Strange day.....strange indead

[DaveNay]

This morning we decided that we finally needed to take two of our kittens to the vet. We knew the probable diagnosis and outcome...neither one had control of their rear legs, and couldn't walk. While we were checking in to the vet, we were small talking with the staff, and mentioning that we had several cats still available for adoption. At that moment, the phone rang and after a few moments of conversation, the lady handed the phone to my wife. It was a woman calling the vet to inquire if they know of anyone with kittens avalable. My wife took her name and number. After returning from the vet (minus two kittens /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif), we called the woman again. She and her daughter came right over, and immediately took all five of them....and entire litter all at once /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Later this afternoon, we were doing some errands over at the Farm & Fleet. The local pet rescue was visiting with some puppies, and I guess we were a little emotionally weak because we fell in love with a beautiful six month old Jack Russel & Blue Heeler puppy.

We pick up or dog tomorrow at noon....pictures of "Joker" soon to follow.

Dave

 

[GerardC]

Very strange indeed. Looks as though everybody is happy. Good luck with "Joker". G

 

[Cliff_Johns]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I guess we were a little emotionally weak because we fell in love with a beautiful six month old Jack Russel & Blue Heeler puppy.
Dave )</font>

Dave, I would get steel heeled boots and have the horses shod in metal to the hips. Blue heelers are real heel biters (thus the name). They are bred to bite cattle in the ankles and heard them around that way. Jack Russels are bred to chase little critters and bite them (to death in this case). I'm not trying to scare you, but you want to socialize this dog with the other animals early, and don't let him get away with ANY heel nipping or you'll have trouble stoping it. Note: not all Blue Heelers will behave this way, but they are bred to it, so watch for it. This will be a dog that likes to have a job -- you may need to be creative, but if he has a job, he will be happier and less prone to decide that his job is to herd the neighbors kids into a corner of the lot by nipping their heels.

Great coincidence about the kittens. They are hard to place usually. I look forward to pictures of the dog.
Cliff

 

[Bird]

Cliff, I had a rancher neighbor who bought a pair of young blue heelers; a male and a female, from different places, of course. He had visions of using them to work his cattle as well as raising and selling some pups. Knowing nothing about training dogs himself, he sent the female first to a professional trainer to be trained to work cattle. It wasn't long before she was returned to him. The trainer said she was kicked in the head by a cow the first day and he was never able to get her to go near cattle again. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif So the neighbor sold her for a pet. And he kept the male, but never sent him to be trained. Instead, he was just a pet, rode in the pickup with the neighbor, rode on the seat of the Kawasaki Mule with him when he was working around the cattle, but the dog never showed any interest in joining the fray or chasing anything. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Like I said, not all of them do that. We get a lot of English Setters in rescue who have no interest in birds too. Ours can't even comprehend the concept of fetch. He figures that if you threw it away, you must not want it.

Cliff

 

[DaveNay]

PICTURES!!!!

Well Cliff, after talking to the trainer that was his foster owner, she is not really sure that he has any blue heeler in him. She says that he has never exhibited any herding habits, and acts more like a terrier (digging, rodents, etc).

More pictures here.

Dave

 

[Cliff_Johns]

What a cutie! Those ears are great. I noticed he has his avid chip -- good idea.

Are you sure you don't want to call him spot? He does look like a very happy dog. Thanks for the pictures.

Cliff

 

[40Kchicks]

My dog body looks a lot like yours. White with a big dot. I have no idea what breed he is but he has been a great dog. When he was young he would go herd the sheep up. He was very gentle and worked them around slowly and very smoothly. The trouble was that once he got them cornered my Border collie mix, which is very very quick would rush in and start biting the sheep. Of course the flock would go crazy and the dogs would get really excited and injure the sheep. I didn’t want to aways pen the dogs up so one day I let them out in the morning and hid in the bushes. Sure enough they started their game. When the biting started I jumped the fence yelling like a maniac and gave both dogs a good beating. This may sound mean or cruel but it saved those dogs lives. Neither dog has even looked at a sheep since. My next door neighbor raises about 200 sheep and has had to kill some dogs because they were killing his sheep. Both dogs stay on the property and hang out with my bottle fed lambs. I would like to have a working dog but would have a hard time keeping them busy and away from the livestock so I’m happy with a couple of good pets.

Good luck with the puppy. They sure add a lot to our lives.
Eric

 

[GerardC]

Really neat looking dog. Looks like he's very happy. Best of luck with your new found friend /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif. G

 

[David_G]

Meet Pebbles. Red heeler.