Domestic Dog

Date: Thanksgiving break.

Location of sighting:  My parents house in Horseheads, New York.





Physical description of location:   My parents live in a 2 story cedar house in Horseheads, New York.  They live on a secluded hill where the neighbors a couple hundreds yards down the dirt driveway.  They are surrounded by woods and have 6-10 lively apple trees down below the house.

Describe the sighting:  I was visiting my parents during our Thanksgiving break.  They have two dogs. Lucky (to the right) and Wally (the bottom)  Lucky was my grandfathers dog before he passed away in 2008, so my parents adopted him.  He's an older dog, im not sure how old he really is.  My grandpa got him for the SPCA.  My parents recently found out that he had a broken leg and it healed by itself.  He must have been abused as a pup.   He's not to fond of me but i think he's getting used to me, he doesnt bark all the time when he sees me. Though, when i go home and my parents are not home, he never goes outside with me when i take them out to go to the bathroom.  He only goes out for my mom and dad.  Maybe i just scared him when my grandpa first got him.  I love dogs and always want to play with them so maybe thats why hes scared.  Im not sure.   He likes to hide in my parents bedroom and only comes out when im around when food is involved. I have recently just got him to take food out of my hand.  Now, Wally on the other hand,  is a loveable, playful dog.  He is a rescue dog.  My parents got him a few years ago a friend of my dad.  My dad is a retired Correctional Officer and knows alot of the police, CO's, ECO's around the town.  He got a call that Wally was found, tied to a tree by his collar and chain.  He was there for a while, he was dirty and ratty and his collar was tight around his neck.  My parents adopted Wally and cleaned him up.  Wally's also a bird hunting dog, and unfortunately, my dad raises game birds (turkey, pheasant, quail, also peacocks.) and one day Wally had gotten out of the house and killed most of my dads birds.  He's done this many times and eventually my dad learned better and got Wally a shocking collar.  Wally's got a great nose and can smell for miles away.  He's chased after deer, bear and coyotes but always comes back. (My next entry is about the bear he's chased and i actually got some great pictures of that guy) 

Natural History:  The dogs home range varies widely, they can live in the woods, fields and in human homes where my parents dogs live. Lucky eats pet food while Wally eats pet food and my dads game birds.  It's not funny, but i cant help but laugh when i write that.  Females can have up to 23 pups and the amount of litters varies in the female.  She can be in estrus for 1 or more times a year; males can mate any time of the year.  The pups are weaned 8-10 weeks and reach sexual maturity from 7 to 10 months, but differs breed to breed; According to Stokes.

This is a picture of a dog track i found outside of my apartment.  There is a large black, German Shepard that lives upstairs.  He's bigger than his owner and im curious to how she can walk him on his leash.  You can see he has big paws, being a big animal.

For future study:  Why do certain breeds of dogs hunt for birds like wally does and why are some breeds scared like Lucky?

Sources:  Stokes, D. and Stokes, L. 1986. Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior.