Nice looking dog Mandy. Good character too by the looks.

Sorry, no offence intended Ann - do you know Angus the cocker-poo who lives in Gleneagles? - very cute little chap!

And back to the original thread - Duke is certainly a very handsome boy - congratulations!!

Congratulations MM, Duke is lovely and so is your little, by comparison, Spaniel. Hope they bring you lots of fun and laughter.

Tracy

To be honest, I'm not sure what Chow traits would be...? His mum was pure border collie and his dad was border x chow, so he's only 0.25 chow and he seems pretty typical collie, but not into herding (thank goodness) and maybe not as bright as he should be - could that be the chow? <ducks!>

We spent the weekend at our friends sheep farm and they have 3 beautiful big Pyrenees dogs that live with the sheep! They are collecting two more puppies next week as your supposed to have 1 dog to every 150 sheep apparently...

I took lots of photos but not sure how to post them on here?

Your dog is gorgeous!!

Chows herd. You may mistake stupidity for stubbornness. Chows tend to think 'What's in it for me?' before doing something (or not)

http://chowchows.za.org/herdchow.htm

Hey Mandy, you know what would make the perfect family for you.... is our Hooch dog...we need to rehome him as we can't afford to take him back to England, here's a picture. His name is Zeus and he's a real gentleman and is used to being around lots of other dogs.

That's so sad, can you really not afford to take him, he would rather be with his people, not some new strangers. I know chows really suffer from being rehomed to new families, pining for their old ones sometimes for years, not sure about other breeds though.

If you do have to rehome, then try a breed specific website, they all (seem to) have a rehoming section with a bunch of people that want to help fund and transport to new homes.

Now that really is bizarre - for the simple fact that when I posted on FB that we were looking for another dog a friend suggested a dog de bordeaux (I think that's how it's spelt).

DH got called into work (again!!) this morning - i'll work on him before Friday although no promises as he was slightly concerned that the new dog would chase away his beloved deer - let alone another honking great big fellow!

If we can't I will make some enquiries as we have a huge family pretty much all with acreages that would take wonderful care of him - he looks a stunner

About the sheep thing - I think we're getting around 6 to start with (3 ewes and however many lambs they have) that should do the big guy for now

Ah, no, he's actually not stubborn at all - definitely just "a bit thick" which surprised us because we've had border collies before and they were all super bright. He's actually the opposite of stubborn - probably the most desperate to please dog ever - he just struggles to understand what's expected of him sometimes, whereas our other dog picks things up right away, but then picks and chooses whether to do it or not, depending on whether there's anything more interesting going on, or if he "feels like it"...

Actually the chow's stubbornness sounds more like our Jack Russell's temperament than our collie x chow.

I like this thread. Dog sounds lovely. My 'walking to school daydream' was to have a horse but my dream never came true. However, I did have a gorgeous dog - a rough collie.

If we get our PR we intend to have a rescue dog - I can't wait (but will have to since PRs are currently taking 12 months and ours only went in last month).

Quick update

o/h went out all day Sunday so I spent most of the day with the dogs trying to make them get along.

Duke (new dog) spent all of that day trying to attack Cash (springer) and it got quite hairy at times. He wouldn't let Cash anywhere near me or the food bin - I was a little concerned to say the least.

As soon as hubby came home and got out of his truck - Cash ran up to him, duke went to attack Cash again and hubby yelled and stood in between the dogs and glared at Duke. Duke back down instantly and immediately him and Cash are now best friends.

I've never seen a turn around in attitudes as quick and immediate as that - it seriously went from "I hate your guts and am going to rip your throat out" to "I love you - you're my best friend" in a metter of seconds.

So Cash is happy to have a big ol buddy around and Duke is happy to be outside "protecting" stuff - he stands on guard literally looking like a soldier always on duty ready to saunter over and investigate anything suspicious!

glad that's sorted then... it'd be such a shame to have tension in the pack...

So a sad update to the story.

Duke being a chaser of coyotes (thats what the breed do), has been happily living up to his reputation and up until today Cash has been quite happy standing by the house, barking his support but going nowhere.

This afternoon both dogs disappeared. I called and after about an hour they came back, so they got told off.

then at around 10pm I went outside and again, no dogs to be seen - but you could here them both barking a ways off in the distance.

Called and called and finally after a long time, duke comes back - but no Cash - and thats not normal at all - Cash is the one that always comes when he's called.

So, Duke gets tied up and Darcy gets in the truck and I walk out into the back of beyond in snow gear and a flashlight (bloody flashlight - it's a torch!!!). Walk about 1/2 mile or so into the neighbours land - but had to come back as the snow drifts were so deep, calling all the time.

Nothing, no barking, not a peep.

Darcy is driving everywhere but after an hour we have to give up, there's no roads to get further into the back of beyond and the snow is too deep, and come to the very sad conclusion that the dogs must have run into coyotes, got split up and Cash has probably met his end

We are obviously both distraught, so i'm sat out on the step having a ciggy and still calling him, when all of a sudden from a completely different direction to where we heard them barking - home comes the dumbass, filthy and exhausted and just drops at my feet at the back door step - where he is now, sleeping.

We can't afford for that to happen again, and turn out with a worse ending, so after this all kicked off, I emailed dukes former owners (who said if he wasn't working out to contact them and they will have him back) and told them he would have to come home.

I'm sad but there's nothing we can really do - it's not fair to keep Duke tied up or indoors - he's an outdoor guarding dog - but our Cash just thinks he's Duke mk 2 and the coyotes would eat him alive - literally.

This was our one concern when we got him and up until toay it was fine, but can't risk another episode.

That's so sad. I'm sorry.