Posted on 12/13/2001 12:07:14 PM PST by Flyer
I want a puppy for Christmas!
Okay, I don't really want a puppy for Christmas. Yes, I do want a puppy, but not quite yet. My last three dogs have come into my life as adults. I haven't had the joy (and aggravation) of raising a puppy since 1986.
I had four dogs until just a couple of years ago.I had to put one to sleep due to trauma injuries, and another that was old with failing health. A third I put to sleep just about six weeks ago. She had severe spondylosis, but lived 3 - 4 years longer than the vets had expected. I cherished every extra day we had together.
I have mentioned here before that I used to work with dogs (and cats), up until a year ago. I worked at an animal shelter for 3 years, a veterinarian for 6 years and 2 years at a first class boarding kennel. During those eleven years I touched the lives of about 10,000 different dogs. That's not an exaggeration. I crossed paths with about 100,000 dogs, but I'm just counting ones I, in some way, have touched their lives. (yes, much of this was from the work at the shelter. We took in 35 - 40,000 animals a year) Of the ten thousand there were probably 500 that I knew very well from seeing them over and over at the vet and the boarding kennel. I loved them as my own dogs and they loved me as their own 'person'.
My new puppy will be a Golden Retriever named Re-Boot, in hopes of filling the shoes (paws?) of the Golden I recently lost. My remaining dog is a Golden and yes, they are my favorite breed. There any many other breeds I like, though. Border Collies are very smart and I will probably have one some day. Corgi's have taken a piece of my heart, too. I will probably never own a Standard Poodle but they are very fun dogs once you get to know them. Over the years it was quite an experience spotting the common traits in the different breeds.
I want a puppy for Christmas. So why don't I get one?? Raising a puppy properly requires time and money. The time I have now. The money - I don't. So I will wait. My puppy will be there when I am ready. (and please reconsider if you are thinking of giving a pet as a Christmas gift - but that's a chapter in itself)
So why am I posting this frivolous little story? Because I hope to get the attention of all of you that read these animal threads and ask a favor of you. Lately Tabitha Soren has been a pest on these innocent, "G" rated animal threads. I want to ask you to join me and just ignore her and not give her the dignity of a reply. I know, she gets us all PO'ed, but if we just ignore her she will lose the satisfaction of the attention she gets, and she won't have replies to reply to.
BTW. . . post your pet stories here and we won't let this warm and fuzzy thread get hijacked!
Merry Christmas,
Flyer and Gilligan
Sorry about your loss... I have two old dogs now, and know that their remaining time is going to be brief. I don't dread their passing, because I know that their lives are short, and that can love them completely for their whole life, but over my lifetime I will get to love many.
I spent hours researching looking at pictures and still no definitive answer. Since he looks like a whippet, but bigger and like an Anatolian shephard but smaller, I conclude he is a mix of the two. On the dog walks in the off leash park I have noticed that people who appear to be working class (as opposed to the intelligentsia,) seem to know more about dogs and offer more interesting ideas about my dog's breed mixes. (But then, I forget the names of these breeds they mention by the time I get home.)
Of course all of us will remember you in our prayers and make a special note to St. Francis.
Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!
Yes! Let's see a picture of that big dog. Or could he be cheating like the Dalmatian that walks the kitchen counters?
I have always had mutts. The dog I have now is Lucy, a pit-mix. She is sweet and loyal. I take her to work occasionally. If I walk in without her, the first words I hear are "where's Lucy"
Bumping for mutts :-)
With the help of damnlimey I may be able to put Brunna's picture on this thread. It is (just a bit) reassuring, Flyer, that this DOES happen from time to time. He was the picture of health in every way until midnight when he sailed out the back door, flag flying... probably to make one more foray against the neighborhood cats who would stalk him from just outside the chain-link fence.
I will once I find a good picture of him, figure out how to scan it, find a site to post it on, figure out a way to link to it. Say, are you going to be around in 2004?
I was going to say, but I didn't know how because I always seem to get in trouble here characterising people by class, that one guy who had my dog's breeds nailed, was a toothless hillbilly, walking 4 or 5 dogs. He sounded very confident associating my dog's body parts with particular breeds. Unfortunately, his speech was slurred due to the missing teeth, and of course, there was the problem of my own memory, that I mentioned above.
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