Good morning,

Got to wondering, not for the first time time, this morning, where have all the posters of bygone years gone?

Used to be so energized here, what with opinions and attitudes often flitting in wildly different directions.

Just curious.

Down to three GSDs, with the female getting a bit long in the tooth but active. The males are both comfortable in their own skin with one wanting to be the dominant member but the other willing to tolerate and then simply remind him who is truly the dominant guy.

I think my biggest pet peeve has to do with dog owners who want to be pals with their mutts without having established any baseline hierarchy, And the resultant mess of a mutt, in my opinion, that has never learned NO. And who ask for advice and then promptly dismiss it and revert to the same old behaviors begetting the same old results.

I see myself as a kind of blended trainer or owner of mutts. I have my house rules, and behavior rules, and play rules, and manners rules, and eating rules, and schedule rules, and probably too many rules. But when I call, the mutts respond appropriately, with spirit and personality.

I like to randomly reward my mutts for doing nothing other than not being pains in the butt. Random rewards, and not all the time, seems to me to reinforce recall and behaviors I value. Treats for work are a separate tool.

If I could improve the bride's aim with the roped kong, so that when playing retrieve with the mutts it didn't end up in a tree, I'd be happier. But I settle for dutifully getting it out of the tree without attitude or recrimination. The dogs can't jump that high regardless of how they try.

Snow and GSDs are a good combination. It is torture though, I think, to toss items into the snow and then send the dog to find it. Takes time, what with a cold nose and all. But the success rate is reasonably high, and man and dog seem to enjoy the challenge.

Anyway, just thought an epistle was at my finger tips.

Stay comfortable.

Mike A.

Looks like a page out of my own books with what you expect and get from your dogs.

The wife doesn't play with the outside dogs much other then petting them when she's outside but she adored Thunder.

That's probably why I'll go back to a small inside dog when Trooper's time comes.

Wife always liked to play with them but I think she's probably hoping for something fluffy instead of one of those lil bassid terriers that I love so much.

Been 6-8 yrs since I've had one.

My GSDs have always been outside 24/7/365.
Trooper will be 11 in May but still acts like a 6 month old Lab puppy.

Either way it will be one dog only from here on out.

I'm down to that for the first time in many, many yrs.

 Quote: Mike Arnold

Got to wondering, not for the first time time, this morning, where have all the posters of bygone years gone?
Used to be so energized here, what with opinions and attitudes often flitting in wildly different directions.
Just curious.

I've often wondered the same thing, Mike. I don't know what the answer is, but I've heard it said that discussion forums of this type have lost popularity as more people rely on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. I don't use those types of sites. From what I have seen, they're more about just posting a soundbite, then others post a comment or "like" it, with no real meaningful, back-and-forth discussion going on. I continue to enjoy the discussion forums in this type of a format. I belong to a couple other non-dog-related sites, and they stay fairly busy.

I still have the same two dogs I had when I first joined LB. Two Dobermans, a female going on eleven soon, and a male that will be ten in the spring. I'm grateful to have both of them. There's just something about senior dogs that are predictable and settled in their ways that makes everyday life comforting. I can't help thinking often, though, that this won't last much longer. I honestly don't know what I will do then. One of my current dogs came from a breeder as a puppy, and the other one came from a rescue when she was about a year old. My next dog(s) could come from either type of situation, I guess. Sometimes I feel like I'm too old now to handle puppy shenanigans, but then I read Bob's posts and he puts me to shame! On the other hand, there are a lot of good older dogs out there in the shelters and rescues, needing a good home. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it, and I'm not in any hurry.

It's been a long, cold, and snowy winter here in Michigan. We just got around nine new inches of snow yesterday, with more on the way today and tomorrow. It's funny, at the beginning of winter, the dogs were bugging me all the time because they missed their outdoor ball-throwing sessions once we got too much snow on the ground to be able to find the balls. I was having to find ways to entertain them inside, playing "find-it," etc. Now, though, they seem resigned to winter and sleep most of the day. I'm kind of feeling the same way.

Some posters back when I joined were brutally honest, and some were just rude, but I miss hearing from Betty W, Betty L, Jamie Craig, CJ Barrett and Cathy Goessman. I wonder what they're up to these days? I used to like hearing from Will too, he was tough, but fair.

There was definitely more traffic 8 years ago, and much more variety, with some fairly contentious members!

My old pointers are about to turn 14, Bon, the orange and white, and Hoots, 15, the black and white. They are incontinent, arthritic, senile and losing their sight and hearing, but we go for a stroll over the familiar fields, every now and then they break into a trot, and occasionally go into a paired point when the scent catches their very efficient nostrils.

As I write, they are curled up together on their sofa, sound asleep.

When I first started here in '02 it was predominantly true working dog people and some were pretty hard core. Ed has always had excellent control over some of the people that enjoyed going to far with criticism and coming down hard on just plain folks that weren't K9 cops, ,Military dog handlers or protection dog handlers/trainers.

Some people got tossed and as with most any type dog training forum it evolved into more pet friendly people.

The great thing STILL is that LB is one of the truly EXCELLENT dog training sites that offer legit training that isn't geared to just the working dog people folks if they want it AND the pet people that truly want to learn dog training and not to one extreme of absolutely no corrections or no treats type training.

I think LB has created a perfect balance and it has evolved along with some of us old farts that started out with "old school" yank and crank training.

BOTH methods are effective when done properly but finding that balance was pretty much an epiphany for me after only doing it pretty much one way only.

hello all! Been a while. Just signed on to check in and saw this post.
Was was fairly active on this board in the past (06? thru 2010? and yep, was involved in some of the more "active" discussions Learned SO much during that time and developed some dog companion people I am still in touch with to this day.

Was active in a local schutzhund club for about 5 years during that past time. The dog I started with, and trained for a year there ended up going on to be a dual purpose K-9 officer for the PD in Knoxville, IA. Nice, solid, civic dog, just a lot of dog for me personally.

Went on to live with Huck Finn, (beagle, BC, Heeler mix) and my GSD Ava (EGermanCzech working line) for the last 9.7 years. Ava participated in schutzhund, and it was very enjoyable...unfortunately the club disbanded due to TD moving on into higher levels of training, that, combined with limited new member participation/membership. Last I knew, Schutzhund USA numbers/memberships down too, wonder if it is the same for other working dog sports? Not to mention PETA bleeding into everything animal, and our society in general moving towards the Humane Societies, Rescues, etc...may all have to do with the disintegration of lively working dog training heated debates/discussions.

I have been out of schutzhund working dog circles, but have attended some training seminars here and there. Mainly, just practicing ob at home, having companion house dogs. Perhaps that is part of the issue with limited hyped up and controversial training discussions too, people maybe have just taken what they have learned and are applying it to their personal life with dogs much like what I have been doing. Though there are always techniques to learn or work on, and this is why I have returned.

Also, agree with the uprise of social media sites taking over "discussion" (likes :P and no real forum stuff, tho, easier, more convenient to see pics and watch a video and like than dissect it and apply true thought and tone to a forum post.)

I really love what I am seeing for the " University" here at LEERBURG. Going to take time to review and brush up on some things an learn the new improved site. The LEERBURG clan and their chosen affiliates are tops, and innovative, and yet do not lose the essence of simple dog behavior. Ever since joining here, I to this day, refer anyone with dog training interests here to LEERBURG.

In January, I lost my Ava to what is believed to have been hemangiosarcoma. Boo. However, two days after losing her, became involved in a GSD rescue in MO, and have now adopted a solid black Czech bitch, Miss Mallory Nox. I think I have my work cut out for me!!! So glad to be back, checkin in. Nice to "see" you guys...

 Quote: Mike Arnold

Snow and GSDs are a good combination.

Stay comfortable.

Mike A.

Yes they are!! And my new girl (5 years old) EATS IT!!! So glad she loves it because we are not moving anytime soon.

Welcome back Michele!

 Quote: Bob Scott

Welcome back Michele!

Yes! I think I hadn't joined yet when you were more active around the forum. It's nice to see you back, hope you'll be a regular!

yeah, thank you guys. I am glad to be back, checking in. The active topic board really has changed and is quite diminished. Lots of classes and other avenues on this site alone to be studying too. But I suppose a lot has already been said (and said again) in these discussions. Glad I like to read. Talkin (typing?) dogs is always fun too though. Funny, I just realized, I don't think I used LOL when I was on these boards before. Lol.