Dogs

Dogs

            A wiki link on the subject can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

Poster's comments:

1) I live on a farm of sorts.

2)  I have yard dogs who live outside the two bungalow style houses in all weathers and climes. They often seek shelter (like the barn, storage sheds, under the porches, and under the many rock overhangs), which are plenty available for them. Generally, they don't even want to come into the houses. It does rain and snow and get below freezing here periodically.

3) They have not gone feral.

4) They make excellent biological alarms for me. Mostly, it is alarms that I notice from their barking.

5)  They protect the place and me from both humans and wildlife. They don't bite, at least so far.

6)  They display typical pack mentality which usually reinforces their apparent bravery. Otherwise they are pretty much pansies who bark but do not bite. They do not turn on each other.

6)  Generally speaking, biological alarms work better than electronic alarms.

7)  Now presently, and these days, I do feed them, and that costs money and time and effort. They all like eating.

8)  They tolerate cold and chilly times better than we humans. For example they have higher internal temperatures than humans.  And while we put on more clothes when times are cold, they grow more fur and hunker down better.

9)  They can tolerate misery and hard times as well or better than we humans can.

10)  Sometimes they leave in search of better situations. And sometimes it does not sort out well for them in this kind of situation.