[gary]

happy new year and christmas everyone , sorry for not being in touch sooner , our connection is so slow here , this website's pages are full of graphics and little icons that take ages to load so sometimes my connection times out before it has finished loading them all
bobby is doing great at the moment , he's picked up some sort of allergic reaction on is nose (he's always foraging in bushes and stuff chasing smells ) and i think it's irritating him , several little clusters of blisters have emerged and they're bleeding little , so the vet has given him some anitbiotics to take in his food , but he's still his friendly self , wanting to meet other people and dogs and generally make friends , to him i think strangers are friends he hasn't met yet , little dogs aren't too keen on him even though he means no harm and just wants to sniff them , and be sniffed by them, me and him have had a fall out when i left the kichen for 10 seconds while boning a chicken , i went back to close the door and he had it on the floor , when i went to tell him off and take it off him he started growling and showing his teeth in a very threatening manner so very quickly i had to grab him and physically throw him out the back into the garden and he caught my hand with his teeth , 10 mins later he was very submissive and tail between the legs and looking very sorry , but he's still a bit funny around food maybe thinking a repeat of last time might take place, but gradually getting better , i don't want him to be cautious around me when i'm eating or he's eating but i want him to understand that my food is mine and not his and that also his food is mine and i can take it away if i need to ( i.e. i live in a very rural area and if he finds a rotten old carcas out somewhere when we're walking i want to be able to take it off him) he pulls quite hard on the lead and is very strong which i have to be careful with also , he has no road sense at the moment and doesn't come back when i call him because basically what i have to offer isn't as interesting as what is out there to explore , so letting him off the lead is only done in very short bursts and after i've shown a very high value treat to come back to , he loves pushing hmself along face first in the snow with his back legs and then brying his nose in cowpats
i just wish i'd have taken him home sooner while he still had his ears and tail, the afghans here who claimed they owned him haven't forgotten and prefer to stare than talk to me which suits me
he loves playing and running around like any year old puppy would , he plays a bit too hard sometimes though and i have to turn my back on him when he gets carried away ,but then starts nipping my bum and backs of my legs
i'm hoping to finish working here soon and go back home to a normal life where i can spend more time training and familiarising him with crowds , buses , trains etc , and go to some training classes to learn some skills in looking after him and keeping him a lovable friend
i'll get more photos and send them soon hopefully

[cigwyllt]

He looks so well and it sounds as though he is remarkably well adjusted after all he has been through.

[CorkyMax]

Great pics! So what do you think of the possibility that your Bobby may be at least part Leonberger as Taming Rover has mentioned? That 2nd pic you just sent does look a lot like the leonberger. Here is a link to a description, traits, etc and a few pics of the Leonberger. Make sure to scroll all the way down and also to click on 3 more pages of pics near bottom of page(s)---> Leonberger Information and Pictures, Leonbergers

You mentioned a problem with the nose. What kind of bowls is he eating and drinking from? May not be the problem but take a look at this link: De Nose Two pages to this thread--post #6 and on page 2, post # 12 are the main 2 I'd like you to see.

Yes, it will be good when you are back home for good. Hope Bobby knows what all you have done for him and is the best dog you could ever have. Sounds like it is important to show him who Alpha 1 is before he gets much older! (according to the article about the Leonberger) Lol, Wonder if he is done growing now! Keep us posted! And I know what you mean about all the darn pop-ups in this forum--They drive me crazy too at times---Must be turned off so far today--haven't been bothered by any. Hope to talk to you later!

[Taming Rover]

Also just looking at that pic in particular he could be German Shepherd/Chow as well... I know the chow at least has been bred for fighting.

[gary]

hi ,the more i read about leonbergers the more they sound like bobby , not ust the physical description but the personality traits also ,the limk you sent corky was great , he's all the things the article states
a few days after the chicken carcas incident (chicken-gate we call it ) i was again cleaning some meat in the kitchen , when i finished i thought he'd like to lick the juice off my fingers afterwards , he started to but then got this sudden shocked look on his face and started growling almost as though he thought he was being led into a trap , i presume something in him triggered a memory of what had happened before and he felt maybe confused " punished for taking their food now they're giving me some what's all this about ?" was the way i interpreted it , anyway i went to get him out and he wouldn't move and bit me badly when i grabbed him , this told me that he will stick up for himself if he thinks he's done nothing wrong , which in this case he hadn't but i still didn't want him to see me backing down at him growling ,
which all points to the leonberger traits again , intelligent and non responsive to harsh training i'm not sure how a leonberger found it's way out here though , there aren't any pedigrees over here but i suppose the way genetics work it must be the most dominant gene in his make up that surfaces in the characteristics
we're very careful around food with him now and i avoid any more possible confrontations that could escalate into a fight between me and him , and before i left to come back here he was getting much better , i was stroking him whilst feeding him and touching him after giving him high value treats like pig's ears , so even in just the short time i was home we made progress , i'm hoping the next time i'm home i won't have to start from scratch
i do all the correct things with doorways and feeding ( pretending to eat some of his food before him) not letting him upstairs or on furniture , praise him and treat him for doing good things and not letting him make all the decisions when we're out walking , varying the walks and places we go so he doesn't get used to things
yes i do need to finish here soon it's very harsh and draining physically and emotionally , one of the female dogs on the camp here was pregnant before i left to go on R&R , she had 12 pups while i was away and they had to be put down while she was sedated ,they were all thrown on the burn pit for the rubbish outside the camp and now i'm not sure what will happen to her as she is full of milk that is becoming hardened , sometimes the harshest things happen here without you expecting them - they creep up and surprise you ,and i'm finding it harder and harder to leave my feelings at home every time i come away
thanks again for all the advice , i'll keep posting pictures of him and his progress , i'll be taking him to some training sessions when i'm home , i'd like to let him off the lead eventually , but i need him to come back when i call him obviously so there's some work to be done there

[Gingersmom]

Thanks you for the updates I read this entire thread the other day and I was really wondering how things were going with the big guy.