Big Paws Only Dog Forums

San Antonio, Texas, has animal regulations online in a huge pdf.  If you click the link on this page that says Current Chapter 5, it will download.  They allow lots of dogs on acerage away from other dwellings.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/animalcare/Chapter5.asp

Here is the main site for the ACC people here in San Bernardino County, California.  Beware the Quick Links dropdown; the first one is Adoptable Pets.

http://www.sbcounty.gov/acc

Please note the huge difference between what is written in any ordinance and what happens in real life.  When I caught the injured, lost horse in my yard on a Saturday, ACC for SBCO, a county larger than many of those little northeastern states, told me they could send someone out to get it on Monday, or for sure on Tuesday.  

The horse was standing in the yard with me holding a dog leash looped around its neck, so that wasn't practical.  Town limits is just a mile away, and we were going to hobble it down there where someone from the local Animal Control was ready to come pick it up.  The local AC people rock.

Luckily for the horse, we found the owner in a few hours after hubby called everyone we knew locally and asked them to call everyone they knew to see if anyone had lost a horse.  

It is a good thing my boss was so understanding.  Not everyone would believe someone calling in "sick" because they had to hold onto a horse.

For the past few weeks, while Zita is on the bed resting with me, she has at times been getting up and pushing her head on me. 

Push is a silent command I am working on for her to signal something needs attention, like a person at the door or the smoke alarm going off, but she was doing it without the command.  I would get up and check the doors, her food and water dishes, and see if she wanted to go outside.  Everything would be fine, I'd go back to bed, and she'd do it again.

Last night, just for sillies, when she was pushing, I flipped the covers over her intending to play peek-a-boo.  She cuddled up next to me under the covers, gave a huge sigh, and didn't move the rest of the night.

Zita has trained me to tuck her in.

It depends on the dog. 

We have two Italian Mastiffs; one will play nicely with my Chihuahua but the other one, Zita, would eat him.  After I removed him from Zita's mouth once, he got his own room.  TG for my teaching bite inhibition so well to darling Zita.  All the Chi got was slobbered on.

I suspect you may be misunderstandi ng something about how the Alpha works in a pack.  Maintaining that status is a 24/7 job.  Some dogs will be more eager to test you, others don't seem to care.  Some dogs will present aggression issues no matter what your status is.

Gender of the dog can also be an issue.  If the husky mix is a male, I'd suggest a female pup, and vice versa.

If your current dog is already known to have issues with larger dogs, it is safe to assume that it will have issues with any large dog you add to the pack.

Side note, there are lots of sad stories out there about people cohabitating who get a pup together and fight over ownership when the relationship goes sour.  While there are lots of laws in place to help decide who gets what when a married couple breaks up, there is not much in most places for non-contractual relationships. 

Please check out your state and local civil laws on that.  In a worst-case-scenario, if you think you'd want the dog, get the breed registration and all the Vet. records in your name only.  Pay them in cash or a check drawn on an account with only your name on it.  If you contact the breeder through email, keep the tone as though you are the only person in the deal and do not delete any of them.

If you do decide on the Dobe, I'd suggest getting it at the same time as you move into the new place to limit immediate territorial issues with your other pets.  Doxies are famous for getting back injuries, so you will want to keep it calm until everyone settles in.

18 to 34 breaths per minute are considered normal for a dog at rest.  If your dog's rate is much past that while at rest, you might need to see a Vet. since panting is a symptom of heartworms and congestive heart failure. 

Our Cody Newfoundland was panting last summer until he got shaved.  His breathing rate came back to normal within a few hours.

A short-haired, brunette Yeti.   

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. 

A similar thing happened recently at another rescue shelter and I was asked to look at their operation and figure out what they could do to make sure it could not happen again.  The whole report is way too long and most of it probably would not apply to your situation, so I will give the highlights in the hope that it will help you.

1. Catchpoles will be available and workers will be trained in their use.

2. When more than one dog is in an area, at least one worker trained in the catchpole per dog will also be in the area. 

3. This one is more difficult to summarize.   It has to do with the need to evaluate new dogs over time because their early reactions may not be reliable indicators of future behavior.  To mitigate the uncertainty of their behavior, the recommendation was to keep all new dogs leashed when out of their kennels for at least their first month.

Evaluating new dogs' behavior through the use of other dogs who had been there longer and whose behavior was more predictable was also recommended.

4. All workers will be trained in first aid.  First aid kits will be available.

5. The last section was the longest and dealt with their physical layout and construction.  If you plan on building, holler and I'll add it.

Wow, a vacation.  In 22 years hubby and I have vacationed together exactly twice since the special medical needs of my zoo require 24/7 monitoring by an attentive human.  With his medical training, I feel OK leaving them all in his care.

I hope you stop crying long enough to have some fun! 

If you see them again, try to get the make, model, and license number of the car.  A video camera can help there.  Stills tend to be blurry, so video is more likely to give useable images.  

Some states will give information at the DMV for license numbers if it involves something legal.  Some states also have laws forbidding the harassment of animals and can even involve damages if the harassment causes an injury, like if the dog got scared and tripped you and you fell.

There are a few things you can do to make your house safer.  Keep garage doors and windows closed.  Have a porch light on after dark.  Keep landscaping away from the building so bad people cannot hide in it.  A cellphone next to the bed at night is a good idea.  Another nifty thing to have nearby is an air-powered horn, expecially if you have neighbors close enough to hear it who will call the police.

If you can change your routine, please do.  Around here the worst time to be out walking or driving is right after the high school lets out.  Between the kids driving way too fast to impress their buddies and the thieves stealing a little something on the way home, when I lived in town I stayed home at those times of day.

Since I do not know your personal situation, I will not make any suggestions here, but we have guns.  Statistically, they are more of a danger than a help for most people.  On at least two occassions while my hubby was at work, he works nights, I could hear someone walking around my house checking all the doors and windows.  

The second time I said to the dogs, "Ssssh.  We want them to come in so we can shoot them."  It was a bluff but they left running.  Almost all the surrounding homes have been robbed except ours.

Modified to add that my teenaged niece says that if you get video, post it on YouTube.