Throughout my 45 years of driving pickup trucks, more often than not, I have had a dog or two on board. It has been one of the genuine pleasures in my life. Glad to hear so many of you enjoy that same feeling. My two dogs, Lab and Standard Poodle, are the happiest when I yell, "Go get in the truck!" Me too!

 

right on fred. my bigger golden we purchased.our second is from golden resuce here in nj. the smaller male was found on the side of a hutchinson river parkway in new york city. they traced him to the breeder who had him chiped as a puppy. turned out he was from the same breeder we got our female from. who in their right mind would just force a $1500.00 dollar 1 1/2 year old dog out of a car our truck.
puppys take time to mellow out .i mean in the term of a few years not days or months.
http://www.dogsaver.org/grri/index.html heres the link we used to get hutch. dogsaver.org will lead to the national site for all breeds

 

Samson loves riding in the back seat. I leave the slider open and he hangs his head out. Samson is my brute of a Chocolate lab. He is 105#'s and he thinks he is 20#'s.

Captchas, Samson took about 13-14 months to stop being "hell on wheels" He is gong to be 7 at the end of the month and still has all of his energy as he did when he was 6 months.

Fred I hear ya about the fatefull time of them departing. A sad day it will be. My dog (grand dog according to my parents) has truely been a great addition to the household.

 

Most dog people know this but when the sad day comes and you must do your old friend the greatest favor of all, to end his phyical pain and to release his free spirit to the glory of the sun and the wind, you must stay with him while the vet does his thing.

My first Doberman, Rocky, his memory still brings tears to my eyes, I was too stupid about showing my emotions and I left him with the vet. It took me a long time to get over the guilt of not being there for him.

My second Doberman, big Jake, I stayed with him and held him while he passed. Sure I bawled my eyes out but I got over it way easier.

There is no creature as noble as a dog.

 

Thanks for the info Fred, been waiting to see what you where up to with this.

If I was to respond to the original post with the extra miles I now have on the truck, I think the steering would be one of my concerns. I've learned to live with it as I realize I did buy a Heavy Duty Truck. But I will be adding a second set of shocks to the front and maybe some ladder bars(or some sort of traction control) to the back. I get some severe axle wrap in the rear when in sand or anything soft. I travel Rt. 80 running back and forth from NJ to PA, and there are some sections where I think the truck is going to skip right off the road, usually the bridge areas. I've been thinking maybe larger tires with an 8 ply rating may help, I usually don't haul enough to outclass a D rated tire and with a bit more tire patch and sidewall give, it may help quite a bit. Seems 65 # in these BF Goodrich's is like riding on rocks(flintstone style).

Sorry to get off the dog subject!

Anyway, Thanks again for the info..
Doug.

 

good point doug. i find the same thing when i air up for towing. 65 to 70 pounds makes this truck ride like "insert your own" bull. i have found mine with 50 pounds unloaded rides great and handles better. my contact area is perfect, no odd tire wear from over or under inflation just perfect to the mm wear patern.
don
yes i to have been tough the last trip deal to the vet. to many times, 10 in all to date. but for what my pets have given back to me in fond deep love . being with them and helping them go to in peace to rainbow bridge is a big help. i'll meet them some day as i know they are all waiting for me there.
http://rainbowbridge.com/poem.htm is a great peom and a true fitting to remeetting our close friends

 

88SVT, Doug, you are a true gentleman to apologize for getting back on topic.

Charlie, thanks for that poem, it made old Wrench all misty and I am going to keep that one and give it to everyone I know who ever loses a pet. Most people realize that a good pet is part of your family and you must grieve for them as you do for any loved one.

Now back on topic, a V10 is an unfeeling machine so it is probably not real healthy to start having feelings for your truck, but now mine is always running when I walk up to her, her park lights and CC lights visible 4 blocks away . When I am 3 truck lengths away I hit the button to unlock the doors and she gives me 2 little winks with the lights and then shuts them off. She is so silky smooth and quiet. She's quite a gal.


I bought this Viper system for the security of a good starter disable and I never realized how nice remote start is. It pauses after you hit the remote start and I guess it let's the system do it's thing because it starts quicker. When I used to crank by hand I never remembered to do this ( Fred does ) and I would just turn and crank so it always turned over a few times.

A friend of mine has a new Tundra and you don't crank them. You turn the switch on and they crank themselves. If we live long enough we will be able to tell our grandkids, I remember when you had to crank a vehicle by hand.

 

my friend, guilt can only come from knowing you've wronged someone/something and feeling bad and/or responsible, which you didn't. Missing your dog is a human emotion, but don't confuse the two feelings. Your pet didn't move on wondering where you were, you just think he did. Mourning is natural, it's part of the process. Feel good knowing your dog lived happily with you while here on this earth. But don't feel guilty, you did your very best for him everyday.

 

Can't wait to get a boxer - that dog will be with me in the truck every chance I can get

 

Ken ,thanks for the kind words and you are right as usual. You're not only a big guy, you are a big buy with a big heart, Take care.

Krewat, Boxers are a great breed , lot's of fun but both them and Dobies you have to be careful about Bloat, the guts getting tangled up caused by excessive exercise too soon after eating. A friend of mine a while back had this happen to his boxer. Thankfully,she was saved by surgury.

Comes right down to it all breeds have there strengths and weaknesses and personality traits. A good mutt can be the best dog in the world and I guess the reason so many of us stick with purebreads is just because you know what your going to end up with. Take care and it looks like V10 people are dog people too, and that is weird because the V10 sure ain't no dog.

 

I've known only one boxer out plenty in the in-law's families who had that problem and it corrected itself, so it hasn't been too prevelant in my experience, but thanks for the warning...

I've always appreciated the breed and having known so many good ones from my "other" family, there's no doubt in my mind what I want. Or my wife, for that matter

 

good points on the dogs and trucks. you should the faces when i take both goldens with me and stopfor something or go to the bank were they give the dogs some biskets. man do they know and fight to get their heads out and say hay weres my treat.
don o how correct this v10 monster is no dog for sure. only carries them and looks better with a head or 2 sticking out.