the other day that she had opened and spread 2 new bags of topsoil for me.  Of course, she didn't really spread it where I wanted it.  And she left the remains of the bags laying in the yard.   

On Goldens: We had a rescued Golden/mix for several years before we lost her to complications from the medication for epilepsy.  SWMBO still misses that dog immensely.  That dog was at the shelter for 7 months, and not one person showed enough interest to take her from the cage to meet her.  She was a featured dog on one of the local radio station's adoption PSA.  We saw her pic on the shelter's web site, went to meet her and as soon as she rolled over for a belly rub my wife was hooked.  She went home with us.

When we adopted Nikki, one of the volunteers at the shelter was talking to my wife as I went to track someone down to open the cage.  Turns out that volunteer was there when we got the Golden.  She remembered her from all those years ago, and had a good talk with my wife about her.

Dogs... gotta love 'em.

DD