Pets
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@trail and arrow what breed is Krielow again? I can't remember…
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@Graeme
Kielow is a "Deutschdrahthaar" : german wirehaired pointer, who tuned out to look more then a "Deutschkurzhaar".But don't get one, except you turned into a Waldschrat like me. Krielow is terminally ill for month now. He is 15 years old, so I guess that's OK.
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@Chap I'm not a big Labrador fan. I don't have any particular reason, as the ones I've met have been nice dogs. My father likes them.
My brother's on his second Collie. I don't think that it gets enough exercise or training.
The original one, Jake, was a rescue of unknown provenance. He was very clever, for example he knew that shutting a laptop meant that you'd finished with it, and you could take him for a walk.
I looked after him quite often, and whenever my brother came to collect him, he'd run upstairs to hide!
@trail and arrow I'm sorry to hear about Krielow.
I wasn't planning on getting one, just curious what his breed is.
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I would never fucking co-own or co-register a dog. That's a non-starter for me. You have to read the contract in great detail. If you have a lawyer, have them go through it. There is a zero percent chance that I will ever co-own or co-register a dog.
If you do, you're basically the dogs butler. You give it a home, feed it, pay for it's vet bills, but you have no rights as far as it's medical decisions go. You have no choice what to feed it, where to train it, if you can get it fixed, and when the breeder wants to show it or breed it or take it for a week, you have to give it up. Not having a dog neutered is a giant pain in the ass in the US. There are lots of places you can't take your dog if it's not neutered. Other owners will avoid an intact male, as they can be more aggressive. God help you if you have an unspayed female, you will be chasing it around with a maxi pad.
Oh, and if your dog gets loose and gets another dog pregnant, or your have a female and it gets pregnant without the other owners approval, at least in the US, you should expect to be sued into poverty, especially with a breed as rare as those.
Every competent breeder will have a contract. Even the most liberal contract will say you must (in non specific ways) feed the dog high quality food, take it for training, and maybe get veterinary insurance. It will also say that if you use the dog in an unapproved breeding program or use it for fighting, you will be sued into poverty AND the dog will be repossessed.I cannot emphasize enough to get veterinary insurance. Before he passed, Hex had about $20k in knee surgery. Lia had a mysterious abscess on her shoulder the size of my fist that appeared out of nowhere and she had to have emergency surgery. Dogs get expensive. Veterinary insurance is a lifesaver.
If the breed speaks to you, then go for it. Everyone told us that Rottweilers were tough first dogs, but they're a breeze because they're "people pleasers". We were told to be cautious because they are so powerful. That actually wound up speaking to me, just because something has the capacity to cause harm does not mean that they will (I've had people even threaten me that they would kill my dog if it came too close, I've been threatened simliarly, so we're going through this together). You will be that much invested into a dog breed that speaks to you than one that doesn't (our French Bulldog is fun, but he doesn't connect with me on a fundamental level that our Rotts did/do).
With that being said, be aware that a dog that rare will have health issues most vets won't know or expect and hunting dogs are high energy and have a high prey drive. Expect the occasional "gift" in the form of a dead animal. Expect plenty of damaged furniture while the dog is "looking" for something. I know of one dog that wanted something under the bed so it ripped and dug a hole 2 feet wide through the mattress.I hope this helps.
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Another story about veterinary insurance: when Hex was diagnosed with a rare, extraordinarily aggressive form of cancer (it was growing close to 1cm a day, and was starting to encapsulate his brain)(it also digested the front of his skull because it needed resources to continue to grow), we were super aggressive about his treatment. We were looking at $10k in gamma knife radiation therapy then additional cost for chemotherapy.
We were super aggressive with X-rays, biopsies and surgical options because we love him so much, and never once gave pause due to the cost.
If we had, I'm not sure we would have been so aggressive, we were so focused on getting in front of the cancer. At the end (start to deciding to let him go) it was only about 8 days. We took a couple steps to make him comfortable for a week and used that week to say goodbye and make memories.
What I'm trying to say is veterinary insurance is incredibly powerful, and it was easier to pursue test after test than let our dog go because we were only paying 10% out of pocket. In the end, it took a wake up call from my best friend to remind me to do what's best for Hex. -
Thanks @DougNg.
I'm nervous about joint ownership agreements as there's a risk of falling out with the other party. I've been on the receiving end of those a few times in my career, so I'm cautious about what I sign these days.
Pet insurance sounds sensible. I'll definitely bear that in mind.
Incidentally, are you planning on training your Frenchie to do this?
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@Chap I'm not a big Labrador fan. I don't have any particular reason, as the ones I've met have been nice dogs. My father likes them.
My brother's on his second Collie. I don't think that it gets enough exercise or training.
The original one, Jake, was a rescue of unknown provenance. He was very clever, for example he knew that shutting a laptop meant that you'd finished with it, and you could take him for a walk.
I looked after him quite often, and whenever my brother came to collect him, he'd run upstairs to hide!
@trail and arrow I'm sorry to hear about Krielow.
I wasn't planning on getting one, just curious what his breed is.
Yes I konw, there are many breeds with more personality than Labbys. They always want to please their owner, can be a bit boring… our Beagle was the opposite :D. Beagle do have their own strong will. Some would call them baulky. I had an American Stafford Terrier and we had two Stafforshire Bullterrier in the past, phantastic dogs, loads of personality, super friendly with children and everyone else, very easy to handle... but then there started that weird fighting dog discussion ::). I always wanted an Akita Inu, in my eyes the most beautiful dog on earth. But they are not very easy. Unkind to other dogs and visitors and a strong hunting passion. We live in the countryside with deer as regular visitors to our garden, to the mischief of our Roses :(. I can sit with Chap our Lab easily in the garden and watch them or can walk into the woods without a lead. That's the huge advantage of a Labrador. Our miniature dachshund on the other hand is a killer
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Doug brings up a good point about insurance. We’ve never had insurance for our pets. We lost our English Mastiff in August and the kids were devastated. My wife and I as well. We decided to just go “look” at a local shelter and ended up bringing a new guy home.
About a week later he got bit by a copperhead running through the woods. Rushed him to the ER Vet. Anti venom administered and monitored over night. I had no idea anti venom was so expensive, but we couldn’t let the new dog go without treatment.
Once we got back home we were going through all the papers from his shelter and realized he came with 30 days of pet insurance as a promo from the shelter. We sent our receipts in to the insurance company and a week later got a check for 90% of our expenses. Much easier than dealing with any of the health care companies here.
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Forgot to mention that he had to wear a cone for a month. He cracked the plastic one the vet gave us in a few days. We ordered a more robust one from Amazon and sent the receipt in as well. Check for 90% a week later. No questions asked
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The entire family had calf bruises. Almost knocked the kids down a few times.
those should have required a tax stamp. The ones we got from Amazon could have been made by Nerf. -
Dingoes as pets.
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As a non-dog owner I think of Labs as the Toyota Corolla of dogs. Yes, everybody has one, but then again there are reasons why.
We've been talking of getting a dog. My wife would like a dachshund, or maybe a corgi (maybe because she's 5" tall herself…) I'd be perfectly happy with a lab or a goldie.
The various designer mutts (labradoodle, golden doodle, and the likes) are pretty darn cute too...
