Cool! I talk to mine, too, and you’re right, MOVE is the most important command! 
And my cats range in temperament from “Need Lovin’ Right Now” to “And Who Are You Again?” from cat to cat, and sometimes in the same cat on the same day…if you know what I mean.
Hey elmwood! Great to see your PWD. I am awaiting my application to get on the waiting list to rescue a PWD.
As to the OP–I am a dog person. “retarded mute hyperactive children?” Hardly. Dogs are dogs, and if you expect them to behave like humans, you will be disappointed. Spot is very intelligent–but in a dog way. Spot is very communicative–but in a dog way. Hyperactive? Only if I haven’t given him enough exercise. (He has a high need for exercise, and I knew that when I adopted him, so if he is hyperactive, then you can blame me, not him.)
So, you’re not a dog person. That’s okay. Maybe someday you will recover.
Okay, I am laughing, zen… your mistakes and corrections were too funny.
I don’t really think anyone is questioning the intellect of either animal – just how different the personalities can be. Kitties can be needy also. I have one that will stand outside of a room I am in and cry for me… he can cry mama, I swear it. It is the cutest thing ever. “muah-muh”. My little love.
In a brief hijackatory note (notice how I just made up a word) guinea pigs are cute pets. They are a bit like rabbits, and they don’t run all around like hamsters do. They don’t have pointy teeth like ferrets. They make really cute sounds and whistle through their little buck front teeth. The one I had learned the sound that the lettuce wrapper made, and would whistle anytime she heard it. Adorable. They are nasty, though. They poo about every 5 minutes, it seems.
Another creature that people don’t normally consider as having a personality are our finned friends. All of the different kinds of fish I’ve kept have different personalities. I just love them.
Okay, enough hijackedness. Swing by a site I maintain if you want more pet info – http://www.arkinc.org/ – one page even has some links to training info, I believe. And if you want to convince someone to neuter/spay their pets, just take a look at all of the animals needing homes on the referral lists.
Oh, btw, the dogs acted better today. I think they knew I was talking about them.
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Green Bean - great to see another PWD person on the board. I mean, they’re not dogs you see everyday, so when you meet someone who is interested in getting one, you know they did some research, and realized that the breed is right for them. Despite their shortcomings (i.e. high maintenance), they’re intelligent, versatile, affectionate critters that always seem to amaze and amuse their human companions. As many PWD owners will point out, “a Portie is not just a dog, but rather a way of life.”
Rescue dogs are hard to find, but occasionally a breeder will give up one of their adult dogs – either it was a pick of the litter that was expected that it would be “show quality,” but later the breeder realized that the dog probably wouldn’t “finish;” or it’s an older dog that can’t get along with another dog in the house. Have you subscribed to the PWD mailing list? There’s more information on the OWDCA Web site, at http://www.pwdca.org .
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Dogs are usually eager to please and very committed to their pack.
Most owners fail to train their dog properly in the sense that it truly grows up.Such dogs seem to stay in a state of artificial puppydom.
A good example of training a dog to its true potential is to train it to ‘quarter’ where it will run ahead in a pattern as if to flush out game, bit like wide recievers. Now the dog does not necessarily know why it likes doing this and you may have no interest in hunting but it does mimic their instinctive ways.
It is better still to get two dogs working together, then you can see co-operation between you, them and between the dogs themselves.
Some owners train their dogs up to round up animals, not just sheep but also geese and cattle. There are clubs around for this and it is about as close as a dog will get to its true pack behaviour.
Other owners train their dogs up for agility trials.
Giving your dog a purpose brings out the best in it, you simply cannot achieve anything like that with cats, unless perhaps you are a Saudi prince with a couple of hunting Cheetahs.
My 2 cents. The unconditional love thing is there for sure. My dog Iiko (Ibizan Hound) is one of the sweetest creatures on earth. I sometimes say that he is the small, dull child I will never have.
The “desire to be responsible” for a dog? Starts with the desire to have a dog and then the desire to pursue “dog owning” as surely as you pursue any other interest, except that this one has ramifications for the dog itself and for your neighbors.
You know what I don’t get? People who want to have dogs, but don’t want to do all the follow-through. Dogs are too easy to acquire, licenses are too cheap, and bad dog owners are treated too leniently.
Things all dog owners should have: a garden trowel, some paper bags, a leash, all vaccinations taken care of (for the dog, not the owner), a safe place for the dog to run (not the park), and plenty of time.
I’m not sure , but I think that’s everything I wanted to get off my chest.
I share my home with 5 cats, 2 birds, 2 rats, and a dog (see my I’m A Mother thread).
I care for all my pets, but I am without a doubt a cat person. I mean, I LOVE my cats. I am crazy about my cats. I look at my cats and my heart swells. I can’t stop picking them up and cuddling them and talking to them. They are my babies and I am here to love and protect them.
I love Kiwi too, but in a different sort of way. It’s hard to explain.
Michi
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elmwood: Thanks for the link. I have read through that whole site before–it’s where I got the rescue information! We’re not quite ready for a second dog right now, anyway, so I don’t mind being on a waiting list. I understand you can sometimes get bitches who have gotten a bit too old for breeding, so that is another option. I have never been interested in purebred dogs, but a PWD sounds like the absolute ideal breed for us![/hijack]
This sounds so much like me. Sometimes just talking or thinking about my kitties makes tears come to my eyes. They are just SO wonderful. And my poor baby girl… her paw got hurt today inside and we took her to the emergency vet, and bless her little heart, she was such a good kitty, but she does hurt. Please send good healing kitty love vibes to her.
And even after that, I had an eventful evening… the neighbor’s dog ran away when she let him out to pee – this is a poodle she’s had for years – it is 25 degrees here, and she called crying from her car riding around looking for him, so i went out looking for it some. their big porch
light is still on, so i’m not sure if it ever showed back up. on a lovely fall afternoon i can understand a pup going exploring, but not on a night like this.
Also, on the dog griping bit, i tried to finish making out xmas cards while i was watching a movie, but the dogs were
farting so much, like, i could hear them farting, and really stinking me out so bad that i couldn’t finish the cards or the movie. i don’t know why, they didn’t have anything different to eat that normal. peeee yeeeewww!!! i turned on the ceiling fan and put out gel aresols… afraid to light a candle, ha ha. none of it helped. it is much too cold to put them in their fenced yard, too.
Anybody got a remedy for farting dogs?
I try not to be guilty of resurrecting dead threads, but I ran across this one (dog person big time…deeply, madly, scorchingly in perfect love with Maggie, my rescued Golden Retriever who is exquuisitely smart and sweet and good and better than ANY person I know) and this jumped out at me:
And I hope Opalcat will come back in here to tell me what action Sparky performs when told that it’s bedtime, or, especially, to “Chill”.
My all-time favorite dog command is “boogie”, which my sister came up with. It simply means “get outta here”, but it makes me smile. When your dog is underfoot, “boogie!”. I actually want to use it to train Maggie to dance with me.
Oh, back to Opalcat: you got the right dog for a first, last and ever dog. Goldens (assuming you didn’t get a genetically screwed up version) are THE dog…they are deeply sweet and smarter than smart. Sparky will respond beautifully to training, even if YOU suck at it. Sparky will help you train him, and he will be good natured the whole way through, no matter how trying and feeble you are. But do train him. And work with him regularly, and play with him daily. Too many people think they want dogs, then forget that dogs are extremely intelligent and social, and will languish if not kept stimulated. They aren’t furniture, and they aren’t CATS, who merely require chow and some petting.
Good luck.
Owning a cat can’t and doesn’t compare to a love of a good dog.
Read this famous speech about dogs. It pretty much sums it up for me (and, if you’re a dog-lover, it is almost sure to make you cry).
Anything similar written about cats? Please.
Stoid and I are in complete agreement. (It will take me several hours to fully grasp the metaphysical ramifications of that statement.)
Although I am partial to big dogs in general, not necessarily goldens. My current 100-lb. behemoth mutt-dog is part Great Dane, part Pit Bull, part a few other things I think, too. He’s the most unique looking dog, one of the best and most intelligent I’ve ever owned.
I’ve made a vow to myself that henceforth I will get all of my dogs for the rest of my life from shelters. When you see them looking back at you from those cages … ugh.
I bet I wouldn’t do well in a long-term relationship with a “cat-person.” And “dog-persons” earn major brownie-points from me in terms of prospective dating.
Just different (and not necessarily compatible) personality types, I think.
The mutt is staring at me as we speak, waiting for me to take him on his W-A-L-K (can’t say the word; he goes spastic). He apparently hasn’t noticed that northern Michigan in late January isn’t the best place to go on two-mile walks.
See, Milo- I can’t possibly be all bad if my liberal heart and soul belong to a dog, now can I?
stoid