For Doggy Lovers!

Hi all. I'm new here and really appreciate the warm welcome everyone has given me. Worth repeating - this seems to be the only sane skating board on the net that I've found so far.

GoldenLady is a fellow dog lover and asked about my dogs, so here goes for her and anyone else who loves to gush over their 4-legged children!

Cleo (short for Cleopatra most of the time, and Cleobnoxious some of the time LOL) is a mix breed (who knows what). She came from the local Animal Control as a puppy - she shouldn't have even been away from her mother yet. She's 3 now and has grown up into a great dog. Full of life and energy and fun. And a Daddy's girl for sure. Frisbee is by far her favorite game.

Cain is a retired racing Greyound about 6 years old now. We've had him for 2 years and he is our second one (first one passed of old age stuff). Greyhounds are by far the easiest dogs I've ever had to care for. My husband and I have about 5 acres fenced in, so watching him do what he was built to do - running at full speed - is a sight to behold. Squirrel hunting is his favorite activity - he tag teams the hunt with our Beagle which is hilarious to watch.

Buck is our Beagle who found us. He was dumped in the back of a friend's pick up truck. We agreed to keep him here "temporarily" and that was just over 2 years ago. He is a seizure dog, which may have been why he was dumped. It's easily controled with medication and he is the happiest dog I've ever seen. He's a Mighty Hunter outside (well, he doesn't catch anything, that's Cain's forte but Buck has a big pair of lungs and can sure let you know where all the squirrels are LOL). Inside, he's Mommy's boy and I can always count on him to watch figure skating with me while my husband finds something else to do.

Our most recent addition is a German Shepherd puppy. She will be 11 weeks old on Monday. Good thing God made puppies so cute...otherwise none of them would live long enough to procreate LOL. Thank goodness the sleepless nights taking her out to piddle many times are about over! We plan to pursue Schutzhund training with her, and I was surprised to find out that they actually start puppies this young on tracking and some bite work.

So that's our pack. I love hearing about everyone's dogs, so I hope there are a bunch of dog lovers around!

Doggygirl

DG.........what a great group of canines! We have one....she's a shepard mix and the sweetest dog I've ever seen.......she's 12 and going in next week for a major gum and teeth cleaning....I'm traumatized, mainly because of her age, but I'm told that she'll be fine..........42

Hi 42!!

Your Shepherd mix sounds wonderful!! My first puppy in my adult life was a Shepherd / Chow mix named Caesar, rest his soul. He was a GREAT dog - he got everything "good" about a chow (good lookin') and everything good about a Shepherd (brains and temperament) and none of the potentially bad stuff from either breed. Mutts rock!

I know the teeth cleaning is scary, especially with an older dog. Always that small risk with anesthesia (sp). Greyhounds have to go through that more often than any of the other dogs I've had - has to do with the "track diet" of soft foods they are fed during the racing years, at least that's what I'm told. I've never had any mishaps, and I will keep my fingers tightly crossed for you and your pupper.

What's your puppy's name? I wish we could post pictures, but it doesn't look like we have that feature here.

DG

Hey! This is almost like instant messages........my dog's name is Chelsea. People accused me of naming her after Pres. Clinton's daughter, but I named her even before I knew her name was also Chelsea.......Ha! I'm sure she'll be fine. We drop her off in the morning of the 23rd, and pick her up in the afternoon. We bought her a new doggie bed in prep. of her recovery.......42

Hi 42!

This is like instant messaging! Can you tell I'm having a "light day at the office?"

That's a great story about Chelsea's name. I like that name for a dog! You better be careful about new stuff following teeth cleaning - LOL she'll start to want her teeth cleaned all the time! Best wishes - I'm sure it will all go fine. She'll be recovered and ready for Christmas toys and treats by the 25th.

DG

I have two yorkies. Pockets will be 5 years old in March and Ricky will be 3 years old in June. I just love them to death! They are such bundles of love.

Hi Rachael!

It's great to meet you! Yorkies are SO ADOREABLE!! And I love the name "Pockets!" I can just see a Yorkie poking it's little head out of your pocket. Is that how he came by his name? (or her name?) Rickey is cute too, but LOL on Pockets!

Man I wish we could post pictures!

DG

When I was little......

my favorite word was "Pockets". So, when my mom was determine to get a yorkie, I said we should name him Pockets. She liked that idea. My mom came up with the name Ricky, named after singer Ricky Martin.

I love reading your pet stories. I don't have a pet YET...but am STILL trying to find a Papillion, black and white, female, young. I know that's not real PC but all things considered it is the best option for me. I do have a sister who is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Abbey. She is the sweetest thing and has been great company for my mom after her husband died. One thing she has started doing since then that we still can't figure out is... when she goes out she used to come back to the house when called, since mom's husband died though when you call for her first she turns and looks at you, then she turns her back to you and lays down. To get her to come in you must bring her purple leash, show it to her and she will then walk back to the house with you. You don't have to put her leash on her, but she refuses to come in unless you have it in your hand. She has an honorary Girl Scout "uniform" and participates on all of the parades with my girls. I love this dog, she is my favorite sister .

Piel

Hi there, fellow dog lovers!

Doggygirl, you have an amazing blend of dogs there - they all sound adorable. It's great to hear that you're planning on doing Schutzhund with your Shepherd; that should be lots of fun for both of you. Do you participate in any activities with any of your other dogs? I show one of my Goldens in conformation and am doing some obedience work with him as well, and have been doing rally obedience with both of my guys for the past few months.

Greyhounds are awesome dogs! As you know, of course, since Cain is your second one. It must be amazing to see a Greyhound run at full speed.... You're so lucky to have such a large property; my dogs would be jealous if they knew.

show42, I wish Chelsea all the best with her dental next week. Sometimes I think these procedures are harder on the moms and dads than they are on the animals... So good luck to you, too.

Piel, I love Papillons; one of the trainers I work with has several, and I've had the chance to see a lot of them, watch them interact, etc. From your post, it sounds like this has been a long search for you... Good luck - I hope you're able to eventually find what you're looking for. It can take time finding the "perfect" puppy sometimes, but it really is worth the wait.

Thanks for this thread, since I try never to pass up an opportunity to gush about my dogs!!! We have 4 also, and they seem like just as varied a mix as yours Doggygirl!

Show42, don't worry too much. Our dogs, the greyhounds, have had to have some pretty major dental work. They've come through fine.

Our first dog was a greyhound (an ex-racer) named Tequila (he was golden colored). He died last february of cancer. Greyhounds are just the greatest, and I love the ex-racers. We got to get an adult dog (no potty training!), but watched his personality grow as he came to realize he was loved. They are so sweet and loving.

We have a saluki/greyhound mix, rescued from a horrible death camp of an abandoned breeder. (They mix the breeds for more stamina- for hunting and for non-sanctioned racing) Her name is Alaya. When she first came to us she would hardly let us touch her, but stayed next to Tequila constantly. She's now our grande dame.

Next we have Hiboy, who's a very unusual mix. He's schipperke/rottweiler mix, which (if you know the size of these dogs) seems physically impossible. He was a stray I found running circles in the busy street in front of my house. I coaxed him to my back yard, but when I went inside he cried pitifully, so I had to bring him in and bathe him right away. We tried to find a home for him, but couldn't.
His name is Hiboy because we were going to let his new owners name him, so we figured whatever he was named, everyone would say "hi, boy" to him. So now we have a dog named Hiboy.

We got two more dogs this past year or so from a neighbor. She was sick with leukemia, going to Houston for treatments all the time, and her kids weren't taking care of the dogs, so we fed them for months. Then Mary went in for a transplant, rejected it and died. We kept caring for the dogs as the family's situation was not a good one. Eventually one ran away to our house (who knows how long she waited on our doorstep for the front door to open), and then when the kids moved, they let us have the other. So we got a dachshund named "Little Girl" and a chow named "Thor". I'm sure Mary's glad that they're being looked after.

Little Girl is always on my lap, or snuggled up beneath the covers. Thor had a reputation for biting and aggression, but that has mostly been untrue, though he's pretty protective of us. He's more a big teddy bear now that he's had some consistent care and attention.

Well, that's the short version of our family- and I'll leave the cats to another thread!

Oh, the beagle sounds great. I have had 3 dogs in my life, but am not lucky enough to have one now, although I do puppy sit for my son's dog Melody, who is part pug and part shia tzu. Melody likes to sleep under the covers at the very bottom of the bed so you always have to worry about rolling over on her.

My first dog was a miniature Schnauzer named cinnamon. My second and best belovedest dog was a beagle named Nappy, short for Napoleon Solo. My last dog was a basset named Andy Rooney for the jowly face and sad eyes. Andy died at 15, about 3 years ago this January of kidney failure.

But Nappy was the great hunter, the tireless friend of all small children, able to detect b**ches in heat at a distance of 3 miles, including the unavailable love of his life a Great Perinese.
Gosh I miss him. (and the others too but Nap most of all)

In addition over time, I have had 3 cats, Romayo, Mrs. Murphy and Lydia the tattooed lady. As this is not a cat thread, I will not elaborate. Lydia died last January at 20. So we are now at the supposedly enviable time when life begins: when the kids live home and the dog dies.

dpp

Hi all...

Rachael, that's cool how "Pockets" got his name! It really is cute. And your Mom has good taste in "eye candy" in Ricky!

Piel, good luck in your search for your perfect Papillon! I hope your puppy finds you soon. GoldenLady is right that the perfect pup is worth the wait...I wish I had a little more in the patience department LOL! That's an interesting story about the Corgi. I'm sorry to hear that your Mom lost her husband. I think that is almost as hard on pets sometimes as it is on people. I hope your Mom and her Corgi are both doing OK.

GoldenLady, Retrievers are such beautiful dogs! It sounds like you're having fun with training and competing. What is rally obedience? My husband and I have not done much (not enough!) with formal training, and never showing. So the Schutzhund thing will be our first venture with really serious type training. My husband also just bought a book that has plans for making your own agility obstacles. Since we have the room for it, we think both the new baby Shepherd and the mix mutt would enjoy some of that just for fun.

We're really lucky to have such a big yard. We've been here at this place for about 2.5 years. My "condition" for agreeing to the purchase was the big fence. That was quite an investment, but is SO wonderful for the dogs. LOL I still don't have a single curtain in a single window, and the old sofa is falling apart. But we sure have a great fenced in yard! It is terrific for the Greyhound and the Beagle - they both really love having that much room to roam. Cleo loves it too. All three of the big guys seem really muscular and healthy with all the exercise they get. Unfortunately, they can do this on their own so Mommy's rear end doesn't get nearly as much exercise unfortunately!

How old are your Goldens? Their names? I really am curious now about "rally obedience!"

DG

Hi Doris!

I think we were posting at the same time so I missed yours. A big hello to a fellow Beagle lover!!! All of your dogs and especially Nappy sound like they were wonderful companions. It is SO HARD to lose them. Our first Greyhound also died of kidney failure. Thankfully it came on quick and didn't last too long - he didn't suffer for a really long time. It's still not easy though. I started out as a cat person. Cats were the perfect pets earlier in my adult life when I worked longer hours, travelled quite a bit etc. for my career. Then I sort of migrated to the dogs with a mixed household for awhile. Now it's just the dogs. Since Cain is such a small prey hunter, I don't think I could add any kitties back into the mix at this stage.

Are you planning on getting more cats or dogs? I can't imagine how empty the house would seem without them. I don't have any human kids so don't know about the enviable "empty nest" thing.

Puppies for everyone!!

DG

Given my userid, I'm sure that you can guess what kind of dog I have

Liesl's almost 6, and she's my third child. I have two teenagers and a cat and a husband - a full house. My dog has natural ears, I never had them cropped because I'm not into mutilation.

It's great to hear about everyone's dogs; I had a mutt as a child, and I frequently take care of my mother's golden retriever, a nice dog, very low-key. She and Liesl are best friends.

Happy holidays to everyone and their pets.

This is a great thread.........thanks everyone for the words of assurance about Chelsea's dental surgery........she's been getting a lot of extra hugs and attention because of it.......42

Rally and agility

DG - agility is fun! I did a bit of that with my younger boy last summer, and would like to give it another shot sometime, maybe in the spring/summer. Since you have the space for all that equipment, I'd say go for it! Do you have a place you can go to train, at least until you learn the ropes? If you decide to give agility a try, I think you and your dogs will enjoy it!

About Rally, it's a really new sport and is quickly growing. The first trials here in Canada were held in August, 2002, so I guess that makes us Rally pioneers. I had heard that it was fun, but really didn't know what it was until I had the opportunity to try some classes this past summer. I decided to take both dogs, since it sounded like a nice, informal way to get my 9-year-old back into classes and learning again. Rally obedience, or Rally-O, as it is more informally called, is kind of a cross between traditional obedience and agility; the exercises are based on regular obedience exercises, but with a twist. At the higher levels, there are also a few agility obstacles thrown in. Rally is run as a timed course, like agility, but scored like obedience: everyone starts with a perfect 200 score and deductions are taken for faults. In the case of a tie in scores, the fastest time wins. The whole philosophy behind Rally is that the dogs and handlers should have fun; handlers are allowed to talk to the dogs, encourage, and praise them as much as they like, and use hand signals as well.

Here in Canada, Rally trials are held through the Canadian Association of Rally Obedience. Any dog can compete, whether purebred or mixed breed, and allowances are made for dogs and handlers with disabilities, so they can still run the courses. I'm not sure what the rules are in the U.S.; I know it's now offered as an AKC non-regular class, but don't know if dogs that aren't registered with the AKC can enter. Some basic information on AKC Rally is here. In Canada, titles are offered at the Novice, Advanced, and Excellent levels; so far my two boys have earned their Novice and Advanced titles (Novice is on-leash, while Advanced is off-leash, and there are some more complicated exercises involved).

Sorry about the length of this post; it's hard to try to describe a new sport in just a couple of paragraphs, and I hope what I wrote at least helps give you an idea of what it all about.

We're talking about getting a third yorkie. Soon, we'll be a yorkie farm.

Hi all!

Rachael, good for you on considering another Yorkie! I would have a 100 dogs if I could. I started with one, and really really spent allot of time pondering dog #2, which was my first Greyhound. Once I finally did it, things went so easily that I kicked myself for waiting so long. I will say that going to 3 dogs was a bit more challenging - LOL 3 dogs, 2 hands was the biggest part of that. Best wishes!!

GoldenLady, it sounds like Rally-O is lots of fun! Thanks for including the US link - I didn't realize you are in Canada. I love the internet - it is so much fun making friends literally all over the world. Congratulations on getting your dogs qualified at the Advanced level. I love sports like that where any breed of dog including mix mutts can participate equally. It's also cool that they make accomodation for humans and/or dogs with physical challenges. We will be starting Kimba in Schutzhund right away. The breeder we got her from are very into it and have a nice big training center about 20 minutes away. They have many champions and have even competed with some of their dogs in Germany. They have also won a number of "Best Kennel" type awards so it sure seems as though they know what they are doing. Kimba's first "little puppy" training session will be tomorrow. (better get the VCR set up for all the figure skating LOL - don't want to miss all that!).

We also work with a trainer here in our home. This all started when we adopted a 3 YO German Shepherd at the end of the summer. Unfortunately, he had been abused as a young dog and basically had a screw lose. He was really aggressive with the Greyhound, but not even in a normal dog way. He attacked out of the blue with no warning - not even a growl - when the Greyhound was doing nothing to challenge him. We wanted to try our best to work through it, so we hired Dr. Bob who is really wonderful. At the end of our efforts, we all agreed our home was not the right one for this Shepherd. But in the mean time, Dr. Bob has helped us work on far more minor issues with all of our dogs and it's been a great experience. So for agility, the plan is that my husband is going to build a couple of the simpler obstacles and we will fiddle with our dogs to see if they seem to like it. If so, then we will move on to more formal training - there are definitely centers close enough for us to conveniently go. LOL, it will be a busy year for dog training!

42, I'm really enjoying this thread too. I think it's fun when people come together because of one common interest, but discover that there are other common interests too! I hope you will post as soon as Chelsea is done with surgery to let us know you are all OK, and how Chelsea likes her new bed.

Dobiesk8r, Dobie's are so cool!! My husband just had his heart set on a Shepherd when we had our false start, and then got the puppy. But Dr. Bob had strongly recommended a Dobie as a good fit for our pack. One of my best friends is a Dobie lover, and is now on her 3rd rescue over the years. She now lives in the mountains of North Carolina. When they moved there, they got a pet pot bellied pig. The pig grew up with the dobie and they are SO FUNNY together. The dog has learned to "root" like the pig does (not great for your garden LOL) and the pig has learned to patrol the perimeter of the house with the dobie. Like you, my friend sees no reason to do the ear and tail thing. Are either of your teenagers girls? If so, it's probably handy to have a doberman greet their boyfriends at the door?? Have fun with Liesl (what a pretty name!) and your whole family for the holidays!

Have a great day all - I should go finish my holiday shopping but will just watch figure skating instead.

DG

I have a funny dog named Bella - which I have sadly learned is an incredibly popular name for dogs and cats. Bella is a 1-yr old mix of Aussie Shepherd, Pit Bull and Shar Pei. She's mostly shepherd, but doesn't look it - she looks like a long haired brindle pit bull with a big huge clown nose and serious worry lines on her forehead.

I got Bella (short for Beluga, as in the whale) when she was 8 weeks old, she comes to work with me about 75% of the time, she is incredibly sweet and loves everyone and everything. She has been an incredible handful though, and unfortunately has just developed separation anxiety resulting in about 10 minutes of non-stop barking when I leave her at home, probably because she can come with me most of the time. We will be going to training classes in the new year.

guinevere