G`Day Anski - pop a shrimp on the bah-bee for me mate!
Good to meet you brother.
(ok, here it goes again - for some unknown reason, some of the elements go all goofy here...cant get a question mark or a hyphen )
My wife and I got a Doberman for a wedding gift. Weird no. Well, actually, we spent some of our wedding cheese to buy the dog.
We fell right in love with ``Salem` We`ve been married 30 years this next March,
We`ve had four Dobermans since Salem.
One of them, we spent stupid cheese on, and we were planning on showing him - ``Aero`` but I got deathly ill, and all our plans came crashing down.
Lost our carpet install and repair business and on and on...another day for that sob story kids!
So Aero was a real beautiful boy! He was sooo intelligent. I actually taught him to speak when he wanted out! No, no the regular bark that mortal dogs put out, but he would watch me, so intently, as I was training him, and in the end he would say ow..ow..and it sounded just like owt.
His grandfather was the greatest Doberman champ of all time and his name was Derringer from Damayzin kennels.
Aero was huge at 110 pound. When he was nine, we had to have him put down because he had leukemia. That was over fifteen years ago, and it still hurts.
When Aero was six, my wife got me a dog for my birthday. It was rescued from the pound, and Sally was just the greates Pit Bull anyone ever had in the history of Pit Bulls!
Oh, we fell hard for her, she was so affectionate. Some kids next door, got a Pit Bull, and right away I saw that dog was way to much for them, and in the end, that dog was their pack leader.
I was in hospital for four month this one time, and the Pit Bull next door cam through our window, and tried to attack my wife! Just as that dog got with a couple of feet, and he was in flight, Sally took a running dive and smashed right into that dog. Now Sally was short, but very powerful, and she very quickly got on her back, and proceeded to rip that dog`s belly open.
I was in the hospital, so my sons were telling me all about it. I just felt sick, thinking what could have happened.
The dog had lots of stitches. Not sure exactly, but my boys said there were stitches everywhere, and in different places.
We do not blame that dog at all! It wasn`t his fault he ended up living with a bunch of thug punks
Anyway. Here`s an amazing true story.
I had just been out of hospital for a couple of weeks, and we took our teenaged sons, at that time, camping, as we do every years.
We took Sally, and my youngest son had just bought a Jerk Russell - and yes, I did write jerk - so, one of our sons friends, who we took, was in our rubber dingy, and he was out about fifty yards from shore.
He started thrashing his paddles, as young punk teenagers will, and screaming `help! Help! I`m drowning! I had a cam corder going, so I was recording it so I could black mail him, when he came with his girlfriend to our house.
The next thing I see is Sally, tearing up the beach! She sprung up off the ground and landed a perfect doggy belly flop!
Without missing a beat, Sally swam out to the boat, and grabbed a mouthful of rubber, and actually swam it all the way back to shore!! This is true!
I always knew animals, and dogs specifically, are very intelligent. But this opened up a whole new level of intelligence.
Sally recognized Brad was in danger (in her mind) then, she had to formulate a rescue plan. She had to plot her path. She knew she had to grab the rubber, and swim back to shore!! WHAT!! TRUE story friends.
Sally also ended up with cancer, and we lost her when she was fourteen...that still hurts.
After we lost Sally, we had pretty much agreed no more dogs. It was just to heartbreaking when they die.
So, about a year later we bought Betty! Yes, we lied to each other! Betty is a pure Old English Bulldogee. Yes, that`s how it`s really spelled.
Our eldest son Mike, suffers panic attacks so severe, he has to stay with us, which we love, but our hearts break whenever we allow ourselves to think about it too much.
So Mike bought a male Old English Bulldogee! Dexter is a big, muscular boy! He has an enormous head, which has it`s own solar system! And his head is as hard a a ten ton chunk of diamonds! He took out my two front teeth, which I finally got repaired...the boys took a shine to calling me Lloyd Christmas!...look it up
That`s why we bought the bitch, oh, did I mention what a bitch she is (question mark)
We have a large back yard. We live in a town, and we`re fifty yards up from Lake Simcoe, Cook`s Bay area.
So, our hood is pretty much under a living umbrella of every kind of tree known to man, and a few to women...I`m so dead for saying that
Anyway, Betty just turned two, and Dexter is now three..or is it three and four...I don`t know and my wife is sleeping, so let`s go with either.
Betty is a biological Abrams Tank! Just puffed out with muscles on top of muscles, and you could fit a soccer ball in her mouth, and she would not know it! She was 75 pounds last spring. Dexter is 94 pounds.
Great dogs, just fell right in stupid love with them both! These are not dogs for novices. They are extremely powerful, and if you haven`t been around large powerful digs for quite a few years, then please do not ever consider getting one.
I consider myself a dog trainer, although not professional, I can train any dog, to be just as obedient as any pro can. Not being arrogant, I`ve been around dogs all my life.
Bulldogees, are somewhat aggressive, after all they are called BULLDOGEES! Betty is dog aggressive, which I am working on. She was kept too long by the breeder, and was not exposed to other dogs, so she has very little social skills among other dogs.
The first few weeks, and months are so soo important to a dog`s demeanor. She loves people. Right from the very first bowl of food Betty got here - we had our grand daughter put her hands in the bowl of kibble and had Betty sit waiting to be told she could eat. Here`s an extremely effective tip - Our grand daughter had her hands in the kibble, Betty was just over two months, so just a baby, with zero signs of aggression. Cindy, took her hands out, and when she gave Betty the ok to eat, Betty was very happy to discover a chunk of liver in her kibble. We had Cindy do that every time Betty was waiting for num nums
So today, Betty is 3 - and Betty not only doesn't`t care whose around her food, she actually loves it whenever children are here, because she knows she`s getting num t nums!
So, Betty loves children, and she really loves babies. when our grandson was a few weeks old, we introduced him to Betty. My daughter laid Hayden down on our floor, in a huge pile of soft blankets, and Betty went and laid herself down right beside him! Actually licked his face a few times!
OK, I`ve rambled on and on - thanks for starting this post brother!
Jihn
A truly wonderful and amazing animal.
