Rottweiler kept as a guard dog

But wolves and dogs do not have a huge difference Irish ! The difference you refer to is purely cosmetic ... the tens of thousands of years that man has domesticated the wolf is a mere blink of the eye or less in evolutionary terms. Scratch the surface of any dog, and you will find the wild wolf underneath, just as in us humans ... scratch away the veneer of civilisation, and you will find Mr Hunter Gatherer. You mustn't be fooled by mere trappings Irish, in evolutionary terms they have absolutely no significance whatsoever over such a short space of time.

Yep he really is Nikki I am very lucky :) I am taking him round his girlfriends' (they wouldnt let me write the 'b' word!) house soon so hopefully he will not be such a gentlemen this time and learn to be a bit more thuggish!
Anyway as I said before humans and chimps DNA is 98% identical but our environments and lifestyles are very different obviously! So a dog and wolf having 99.8% identical DNA only proves my point, not yours!! They may be virtually identical in DNA but look at the huge difference between them, hence my argument about the huge difference between a wild and domestic animal. They may be the same creature but due to our selfishness in wanting to keep wild animals as pets, we therefore have to change their wild ways! And that Nikki really is my last word on it, as much fun as it may have been ;)

Curious : funny you should mention that, a few years ago I did indeed have a dog who showed an alarming interest in me ... blablabla !!

Ha ha !! VERY funny Curious !!

I really hope your rottie manages to perform, he sounds an absolute delight ! I wouldn't worry that it is just you and me ... sometimes, it is just me and I ramble away to myself !!

Humans and chimps share 98% DNA, but wolves and dogs share 99.8% ... the fraction of a % difference is all behavioural apparently.

We are never going to agree, but hey I've really enjoyed arguing with you ! Please don't stop ! I for one would love to continue, if anyone else doesn't like it, then they can either join in, or switch page to another topic !

curious..that was a good un' thanks for that! Made me laugh :)

Nikki - are you also an expert on lesbian/homosexual dogs? I'd imagine you are. You probably had one years ago when you lived blah blah blah blah.....

I'm glad that made you laugh Nikki, I myself chuckle away with the thought that I have a g ay rottie!! It really wouldn't be a problem if he wasnt such a gorgeous dog. I want to breed from him, not for financial gain, but for his stunning good looks and amazing temperament so hopefully one day he will work it out!!
Nikki we are never going to agree on this one so I think we should both just stop as its just me and you rambling away on this page!!
At the end of the day humans and chimps DNA is 98% identical but looking at both creatures and our environments we are very different. So yes underneath dogs are still a wild wolf but as they have been bred over the years more domestic traits have kicked in. And as we want to keep them as pets, their natural urges or instincts need to be controlled.

Ha ha !! Irish !! I may have one of those too, most worrying, although he did show interest in two gorgeous lab bit ches yesterday in the pub, so hope springs eternal!! You dog sounds delightful, I love rotties, and yes, I had in the heat of the moment completely forgotten that we were talking about a rottie with all the bad press attached to that statement etc. etc. You are quite right in your circumstances especially to be extra vigilent because of his breed, not fair, but facts are facts. Sorry, I got carried away.

Dogs and wolves share exactly the same genetic make-up, you cannot tell the difference between the two, the difference is only behavioural. Take a wild rabbit and a domestic rabbit, they are both exactly the same. They both eat exactly the same type of foods, they both run like the wind, and they both ... well, **** like rabbits !! Genetically they are of course identical, because they are the same species. However, put a wild rabbit in a hutch, and it would most probably die very quickly, put Flopsy Bunny out in the fields to fend for herself, she would be snapped up within seconds by a passing buzzard ... or my dog out on the rampage ! So, the wild and domestic animal are EXACTLY the same as each other ... just differences of behaviour and circumstance. Homo sapiens has indeed manipulated many animals, domesticating them for his own purpose. But not altered their genetic structure, their DNA.

Well I'm sorry Nikki but I want total control over my dog as people in this day and life think of rottweilers as devil dogs...this is how this whole ongoing banter got started! Even as an 8 week old puppy, people would cross the road to get away from my dog, just because of his breed. So I have made sure that my dog is totally under manners as I want to be able to take him anywhere without fear of him acting up....This I have achieved as my dog is an absolute angel.
I'm also annoyed that you are insulting my intelligence...yes I am a soppy animal lover, but I do have brains thank you very much, I just love animals that much that I hate to think of them suffering. I watch many wildlife shows and whilst I dont like to see animals being killed, I understand that its the circle of life, and if they dont kill, they dont eat. You keep going back to wild animals Nikki...sorry but thanks to us homosapians there is a huge difference between wild and domestic animals. And please stop telling ME what my dog is!! he's a big 10 stone beast, who is loving, loyal and totally under the rule of the pack leader, which is me!! The only area where he is not so dog like, is when it comes to getting his leg over...he just doesnt know what to do! Either that or bats for the other team!!

Hi 1058, it's called Life!

Slings and arrows and all that. Those who knock 'em, usually haven't suffered 'em.

You're not getting it either Irish !! My dog would not hurt a cat ... chase one, yes, all the dogs I have ever owned have chased cats, but not one would dare to harm a cat. Don't think you know much about cats it you think that your average dog is any match for one ... my money would be on the cat every time ! I am an animal lover too Irish, but I am not drippy ! Animals, including us, KILL things .. in our case for fun, which is sickening I agree. How do you think our dogs would survive in the wild if all humans were killed? By eating plants? They are CARNIVORES, that means they eat meat. How do you cope with wildlife films I wonder? My dog's behaviour is exemplary thank you very much. And he is allowed to BEHAVE like a dog, NOT like a Disney version of one.

Dear o dear, I wonder sometimes where you bunny huggers keep your brains! I respect your love of dogs, there could be no greater dog or animal lover than myself, but I respect THEIR right to behave as nature intended ... and in the case of our dogs that means allowing them to chase a squirrel, a rabbit, a pheasant. Take rabbits, they are constantly getting chased ... by foxes, weasels, stoats, buzzards, even crows, who love to peck out the baby rabbits eyes ... do you want to exterminate all predators? What about cats, who murder millions of song birds every year for little more than pleasure. Shall we exterminate all cats? You cannot interfere in nature, where would you start, where would you end? Homo sapiens is the greatest killer of all time ... how about exterminating the human race whilst we are at it!

See Nikki you are still not getting it! I'm sure you THINK you are but your'e not. I know many people who have had their cat chased and ripped apart dogs, is that ok beahviour from a dog? If you had a cat and it was killed by a 'domestic wolf' would you still be sayin the same? And also you say you dont like fox hunting, well I detest it but again you are not making sense because people hunting foxes for fun is the same as letting your dog chase living animals for fun. I am an animal lover and any animal being chased is absolutely horrible for the animal being chased.
Also my dog is not an automaton thank you very much. I have been asked time and time again by people at my yard to film my dog with the kids climbing all over him just to show people like yourselves exactly how a dog should behave, I havent had one person who has met my dog not to fall in love with him, I even get asked where I got him trained, because he's just THAT good! Anyway I am so tired of trying to get my point across, because as many people say, you seem to know everything! I'm sure I would love your dog, as I'm an animal lover, hence why I dont let my dog chase living creatures.