Hello,

I am happy to have found this forum; it seems like a great place for general help and chat about dogs in general. Everyone seems nice, been looking for somewhere like this for a while. This will be a long topic, so sorry in advance for going on and I hope you like my story, introduction and this topic, it’s maybe something different, probably to long though, but I like to tell people the full story's of things.

I am from the UK (Nottinghamshire) and have lived with dogs all my life and can’t live without them. Some people see me as a dog whisperer type person as I get on with dogs and they like me. I love training them and have trained many dogs over the years, am very good with them. I live next to a few miles of country side which is on my front door step lots of hills, places to swim, rabbits to chase etc, and then big woods at the side and a smaller area of woods in the back. So it’s a good home for dogs and other dogs to come and visit. I look after family and friends dogs quite often and can sometimes have 6-9 dogs here while on my own! Currently have 3 here right now.

Since 1995 we have kept dogs running through the family and they have been mixed, and according to reading they are suppose to have less health problems then full pedigree’s (Not always the case though from my experience) The dogs have always been free, no money involved in these situations.

We use to own a dog called Yogi he was a German Sheppard, Rhodesian Ridgeback & Rottweiler cross. In 1997 he got run over by a train when a friend took him out (He jumped out of the van window when he was waiting at the crossings,), and after that we owned a border collie called Bella, who we breaded with Yogi’s brother, she had the pups in the year 2000, but later died aged 6 due to a tumour.

We kept the biggest out of the litter, his name is dodge and he’s still hanging on in their aged 10 now, he’s a large dog. His father’s side of the family have always been very health free, and no issues, but mums side has been a bit less unfortunate with tumours as they got older (which we did not know about until after we used her to bread) He’s a very intelligent and clever dog, he’s never been on a leash even when I lived in the city, I use to take him round all the busy streets in the town centre, walking or on my push bike, he knows the roads like a human, and will obey every command to the click of your fingers. He’s really just like a human and I’ve found him to be one of a kind, a very special & unique dog. Even if I took him on a public bus I could keep him of the lead, ( I guess his intelligence is due to the mix of highly intelligent breeds he has in him) He was always a hard working dog in his younger years, we use to go miles together and he could keep going, he’s really strong and has a big fighting spirit, he’s very calm but a good guard dog also if needed.

As he got older though he suffered some problems and has been very close to death a few times. The first time he got ill, it just suddenly come on, he looked really weak and thought he needed to go out for the toilet, I took him out, and by time we got to the park he could not walk and had his head down and lay down, I got a friend to pick me up and we took him to the vets as a emergency, he was close to death on the way and I just kept keeping him awake knowing if he dropped of he may not wake up. We left him at the vets, and the next day spoke on the phone and they found he had cancer, they said they thought he would not make it and had to amputate his balls to remove the cancer and was very surprised to see him survive through it. (It’s possible he had the cancer before this but he never shown any signs of it or past visits to vets never come up with anything so it just come up as a shock)

This was his first time escaping death. A couple years later while he was away in the city at my mums, he got gastric torsion which also put him close to death, the vets said to my mum the next day on the phone that it was very unlikely that he would make it and I thought me not being able to get to city I would not see him again and not get to say good bye. But again he cheated death to fight through it and survive. He’s getting on now and is slow and a bit stiff, but he can still walk quite far (let him lead the way in front he will tell ya if he’s had enough) and is generally healthy, just getting old.

In my next part of this story I will post about his brother who my father officially owned, the other dog Oscar and the other dogs I look after , for now I think this is enough writing for me.

Sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forums also.


Pics of him: (Most wouldn’t believe his mum is a border collie, 2nd and 4th pics hes older)

Attached Images

	Dodge95.jpg (64.6 KB, 45 views)
	oh.jpg (122.9 KB, 35 views)
	DODGE.JPG (48.0 KB, 32 views)
	DSC00102.jpg (181.3 KB, 30 views)

..Reserved..

Hello,

Maybe am doing something wrong. Do I sound to arrogent? Or is this not a place to show a mixed type dog? and a mix dog gets judged upon here as wrong or something?

I spent a little while writing this topic up but it seems it's not the right place for it or not really taken seriously, even though as said before everyone seems very nice here.

Don't worry, it is the right place, it's just the forum isn't that busy at the moment.
Dodge looks amazingly like a dog I used to see on my walks, great big softy
Doesn't sound like you have had much luck with your dogs.
What kind of tumour did Bella have?

Thank you for reply.

She had stomach cancer. Guess been unlucky with dogs even though they live happy healthy life's sometimes you cant avoid what happens, I guess it's just life. In future though am looking at a full pedigree like a Kangal dog in the hope for better luck, I use to personally own a boxer & staffie before getting a mixed breed. I guess it's more luck, am not sure.

He's a lovely looking dog!

I wouldn't have guessed collie mother either!

__________________

He looks like a lovely dog, reminds me of my old boy Grufty who lived to a ripe old age of 17. He looked nothing like his mum either

Welcome to the forum

I live in Nottingham so we're practically neighbours too.

__________________

metaldog what area are you based?

I live on the outskirts now in Annesley (next to Newstead)

I live near the commodore (which is now a sainsbury's )

I'm going to the Headstocks festival at Newstead this weekend

__________________

lol i remember the commodore!

The festival is actually in Annesley, it's really close to where I live and is one of the routes I take the dogs out, it's a nice area, some hills, fields, woods, streams, etc. I maybe away this weekend though so may have to miss out

Theres lots of wildlife out there, but with the festival it's going to scare them all away! hopefully they will be back after.