I think you're getting ''missed'' and ''conveniently ignored'' confused Rune.

OK guess its gonna have to be another thing we agree to disagree on
If you had said they just dont wag their tails full stop I would say fine, but if they dont comunicate with humans that way but with other dogs then to me that says something is wrong, like wolves they do not want to interact with humans, which makes me question if they are really happy to be kept as pets

rune, gnasher is so lucky to be close enough to meet up with you
I wish I was close enough to

A question for you Gnasher - well a couple actually.

If you could trade, would you swap Tai and Ben to have Hal back?

Would you have let your husband use an e-collar on Hal?

I just ge the feeling that you had one dog that was a true soul-mate and nothing now can come close. I think you try to make them like him and are so disappointed that they are not.

Rune! Sorry no, I must have missed it! I'm at work, and need to be wary in case my boss comes back!

I'll look back

OK, read it, yes I'll agree to it, provided you keep an open mind and LISTEN and LEARN from someone who knows far more about wolf crosses than you do.

I'm game - where do you live roughly? We rented a cottage near to Putsborough beach in January, and are longing to go back, not in the summer months though, I'm not sure whether you are allowed to take dogs on there in any case during the summer, but I hate crowds.

Ben: you have a good point, I used to wonder sometimes whether Hal was bothered at all about being a dog! However, he was devoted to us, his own pack, so we shall never know, but I would say he had a pretty good life with us.

I am in no way saying you dont love him and try and do your best for him
everyone can see that - although we totaly disagree with the methods
But if he wags his tail to comunicate to other dogs but not you guys then he really sees you as something different than dogs and does not think you are all the same pack wouldnt you say?

Brierly, again you are correct! Hal was my soul mate, but no, of course I would not trade Ben and Tai for him, however tempting were it possible! I am just so grateful that we had the 10 joyous years we did have with him.

I don't try and make my dogs be like Hal - I WAS disappointed that Tai came nowhere close to being like Hal, and regretted taking him on, but then I realised how childish and stupid I was being, and bonded with Tai. He is devoted to us now, and we to him, and Ben and Gucci. What will happen when daughter moves out with Gucci I don't know, because the big boys worship him, and he them. He travels in the back of the Audi with them after walks, and curls up on one or the other's tail, it is really sweet to see.

Ben of course is Hal's son, and I see a watered down version of Hal, but I am not striving to make him be like his dad - excavate my garden, eat tampax, knickers, socks, sniff crotches, bicycle seats, cushions in the pub!!

Joking apart, Ben is Ben, and Hal was Hal, and no btw, I would not have allowed my husband to use an e collar on Hal simply because it would not have worked. He had an incredibly high threshold for pain, and he would have had to be zapped continuously with the thing set on 100, and still he would not have done what he did not want to do, so it would have been incredibly cruel, because it just would not have worked.

But Ben he has only had to suffer two zaps to at least get the message. Now, admittedly, we have had to start using the vibrate setting occasionally, but it works every time. Today he looked like he was going to sneak through an open gate into a neighbour's garden, and ignored hubby's whistle and call. He had a little rumble from the vibrate button, and turned round and came away. But no stim so far.

Ben: no, I wouldn't, this is wolf crosses for you. Ask Tupacs and Tassle if Tupacs and Zeff are waggers or non-waggers.

Tai wags his tail normally as any dog, I can't remember if Eddy's wolf crosses wagged their tails. I know her bitch, Timber, and also her male wolf cross, also called Timber, did not wag. The pure wolf I know doesn't wag, neither did the wolves we met at the Wolf Trust in Reading. I will have to ask around my utonagan friends and see what they say.