Uechi-Ryu.com

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Van

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Van

Very nice.

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Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

I think "preparation" here is a personal preference. (Enough alliteration there for you, gang? )

For years I've relied on "man's best friend" to be my 3rd eye in many situation. For the 12 years of her life, my first dog (an Afghan/Retriever mix) went with me everywhere and was my apartment mate. Her greatest advantage when I wasn't home was she sounded like a dog 3 times her size when anyone came near my apartment. When I spent years working from about midnight to 4 AM on my dissertation while alone in my graduate office building, she had my back while I was in my "zen mind" mode either programming or writing. Nobody snuck up on me when she was near me, and she was happy to spend hours with me.

Subsequently my Great Danes offered a deterrence with their sheer size - even though they were pussycats by nature. When a kid in the neighborhood would look in fear and ask if he bit, my response was "Well... he hasn't bit anyone lately." Was I going to allay their fears? Hell no! Reputations can be a wonderful thing. Needless to say my apartment was never broken into, in spite of others having problems.

When it comes to wild animals, the typical "family pet" can be a liability. Coyotes and coywolves will eat Fluffy and Spot for lunch, so will attract mischief. But some of the working breeds can be especially useful.

• I would never recommend a Rhodesian Ridgeback for a family pet. They're just too willful and too bloody strong for the average person to tolerate or handle. But if you're good with animals and know how to work with rather than dominate such a beast, they can be perfect for the task. And they're extremely loyal to the family they guard. I've seen my Ridgeback in a sleeping puppy pile with my wife and two boys. He's in heaven when he can be there. Meanwhile... they were bred to protect the South African farm from wild animals. They won't kill a lion. But in groups they relentlessly harass it until the owner comes to shoot the beast. They're agile, tenacious, and insanely strong. In packs they've been used here to take down large game.
  
  Here's a Ridgeback competing in an activity called lure coursing. Talk about a well-developed chase instinct...
  
  Rhodesian Ridgeback Alisa Lure Coursing Practice
  
  Oh and see that Ridgeback barking? They almost never bark. When they bark, you know something's up. That's the beauty of a breed like this.
  
  That particular Ridgeback is actually too heavy. Most people try to breed them to be large. The best are actually a bit lighter than that. They'll be every bit as strong, but look lean and mean. You can see ribs on mine, and he's ripping with muscles. When they're lighter like that, they're much more agile. Consequently they won't be cat food to a lion.
  
  THIS is more like it.
  
  Rhodesian Ridgeback's Coursing
  
• My sister breeds Danes, and lives on the edge of the Santa Ana desert. As I've stated before, she can't keep cats. The coyotes get them. But her Danes? My sister will let them out to run two at a time. As my brother-in- law describes it... The Danes instinctively know not to get in each other's way. When they spot a coyote, the first thing they do is run away from each other. Then they circle back towards the beast. The coyote will run way from one, and into the jaws of the other. Can you say lunchtime?

- Bill

One caution if you bring fido on a hike in our bear country. Unleashed it may find itself a bear and in full retreat bring the agitated beast towards you when it returns to the "pack" ( in full gallop) seeking assistance. Yes, your sidekick will likely launch an attack in your defense, but very likely meet its demise in the process. Coyotes as you try to reason with ...

Now this is coexistence
Our northern domestics never have issue with these great beast

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Léo

Precisely!

This is why a Ridgeback makes a terrible "house pet" and a wonderful dog for this kind of job. Cold weather aside...

Ridgebacks are stubborn and willful. My oldest son and wife didn't always get my dog, and sometimes would mistreat him. My youngest son gets him. Think of it this way. If YOU were the dog that survived generations of encounters with a lion, what kind of personality would you have? Would you do exactly what your master told you to do at every moment? Are you freakin kidding??? When a Ridgeback encounters a beast which threatens "the farm", it becomes possessed. It knows what to do, and doesn't need a hysterical master in the background giving it orders. It is the product of hundreds of years of natural selection, where the "stupid" Ridgebacks became cat food and the smart ones survived. It gets on with the task of harassing, dodging, weaving, and harassing some more. It is relentless. It will do what it has to do until you pick up your end of the job.

I've heard many sled dogs and northern natives can make terrible "house pets" for the same reason. You either intuitively understand them and work with them, or you don't. You have to think like a pack animal, and establish yourself as the alpha. If and when you do, you have a friend like no other.

- Bill

Yes
I have had dogs I rarely spoke to. Silent walks with my dogs late at night along the lake behind the farm ...they did not need leashed or commands.
Off topic but can not help myself. Coyotes I`m sure watched our "pack" and did so in peace.

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Léo

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Van

Those are some serious attack dogs, Van.

The legend of the Irish Wolfhound goes back thousands of years. Their dogs originally were used not just to kill off the wolves; they were also used in combat.



The Bullmastiff - the master biter in your National Geographic clip - is also a very old breed. It too was used to guard against and to kill humans.

The Danes that my sister is so fond of is a combination of two very old breeds - the Bull Mastiff for power and the Greyhound for agility. The designers of this breed wanted a dog strong enough and agile enough to take down a wild boar.







- Bill

Difficult for teeth to obtain flesh on these big puppies as well defended by fur. Very aggressive and the breed difficult to train as they are intelligent and bred to kill. Work very well in packs and surprisingly agile for a beast that is in the 180 pound range (known to have reached 250 plus pounds)




The Tibetan Mastiff also known as Do-khyi (variously translated as "home guard", "door guard", "dog which may be tied", "dog which may be kept"), reflects its use as a guardian of herds, tents and palaces. They were let free to roam at night in packs and woe to any strangers they come across at night.
They can challenge Leopards, wolves or even have been reported to take down tigers when working in pairs.






All legitimate approach to tent or encampment is based, however, on the assumption or hope that eventually friends or some one will come to the rescue and stand off the dogs: thus pennitting final arrival at the tent door. Once welcomed and accepted as guest the stranger must stay warily within the tent - on rare occasions even there he may be in danger of a sneak attack - and he can only move outside when he is escorted and protected by the owners of the dogs. When they escort him they too must change as he moves around the encampment for the dogs of each tent only recognize the members of their own tent family; barely tolerating-even next door neighbors who must exercise caution in approaching the neighboring tent.
At night the encampment is given over to the dogs who redouble their vigilance and ring the tents with sound and fury, which dies down at times to querulous bickering only to break out into a roar of suspicion at any unusual sound or sign of movement, as they rush from place to place. The men who have their sleeping places on the perimeter of the encampment sustain an oddly symbiotic relationship with the dogs in the maintenance of this vigil: their occasional shouts, and once in a while a shot into the air, stimulate the dogs, and the dogs in turn keep the men in an uneasy state of half wakefulness. Thus together they build a defense -sensitive as a burglar alarm which moreover has teeth - against thieving and surprise attack.






Note the skull

it is one of the few primitive dog breeds that retains a single oestrus per year instead of two, even at much lower altitudes and in much more temperate climates than its native climate. This characteristic is also found in wild canids such as the wolf. Since its oestrus usually takes place during late fall, most Tibetan Mastiff puppies are born between December and January.

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Léo

When I had 50 acres I would gladly have brought this guy in my home. Attila the Hun chose well in picking his pet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX0lvB3i9z4

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Léo

Yep... That's one of the oldest of dog breeds.

Great dog but... too hairy for my liking. I've gotten spoiled by short-haired dogs.

And having had large breed dogs like this, you have to know that they are prone to drooling - some more than others. My first Dane was fine, but my second drooled profusely. Before I left my apartment, I had to do some major wall work to remove all the goobers he flung on the wall after having eaten dinner.

The Great White North is a perfect place for that breed, Leo. Not so much down here. It would be torture. That's why the Europeans bred the short-haired trait into the Bullmastiff.

- Bill

More on the "natural enemies" of wolves.

Liking how this thread progressed from humans being victims of animals more towards coexistence.
Hunting or protecting ones self/possession with our fellow animals is more satisfying than using manufactured weapons. Not unlike the difference one feels in sitting next to a campfire in the wilderness instead of an electric fireplace. Something about the smell, sounds and raw feeling in the soul...Nature

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Léo