Oldernowiser

🤣

Nor of Felicity. Something’s up. Or he finally found a decent PR/branding agency who is behind this. If so, that’s a level of worldly cynicism that really doesn’t square with the Jesus thing, IMO, but I never really thought RFP was all that invested in that anyway, other than as a possible route to money and fame.

Depends on the dog, as usual? I had a wonderful hound mix who was a great, friendly guy but he was also very independent. He was with us wherever we were if he wanted, but he was also just as happy to be hanging around outside watching the wildlife. In his later years he preferred to be outside, no matter how crappy the weather. Dogs can be acclimated to weather conditions to a certain point, but it takes time. That’s why sled dogs can sleep in the snow. Dogs have a harder time with extreme heat, because they can’t sweat to regulate their body temperature. Obviously shorthaired dogs handle it better than long or double-coated dogs.

Ha. My ex was into cichlids, oscars and some kind of pre-historic catfish, also in enormous tank. They were surprisingly high maintenance and persnickety...and as my belief has always been if you can’t snuggle with a pet why bother...well, there’s another reason he’s the ex! ETA. Just realized this is the Dillard thread...to get more on topic, they couldn’t handle tropical fish, either. But the odds might be slightly better because fish don’t go anywhere. If all goes as planned, anyway...

Dogs produce a hormone I can’t remember the name of right now* when they’re asleep at night that suppresses urine production...which is a wonderful thing because otherwise with my dogs I would be outside with them every three hours all-night long. The hormone levels drop during the day, so they need to go more often. There is a medication called Anipryl that seemed to really help some of the older dementia dogs with cognition and accidents...I’m thinking about looking into it for Nervous Dog. * Vasopressin. Hooray, another of my fading brain cells heard from! I had no idea Papillons had sled dog ancestry! I will go look that up. I learn the most interesting things on this forum!

Yikes, Jyn. That’s scary. My Nervous Dog is starting to show some signs of dementia and I could see him doing the same thing. So glad your boy is okay!

I think it’s kind of amusing how we take all of these people at their word about never having sex or even kissing before they get married. Especially considering the frequent huge gap between Duggar Lore and reality. It’s even possible, given how little scientific information these kids receive, that they had sex but didn’t call it that, so it’s fine. I used to work for a bridal magazine that had a column about sex every month that addressed reader questions. You wouldn’t believe the level of ignorance of basic sex education of some of the questions we received. It was tragic.

Yep, many Goldens are velcro dogs. So are many herders. Between Griffey and Nervous Dog I haven’t been to the bathroom alone in years. Fenna’s Malinois/retriever mix, especially with a history of being a stray (with another dog, IIRC), would point toward Velcro behavior. You can’t bring a dog like that home and then leave for four hours...she has probably had very little experience being alone. You have to work up to it gradually and give them something delicious to lick at when you leave. Griffey had severe separation anxiety for his first year. Now we say, “It’s KONG TIME!!!!” In our best gameshow host voice and he SPRINTS to his luxury condo. But it took along, long time to get him to that point. I think the Dillards are making the basic rookie mistake in thinking the dog would just fit neatly into their existing lives. Nope. Dogs, like babies, change everything. They should have gotten a gerbil.

Thank you! I do feel better!

What’s with the stupid hats? And why aren’t they wearing their own store’s stupid hats? Begrudgingly, points for wearing masks.

This. It’s a real consideration, sadly. After much thought, this next puppy this fall will be our last puppy and possibly our last dog. I will be 63 this month, but Mr. Wiser is in his mid-seventies. A Golden’s life span is 10-13 years, so... I hate to think about life without a dog. I know my sister and her kids would take in a dog of mine if needed, but they’re a long way from here and they have busy lives, at least for now. I have thought about fostering at that point, maybe? So there would always be a Plan B for any pet in my care. It’s one of fate’s grim jokes that we older people have the time to be home with a dog and are best suited to smaller breeds, yet small dogs live the longest and older people...we can’t really count on that for ourselves. My, I’m just a ray of happy sunshine and “positivity”* this morning, aren’t I...🙃 * A term I absolutely loathe and reserve my curmudgeonly right to continue hating.

Did she get her hair cut????

I have crate trained many of my dogs quite successfully, particularly those I got as puppies or those that were unreliable in the house. Then came Mr. Griffey...who WAS NOT HAVING IT. I kept buying larger and larger crates (a Great Dane size for a then twenty-pound retriever puppy) and he’d thrash around all night, moaning piteously, and nobody got any sleep. So one night I tethered him to his dog bed on the floor instead and he slept like a star. Apparently he’s claustrophobic. 🙄 But of course. When we’re not home he has an enormous outdoor dog run INSIDE our garage with his own couch in it. We call it the Ape Cage. ‘Tis good to be Griffey. To tie back to the topic...every dog is unique. It sounds like Fenna’s breeds might give her some fairly specific needs... I can only hope that the Dillards can figure those out and not just slap their generic expectations about what dogs are supposed to be on her. I wish I had more confidence in that...my fear is she’ll disappear and when pressed, magically some “sweet friend” will have begged them to take Fenna and they graciously agreed. Or some other bullshit cover story.

I love Portia...those long legs and those hound ears slay me....

So he can spell Spurgeon but screwed up “Yours.” In the title of the book he’s “giving” away. Putz. P.S. I imagine Jessa would like to have a word with RFP...

I’m so sorry, @CalicoKitty. My mother was in the same situation all last spring and summer and there wasn’t anything I could do about it from 2400 miles away other than send her chocolates and fruitcake and try to talk to her on the phone, which got harder and harder. It was out of my hands, though...just as it has been out of yours. You really have done everything you could in a freak situation, so try to be kind to yourself, yes? I hope you can see her soon.

Because there’s no better prelude to a first sexual experience than loading up on refried beans. What could go wrong?

Okay, I just realized why I am so perturbed about this...as in, emotionally perturbed. When I first worked at the shelter there was a lab/shepherd mix named Sophie, who looked a lot like Fenna. She was there for months, because she was a big, strong girl who didn’t like cats or other dogs. What she LOVED was being trained. I used to sneak away with her once a shift and work with her... I never knew a more trainable dog. She was super smart, but still young, and she wasn’t at all reliable off leash especially when she was chasing something. She was so affectionate, too... So this nice young couple comes in...love at first sight, at last. I told them six times she couldn’t be trusted off leash. At least. Off she went...happy endings, right? A month later she was dead. Hit by a car because they had her in a field off leash and she chased a squirrel into the main road. That dog was killed by youthful arrogance. Broke my damned heart plus I was FURIOUS. So... I am not very objective about this Fenna situation, for sure.

Well, Derrick isn’t stupid. And he is a runner. If he applies himself to understanding the dog’s needs and takes her running with him, it could work out. The problem is more likely to be Jill being home with her all day...Jill seems pretty easily overwhelmed. Maybe it’ll work out?

I used to teach basic obedience at the shelter. All obedience class does is teach humans how to teach their dogs the rest of the week. If the Dillards don’t apply what they hear and do it consistently, they’ll just end up with a confused dog. Generally, there’s one out of every couple who takes it seriously and works with the dog, while the other just wants the dog to be trained, already, after three classes. It takes a year, minimum, with a young dog, because everything we don’t want them to do...jump up, pull on the leash, dig, bark, counter surf, chew things, grab things and play keep away...is what dogs do. I hope the Dillards have some inkling, but I’m guessing not. Maybe she’ll figure it out without them...some dogs do. I just hope if they decide they can’t keep her they take her to a rescue or a no-kill shelter that would provide her some quality training. In case you can’t tell, I do NOT feel good about this situation.

From the AKC’s breed description of the Malinois... Do these chucklefucks never research ANYTHING? They are back on my shitlist.

I believe there’s some lab in that dog, which could make her more child-friendly, but it also means she is going to chew EVERYTHING. And she’ll have a ton of energy and her brains won’t arrive for a while. And I say this as someone who’s had three Goldens over the decades and am expecting our fourth next fall. It would not surprise me a bit if she goes back to the shelter. The Dillards don’t know shit about raising a young dog and with Sam’s age...we heard “she knocks my toddler down” at the shelter all the time. There’s a reason many, many rescue groups won’t adopt to families with young children...too high a failure rate.

My husband did, too... I was unable to like the main character. At all. Although after seven seasons of Rory, I might be better at tolerating that now...🤔

I am not going to watch because if they left that puppy outside all night I am heading to Arkansas with a flamethrower, Covid be damned.

Poor stupid man.