Pet(s): Photos & Discussion

[bosawks]

She has heeler smarts, boxer bounce, and Lab friendliness, so as long as you are prepared for high energy (and I was, as my parents have Chesapeake Bay retrievers), she's a good girl all around. And yup. My kitty (Mookey, domestic shorthair), I'd had since she was five, so she was already well-established as queen of the roost when Nessa came. Fortunately, she's declawed on the front paws (not my doing, and I would never, as it's amputation, but she was before I got her), so she can smack the dog around if the dog gets to be too much for her, and I don't have to worry.

As a Chessie owner I can certainly vouch for this.....

Edited April 24, 2016 by bosawks

[Kate the Great]

bosawks, I liked it before the edit. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!

[bosawks]

bosawks, I liked it before the edit. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!

My Chessie doesn't like it when I assume privleges....

[Maharincess]

Kate the Great, what a cutie pie your girl is! She sounds like a sweetie.

[harrie]

Riley702, thanks for posting the video - I loved it.  Our first cat, Fred, did that thing where he'd sit at the top of the stairs looking down them, and our dog at the time - a Shepherd/Dobie mix who I hate to admit was a little on the vicious side -  wouldn't even think of going up there. 

 

Kate the Great, if you don't mind my asking, what DNA analysis service did you use?  I know someone who used one, and the results were so general it was a big disappointment to them. The dog was a serious Heinz 57, and the results didn't help her figure out anything at all.  

[Kate the Great]

I think it was Wisdom Panel. It was a Christmas gift, so I'll have to ask my dad tomorrow to be sure. They didn't get it 100% certain, because dog breeds aren't brightline rules, but they got it to enough certainty that I'm pretty sure that's what she is, considering her looks, disposition, et cetera. She had a couple of other teeny tiny strains in her DNA, but I'm not sure what those were.

[harrie]

Thanks, Kate the Great.  I think my friend used the Mars one; it was a few years ago, and it looks like there are a lot more options available now. 

[bosawks]

Alli survived paddling!

 

[FlyingEgret]

Alli survived paddling!

 

Alli may have survived, but did you?  Haha

[bosawks]

Alli may have survived, but did you?  Haha

 

I believe the scars to my psyche are less than the scars to hers....

[bosawks]

Guess who is having a happy birthday and 1 year adoption anniversary day today!

Edited May 3, 2016 by bosawks

[FlyingEgret]

4 hours ago, bosawks said:

Guess who is having a happy birthday and 1 year adoption anniversary day today!

Happy Birthday Alli - hope you have had a fun year - and many happy returns (to your favorite hiking paths)

[Petunia13]

@bosawks I have a lot of dog experience with multiple breeds and Ive seen that look before always a certain moments. ..that smile and dangling wild tongue while the eyes connect is their version of laughing/appreciating a joke with someone. It seems like your dog has a compatible sense of mirth as its owner. 

[bosawks]

Thanks Petunia13!  

Although I'm beginning to suspect that Alli's sense of humor is a little bawdier than mine.

[EighteenTwelve]

My dad always used to tell our dog that it looked like he had a slice of ham sticking out the side of his mouth, when he did that.  I had to resist the urge to say that to Alli's picture.

[bosawks]

24 minutes ago, EighteenTwelve said:

My dad always used to tell our dog that it looked like he had a slice of ham sticking out the side of his mouth, when he did that.  I had to resist the urge to say that to Alli's picture.

I'm not going to say she's not a ham........ 

[stillshimpy]

Just catching up with the thread here.  

Next week I get to complete the seemingly never-ending moving process by driving my dogs from Missouri to California.  So....that'll take some time.  Pud is 35lbs and Oscar is....we're going to go with 80lbs since that turns out to be the top weight most hotels will accept.   

Our plan is to have my husband, who is very tall, walk in leading Oscar and I'll lead in Pud.   We're hoping that skewing the perspective of the hotel clerks might conceal the terrible truth: Yeah, Oscar's about 20 pounds over that weight limit.  Suck in your gut there, big boy, look svelte! 

If funhouse mirror games don't work, I plan on bribing liberally.  If that doesn't work?  Yeah, haven't quite figured that one out yet, but I suspect it will involve one of us in a tent with Oscar and the other one in air-conditioned splendor, watching HBO with Pud. 

[Demented Daisy]

My Loki (oh, how I miss that boy) was around 100 pounds, too.  My husband is also quite tall (about 6'4" when he's in his dress uniform, he slouches a bit otherwise) and Loki always seemed to look bigger and scarier next to him.  It's an unfortunate perception -- big guy, big dog, scary!  But when my daughter (who is 5'9", but about 120 lbs) would walk him, people always thought he looked so cute and cuddly.  If a tiny girl like her can control him, then he can't be scary at all!

So you might be better off with the big dog while your husband takes the little one.  Perception is a funny thing.

[bosawks]

Demented Daisy, how goes it with the destroyer of toys?

[stillshimpy]

So you might be better off with the big dog while your husband takes the little one.  Perception is a funny thing.

Well oddly enough, part of the reason we ended up adopting Oscar is that I went to see him based on a photograph taken by the animal control officer in St. Genevieve -- much of my life in Missouri was formed by the fact that I had a very poor grasp of Missouri's geography and didn't realize that was almost two hours away from me -- and thinking that he was about fifty pounds.  

It was a picture of Oscar (no name McGee at that point) taken from above and he looked medium to large (he was also 25 pounds underweight at least).   

It didn't occur to me that the animal control officer was simply very tall, so that's why the dog appeared to have a all the way down there, there is a dog who can't be very big.    We never actually planned on having such a big dog, but when he walked out of the kennel, he was so scared he was shaking, the AC facility was scary as hell, he wasn't neutered yet and he was a really big dog....with a brindle coat.  

So yeah, that's how we ended up with Oscar "Oh shit, if we don't take him, this dog is never getting out of here alive.  He's huge which means he'll eat like a horse, he needs to be neutered and vets charge by the pound for that too....and big dogs like that never get out of rural AC facilities, particularly if people think they are pitbulls."  

He actually turned out to be a Great Pyrenees, Plott Hound (brindle coated hunting dog) mix according to his DNA.  But yeah, he was a dead dog walking -- the officer had already kept him three weeks past his hold date because Oscar is so sweet -- if we didn't.  

I'm not concerned with people thinking he's a threat, the undisclosed part of his DNA must be teddy bear, because he loves to cuddle everyone, I just need him to look smaller.  

I mean....clearly he's only 80 pounds, Hilton Garden Inn Express, in case you're reading this, 78 before breakfast.  Right? Right.  Absolutely.  Once more with feeling.  

But if we get busted trying to get him in the door someplace, we'll switch around the leading thing and I'll report back on which worked best :)  

[Jaded]

Captain is getting a little better with the clawing when I'm using my hand to open drawers and when I go to get up and stick my hands on the arms of the recliner to help me get up. I'm ashamed to admit that one time when he got into my hand a bit deep I did tap him on his thigh. Since then though I usually say no in a stern voice when I see him start to bring his paws up with his claws out as he prepares to come at my hands and he'll look at me and put the one he has up and out down. His claws aren't out 24/7. I don't think he was ever socialized properly. I was looking at the FB page for the county shelter he was pulled from before he landed at the one I got him from and they had a pic of him on there from when he got brought in. He had open wounds on his body and looked like he had  been in a bad fight or something so who knows what kind of life he had before I got him. He's also gotten better now that I've realized he likes flaked or shredded wet food with some gravy in it. He had started turning his nose up at most of the pate wet food that he had liked previously for the most part.  Now he's leaving the bowls I use for wet food licked clean where even with the pate he hadn't done before. 

Any suggestions on something that's not as expensive as a Furminator to groom cats? Captain sheds a lot and has a medium fur length and I thought brushing him might help with hairballs as long as he'll let me.

[DeLurker]

Perhaps use the door farthest away from the lobby/front desk?

most of the places I've stayed while driving will have at least one other door that opens with the room key

[Demented Daisy]

3 hours ago, bosawks said:

Demented Daisy, how goes it with the destroyer of toys?

Hee!  Asleep on the couch next to me, as a matter of fact.  In her spare time, still destroying toys.  She's happier with pieces of toys, oddly enough.  The teddy bear that she ripped apart?  Once she had the head off, she decided she liked cuddling with the body.  So, head in pieces, body intact, happy puppy.  Yeah, I got nothing.

Meanwhile, Luke remains super easy to take care of.  He sleeps most of the day -- I suspect it's because he wants to have plenty of energy for when my husband comes home.  Boys, whatcha gonna do?  ;-)

[EighteenTwelve]

Quote

Any suggestions on something that's not as expensive as a Furminator to groom cats? Captain sheds a lot and has a medium fur length and I thought brushing him might help with hairballs as long as he'll let me.

An undercoat rake is what I use on my cats (both short hair, but one has more hairs per square inch than any mammal needs).  It doesn't cut the hair off, it pulls the loose ones out.  Mine has teeth all the same length, but this is more or less it:

http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/iams/well-and-good-black-undercoat-cat-comb

[DeLurker]

I get email notices of flash sales from PetSmart about every 10 days.  When I just popped over to the Petco site on the link above, they had one going on too.  I don't remember for how much, but the PetSmart ones are usually 20-25%.

[33kaitykaity]

Students surprise teacher with kittens day after cat dies

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/31544937/students-surprise-teacher-with-kittens-day-after-cat-dies/

Tissue warning.  

[Bastet]

I'm glad that particular person was receptive to getting two new kittens the day after her cat died, but I hope her students and their parents knew that rather than assuming.  And, quite frankly, I doubt they did.

And I don't like that video of it (which of course they took and posted, because heaven forbid anyone ever just do something without trying to become a YouTube sensation for it) has "gone viral" as if it's a great idea across the board.  Everyone is ready (to get a new pet after one dies) on their own time frame, and for many people they would not remotely be emotionally ready one day later.  Also, not everyone who loves cats wants kittens; some prefer adults.  Sure, kittens are the cutest thing in the world, but they're more work and they have much greater chances of finding a home, while the majority of adult cats in need of homes wind up being euthanized for lack of shelter space.  Also one kid said they bought the kittens, and some people do not want to support buying rather than adopting pets.

So, if the teacher is happy to have the kittens, this worked out well in this particular case and those kids have hearts of gold for seeing their teacher's pain and wanting to do something to make her feel better.  But it is generally a bad idea to give pets as gifts for a variety of reasons, and it's potentially insensitive as hell to give someone a pet the day after theirs has died.  So I have very mixed emotions in response to that story.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Bastet

[Demented Daisy]

@Bastet, I agree.  Their hearts were in the right place, but people are on different timetables with grief.  For weeks after Loki passed, I thought I would never have another dog, the pain was so great.  But then we realized how much we missed the love that a beloved pet brings, so we considered fostering.  Of course, that led us to adopting two dogs, but the important thing is, we did it when we were ready, not when someone else told us we were.

I'm glad it turned out well, but they put that poor woman between a rock and a hard place.  If she's not ready for a new pet, and turns the kittens down, she disappoints the kids who were trying to do something nice.  So she has to decide what's more important -- her own happiness or the kids.  Not a fair choice to have to make, especially when you see the kids day after day after day.  Oh, and of course, the video is going to be put on the internet, so if she doesn't accept, she's a monster.

Truly thoughtless on the part of the parents.  The kids wouldn't have a clue, but the parents should have.

[bosawks]

Last year after my Max died the day I picked up his ashes the vet tech gave me Alli's story and the contact info.

I wasn't ready but I still called.  Sometimes it works out even if you aren't ready.

[riley702]

Yeah, when the people at work found out Imp had died, one coworker got all excited and said, "My sister has a stray cat she needs to get rid of!" She still has no clue how close she came to getting punched in the face. My grief is NOT an opportunity for you. That said, the teacher did look happy, so maybe they know her better than we are assuming. One article said the teacher's cat was 16, so maybe it had been declining for awhile and there had been discussions with the students beforehand.

[CoderLady]

The item on Buzzfeed about the students giving the teacher the kittens has been updated today. It says the teacher mentioned planning on going to a shelter on the weekend to adopt a couple of kittens herself so the fact that the students took it on themselves to select kittens for her and publicize the video of the presentation is supposed to be no big thing. Maybe. But the teacher may have discovered that she wanted to wait a little longer after all, or may have wanted to use choosing her new lifelong companions to be part of her own private healing process. Or I'm just hyper-touchy about people making major life decisions for other people.

[Bastet]

I'm glad they did, in fact, know she intended to adopt kittens at that time, rather than making a series of assumptions.  I still think their parents should have stepped in when they came up with this idea and said that while it's a truly lovely thought, it would be better to get her a gift certificate to the shelter to cover the adoption fees, or to a pet supply store for food/supplies, and let her pick out her own cats.  And I hope they went to the shelter rather than buying them someplace. 

But it's a much better scenario than what I was picturing.  I wish that information had been included from the beginning, because I'm still nervous about people looking at this video without having the specifics and thinking, "That's a great idea!" when most of the time it's really not.

At any rate, two kittens have a home, a cat lover's heart is healing, and a group of kids did something nice for their teacher.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Bastet

[stillshimpy]

Okay, I have successfully relocated two dogs, across approximately half the country and today they will be introduced to the ocean? Thank you for the advice about just sneaking him in via a side door, because that is what we did.  We're in an apartment until Wednesday (my husband had corporate housing here for the last six months) and poor Oscar was busted as being above their weight limit almost immediately. They did know we would have dogs, by the way.  Anyway, he is twenty pounds over , but when I explained that we would be gone by Thursday, the leasing agent said she'd just tell people he was a guest (someone saw him being walked last evening and reported him) . 

 

Thank goodness we we close on the house that quickly, because Oscar was Alice Kravitz'd first thing.  We did have a back up plan, but I am glad we didn't have to use it. Thanks for the help, everyone. 

 

On on the kitten video... Yeah I only ever have rescues, one of them was a rejected gift (dearly departed Angus). Please don't ever give a live animal as a gift. I am glad it worked out and those girls were trying to be kind, which speaks well of them, but too many things can go wrong with gifting animals. 

[DeLurker]

Dogs and the ocean are funny!  My SIL had a great dog (lab - chow mix, but looked completely like a lab except for the tongue).  So well trained and obedient, but when they took her to the beach she completely lost her mind!  She would run after birds, charge in and out of the water, roll in the sand...but not follow any directions!  They would need to chase her down to get her back in the car.

When I got old enough to drive, I would take the family dog down to the beach at dusk.  She loved going for a ride, but had no interest in going in the water.  Since I would go in, she would pace back and forth on the shore until she decided she needed to save me (usually the water was waist deep at most when she decided I needed saving - South Florida, so the water was flat and glassy).  She'd charge in and swim out to me, but by the time she got to me, she would just cling on so i would need to carry her back to the shore.

[Demented Daisy]

Loki loved the beach, but only so much.  As soon as the water got deep enough to touch his stomach, he was done.  Too much like a bath, I guess.  But get him in shoulder-deep snow and he was elated.  Oh, how that boy loved snow.

We hope to take Luke and Leia to the beach as soon as we can get them better socialized.  They tend to get scared around people and other dogs.  No fear aggression, though, so that's good.  

[bosawks]

Alli would live in the water if I let her.

[Demented Daisy]

Apparently, eating dinner is exhausting.

[bosawks]

I'm not going to lie, that looks like me after the last slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

[DeLurker]

My eyes have glazed over like that when I fell into a sugar coma post-Easter Binge.

[bosawks]

Happy Belated Memorial Day!

Edited May 31, 2016 by bosawks

[riley702]

Not mine, but I've been kitten sittin' to help my SIL with her two foster kittens. They were brought into the shelter at 4 weeks - the lady said she'd found them outside in a woodpile with no mama or siblings, and that she'd kept them nearly 2 days waiting for the mother to come back. :( My SIL took them immediately and set up a kitten nursery in a big dog crate for when no one is directly watching them. She has every conceivable nook and cranny in the house stuffed with rags and towels and doors are closed to keep them in the living/dining/kitchen area. She's had them 2 weeks now and they still seem tiny, but man, they dart around like little bottle-rockets! Their Golden Retriever is besotted and very gentle with them and they have never shown the slightest fear of her.

Sweet Phoebe

Phoebe and Daisy

Ida Mae and Phoebe

Peekaboo!

[harrie]

Awww, too cute - especially the Golden/kitten nap time!

[DeLurker]

You're made of tougher stuff than I am - they'd all be coming home with me, Daisy included!

[Petunia13]

[FlyingEgret]

19 hours ago, bosawks said:

Happy Belated Memorial Day!

The Hof doesn't stand a chance against Alli!

[Petunia13]

@bosawks pets are always athletes. Swimming, canoeing, running, hiking... she's also teaching the pup to bike for a future triathlon. 

[bosawks]

2 minutes ago, Petunia13 said:

@bosawks pets are always athletes. Swimming, canoeing, running, hiking... she's also teaching the pup to bike for a future triathlon. 

Now if we can just get them to clean the car afterwards...

[Petunia13]

My parents chessi rides in the back of their (covered) truck. They have a boat and take her out in Lake Michigan and vacation a few x a yr all over. Those dogs are made for the outdoors. She's really BIG- you can see the Newfie in her. She looks ridiculous next to my teeny guy. But is a male intact terrier so like runs the neighborhood of dogs pack. 

[bosawks]

Ha, and let's be honest you always put your money on the terrier!

[Demented Daisy]

We moved last week, so I thought I'd post pictures of Luke and Leia's new favorite sleeping spots.  Luke's is in the master bath, though how he's comfortable, I have no idea:

And Leia's is in our closet:

She wasn't happy I woke her up (accidentally, of course!):