Allow me to introduce ya'll to Mason. The shelter says he's a Australian cattle dog but I have my doubts. Mason is 10mo old and very very shy of people he doesn't know. Mason pretends the barking; growling, noisy Rott next door isn't even there. He was very very happy to see me this morning; knowing we were still there for him.




More pics in the Gallery if ya want to look.
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?num=10948

 

That is a great looking dog, looks intelligent. I hope living with you does not ruin him.

Nice pic!

 

Don't worry; he's already shown himself to be Mommy's boy. Took him a while to warm up to me and is still skiddish sometimes if I move too quick.

 

Mason's a cutie too! Is he just shy or scared too. Gotta watch dogs that have a nervous temperament. But he is nice looking.

 

Shy for the most part; but he was pretty scared last night when we left him to his own devices. Made a loud noise so we got up; his energy shot through the roof when we arrived on scene and peed floor with excitement. Same thing happend this morning when I went to take him out. When we were outside he was all over me; just greatful I was there.

Aside from the excitement accidents; he lasted through the night so may let him stay in the bedroom with us tonight so he's not so scared.

 

Awwww......sounds like a keeper to me. Good luck with him!!!!

 

This is Rocket and Dauber (right)...if you have a door that needs to be held open...these are the two dogs for you..




Always on watch, guarding the back yard..

R/
Craig

 

That is a cute dog you brought home though, as for the excited peeing my sisters dog still does that and they have had him for almost 8 years.



+1 on that. Mine is not full bread but he is 1/2 ridgeback and 1/2 pit bull so i guess he should be one of the meanest dogs around. I have never ran into a bigger wuss in my life. We adopted him from the pound as the breeders didn't want half breed dogs. He is very protective of us but it more bark than bite believe me. He could be up on his hind legs barking and growling at someone with me holding the leash but if I let it go he will just stay there continuing to bark and growl.

About the only thing I have ever seen him acctually be aggressive towards is the neighbors cat and a loose pit bull one day while I was walking him. At home he is calm and very affectionate, he loves kids too. The coolest part is when they get mad the ridge of backwards hair on their back starts standing up like a mowhawk lol.

Alot of people blame the breed of dog for their attitude, I blame the owners. If you take the time to work with a dog, expose them to different things and have some form of obedience training with them any dog will be a great pet. However if you neglect them, never expose them to strangers, other animals, etc.. they will respond differently towards what they don't know. No Pit Bull is born to be mean, they are tought that way, their breeding just compounds that once they are tought, just as a bloodhounds breed enhances their training to trakc things through scent, if you never tought a bloodhound how to track with smell, they wouldn't just wake up one day being able to track kids over 10 miles of rough terrain.

 

Ahhhh.... nature vs. nurture. One of the true mysteries of our time.

 

How do you guys feel about Dalmations?

 

I know someone with a Dalmation, and it is a great dog. I have heard they have a genetic pre-disposition for being Deaf I believe, So if you are adopting, you might want to check and make sure it can hear.

On Nature vs Nurture, I believe in most cases that is true. Treat them right no matter the breed,and they will be good dogs, but I also believe the opposite can be true. Take a dog, any dog and treat it cruelly, and continue to bread his offspring treating them horribly and I believe several generations later the puppies will eventually be more likely to be bad dogs.

On the subject of more reported bites from retrievers, that doesn't really surprise me since retrievers (labs and goldens) are the most common breed according to AKC records. This has been the case for many years I believe.

UC, he looks a lot like the Healers/Cattle Dogs, just funny colors compared to the ones I have seen. Good looking Dog!!

 

Sort of looks like an Austrailian Shepard a bit to me...well smaller but looks close and the coloring is somewhat similar as well.

I am sure he will turn out to be a fine little ankle biter.

BTW I think it is great that you adopted him as well. Alot of people want a particular dog and there is nothing wrong with that and since there is the demand they will be given a good home. People forget about the dogs at the pound and it is sad that some of them spend the rest of their lives there. Both of my dogs were adopted from the pound and are two of the greatest dogs I ever owned.

 

Previously in this thread I mentioned Pete and Eddie. They were adopted right out from under us. Anyway; They were at another shelter here in CO and were about to be killed. All they had to do was send em up here to another shelter and suddenly there's two families who want them. Shelter's rock; especially no-kill shelters.

 

I would say definitely not a full bred Blue Heeler but a good looking dog nonetheless. The excited peeing will most likely go away as he gets older. The shyness could be a result of lack of socialization. If he wasn't around lots of people when he was younger he is going to be leery of strangers. Once you've had him home for a while and he's settled, start inviting people over so he's exposed to as many strangers as possible. He may get better given enough time but I've seen dogs that have been so severely un-socialized that they remain frightened of strangers the rest of their lives. A word of caution, dogs that are not socialized well do have a tendency to bite if they feel threatened by someone they are unfamiliar with. Good luck with Mason, he does look like an intelligent dog.

 

Now thats funny!!! i don't care where you are...