Dakota
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Shetland Sheepdog?  Dakota is gorgeous.  Is there any hair in the house?

Dakota is a mini Australian Shepard
Smartest dog I have ever seen (and I am not just saying that because it's my dog it's the breed that is smart)
My wife taught her to sneeze on command Crazy stuff
Oh and there is hair EVERYWHERE no matter what you do!!!
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Awesome pic. Love the coloring. We sweep everyday but the hair from our three cats comes out of nowhere. We also have to vertically sweep the return air ducts...

Rodney

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Here is Sophie on the dash of the motorhome.

Reminds me of those bobble head dogs for your dash in the 70's

Rodney

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

You bought a squirrel from Kathy Bates?

This is Brinkley....

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Wearing his game day jersey

Shiloh
In the backyard and guarding the Traeger.  He's 18 months old and still has a lot of pup in him.  Notice the short power plug (orange) just below the pellet bin on the Traeger.  Somebody decided to trim it after I was spending too much time around it. 

Here's our Agate, who left us for the rainbow bridge just shy of her 19th birthday. It's been almost a year and a half now, and we still miss her terribly.

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Here she's snoozing in my lap, with her head resting on my hand...
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

And maybe my favorite picture of and her mom, napping on their favorite pillows (I'm at the bottom of the pile - it was all I could do to wrest one hand free to hold up the phone to take the pic)...
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

This is Rusty.  I can't really call her a pet.  On Easter Sunday I saw her frantically running around in one of the fields. I tried to lure her in because I was sure someone had lost a pet -- or even worse, dumped one in the country which happens a lot.  I could not get near to her, but she did come up to the house the next day to get some of the food and water I left out.  She eventually came up and started hanging out and sleeping on the porch.  She would not let us get near her.

Time passed and she would come up to us and sniff our hands and legs.  She follows us everywhere.  As it got cold, I built a little shelter on the patio to protect her and lined with blankets and fleece.  She seemed pretty comfortable.  I tried getting her in the house, but she would come in, run around like a mad dog for about 30 seconds and run outside.

About 2 weeks ago, we had a real unusual cold snap and it got down to 19 degrees.  Bent thinks I am too much of a softy, but I opened the door that night and she came trotting in and sat on the rug near the fire.  I brought her blankets in and she built herself a little nest. She is now Miss House Pet.  Hardly wants outside and seems to be house trained.  BUT... she still won't let us pet her!!  I would like to give her a bath and take her to the vet, but can't get to her to even pet her.  The photos are so bad because , when she saw me holding the camera, she starts to run (former witness protection puppy?).  Perhaps she was abused.

Anyhow, she is now somewhat ours.  If any of you dog folks have idea on how to pet and hold her, I would love to hear from you.

It will be tough (and a bit heart-wrenching) to convince her that you're not a threat.  I did it once but it took almost a month. 

Get down to her level about 6' away.  Even if you have to lay down on the floor.

Talk quietly while gently tossing her a treat.  "Good girl, good girl."

Reduce the space until she'll come right up to you.

Put a treat in your palm and lay your hand on the floor so she takes the treat as though it's from a bowl.

After a period, sit up and let her take treats from your hand.

Then put the treat in your lap.

Resist the temptation to pet her when she's close.  When you finally pet her don't reach down to her from above.  Start with you hand at her eye level.

Treat:  Dogs love cheese.

Thanks.  She will take a treat from my hand as long as she can kind of snatch it and run.  Never thought to sit on the ground and be at her level.  I am also afraid she is blind in her left eye.  It had a good size cyst on it when she came that has disappeared, but the eye does not look right to me.

 I am a little late on this one.  How did Big Bear ever entice "Rodney" into his home??  Is he well behaved??  Very different indeed.

Thanks.  She will take a treat from my hand as long as she can kind of snatch it and run.  Never thought to sit on the ground and be at her level.  I am also afraid she is blind in her left eye.  It had a good size cyst on it when she came that has disappeared, but the eye does not look right to me.

I looked back at the photographs.  Her left eye doesn't reflect light in the same manner that the right one does.

Snatching treats from hands--  Like humans, dogs lose sight of things as they get closer to their mouths.  (Try it with your fingertip.  So when you get a drink from a water bubbler you look at the water column, remember where it is and put your mouth on it.)

Dogs do the same thing.  If you offer something in your fingers to a dog, they have to remember where it is.  They may go for it rapidly so you don't move it away.  That sometimes causes people to instinctively pull their hands back.  That conditions the dog to grab things faster and faster and people sometimes get bit.  When that happens the people may incorrectly blame the dogs.

So–when feeding a dog by hand, people should put the treat in their palms and hold it in one place.  The dogs will bump the palm with their noses but will eventually become accustomed to the process.  I don't mind a wet nose bump on the palm.

Paul, just like feeding a horse. With a horse it is protecting ones fingers.