[swingdjted]

^I had never seen the middle pic. Daisy looks like she's a good healthy dog. Azor is a lot different from the others and is the only one of the dogs that needs a leash. The rest just seem to stay with me without.

I've never really had to train dogs before because they usually learn from the older dogs how to 'stick around' and not cause trouble. Although all have good hunting ability and have helped me get dinner many times, Azor takes it to the next level - he has instincts that will make him chase a scent of a rabbit (away from me) even if I hold a steak and beg him to come to me. He just doesn't cooperate if he's on a scent, which is why I've always had the leash. I only set him completely free with the other dogs about 1-2 times a week, because if I lose him, I'll lose him for a couple days before he'll come back. I like to do it on weekend afternoons, but I have to very much limit his food the day before/day of, so that he will come back for food the same day. This is very characteristic of a coon-hound, which is likely the predominant breed in his mutt mix.

The other 2 dogs (lab/golden retriever mix and some kind of shepherd mix) seem to do everything Renee and I tell them to do, without ever going through any real training. I only tie them to me when I go to the vet or somewhere where leashes are required. They're mostly calm around people unless someone intentionally gets them wound up. I think it's mostly a breed thing - Azor just isn't bred to be an obedient pet, while the others are and have no trouble with it. It doesn't bother me too much that he pulls - he eventually backs off, although if I had all three pulling like that, I wouldn't have to walk.

Of the three, Azor's clearly the fastest runner (can keep up with my fastest bicycling in the mid 30's mph range), the most stealthy hunter (you might not even need a gun - he can get very close to wild animals without being noticed and then sometimes be able to run and catch them), but yet he's the least obedient and displays the strangest quirks of the dogs. He's the oldest and smallest too (5 years, 65 pounds). If you pat him while he's sleeping, you run the risk of catching him mid-nightmare and he'll jump to his aggressive stance and bark/growl for a few seconds until he realizes that it's just a regular person in the middle of a living room, and then he'll lick your hand. He once got loose from Renee's leash hold and charged/violently attacked/shredded a huge 15 foot tall blow-up Jerome Bettis (football player) figure that was displayed on game day outside my neighbors house, which is fine, because I've never been a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, except that I made myself buy a replacement despite that. All this and I've never had anything in the house damaged by him - he just doesn't like things he's not used to I guess.