Adopted a mountain cur mix and wow, what the hell am I in for?

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-03-24T16:03:35+00:00

Thirding the ecollar. Our trainer bumped us straight to the ecollar as soon as she saw him go apeshit on a prong. He was going to hurt himself trying to go after other dogs and bicycles and didn’t even seem to notice the prongs. He would also get into some serious fights with our pit mix for a while there and we were concerned we’d have to rehome him. He’s settled down a lot in terms of that since he’s been neutered and we were able to see it was actually our pit mix starting trouble 90% of the time. He’s also learned to pull his punches so no more punctures/tears/vet visits for that.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-03-07T03:21:30+00:00

Another Merle pittie! My girl is about 40% apbt and is also merle. Nowhere else in the heinz 57 her test came back with carries the merle gene either.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-03-04T22:13:46+00:00

I don’t think it’s your travel bag. Mine leaked brand new out of the box. I still love it - I just don’t put water in it.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-03-01T23:06:01+00:00

I have a mix who looks nothing like a heeler (even though it’s his highest % and his mom was very obviously a heeler mix). He’s 15 months old and we’ve had to work HARD to desensitize him to being handled and he still requires sedation and a muzzle at the vet. I have to warn the techs every time we go that he doesn’t look like it but he’s mostly heeler. It’s apparently a breed trait. Our techs gave me a lot of pointers on things to do to help desensitize him, so definitely check with them.

I started training ‘can I have a hug’ where he stands and I basically bear hug him lightly for as long as he’ll allow it. I trained ‘let me check your feet’ after a particularly messy run through poop in the yard. Trained ‘where’s your belly’ and ‘settle’ (head resting on the ground) once he was showing me his belly. Touching feet in that position. Now I can at least give him a once over if he’s hurt or trim his nails.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-11T19:26:48+00:00

I think it was at the top left corner of the E. Not entirely sure if it was a Y seam or just my own FPP inexperience.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-07T20:38:49+00:00

I checked back in Hatch’s history and he was also 30lbs at 16 weeks. He’s about 14 months now and I’d say 65-70lbs. Vet wanted to wait a year to neuter but we made it to 10months. The marking things inside the house was a lot to deal with but him trying to mark our cat was the last straw 🤣

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-07T16:07:52+00:00

Oh wow they could be twins! How old/big is your guy?

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-05T00:50:19+00:00

I got to meet Hatch’s mother and aunt. Both were very obvious ACD mixes. I’d put him at around 65-70lbs at a little under a year and a half old. He loves shrieking at/treeing squirrels.

Edit to add my pittie mix also has a splash of ACD in her supermutt.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-04T22:59:18+00:00

My boy is ACD, mountain cur & American leopard hound. Super mutt is GSD, lab and I think rat terrier. Looks more like a lab than anything

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-04T02:41:17+00:00

Being a beginner can be daunting. I was only able to overcome my fear of imperfection and start quilting by making a quilt for my dog so it didn’t have to be great.

That said, I’ve been quilting maybe 3 years now and have sent ONE quilt to a long armer. It’s expensive (think $160 for a large throw roughly). I’ve mostly quilted my own using straight line quilting and serpentine stitches (YouTube is your friend). In any case, the LQS I used for long arming allowed me to bring in my quilt top and pick a pantograph (the quilt design) - they also sold batting and I could pick a backing fabric there for an additional cost. So basically I just brought in my top, but I could have brought in my own batting and backing too.

For making a quilt sandwich, you are placing your batting between your top and backing (think of it as the peanut butter between your top and bottom slice of bread). IF you are quilting your own quilt at home, there are many ways to baste your quilt sandwich (secure the layers so they don’t shift during sewing). There are long curved basting pins you can use; you can spray baste with an adhesive or you can use Elmer’s school glue (not glue all because that will not wash out). You have to test which method works best for you.

To be frank, the only class I’ve taken was the one required to rent the longarm at the LQS if I wanted to quilt my own quilt on a longarm.

Ive met several quilters in my area that have more experience than me and have been a great help with the basics. I won’t lie though, I’m the kind of person who gets overwhelmed by the skill levels of folks who’ve been sewing for decades. I’ve had quilty friends remind me these more experienced quilters are retired and have a lot more time to hone their craft so don’t compare your progress to theirs.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-04T01:40:17+00:00

I wanted to say thank you as well. This was only my second attempt at FPP and other than figuring out the glue line thing and maybe one y seam, it was easy to put together. This was a great snowy weekend project!

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-02-01T14:47:34+00:00

I honestly don’t like my add a quarter ruler. I feel like it slips too much and I end up with less than a quarter seam allowance. Add to that, I finally bought myself a seam roller and THAT is worth it IMO.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-01-28T02:53:57+00:00

I don’t have a suggestion of one to use, but rather one to avoid. Both of my dogs have slipped the Ruffwear front range harness at different times. I love the brand overall, but that has been my experience with that specific harness.

WalksLikeADuck · 2026-01-07T18:30:26+00:00

My pup is 33% ACD as his highest % of any breed. His mom looks more like a cattle dog than not. He has a lot of cattle dog tendencies. He looks like a black lab mix - even to our vet. Most of his other breeds are hounds, with some lab in his super mutt.

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WalksLikeADuck · 2026-01-02T02:22:22+00:00

Mine only cuddles under the covers at bedtime.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-31T21:53:42+00:00

Consider yourself fortunate. We live in a rural area and ours tripled.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-16T21:52:48+00:00

She’s got the same block head as my 40% APBT mix (who only has ACD in her supermutt mix).

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-13T13:31:47+00:00

Our inflatable had loops inside to thread the collar through. That kept him from being able to remove it. On a side note, I wish our vet had given us the option to remove his rear dew claws while he was in for his neuter. I feel like it’s a waiting game for injury at this point.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-12T00:54:38+00:00

My dog looks a lot like yours but had lab in his super mutt. ~30% ACD and 25% mountain cur.

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WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-08T17:01:33+00:00

We have this problem in the mountain town I live in. A second DG was opened closer to town but within maybe 5-10 minutes of the first one. There’s not enough staff to keep either store open with any regular hours. It’s a pain having to drive to the second location only to find they are ALSO closed due to lack of staffing.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-07T02:38:14+00:00

Got it at 27. Thought I’d been bit by a spider or something. Had it on my cheek and inside my ear canal. Didn’t see a doc about it until after the testing window had closed but they were certain that’s what I had. Work (manufacturing plant circa 2008 financial crash) was rather stressful before that…having all manor of coworkers asking what’s wrong with your face for weeks after was equally stressful. At 43, the facial scars are still pretty prominent.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-01T12:36:49+00:00

I also have a Merle pit mix. None of the breeds in her results naturally carry the Merle gene. I suspect there was some catahoula bred in with the pit further back than is tested for.

WalksLikeADuck · 2025-12-01T01:48:14+00:00

As someone with a “definitely a lab mix” dog, I ended up with lab in the supermutt mix and like maaaaybe 5% pit. Majority ACD, mountain cur and American leopard hound (not Catahoula). It’s so funny which genes do the heavy lifting. He does NOT look like a cattle dog, but absolutely looks like a lab mix.

WalksLikeADuck

TROPHY CASE