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Meet our new family member - SCOUT!

The_Thunderer

The_Thunderer

New member
We adopted this guy from the West Valley Animal Shelter. He doesn't seem to EVER bark, has been completely awesome with the kids and is just an all around perfect guy. He's supposed to be an Australian Shepherd Mix, but I'm not so sure. He's supposed to be only one year old... but some of the pics might make him seem like an old dog. LOL. Well, meet SCOUT!
 

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We really LOVE his "brindle" color. Makes him look very feral... my brother thinks he looks "hyena-ish" but I think he looks close to one of the African Wild Dogs. :)
 
I can see the aussie in him, I use to have one (Miss him to death) and they are great dogs. They are very smart! I really miss mine :(
 
I'm glad that someone sees the "Aussie" in him. We've got an appointment with the VET tomorrow, so we'll be sure to see if we can find out some of his background.

My wife and I have been reading TONS of material on dogs - focusing on Aussies, AuCaDo's (Blue Heelers) - which I was certain he was - not so much anymore - and herding/high energy/high drive dogs - since we saw him and were certain we wanted him. GREAT info that we've already put to good use! :)

I'm also on a list to get a book by Cesar Milan (The Dog Whisperer). I've seen a few episodes of his on the National Geographic Channel... and now I've got EVERY episode DVR'd! LOL.

I'm sorry you miss your Aussie... I know what it is like to have pets come into and out of our lives... I STILL miss the dogs I had growing up. So much so that my wife says that once Scout is settled in, if we can, we're gonna get MY favorite dog - Pomeranians! LOL.
 
He's beautiful Fred. And to me he does still look puppyish. Please think twice before trying your dog using Cesars techinques. His are old school techniques used to intimidate a dog. Please look into someone like Victoria Stillwell or someone else who uses more positive reinforcement.
If you'd like I can pm you her website and forum. It has been very helpful for me when we adopted our dog Jett last year.
Good luck with him. He sounds like hes fitting right in with your family...:)
 
He's gorgeous, congrats!! :) As for the training methods, I use a combination of Cesar-type and Victoria-type training... my dog (a 40lb mutt) is extremely stubborn, so I do have to employ some of the "old school" stuff in addition to positive training. You'll know what's best for YOUR dog, but definitely read up on a variety of methods first.

P.S. I have a corn snake named Scout - and Nancy, I also have a cat named Cyrus. :D
 
Lolo, I agree with using the training methods that work for each dog. I just hate to see when people use Cesar as an example of a good trainer. His methods are definately not ones I would use today knowing what I do know about dogs. Positve reinforcement, while may take longer to work on a dog, definately pays off with rewards much higher then brow beating a dog into submission. I don't want Jett to fear me or anyone else. I want him to listen because its the right thing to do.
Thats pretty funny that you also have a cat named Cyrus. He's my least fav, but I still love him none the less.
 
snakemom1961 said:
Lolo, I agree with using the training methods that work for each dog. I just hate to see when people use Cesar as an example of a good trainer. His methods are definately not ones I would use today knowing what I do know about dogs. Positve reinforcement, while may take longer to work on a dog, definately pays off with rewards much higher then brow beating a dog into submission. I don't want Jett to fear me or anyone else. I want him to listen because its the right thing to do.
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I totally agree, and would never "brow beat a dog into submission" - but some of Cesar's techniques & philosophies are useful! His tips on food aggression and greeting other dogs, for example, have been pretty successful with my Rudy (who isn't great around other dogs). For the most part, though, I definitely follow Victoria's type of training - positive and reward-oriented. Everyone knows what's best for their dog, though, which is why I suggest reading/watching LOTS of material from various sources.

Thats pretty funny that you also have a cat named Cyrus. He's my least fav, but I still love him none the less.
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LOL... my Cyrus is the devil, but I love him anyway. You should see what he did to my hands last night, when I dared to try & cut out a knot (he's a Persian). :angry01:
 
He is awesome looking Fred. I had an Aussie for about 11 years until he passed a few years ago. The only Aussie I see in him is maybe some of the merilish grey around the mouth, ankles and chest areas.

I too really like his brindle coloring. Have fun and good luck with him.
 
snakemom1961 said:
He's beautiful Fred. And to me he does still look puppyish. Please think twice before trying your dog using Cesars techinques. His are old school techniques used to intimidate a dog. Please look into someone like Victoria Stillwell or someone else who uses more positive reinforcement.
If you'd like I can pm you her website and forum. It has been very helpful for me when we adopted our dog Jett last year.
Good luck with him. He sounds like hes fitting right in with your family...:)
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Lolo said:
He's gorgeous, congrats!! :) As for the training methods, I use a combination of Cesar-type and Victoria-type training... my dog (a 40lb mutt) is extremely stubborn, so I do have to employ some of the "old school" stuff in addition to positive training. You'll know what's best for YOUR dog, but definitely read up on a variety of methods first.

P.S. I have a corn snake named Scout - and Nancy, I also have a cat named Cyrus. :D
Click to expand...

snakemom1961 said:
Lolo, I agree with using the training methods that work for each dog. I just hate to see when people use Cesar as an example of a good trainer. His methods are definately not ones I would use today knowing what I do know about dogs. Positve reinforcement, while may take longer to work on a dog, definately pays off with rewards much higher then brow beating a dog into submission. I don't want Jett to fear me or anyone else. I want him to listen because its the right thing to do.
Thats pretty funny that you also have a cat named Cyrus. He's my least fav, but I still love him none the less.
Click to expand...

Lolo said:
I totally agree, and would never "brow beat a dog into submission" - but some of Cesar's techniques & philosophies are useful! His tips on food aggression and greeting other dogs, for example, have been pretty successful with my Rudy (who isn't great around other dogs). For the most part, though, I definitely follow Victoria's type of training - positive and reward-oriented. Everyone knows what's best for their dog, though, which is why I suggest reading/watching LOTS of material from various sources.

LOL... my Cyrus is the devil, but I love him anyway. You should see what he did to my hands last night, when I dared to try & cut out a knot (he's a Persian). :angry01:
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Thank you both for your encouragement and input. Rest assured knowing that I plan on reading and using techniques that are only of the positive reinforcement school. I have friends who have dogs that submissively urinate ALL THE TIME... and I don't want to ever deal with that issue. Their dogs are beautiful, yet to pet them is to get them peeing all over the floor. NOT for Scout!

tsst said:
He is awesome looking Fred. I had an Aussie for about 11 years until he passed a few years ago. The only Aussie I see in him is maybe some of the merilish grey around the mouth, ankles and chest areas.

I too really like his brindle coloring. Have fun and good luck with him.
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starsevol said:
Absolutely beautiful dog! Good luck with him!
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Thanks, TSST and Beth! I appreciate your comments and encouragement!
 
He looks like German shepherd to me. If you replaced the brindle color with typical black and tan- look at that profile! Brindle could come from a number of things; pit, great dane, plotthound, boxer, greyhound, I guess even mastiff and Boston terrier to get really far-fetched!

The ears, though, seem short.
 
Nanci said:
He looks like German shepherd to me. If you replaced the brindle color with typical black and tan- look at that profile! Brindle could come from a number of things; pit, great dane, plotthound, boxer, greyhound, I guess even mastiff and Boston terrier to get really far-fetched!

The ears, though, seem short.
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LOL, Nanci! I guess you hit the nail on the head. There's no denying that he's a MUTT. My wife has been saying German Shepherd, but he doesn't have the sloping back of one... Maybe he's like a the platypus. When they first discovered them, they thought it was a bunch of animals somehow "cobbled" together. LOL.

But, we love him and he's really been awesome since we picked him up. He howled a bit last night when we went to bed, but got really quiet and went to sleep himself after about 10 minutes.

... THEN, he woke up at about 4:00 am - howling and barking away - and wanted to go out! LOL.
 
Nanci said:
At least he told you he wanted to go out!
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YUP! Glad for that!

On another note, Scout had his first VET visit today... They all LOVED him!!! Does anyone out there know of or use PetSmart's "Banfield Pet Hospital" for their dogs? Their health care plans seemed pretty reasonable and I signed him up for a year. Hope I did the right thing. I read somewhere that less than 20% of ALL pets get the recommended care that they need... and I didn't want that to happen for Scout!!! :)
 
They weren't any help on his background, though! LOL. One said that when they see his brindle markings, they think of pit bulls... Another person agreed about there possibly being German Shepherd in him... Ah, well. :shrugs:
 
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