Post by eljay on Dec 28, 2012 14:54:48 GMT -5
This is Maggie. She's 7 years old. We got her a year ago and were told she was a cross between a springer and a whippet. I thought for a while that she had some English Shepherd in her, mostly because I was hunting for an ES at the time, but I think she's just too big for that. There is no way she has whippet in her! Her feet are normally very furry, but my girls clipped them so they could paint her nails, which she tolerated quite well. If you look closely in the picture of her playing with the pup you can see that she has some light red spots, about the size of a quarter in random spots on her body, maybe 10 of them. She doesn't have dew claws, but I do not know if she had them and they were removed. Her outer coat is quite slick. It's easy to get burrs off her. She doesn't have much of an undercoat.
So, here is something about her personality. She is somewhat aloof. If she is on the couch and someone else sits on the couch, even if they don't touch her, she will leave and lay on the floor. She won't chase a ball more than a couple of times before she drops it and leaves you. She bonded to me instantly. She will come well when called if she's not busy, and was known to leave her previous owner and run for 30-45 minutes when she took her to the woods. Now, a year later, after being walked through our woods on leash numerous times she will not leave you in the woods unless a squirrel appears close enough for her to hope for success. Then she comes right back when it escapes to the trees. The only time she goes down to the road is if the bichon leads her there, or someone dumps a deer carcass in our ditch.
She loves to lay on the deck or in the driveway facing the road and watch the world. She is as happy outside as inside, and usually positions herself where she can see the most people. But, she also holes up in my bedroom from time to time.
She hadn't seen chickens when she came here. The previous owner took a chicken, put it in Maggie's face and said "No chickens!" 3 or 4 times. Maggie has not looked at a chicken since. She loves to chase rabbits, which was a concern since we had a house rabbit at the time. We did the same thing, "No bunny!" every time she walked past his cage. After a week we let the rabbit out and she wouldn't even look at him. She does however continue to chase (horribly unsuccessfully) the outside rabbits. When she first got her she desperately wanted to play with the cattle, and would play bow to them and race back and forth with them at the fence. Now, a year later she ignores them and can be in with them without chasing. I'm not sure when that changed. We never told her, "No cows!".
She is somewhat food aggressive and will bait the other two dogs by positioning herself near a bone and waiting for the poor unsuspecting dog to walk by. Chesterton the LGD pup is starting to do the same thing so I expect at some point there will be an altercation between them.
So, here is something about her personality. She is somewhat aloof. If she is on the couch and someone else sits on the couch, even if they don't touch her, she will leave and lay on the floor. She won't chase a ball more than a couple of times before she drops it and leaves you. She bonded to me instantly. She will come well when called if she's not busy, and was known to leave her previous owner and run for 30-45 minutes when she took her to the woods. Now, a year later, after being walked through our woods on leash numerous times she will not leave you in the woods unless a squirrel appears close enough for her to hope for success. Then she comes right back when it escapes to the trees. The only time she goes down to the road is if the bichon leads her there, or someone dumps a deer carcass in our ditch.
She loves to lay on the deck or in the driveway facing the road and watch the world. She is as happy outside as inside, and usually positions herself where she can see the most people. But, she also holes up in my bedroom from time to time.
She hadn't seen chickens when she came here. The previous owner took a chicken, put it in Maggie's face and said "No chickens!" 3 or 4 times. Maggie has not looked at a chicken since. She loves to chase rabbits, which was a concern since we had a house rabbit at the time. We did the same thing, "No bunny!" every time she walked past his cage. After a week we let the rabbit out and she wouldn't even look at him. She does however continue to chase (horribly unsuccessfully) the outside rabbits. When she first got her she desperately wanted to play with the cattle, and would play bow to them and race back and forth with them at the fence. Now, a year later she ignores them and can be in with them without chasing. I'm not sure when that changed. We never told her, "No cows!".
She is somewhat food aggressive and will bait the other two dogs by positioning herself near a bone and waiting for the poor unsuspecting dog to walk by. Chesterton the LGD pup is starting to do the same thing so I expect at some point there will be an altercation between them.