My Dog

d_filgate

d_filgate

Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
811
Don't know if this belongs here or not, but I just wanted to pass this along.
If it doesn't belong, my apologies to the moderator and my thanks in advance if he moves it to the proper place.

My wife and I live in a mobile home park, in a fairly quiet semi rural area. We have a major highway going by,
but have been at this location for over 16 years, with very little trouble. It's been a quiet, relatively safe place
for us to live for many years.

Over the last couple of years, more drugs have moved into our area, and about 2 years ago,
a major truck stop/restaurant complex was built about a mile away, so things aren't that good anymore.

Which brings me to my dog.

We have a 5 year old Pomeranian who just loves to yap. Our neighbors have complained about his "voice"
in the past, up until last year (late summer), that is. One night he started barking away and we couldn't shut him up.
I decided to check outside, and found one of my neighbors out there as well. He heard the barking as well,
and came out to check and had run off some "suspicious" types. After that, the dog's bark has been a nice warning
for our neighborhood, and we haven't had a complaint since. My neighbor also bought his family a little dog for the same reason.

This brings me to last night. About 1 am, my dog started barking his head off. Sometimes my step-son comes in that time
(if he's worked late), so we didn't worry too much, thinking that it was the step-son.
Well, the dog kept barking, and the step-son didn't come in, so I got up, put some pants and a t-shirt on, and headed out to
check on things. I should say here that I always have a knife of some kind clipped in my pocket, and this time was my BM710.
When I went to the door, I pulled the 710 out of my pocket, and thumbed it open.
Standing to the side of the door (just in case someone tried to push it in to take me by surprise), I pulled it open,
and my little dog went tearing out onto the porch, barking up a storm.
By the time I got outside, whoever it was was just a shadow running down the road. I checked the yard and when I was satisfied
that there was no-one else out there, my dog and I went back inside.
He got a nice big cookie treat for his trouble, and I got a renewed appreciation for his protective instinct.

Anyway, long post, hope it didn't bore anyone, just wanted to share.

Cheers
Dave

My dog Buddy
Buddy_adult_large.jpg
 
An appropriate name!

My dog (a Boston Terrier) nearly ate three Chihuahua's he thought were attacking my kids. I LOVE dogs for that!

TF
 
Score 1 for the pooch!!!!

Give him some extra treat tonight. Dogs are an awesome first line of defense. If you haven't already it may be a good idea to put some motion lights on the outside of your house. It'll deter most people from getting close to your home and even better it will let you know that there is actually something out there.

I'm glad everything worked out for the best.
 
I was staying in a rickety old house in upstate NY, just me and my friend's lab that I was dog sitting. The chimney caught the roof on fire. The dog woke me up at 3 in the morning by literally jumping on my chest and most likely saved our lives.

Dogs are the best :thumbup:
 
Good post. I've lost 3 dogs to old age in the last 3 years. The youngest of the pack was around 15 so they all had a good run. Still have 2 dogs now and there up their in age. I'm thinking of getting my guard dog a guard dog seeing as he's not hearing so well anymore. When he dose bark he can make the widows shake at 145lbs.
 
At my place we have a tendency of leaving the patio door open so the dog could roam freely in/out of the place...
Well last summer around 6pm, I Was in the basement watching a movie with my g/f, Rocky my Staffordshire bull terrier started growling and letting go a couple barks, he went upstairs started growling/barking viciously so I ran upstairs to go see, and he was no where to be found in the yard, but I noticed the little winter wooden fence was all mangled up, so I was looking on the side of the house towards the street, and there he was teething away at a van's driver's window right before it peeled off, I also found my bbq tipped over on the side of the house. was definitely getting robbed..

I have a couple other stories like this.

I love pits
 
Cool dog... unfortunately my dog barks at abosolutely everything! and i mean everything. So I guess I have to teach him to only bark at strangers and such. Only a year old so it wont take him to long to get it.
 
Awesome Pomer there! they are small dogs with big hearts!


My 4 month old Lab loves everyone he meets, and only barks when i am away(separation anxiety)

I was originally looking for a dog to protect my family, but oh well, love him to death.

:)
 
Good dog but you got lucky.
A pocket knife is not enough in these dangerous times.
Your dog needs you,don't get killed for lack of shooting back.
 
Even though I love dogs, yappy dogs bug me quite a bit - but not as much as inattentive owners who allow them to bark non stop!

This isn't aimed at you d_filgate, but generally speaking I find yappy dogs to be a nuissance. We have neighbors who are inattentive to their dog and allow it to bark at the back porch of thier house - right near our bedroom windows - for hours at a time. They must tune it out because it just goes non stop. We've brought it up but the neighbors were beligerant and rude, and still allow the behaviour to continue.

I can't blame the dog, he's just being a dog, it's the neighbors / dog owners who infuriate me. I've got a boxer, and if a a car pulls into the driveway or a person approaches our front door, he will bark. But thats it. He doesn't disturb the peace of the neighborhood.

That's just my little rant on the subject, I'm glad it's working out for you - I just hope you're not allowing the dog to keep your neighbors awake at night. I know how crappy that is first hand! :mad::mad::mad:
 
InfidelShootist said:
Good dog but you got lucky.
A pocket knife is not enough in these dangerous times.
Your dog needs you,don't get killed for lack of shooting back.
Click to expand...

InfidelShootist,
What you say has a lot of merit.
Where we live here in Canada, shootings aren't that common as handgun ownership is heavily regulated, and restrictive.
It's far more common here to deal with issues regarding knives than handguns.

However, where there are drugs, one usually finds weapons of some kind, and it seems these days, drugs are just about everywhere.
The last thing I need is for some crack-head with a knife busting into my house.
I'm exploring other means of deterrents and protection, such as the outside light that operates off of a sensor, peephole in the door,
baseball bat beside the bed and am considering getting a shotgun. We are also talking about organizing a neighborhood watch.
 
d_filgate said:
InfidelShootist,
What you say has a lot of merit.
Where we live here in Canada, shootings aren't that common as handgun ownership is heavily regulated, and restrictive.
It's far more common here to deal with issues regarding knives than handguns.

However, where there are drugs, one usually finds weapons of some kind, and it seems these days, drugs are just about everywhere.
The last thing I need is for some crack-head with a knife busting into my house.
I'm exploring other means of deterrents and protection, such as the outside light that operates off of a sensor, peephole in the door,
baseball bat beside the bed and am considering getting a shotgun. We are also talking about organizing a neighborhood watch.
Click to expand...

While I wouldn't want to face down a baseball bat, I really wouldn't want to face down a shotgun. The neighborhood watch is a great idea. I don't know what you're planning on, but something as simple as a network of phone calls or text messages to keep people up to date would be very helpful.
 
Here's my dog. His bark is much worse than his bite...
 

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Grimspoon said:
Even though I love dogs, yappy dogs bug me quite a bit - but not as much as inattentive owners who allow them to bark non stop!

This isn't aimed at you d_filgate, but generally speaking I find yappy dogs to be a nuissance. We have neighbors who are inattentive to their dog and allow it to bark at the back porch of thier house - right near our bedroom windows - for hours at a time. They must tune it out because it just goes non stop. We've brought it up but the neighbors were beligerant and rude, and still allow the behaviour to continue.

I can't blame the dog, he's just being a dog, it's the neighbors / dog owners who infuriate me. I've got a boxer, and if a a car pulls into the driveway or a person approaches our front door, he will bark. But thats it. He doesn't disturb the peace of the neighborhood.

That's just my little rant on the subject, I'm glad it's working out for you - I just hope you're not allowing the dog to keep your neighbors awake at night. I know how crappy that is first hand! :mad::mad::mad:
Click to expand...


Hey Grimspoon,

I know exactly where you are coming from, his barking has just about driven us nuts at times, but we have been persistent in our training and correcting with him,
and although he gets a little excited now and then, he is getting calmer as he gets older, and usually only barks now whenever someone "invades HIS territory".
On a couple of occasions last year, we've had a bear in the neighborhood, so he stays inside. Wouldn't do to have him become a bears meal.:(

Whenever he barks at night, it usually means that someone is on the porch, in the yard, by the cars or as was the case last night, trying to come into our home.

He got some nice treats today, and tomorrow he's going to get a new chewy toy from the pet store.

Cheers.
Dave
 
Right on, so it's not like you leave him outside all night and let him bark wildly at the door, so it mostly only annoys you instead of the neighbors! :p:p:p

I wish my neighbors would make such a concession for us!!!

The last time we complained they actually had the balls to suggest we rent an apartment to sleep in if the dog is barking too much! There are actually city by-laws in place that state dogs can't be making so much noise after a certain hour, and as much as we want to call them in, our boxer isn't registered / no tags - so we don't wanna chance it.

It's a frustrating situation!
 
BlazenGem said:
Awesome Pomer there! they are small dogs with big hearts!


My 4 month old Lab loves everyone he meets, and only barks when i am away(separation anxiety)

I was originally looking for a dog to protect my family, but oh well, love him to death.

:)
Click to expand...

I also have a Lab that I always swore would lick someone to death if they broke into the house. Don't underestimate your dog, it'll come through in a time of need. They see things we never could.

I had a contractor from Verizon at my house one day hooking up my Fios line and I just kind of got a bad feeling from the guy. It wasn't anything he said at all, just one of those gut feelings that I couldn't seem to ignore, nor would I want to.

My wife was out walking the dog when he got there. When she got home I could swear she was going to rip his head off if I was not to grab her at the last second. She has never been mean towards anyone at all, but for some reason she saw something in that guy that validated my suspicions about him. From that moment on I followed him around the house in to every room of my house and outside with my dog by my side. I just told the guy I was interested in what he was doing. I just didn't want him in my house poking around where I could not see him. There's no question in my mind that he would have tried to rob us at the very least if I didn't stand by his side.

When he got all the lines hooked up and was time for me to set up my Network he told me that he needed my passwords so he could set something up when he gets back :confused: Of course at that point I looked at him like he had three eyes and kicked him the hell out of the house.

It's times like that when I'm glad to have a dog and also never want to have contractors in my house when I'm not there, especially with just the wife there.

Don't underestimate you Lab bro - I could tell stories of people that had a Lab or a Golden that came throiugh in a time of need.

Gotta love dogs!!!!
 
BlazenGem said:
Awesome Pomer there! they are small dogs with big hearts!


My 4 month old Lab loves everyone he meets, and only barks when i am away(separation anxiety)

I was originally looking for a dog to protect my family, but oh well, love him to death.

:)
Click to expand...

Dont underestimate your dogs natural instincts, I had a very freindly and often cowardly lab mix years ago who put herself between me and three would be assailants who randomly stopped their car and started running at me in my quiet suburban neigborhood.

I had a knife in hand and was ready to use it but am thankful everyday that I never had to.
 
I had a neighbor lady who, instead of talking to me first, complained about Sweetie, my lab, barking almost every night around midnight-thirty and again at 4:30 am at a home owner's association meeting.

My answer was that Sweetie is usually not outside at night, but on the nights that she is outside, if the lady could get her teenaged daughter to quit sneaking out of the house at those times then Sweetie will quit barking. The barking has stopped.

Perhaps a terrible thing to do to the lady in public, but she get holier-than-thou and fired the first shot.
 
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