[GotAK] Dogs

[Ryrin]

This is the place to discuss various aspects of dogs.

 

In honor of the royal wedding, we have Corgis today, the Queen's favorite. 

 

 

 

Dogs provide a lot of benefits to their families besides companionship and we will go into these a little later.

 

I'd like to start with some of your favorite things about dogs. Surely, you have some!

 

 

 

[LilyElizabeth]

I love how loving dogs are. You can be away all day and leave them alone, but when they see you all they want is to love on you. 

 

I also love how much they want to please. 

 

Personally, I prefer large dogs. My Carlton is a lab/pit mix and he's almost 100 lbs. He's so laid back, although he has some anxiety about the bathroom. If the door is closed and he can't get in, he gets anxious. (He eats in there. 'Nuff said, right?)

[Mashiara Sedai]

I can't ever say enough about how much I love dogs!  I worked as a dog bather for 7 years, and it was amazing getting to see so many dogs every day!  It was challenging, too, as most dogs don't care for baths, and ALL of them hate the blowdryer, but it was lovely!

 

As a child, we had rat terriers (which are similar to Jack Russells).  But my husband and I have dachshunds.  I love this breed much more.  They're calmer, more affectionate, and smarter!

[Ryrin]

I had dachshunds all the while growing up. I have a Jack Russell/Rat Terrier Mix that we got from the SPCA and two strays we took in, a Chihuahua/Rat terrier Mix and a Shitzu/Poodle Mix.

 

The thing I so enjoy about my dogs is looking forward to coming home to see them even if I haven't been gone very long. Just the thought of them makes me happy and the welcome when I get home.

[Cross]

i seriously literally clicked on this thread first because it said 'dogs' 

 

they are Gods little buddy gift to people! so cute, so loyal, and loving, and innocent. and personalities that go on for miles. 

 

we've always been a chihuahua house. usually mixes though. however we have no idea what our current chihuahua is mixed with. trouble probably.

[Ryrin]

Although we love dogs, we didn't think we'd like the Chi breed that much and now that I have one (a mix) we just love them.

 

I believe dogs can love. I also love cuddling with them and talking to them.

[JamesBrown]

I prefer dogs, and had dogs all the time growing up.

 

BUT, I appreciate the independence of cats. I don't have any dogs now, but as much as my wife and I travel, it would be a burden to find sitters for dogs while we're gone.

 

I also like how people build scaffolds and high walkways for cats to prowl, explore, and perch.

[Ryrin]

We have a really good friend who will watch our dogs, cats, birds, and we will watch hers.

[Daruya]

When I was a little girl, my sister's godparents had a Chi that terrorized us . . . Now that I'm older, I understsand that she was used to older people and not small children so she was afraid of us, too. She, however, had sharp teeth. Our fear, however, did keep us sitting still on the couch! LOL!

 

Also as a child, in Columbus, OH, we had a shepherd (?) mix, Tippy. He was black and white. I don't remember what happened to him. My mom probably gave him away when we moved from that house after she and my step-dad got married (my bio dad had bought the dog against her wishes; they didn't have the money for one, after all, and when he moved out he left the dog anyway which left my mom with 2 kids and a dog to feed on very little money).

 

We didn't have another dog till I was a teenager. My dad (step-dad, but my one and only daddy) and I saw a cute schnauzer mix (stray) when he was driving me home from Sunday School in Montgomery, Alabama. We then went for a walk and the dog "followed us home." We called her Blackie (aka Butzi). After we moved to Florida a few years later, I had, for a short time, a schnauzer named Schatzi. Unfortunately, she and the matriarch (Blackie) did not get along so the newcomer had to go so we gave her back and the original owner rehomed her again. 

 

My next dog was one hubby and I bought when I was still in college. An absolutely adorable Shih-Tzu that we named Mai Tsong's Eko (aka, Echo).  After being terrorized as a puppy by the surplus of nieces and nephews on hubby's side of the family on a visit to Canada who all fought over who was going to hold her, she didn't like little kids much.  When my oldest was born, my parents took care of Eko for a few weeks till we got settled back in at home. When my youngest was born, my parents took care of her . . . and never gave her back! LOL! She was still our dog but was much happier in a no-child home. We lost her in 2007 at the age of 14. She was such an awesome little dog! We would wrap her Christmas presents and she'd unwrap them. She loved chasing balls that were bigger than her, too, which was funny to watch.

 

Our next dog was a rescue, a Golden Retriever that we adopted in 2004 at the age of 2-1/2. My boys wanted to call him Max (his registered name was Zeus Maximillion Klein) so Max it was. When we got him, he didn't know how to walk on a leash, was afraid of everything, and had no idea how to play.  He never got over much of the fear, but did learn to play. His favorite toys were tennis balls. About 2 or 3 years later, we took in a stray terrier mix that the boys named Leia (I was pushing for Jadzia but the boys overruled me), who was about 9 months old at the time. This is one dog with a super-high play drive -- STILL! Then, in Nov 2010, we adopted a Pomeranian from another rescue. He was somewhere between 3-5, per the rescue, but I think he as more like 2, if that. From the start he bonded HARD with my youngest.  At adoption, his name was Ramsey; my son changed his name to Lucky because "he was lucky we found and adopted him." He's a very playful and happy little pup, though it takes him a bit to warm to strangers. 

 

We lost Max in 2016. That was tough. Leia and Lucky are still going strong, though Leia, the eternal puppy has slowed down just a bit.

 

Lately, hubby wants a German Shepherd. Then again, he wants just about everything! I'm the hold-up because we can only handle so many vet bills . . . and we already have 2 dogs, 1 parrot, 2 horses, and about 35 chickens! Plus Lucky gets so anxious and unsettled whenever we bring another animal into the house it's best to wait until he either moves out with my youngest (which isn't like to happen until he's done with at least his 2-year college) or we lose him to old age.

 

TLDR: Everyone in our household loves dogs!

[JamesBrown]

Douglas Adams wrote a touching essay about two dogs who adopted him.

 

Maggie and Trudie

 

Quote

I am not, I should say at once, in any formal relationship with a dog. I don't feed a dog, give it a bed, groom it, find kennels for it when I'm away, delouse it or suddenly arrange for any of its internal organs to be removed when they displease me. I do not, in short, own a dog.

 

On the other hand, I do have a kind of furtive, illicit relationship with a dog or rather, two dogs. And in consequence I think I know a little of what it must be like to be a mistress.

 

It's too long to quote entirely here, but I'll just leave a couple of snippets here that stuck in my brain.

 

Quote

So, every morning the three of us would set out: me, the large English writer, Trudie the poodle and Maggie the mutt. I would run jog stroll along the wide dirt track that ran through the dry red dunes, Trudie would gambol friskily along, this way and that, ears flapping, and Maggie would bowl along cheerily biting her neck. Trudie was extraordinarily good natured and long suffering about this, but every now and then she would suddenly get monumentally fed up. At that moment she would execute a sudden mid-air about turn, land squarely on her feet facing Maggie and give her an extremely pointed look, whereupon Maggie would suddenly sit and start gently gnawing her own rear right foot as if she was was bored with Trudie anyway.

 

Quote

So what part did I play in all this? Well, none really... Despite the fact that they would always completely ignore me whenever we went on our walks together, they couldn't just go and have a walk without me. This revealed a profoundly philosophical bent in these dogs which were not mine, because they had worked out that I had to be there in order for them to be able to ignore me properly. You can't ignore someone who isn't there, because that's not what 'ignore' means.

 

[LilyElizabeth]

What about the loss of a dog? Is it okay to discuss that here?

 

Earlier this year (January, I think) my 5 year old large dog (no idea what breed he was, really) began throwing up on a Friday. All day Friday. I called the vet and they couldn't get him in, so I took him that evening to the emergency vet. After an overnight stay, nausea meds, and Xrays, they found that he had a foreign object lodged in his small intestine. (No idea what that dog ate! He would eat anything.) The surgery to remove it was $2,000 to $4,000 with a high chance of us losing him anyway. So, we put him to sleep. 

 

It hit me really hard! Worse than any other pet I've ever lost. I had a private cremation and have his ashes. They are such a comfort to me. 

 

Here is a pic of my Blackjack, may he rest in peace. Sorry the pic is so big...

 

[Cross]

when they go its always, always hard. my first dog was put down when i was in kindergarten, she never liked me so the loss wasnt felt that much. but our next dog was hard, i was the one to take her to the vet to be put down. its a mercy, but a tough one. 

 

i am of the mind that when you lose one, get another. it helps with the pain, and while you dont stop mourning you do have a new focus. it took about three years to get the one i have now. mainly because my mom and sis didnt want another/weren't ready. whenever my current dog goes (may it be a loong loooong time from now) i'm certainly going to try and get another at least within the same year. 

[LilyElizabeth]

I already had another dog. But I agree with that sentiment. We got a puppy about 4 months after Blackjack passed. I wasn't ready to get another for a little while. I like having two. 

[Ryrin]

Dar, I love your doggy history!

 

James, those quotes are interesting. 

 

Yes, Lily it's ok to talk about the loss of a dog here. It shows how much we love them and how connected we are to them. I dread losing one of my doggies. There is true love and companionship there and it's hard to make the decision. We had a Golden retriever named Buddy. My youngest son was six when we had to euthanize him. I remember having to pick a day. He was 12, had been sick, was going downhill, and refusing to eat or drink. The vet thought it was likely he had cancer. I remember I had made an appointment for Thursday. I had told both of my sons. The older one slept with him all night. In the morning, I took my 6 year old to school. He looked at me hopefully and said "will Buddy be there when I get home?" Among the hardest things I have ever done was to sadly shake my head no. He passed in 2005. I have his ashes in my room with his collar around it. His aren't the only ashes I have.

 

Cross, I always like having two dogs for that very reason.

 

I wanted to share these. :)

 

 

 

 

[Cross]

yeah i've thought about two dogs at once. but i think in the end i'm a single dog lady. i cant even stand the thought of one of them moping around missing their friend after they've passed on.  was bad enough when my dog kept looking around the house worried when my mom had been in the hospital for more than a day

[LilyElizabeth]

I didn't have that moping problem. My dogs didn't like each other much. 

 

But I have a friend going through that right now. It must be horribly rough to watch your pet grieve while you are grieving, too. 

[Ryrin]

On 5/22/2018 at 5:12 PM, Cross said:

yeah i've thought about two dogs at once. but i think in the end i'm a single dog lady. i cant even stand the thought of one of them moping around missing their friend after they've passed on.  was bad enough when my dog kept looking around the house worried when my mom had been in the hospital for more than a day

 

Yeah, the two dogs thing is for me. It helps when one passes. My dogs were unwanted before the came to me.

[Ryrin]

Edited May 24, 2018 by Ryrin

[Ryrin]

In what ways do dogs help humans besides companionship?

[Cross]

emotionally. they sense when your sad and do their best to cheer you up. they protect. they're good for your health, its been proven that petting a dog lowers heartrates. 

[JamesBrown]

I knew someone who thought a dog would make a terrific gag gift for a friend:

 

"Here! It's a poop machine that you have to feed every day!"

[LilyElizabeth]

I hope the friend was a dog person. That was either the best or the worst gift ever. 

[Daruya]

How about service dogs?  The ones that sense when their person is dangerously close to ketoacidosis, or going to have a seizure, etc.

[Cross]

some can even smell cancer

[Ryrin]

I remember a book that I read when I was a kid. 

 

 

It was about a young boy who was accidentally blinded by a firecracker during the 4th of July. I read it in elementary school. It was written in 1957 (a little bit before I was born.) I was reading the reviews and people remarked that they read it in elementary school and one bought it for his grandson. I think I'd like to read it again.

 

It's about peer pressure and becoming blind, as well as learning to adapt and trust a dog to lead you safely where you want to go. If I recall, he went to a special school to learn how to work with his dog, who became his friend.