I thought I better introduce myself here. I have been reading the boards for a few weeks now and enjoy all the dog chat and advice, I now feel brave enought to join in :)

My name is kerry.
I have always owned dogs, at the moment I have a 14 year old lab-cross 'Rocky' and a 7 month old puppy 'Buster', Buster is a Mastiff (Old English).
We have had Rocky for 10 years (he's a 'rescue'), he is stone deaf which is age related. Rocky has always been a very 'pushy' dog, trying to rule the house, since he lost his hearing it has taught me an awfull lot about dog behavior - how on earth do you get your dog to comply when he can't hear you??? We have more control over Rocky now he is deaf through body language & hand signals, then we ever had when he could hear 'NO' or 'goood boy'!!!!

Buster is dream:) Suprisingly for such a 'rough' looking dog, he requires a VERY gentle, (yet firm) approach, he's such a sensitive soul :). The only problem we have with the dogs, is that Buster's playing is a little rough for poor old Rock and he put up with much more than I think he should :(, so playtimes are never unsupervised!!!

Hello and welcome :-)

You'll find this board very addictive.  Happy posting.

Hi and welcome

New myself  :)
Addictive?  YES

I check my emails  and the boards all the time...how sad is that LOL

Have fun

Hello and nice to meet you.

I hope that you'll enjoy this forum.

Reesy: have you been bad??

Welcome to the forum. :-)

HI and welcome

I also have a deaf 14 year old dog but she's still a character!

hi! welcome to the forum!

Hi

welcome to the site - I am owned by three cavaliers - none of which are officially deaf - three of which act it when they feel like it  :)

Maxine

welcome Kerry, good to meet you x

Hi, Welcome, i am new also, loads of great info on here,  hooked!!

Hayley

Hi there {Waves} :D

Hi all and thanks for such a lovely warm welcome :)

I'd just like to add that I don't breed or show dogs, I'm just a dog lover :)

Hi there, and welcome :-)

You don't have to breed or show to join in, there are people here who do all sorts of things with their dogs.

So long as you love and enjoy them :-D

Hello! :-) xx

Hiya! :-)

Hya!

waving from Wales :-)

More welcomes!! thank you all so much :)

I am becoming more addicted/obsessed by the day to learning about dogs and thier behavior. I have a tendency to waffle on a bit, but finding a forum dedicated to dogs & full of other people that like to chat/rant/worry/seek support regarding dogs, is like an early ticket to Heaven!!!! (and it saves my poor husbands ears from having to listen to me ;) )

Hello and welcome! :-)

Great to see another Mastiff owner here! :-D

Welcome aboard.

> I'd just like to add that I don't breed or show dogs, I'm just a dog lover :)

Ooh I am sure we could change that,{laughs evilly rubbing her hands together}.  Sure we can't persuade you to go to ringcraft classes, great socialisation you know, then of course while you are there you just might pick up a schedule for your local show, and well he will be old enough to show at 6 months, have to start entering when he is 4 to 5 months, Oh maybe just the one, LOL LOL LOL,

Hello and welcome.

Brainless - when I first got Buster I had no intention of showing him, but as the weeks went by, I started to think that it would be fun & like you said, a great way to socialise him.
Unfortunately he has UAP (uninited anconeal proccess, a form of elbow displasia) this was diagnosed about 7 weeks ago, this means that, allthough his gait and movement isn't too bad his excercise has to be restriced.
I'm in the process of building up his walks, since the diagnosis, he has been built up to about 10 mins per day (from 5 mins), soon this can be extended by another few mins as he he coping brilliantly with the 10 mins (minimal limp after the walk). This doesn't sound like much, but when he was first diagnosed, he could barely get himself off the floor, let alone walk for more than a few yards so I am really pleased with his progress.

It is a shame, he is a very happy pup, he LOVES meeting people, but doesn't get a chance to interact with other dogs, if he does encounter any on his little walk (strictly on lead walking), then people will make a detour to get out of our way, because despite me telling them that Buster is friendly, they judge him on his size & looks. He's brindle, approx 28" at the shoulder and approx 8 & half stone and you can gaurantee that if he meets another dog he has 'slingers' (strings of drool) hanging down from his chops :( The poor thing, whenever he meets a dog at the vets, it either snaps at him or growls at him :( He doesn't take any notice though, he sits quietly in front of them, waiting for them to play, I can understand that other dogs must get intimadated by his size, so I never let him apprach them, I wait for them to appraoch him, but it doesn't help :(

If it wasn't for Busters leg problems, then you wouldn't be able to stop me!!!!!!! I'm so proud of my 'little' baby, I would love to attend shows with him :)

Hi Kerry and welcome!! We have met on the mastiff forum. Lovely to have another mastiff owner here!!:-D

Hi Paula :)

what gave me away? - was it my usual long-winded ramble of a post?? lol

I think I recognise another mastiff forum user too - mackleback??

It's great there is already Mastiff folk here :)

Hello and welcome :)

You will indeed recognise Macklback!!! Lynn is also here somewhere (username Lynnt!!).

LOL....you ramble??!!! Never!!!:-D

> LOL....you ramble??!!! Never!!!:-D

LOL :-D