Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How Did You Come By Your Dog?

Got a couple English Sheppard pups from a fellow we sold some hay to.



His dad started raising them in the 40's.

Gave him a friend discount on the hay so dogs were free.

i am a golden retreiver person mostly. but have had other dogs in the mix. bought two of the 12or 15 retrievers that have lived with us.
most came from several rescue groups dealing with goldies'. Some just found us. like deer hunting in the middle of nowehre and a little border collie emily found me.
I have three goldies now, ciera i bought, the others were castaways, plus a ankle biter cockapoo, the woman died who had her and we had made a promise.
The last goldie came from facbook, a lifelong friend saw me on there and sent me a picture. I told her to bring the goldie over.
dog was way underweight infested with ticks, teeth showed evidence of high fever, had been found running loose. I had to carry her from the car to our back yard, where she stayed in the same spot for three or four hours. Was i think a little over a year old and had already had a litter.
She was afraid of the grass. I think somebody had her in a cage. Terribly afraid of a flyswatter.
After about a 1000 dollars of vet bills she is happy and hearty now, and turned into something of a guard dog. Very deep bloodcurdling growl at noises at night. She sleep between and i until she thinks we are asleep then to the couch or hallway leading to the bedroom.
Most of the goldies were senior rescues no body wanted. We didn't have them long due to age or illness but all very special.
I am not saying it to make me special as i am not. But well over 30k in vet bills i think taking care of these dogs. money well spent.
i have had people ask why would i do that, answer is dogs always treated me better. Our life wife and i were talking about this morning revolves around our dog pack. Wouldn't have it any other way. I find myself withdrawing more and more from society, and the state we live in. And in semiretirement years am pretty content around the house/yard with our pals.

I can definitely relate to this part.

My other yellow lab had died the weekend of a Ducks Unlimited event I was doing. Made for a LONG WEEKEND, having to put him down. He had cancer. We went for a year because we just didn't think we could replace Luke. I saw an add in craigslist, a gal had yellow lab pups, I got the last one. He was a little spooky over noises and stuff but he turned into a good dog. Really took up with the wife too. She's never really taken this dog. We've had him for over 5 years now. He's a good one. He's had a tough live, some of you remember the folks that gave him a bath but burned his skin and he lived through that. Then he was going down some slick stairs at my sisters and slid down and injured a back knee which required surgery. I don't believe for a minute he was full blood lab, but he looks like one he's just a very big dog. He's also got a great bark when someone comes in the yard. I like that.

Yep, great dogs! My avatar is my first one Maggie, my signature is of Abby my current little spitfire!

Abby


Maggie

[img]http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n289/txtoller/maggie/Maggieinsnow082.jpg[/img]

Toller breeders are pretty selective, trying to keep the breed from becoming the dog-du-jour!

I inherited mine.

Good on you!

I bought my setter from a well known local field trial judge and breeder.

its obvious from these threads that i am not the only one that knows dogs are much more than people give credit for, they have memory, they have emotions, feelings, and with humans that can understand the bond that can develop, nothing quite like it. I have had several dogs choose me as described. One of my rescue's yogi bear, came in on a shipment from oklahoma. About 30 dogs. he was older, didn't want to play with the others, content to sit with me where watching. I moved he moved. I came to get another, max, who we still have. Max was very shy of males, for many years, abuse along the road when he was young. The people that were suppose to get yogi didn't show up, he went to a foster home. I had made the comment if something happened, i would take him too. So about a week later i rang the doorbell. Woman answered, yogi took one look at me, went an got his tennis ball, and sat by the door waiting for me. I really loved that dog. He had no effective rear hib sockets, no body had treated him for that, so very bad arthritis. He also had buckshot in him where he had been shot. He was on pretty strong medication for the sockets, caused a hole in his intestines and perodonitis set in. About a week in a hi tech vet center on a ventilator, but i couldn't save him. Max, the other one, had a sister, it took her about a year to be ready for adoption, terrified of people. I saw a breeder goldie rescued, that cried touching grass in a park for the first time. Rescues never forget people that show kindness, most loyal loving wonderul creatures there are. I posted your story on facebook. I am constantly wondering if molly is grieving for her puppies. Ciera one of the other goldens was the runt of the litter. I had the choice of the females, she was the one that kept coming to us, she picked us not the other way around. Even with all the medical reports on the litter, about six months old she was going lame, found out she had cracks in both front elbows, and a now life long allergy situation. I could have taken her back, and they would have killed her, we bit the bullet pulled out a credit card, and did what we had to do. She is my shadow too. They know who is good to them.

Ron and Shaman, God Bless you both! I really enjoy this thread and the wonderful stories remind me why I love the Campfire so much.

Good on you guys!

We'd be better, if we were dogs.

I'm once again reminded of the old Mark Twain quote, "If you pick up a staving dog,and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog, and man".

Could you send me his contact info Jim? I have been considering an English Shepherd for a while and you don't just find them around every corner.

Sure. My wife has it on her phone, I will send you a PM after bit.

Which one?

We have 6.

Boxer we purchased from a local breeder after I had to put by heeler/collie cross down. I wanted a bigger dog for our kids to grow up around.

Purchased a Boston Terrier from a breeder in KC while there visiting the in-laws. She is a cool dog but is a structural wreck. She will not walk on hardwood floors so she has to be carried into the family room where we hang out in the evening.

We bought our daughter her own mini aussie last year for her birthday. PITA dog. She is so attached to my daughter that she cries and whines when she can't be with my daughter.

Rescued another Boston that was from a puppy mill. He was 7 or 8. Only ever out of his crate to breed, then right back in. Didn't know how to interact with people. No social skills. We could not break him of marking, so he is outside nearly 100% of the time. He's old and pretty decrepit. Blind and nearly deaf. I keep wondering if it's time to put him down, then I see him when the other dogs are out there with him. He still loves that and enjoys himself, so he is here for now.

Rescue organization we got the breeder from called me c ouple years ago. They had another rescue BT in state. Had a foster family lines up, but the dog needed a temporary babysitter because the foster famliy was out of town for Thanksgiving. They needed someone to keep him over the weekend. I said alright. Knew the wife would not be happy because the last rescue we had, the organization wasn't completely honest about and she suspected another mess. After he was here for 2 days, the rescue called to arrange for us to get the dog to the foster famil. My wife told me to inform the rescue that Oskar was home already, he wasn't going anywhere. Very loving and committed dog some couple gave up because of a divorce. Blows my mind how people discard dogs like that.

And #6 I posted on here about. Rescued him, so to speak, from a shelter 300 miles away. Friend's daughter was traveling across SD with her soon to be ex-husband and the daughter's doberman. Guy approached the daughter too quickly and the dobie nipped him. A-hole soon-to-be-ex forced her to abandon the dog at the local animal shelter. My friend who was involved in rescuing the dobie for her daughter was pretty distraught and asked for my help in getting him back and shipping him back to her in Ohio. Finally I drove down to Rapid, picked up the dog and brought him home. Didn't know if he truly was aggressive, controllable or what. After multiple attempts at getting him shipped back to Ohio failed, my friend asked if maybe he would do better here as he had pretty well bonded with us by then. Great dog. 95 pounds of devotion and affection towards everyone in our family, including the dogs. A very protective instinct in this dog. You do not want to get near the truck with him in it. He backed a guy up pretty good the other day and nipped him when the fellow pulled in and drove back to our shop, right by where the dog hangs out under a tree during the day. Guy was there a half hour early, otherwise I would've had the dog put up. Kids have a rule when they are home alone, that dog is in the house with them. I feel pretty safe when they're here and he's with them.

Thanks, as you can see from my earlier post, we won't be needing a new dog for a while, but it would be good to know how to reach that breeder.