I Want A Puppy For Christmas!

Flyer and Gilligan ^ | December 13, 2001 | From the heart

[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

[Flyer]

Thanks, it's always nice to see that liberals don't own the issue when it comes to loving our pets.

[John SBM]

A Puppy's Pastime

[Flyer]

My female on the other hand is refered to as "Devil Dog" and "a fireball of an energy problem."

So the "Boing" comment was something you can relate to?

[Dan from Michigan]

19!????
That's like 140 in dog years. The dog I had when I was a kid died at 14 or 15, of old age.(Couldn't move so had to be put to sleep). I can't imagine a dog last that long.

As soon as I get out of the apartments, I'll be picking up a puppy, probably a black lab.

[Flyer]

Speaking of mutts. . . Mutts is my favorite comic strip since Calvin left us.

[ChemistCat]

On TS (not my only comment on the thread):"An overvalued idea is a thought shared with others in a society or culture but in the patient held with an intense emotional commitment capable of provoking dominant behaviors in its service. An overvalued idea differs from a delusion in that delusions are false ideas unique to the possessor, whereas overvalued ideas develop from assumptions and beliefs shared by many others. An overvalued idea differs, too, from an obsession in that, although it dominates the mind as an obsession does, the subject does not fight an overvalued idea but instead relishes, amplifies, and defends it. Indeed the idea fulminates in the mind of the subject, growing more dominant over time, more refined, and more resistant to challenge. " From the thread on A Psychiatrist Looks At Terrorism.

'Nuff said on that.

Does anyone know how to reduce a dog's odor without bathing it? I have a pretty smelly dog who would love to be an indoor doggy more of the time but she just plain STINKS. I can't give her baths anymore (though she is very very well behaved in the tub, and will head straight for it as soon as she's let in, I can't bend down to do it)and I just feel so bad that she can't come in. I wasn't raised with dogs but she has won me over, and I wish she could be in with us more (especially in the early morning, when she barks at the kids walking to school right outside the neighbor's window.) Vet says she's healthy. She's got a good doghouse and a nice heavy winter coat but she's lonely for us.

[HairOfTheDog]

OK well early in 2004, I expect a thread that asks
"What the Hell Kinda Dog Is This???"

Seriously... www.community.webshots.com is a really easy place to create and post photo albums online if you can get the pictures scanned. That is where my photo above and link are.... :~D

[Dan from Michigan]

Hey, I like Chickens....tastes like chicken.

[FreedomIsSimple]

My wife and I have three cats, but we really, really want a Boston Terrier too. We live in a city, and Bostons don't need much room to run or exercise, (a lot like us, actually). The problem is getting one for less than 700$...

[deadhead]

My childhood dog Dino lived until 19. It happens.

[HairOfTheDog]

There are some spray on cleaner and deoderant products out there for dogs... waterless cleaning.. you spray the dog and then towel her. I have seen the product on the shelves at pet stores. Don't know how well they work.

[Flyer]

Does anyone know how to reduce a dog's odor without bathing it?

I don't see much of a choice. If your dog has a lot of hair get it cut short and let it stay inside more. Me? I love the smell of my dog. It smells like love.

[Slyfox]

Seven years ago, we decided to get a dog. My better half's only condition was that it was not to be a "Yipping, yapping dog". I got a rescued Sealyham terrier. For the first six weeks I spent everyday tending to him. I had to introduce him to people, the sound of the dish washer and everything as he had been in a chicken coop for the first three months of his life. He doesn't bark much and has one place in the back yard where he is allowed to dig to his heart's content. He his our family clown. Will Rogers, Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant and many others all had Sealy's. I'll get another one when my Feller leaves this world.

[bootless]

What a great picture of Cairo! Now I want one just like her/him!

[RikaStrom]

Yep, I've told her that she is basically dead in doggy years, she just just grins at me and demands another pupporoni. :-)

Labs are great too. Eventually when it is time to get another dog, I will probably be looking at lab mixes as well. But I always end up rescuing a dog from the pound.

[Slyfox]

Does anyone know how to reduce a dog's odor without bathing it?

You could sprinkle him a little bit with baby powder.

[Flyer]

The problem is getting one for less than 700$...

Visit your animal shelters. 15 - 25% of the dogs turned in are pure bred. Many shelters will put you on a waiting list for a particular breed. Good luck!

[RikaStrom]

Does anyone know how to reduce a dog's odor without bathing it?

The grocery store (Albertson's) has these things like wet wipes, but only for pets. It's like giving them a bath and a deoderizer while just wiping them down.

Baby Girl loves it. I found them in the pet section.

[xJones]

Absolutely, call the local pound or Humane Society. We adopted our Maltese 9 years ago from the city pound. I just called up and asked. Wonderful dog but he is a people dog and kept climbing his orignial owners's backyard chain-link fence. He's an inside dog here and we wouldn't trade for the little rascal. DO call pounds for pets that their owners can't (for whatever reason) take care of.