CHIT CHAT in VOLTVILLE

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SandySu

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Our Aussie sheperd, Rusty, is very sweet but we still have problems with package deliveries:) People think Rusty is very scary looking. They won't come in the gate. I don't mind. The delivery people probably wouldn't come in the gate anyway. They are trained to throw and go.

I didn't realize (or forgot) that Rusty is an Australian shepherd. So then you have experience already with a dog with this kind of personality, and you would know how to handle the Catahoula leopard dogs. That's certainly a plus. Can you go meet them with Hubby along? Then you could see how they react to both of you. Even if they originally are standoffish, they will probably warm up to you when they get to know you. Sheba, the Australian shepherd I knew very well, warmed up to me right from the start. She wasn't my dog, but we had a special relationship, and when her family went away, they brought her to my place, and she was just as happy as if it were her home. She didn't warm up to most strangers like that. I don't know what it was, but it's like Sheba was a soul mate or something.

She was at a barn where I used to ride horses when I lived in NYC. Her family wanted to get rid of her because she bit one of their small boys. I was sitting in the tack room chatting with people when this dog jumped up beside me and cuddled next to me. I was absently stoking her when someone said, be careful, the dog bites. "Not Sheba!" I said. She was absolutely friendly. They must mean some other dog here, I thought. Well, it was Sheba, and they wanted to give her away, but I had a dog and didn't want another. One of my daughter's friends was at the barn that day, and she said she wanted the dog, so we put her in the car -- she hopped right in as if she belonged -- and the teenager and her family took her. I think Sheba actually had chosen me for her new owner, but she did visit a lot, and we saw each other regularly, and she was always fond of me. She understood that the other family was hers, but my family was hers, too.

She was one of the very few dogs I've met who actually knew how to smile. She would bare her teeth, and at first, it might look menacing, but she meant it as a smile, with tail wagging and body pasture to go with a greeting.

Then Bill & I moved to California for about 5 years. When we came back East, we lived with Sheba's owner for a while till we found our own place. When Sheba saw us again, she was overjoyed. Her family had been reunited. She obviously remembered us. She was a really exceptional dog. I'm glad she was in my life.
 

Renolizzie

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Sheba sounds very special.

Rusty smiles, too. Part of what makes everyone afraid of him but he is actually a sweetheart. Rusty is the only dog I have owned that will wag is stubby little tail on command "Wag your tail". So cute. Rusty is a little too enthusiastic with jumping on people that come over but he seems to have improved dramatically over the years. I told him "Don't you dare jump on Linda, she is so tiny." My neighbor is almost little person sized and Rusty did not jump on her. Thank goodness.
 

SandySu

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Sheba sounds very special.

Rusty smiles, too. Part of what makes everyone afraid of him but he is actually a sweetheart. Rusty is the only dog I have owned that will wag is stubby little tail on command "Wag your tail". So cute. Rusty is a little too enthusiastic with jumping on people that come over but he seems to have improved dramatically over the years. I told him "Don't you dare jump on Linda, she is so tiny." My neighbor is almost little person sized and Rusty did not jump on her. Thank goodness.

Yes, Sheba was an enthusiastic greeter, too, but she didn't jump on people. She would just bounce around a lot when she first saw you. Of course, one thing I do when greeting a dog is to stoop down so they don't have to jump. Still, my brother's dog is a jumper, and very hyper. I think she's just so enthusiastic that she can't control herself. She is overwhelmed by her emotions, not something Sheba had a problem with.

Interesting that Rusty smiles, too. I wonder if it's a characteristic of the breed. But I've known other dogs that smiled. One was a big, shaggy mutt, and another was a West Highland terrier.

Then one day not too long ago, I was walking here in the village, and there was an Austrailan shepherd sitting outside her house. I said hello as I went by, and the dog ran up to me, smiling. I petted her a little, and then she started following me when I walked on. I was a few miles from home, and I didn't want her to follow me so far, so when I met a lady walking with her kids, I asked her to take the dog with her back in the direction of her home. The dog went with the lady, and I never saw her again. Another Australian shepherd that wanted to adopt me.

From my experience with them, I'd recommend the breed if the owner is prepared to deal with the overprotectiveness of the dog.
 

Renolizzie

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We really like Rusty. He is a pretty good dog. My only problem is that he is not an outside dog anymore and I liked having an outside dog to keep people and coyotes out of the yard. Not that either has been much of a problem but both critters are hanging around the area.

I need to go to town and do my half a house cleaning today. It is going to be a long day.

We got just enough snow overnight to make the ground white but Hubby says the roads are fine.
 

SandySu

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Per the forum this thread will need to be closed due to a new rule on size limits. I will be opening a second chit chat thread now ...and closing this one tomorrow.

Thank you for your understanding!


Can we have a link to the new thread posted here, so it's easy to find? Thanks in advance.
 

tmcase

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Well Voltville I'm bummed. :cry: I had my snowy river drawing all sketched in and it was time to do the sky since there would be trees over the sky. Well my usual light vine charcoal came out too dark. I can't figure out why it came out that dark when I was using a pretty smooth paper. I have 1/2 different erasers and it just won't erase. :( With a dark sky like that it would look wrong with the sun shining on the trees so I'm scraping it and will try it again another time. I'm too bummed to start over now. :( I'll have to find something else to do.
 

SandySu

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Well Voltville I'm bummed. :cry: I had my snowy river drawing all sketched in and it was time to do the sky since there would be trees over the sky. Well my usual light vine charcoal came out too dark. I can't figure out why it came out that dark when I was using a pretty smooth paper. I have 1/2 different erasers and it just won't erase. :( With a dark sky like that it would look wrong with the sun shining on the trees so I'm scraping it and will try it again another time. I'm too bummed to start over now. :( I'll have to find something else to do.

I'm sorry to hear you had problems. I don't know if this would work with charcoal, but it works with pastels: Go over the too-dark sky with lots of white, smudge it, and then another layer, till you get the lighter shade you want. Sometimes it helps to press rather hard with the white to get it to take, but start out with a medium pressure till you see how it reacts with the dark. Maybe it'll work, and maybe it won't, but at least this is your chance to experiment and see if it does.
 

tmcase

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I'm sorry to hear you had problems. I don't know if this would work with charcoal, but it works with pastels: Go over the too-dark sky with lots of white, smudge it, and then another layer, till you get the lighter shade you want. Sometimes it helps to press rather hard with the white to get it to take, but start out with a medium pressure till you see how it reacts with the dark. Maybe it'll work, and maybe it won't, but at least this is your chance to experiment and see if it does.

Thanks Sandy, I'll try that. I did try a small area of white on it but I didn't smudge it in. It's a big sky though. :(
 

Renolizzie

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Well Voltville I'm bummed. :cry: I had my snowy river drawing all sketched in and it was time to do the sky since there would be trees over the sky. Well my usual light vine charcoal came out too dark. I can't figure out why it came out that dark when I was using a pretty smooth paper. I have 1/2 different erasers and it just won't erase. :( With a dark sky like that it would look wrong with the sun shining on the trees so I'm scraping it and will try it again another time. I'm too bummed to start over now. :( I'll have to find something else to do.

Sometimes things don't work out the way they are expected. Part of the learning curve. Don't be bummed, be happy:) Every drawing isn't going to turn out the way you expect which sucks but good for you for deciding to move on to other projects.
 
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