In a nutshell. My bassett hound jumps up on the bed and goes to lay on my wife. My wife the drama queen starts to yell at me that the dog is hurting her and acts as if she is really being hurt. My sweet pit bull sees his mother being 'attacked' and leaps onto the bed and onto the bassett who he loves so he is more holding her down on my wife and not hurting her at all. So we have the wife, the bassett, and the pit bull all in a pile, two are screaming in terror and one is growling and flailing around. Then up jumps my yorkies who go after the pit bull biting him on the butt and adding to the pile. I then had to pull everyone apart and guess who was blamed? Me! The bassett and pit then licked each others face and all was well while the yorkies ran around looking for more fights.

You need an Aussie to maintain a little more order in these pileups...

Don't allow your Basset Hound to lay on your wife. She is making a reasonable request, Basset Hounds are smart. This is a semi-easy fix.

-Mary Mowder

Whit, you may be right in principle, but in fact the only "true" Aussies are the Australian Terriers (like mine! ). Those shepherd dogs are actually bonafide Americans. You can look it up.

You were lucky. In our house we used to have an hamster.

Hamsters can be quite viscious. When they bite a finger, they don't let go... and those sharp little teeth can go right through your fingernail.

I've never seen a "Beware of Hamster" sign.
Iven

That is correct, Jeff. I have owned three Aussies. The "Aussie" shepherds were originally bread in the Southwest US. They are exceedingly smart and way overqualified for dog life.

I bet they're not as smart as a Scottish Terrier.

I would be willing to take that bet...

My terriers are very smart. This area the Australian Shepards are very popular (the are extremely smart and need lots of room as they have energy too) as are pit bulls and every combo you can mix with pits. I have a new neighbor and she was surprised first of all how sweet my pit/boxer is (he has the personality of a boxer) but she said he was the first pit she ever saw that was neutured.

The title of this thread has to be the best Café thread title EVAH!

Just pull the covers over your wife's head and FART. She'll then pass out for the next few hours and wake up refreshed, and in a pleasant mood. In addition, the dogs can get settled and go on about their business. And you'll have the satisfaction of having gassed your wife!

A true win-win situation for all involved!