Roger Nelson -> Jim White wrote:
 RN>>> How does the dog behave when you're feeding it?

 JW>> No issues whatsoever.  We can pet him, move the food or take it
 JW>> away. He is so grateful for his new life that he accepts us as
 JW>> the Alphas in his life.

 RN> That is unusual.  Dogs aren't particular about sharing water or even
 RN> having it taken away, but food is another matter.  He seems rather unique.

I may not have mentioned it, but we were his (Piggy's) saviors for the 8
years preceding our legal acquisition of him.  We were the ones who fed
him, provided water, and made sure he had dry bedding in the winter and a
ventilated doghouse in the summer.  We were his whole life, since the
owners had only wanted "a dog" for their son's birthday.  They
had fed only bones and table scraps and provided water when they felt like
it. In the last 4 or 5 years, the husband was the only one who went near
the dog.  He would always save a bite of his lunch sandwich and give it to
the dog when coming home from work.

About 2 weeks are we got him, the wife claimed that her son missed the dog
and wanted to see him.  He had already become a housebroken house pet and
loved to lounge on our family room love seat or sofa.  I told her that I
would turn him out into our fenced back yard so they could see him.  The
dog ran to the fence barking and snarling at the wife and son.  Had it not
been for the fence, I think he would have bitten one or both of them.  He
has since done the same to many other people who are not residents of the
house or frequent visitors that he recognizes.  It appears that he
considers the whole back yard a part of his territory to protect.

Initially we had intended to foster him, so a rescue group neutered him for
free for us.  One of the workers told us that he might become VERY
protective of us, since we had been so good to him all those years.  One
thing she said made a whole lot of sense and was something we had never
considered.  "He's known for eight years that he was YOUR dog.  He
just didn't understand why he was on the wrong side of the fence!"

He loves our vet and she can do almost anything she wants to him.  She even
looks at his teeth and in his mouth and Piggy does not care.  The only
thing the dog does not like is being rolled over.  He does not growl, but
will whimper and resist completely.  We can only guess that someone abused
him at some point.  And despite this we can get down 0n the floor and play
with him, getting plenty of doggy kisses.

 RN> I forgot to mention we have a mini-Pinscher in the yard, along with a
 RN> Yorkie, a female Dachsund/Chihuahua mix and another male mix breed.  I
 RN> haven't seen the Rottie that belongs to my daughter's MIL and I hate to
 RN> say this, but I'd rather see the Rottie than owner.

  I know that feeling all too well.  My feelings exactly when I
see the neighbors that we rescued Piggy from.

 RN> (-:  I must have
 RN> something against MILs, having had a bad experience with one of the two
 RN> I had.  All four of the dogs are very good at protecting the property
 RN> here and I will hand feed them from time to time.  They all sit near the
 RN> chair I'm in and wait their turn, knowing the Yorkie is first, then the
 RN> mini-pinscher, the female mix and then the other male.  If you want some
 RN> background on people who mistreat dogs, there are resident experts here.
 RN>  Richard has had some experience with that type and so has Bob Ackley.

My daughter is part of the Rochester Rottweiler Club and I have seen and
heard more than I care too about those kind of people.  It bothers me to to
see someone being unkind to another human, but when I see it happen to a
helpless dog, I want to whack someone with a 2x4!

 JW>>   I can just picture this scene!!

 RN> I can still see it in my mind's eye.  A good thing I don't frighten easily.

 JW>> I imagine quite a few repetitions!!  They are very
gentle giants
 RN> that
 JW>> are happiest when with their people.

 RN> A bad choice of phrasing.  I should have said many, many times.  The
 RN> strange thing about her is that when you're petting her, she growls
 RN> approval and that in itself can be very scary.

I can understand this.  Did the dog grow up around cats?  When we got our
rott, he was 9 weeks and we had 7 cats at the time  He would hear the cats
purr when petted, and when pet, he started growling very softly as his
attempt at purring.  And he does that to this day.

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