Your favorite dogs?

[Eric Cartman]

[COLOR=#004B00 !important]You'll get a laugh or two from these posted in [COLOR=#D40000 !important]Some Pictures. [/COLOR][/COLOR]




"I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands.
When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands;
Then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught there at.
For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that."

~ W. Dayton Wedgefarth~

[mxyptlk]

I like animals in general but dogs are my pet of choice. While I've always liked German Shepherds and Huskies, we had poodles in our family when I was growing up.

First one was Mignon and you couldn't have asked for a better pet in a household with five kids. Very affectionate, friendly and tolerant of what kids put him through. Very smart dog as well, typical of the breed. If we were all out, he used to look out the window to see us coming and run down to greet us when we got home. It was a sad day when we finally had to let him go.

In my own family now, we have Rufus, a dark apricot miniature. Also very affectionate and friendly and quite protective as well. When we first got him, I was away a lot so he became more of my wifes dog. Used to growl at me savagely when I would go to bed (although growling would be all he would do). Then I discovered a type of dog treat that he really liked and would bring one up with me when I went to bed. Well the growling quickly ceased and instead he would run out to meet me when I came upstairs.

Rufus

Having a bad hair day



Rufus turned 14 recently and I fear we may not have him for much longer, a couple of years at best. Not looking forward to that.
We recently got another poodle, a toy this time. Benny loves squeaky toys and chasing a ball. Loves being around people and will follow whoever moves, otherwise content to being near someone. He has also quickly picked up on the bedtime treat routine...

Benny at three months


Benny and Rufus


I loves me dogs!

[palo5]

Originally Posted by mxyptlk

...we had poodles in our family when I was growing up... Very smart dog as well, typical of the breed...

You may not believe this, but poodles are said to be the smartest dogs of all. Don't ask me if that's a scientific opinion or if everyone shares it - I've never met a poodle, and have no idea

But people in Australia believe it, some anyway. They wanted to "create" a mix of the smartest dog with the family-friendliest dog, so they crossed poodles with labradors and the results were "labradoodles" - don't laugh, I'm not making it up. You can google them!

Here is one:



No idea how genetics work here, but the experiment seems to succeed, or so they say. The only trouble is, they all seem to look different, at least to my ancient eyes. Will they be allowed into Capitalist dog-shows?

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by palo5

You may not believe this, but poodles are said to be the smartest dogs of all.

Mephistopheles (the poodle) :

I am the Spirit that denies!
And rightly too for all that doth begin
Should rightly to destruction run
Twere better then that nothing were begun
Thus everything that you call Sin
Destruction in a word, as Evil represent
That is my own, real element.

(Goethe, Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy)

Just kidding. No animal is vicious.

[mxyptlk]

Originally Posted by palo5

You may not believe this, but poodles are said to be the smartest dogs of all. Don't ask me if that's a scientific opinion or if everyone shares it - I've never met a poodle, and have no idea

Actually poodles are generally ranked second smartest with border collies being number one. (google 'smartest dog breeds').

Nonetheless they are quite bright. The one we had growing up knew what 'bath' meant and he didn't like getting them. When the word 'bath' was mentioned, he would try to hide or get away. So being kids, we would tease him going 'Wanna bath?' just to see his reaction. Did this off an on for a long time. Finally he must have decided that the teasing was actually worse than the bath. So one time, when we went 'Wanna bath?', he ran upstairs and jumped into the (empty) bath. We were amazed. Its like he was saying 'to hell with this, either give me a bath or leave me alone about it'. We never teased him about it again. I think that was good evidence of the intelligence of the breed.

As to cross breeding, the main reason is that poodles don't shed. The intelligence is a secondary trait. Better for people with allergies and no dog hair around. So if someone would like to have a Labrador that doesn't shed, they would look for a Labradoodle.

Poodles are cross bred with a LOT of breeds. (see this link )
New breed will typically have 'oodle' or 'poo' in the name.
EG
Corgipoo (corgi, poodle)
Irish Troodle (irish terrier, poodle)
Newfiepoo (newfoundland, poodle)

I get a kick out of the shih-tzu/poodle mix (shih-poo)
They could have so easily called it a shitz-poo... Don't think it would have gone over so well though.

.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by mxyptlk

Actually poodles are generally ranked second smartest with border collies being number one...
.

Thanks, I only met a few breeds in my life, and nearly all were working dogs. That probably misses a few gazillion

How do we measure how smart a dog is?

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by palo5

How do we measure how smart a dog is?

That's easy palo. He will not obey. The more disobedient the more intelligent.

[blondifan]

Originally Posted by Nobody1

... The more disobedient the more intelligent.

I made the aquaintance of a fellow in Adelaide many years ago, who claimed that the most intelligent 'dog' he'd ever owned was a dingo (highly illegal, btw)
I can't imagine they'd be particularly obedient.

[palo5]

Someone told me a dog is as smart as a 2-3 year-old child because it can understand about 200 words and sign language

But dogs aren't 'academics', so this seemed a silly assumption

Dogs can do other things, like lead blind people, hunt people, pull sleds, find explosives etc etc - never met a child that could do that

[Eric Cartman]

Here is the smartest dog IMO. A dog who gets your beer for you.