dogs

["Kathy Roberts" <kathyr@up.net>]

Hi, 

I had to jump into this dog thing.  I have a German Shep. that has
been obedience trained and is retired from search and rescue work. 
Because she's a Ger. Sh. she is viewed differently than say a golden
retriever.  Hence, once she got her adult teeth I never allowed her
to mouth me.  Under no circumstances was her teeth to ever come into
contact with human skin.  When a Golden mouths it's cute and viewed
as playing - when a Shepherd does it it's viewed as an unwarranted
attack.  I also never fed Garbo from my hand.  I don't have children
but knew she would be around kids.  She can go to a picnic and have
kids running all around her with pbj's and candy and never once tries
to take anything out of their hand.  The rule here is if it drops on
the ground it's hers unless the child wants it back.  When she was a
puppy, I trained her to my whistle to come back to me no matter what.
 If we are out in the woods and we startle deer one whistle will stop
her in her tracks and she comes back to me.

Regardless of all this I would not take her on a ride.  Just because
I enjoy my dog's company doesn't mean everyone else will.  But the
main reason is I can't count on the training of the other dogs that
might be there so I leave her at home.

Kathy, Cedar and Garbo