I am by formal education and life experience education a behaviorist. I want to know how a species thinks and reacts and I want to be able to “read and talk” their language.
For the first 40 years of my life, I studied horses. We have always had dogs and breed English Shepherds and Beagles but now I am focusing on understanding more about dogs.
I want to know them as well as I know horses. I want to be able to how how they think; how they are most likely to react. And I want to be able to “read and talk” their language.
I want to live in a world with dogs where we share the space, share the jobs and communicate about how to make life work. I don’t necessarily buy into the alpha dog dominance in control theory of living with dogs.
There has to be order. There has to harmony. The rules for behavior for both dogs and humans are defined by the environment in which they live. It is my job to show dogs how to live successfully in various human environments. In the more natural world, I look to them to share their insight into the natural order.
I have had several dogs save my life. In return, I would like to think that I have given the gift of a great life to many of the dogs that have touched my life.
So, I fill my life with dogs. Living on 275 acres with horses and cattle, I have room to keep puppies that need to stay here for a longer time. I can add dogs into my pack to learn about them. I can keep older dogs and allow them to develop so that I can ultimately learn more about dogs.
Recently, I decided to try and add a rescue dog to my pack as a learning experience.
The bottom line is that I end up having older dogs and puppies available for adoption. I think I have a handle on the kind of dog that each one is and what kind of home would be ideal for each dog.
There are lots of good reasons to get an older dog. Sometimes they fit better into working families. They may work better for older adults. They may need less exercise than a puppy. They may already have basic obedience training.
Just like with my puppies, I guarantee my older dogs to be exactly as I represent them. If the dogs doesn’t fit into your family, I would like to have to the dog back. And if your lifestyle has a dramatic change, I will always rescue the dog.
Here are some notes on the dogs that I available. I hope to develop a page for each dog in the near future. If you would like to discuss any dog, please email me at lynda@the-old-place.com
Cowboy, 18 month old English Shepherd male – Would thrive in a very active outdoor type of environment. Loves the woods, squirrel hunting, great swimmer. Works cattle. Bold – Loves to swing on tails. Very dog friendly. Loves puppies. He is currently trying to train my 6 month old English Shepherd girl puppies to hunt and work cattle. A big talker. Barks while working cattle. Barks to let you know something is “not right” on the ranch.
How did I end up with this guy? Last year I had 12 puppies. Seven of them stayed with me up to 7 or 8 months of age. This was a real learning experience for me and I was lucky to find some great families across the United States and Germany. (Angus went to Germany).
I could never get a read on Cowboy. He was one of the leader pups but he moved different and was taller and lankier than his brothers. Because I couldn’t “read” him as a pup, I couldn’t figure out what kind of family he would thrive within. ( Now I know that he needs a working family with a lot of jobs and lots of room.)
Very early, Cowboy showed an interest in working cattle. Showed he was tough – getting cow kicked and still working. He is very receptive to training. Excellent “COME” response. Willingly will “SIT”. Excellent in a crate. Will stay in a pen. Can climb and jump Very athletic. Very friendly.
If you are an active outdoors person and want a dog to share your life – an intelligent dog from the herding group who thrive on a relationship with one person, Cowboy may be “Your Dog”
Cowboy update: Cowboy found his Dream Home. He is living and working in Western Oregon on a cattle ranch.