I've got a new dog! (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

Hope everyone is having a good 4th.
2 guys on the forum, one a mod the other an owner, both have dogs wearing the cone of shame. Coincidence? Hmmm?
Mike, and Adam, i am glad both of your furry friends are doing better after the trials each has gone through!
Then we have tonight...fireworks send Maddie under the ottoman. People in my neighborhood have been shooting them off since Friday night! Last night was a late night (really loud) as well. Lucky me, i am off today. But my wife is working.
Anyway, since i was off, and had time, Maddie and i did our yard work. She hates the lawn mower, almost as much as the vacuum. Yea, i ran that today too. She will run up to the vacuum and bite it. She does not try to do the same with the lawn mower. Just barks at it. She has birds to chase out of the yard, mower is just something for her to hate. Birds need a butt kicking, if she could catch one. She likes to chase the butterflies out of the butterfly bushes too.
My guess is she has made herself at home, after almost 2 weeks!
She is sleeping next to me in the office as i type. I wore her out!
Once again, you guys have a happy and SAFE 4th!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by RickER /t/319721/ive-got-a-new-dog/60#post_3944940
She is sleeping next to me in the office as i type.

Isn't that a great feeling?!?

Brooks is currently sleeping at my feet...both of us very content and very happy.

 

[Radioman970]

A lady I work with was lucky her dachshund didn't have to have the cone. They put bandages around his little head like a mummy. Another co-worker thought he looked like a nun. I talked to him real sweet and he did the narrow eye thing "pity me pity me" look. lol. I loved that! Poor little guy, how humiliating. He had an infection in his ear flap. Cost her a mint!

 

[Sumnernor]

Does Brooks still have to wear the cone? If so, how much longer?

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's a two-week deal (pretty much just when we can't have our eyes on him all the time--like overnight or when we leave him home alone).

Fortunately, it looks like his incision is healing really well and we've got an appointment this Wednesday to get him checked out. Maybe he can be done then.

Fingers crossed!

 

[bugeyes]

Oh man!! adorable!!! I just got my first dog this year (Pug, Boston Terrier Cross) and it's been a real learning experience. I love it. Congrats on the new family member

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by RickER /t/319721/ive-got-a-new-dog/60#post_3944940
Hope everyone is having a good 4th.
2 guys on the forum, one a mod the other an owner, both have dogs wearing the cone of shame. Coincidence? Hmmm?
Mike, and Adam, i am glad both of your furry friends are doing better after the trials each has gone through!
Anyway, since i was off, and had time, Maddie and i did our yard work. She hates the lawn mower, almost as much as the vacuum. Yea, i ran that today too. She will run up to the vacuum and bite it. She does not try to do the same with the lawn mower. Just barks at it. She has birds to chase out of the yard, mower is just something for her to hate. Birds need a butt kicking, if she could catch one. She likes to chase the butterflies out of the butterfly bushes too.
My guess is she has made herself at home, after almost 2 weeks!
She is sleeping next to me in the office as i type. I wore her out!
Once again, you guys have a happy and SAFE 4th!

Congrats on Maddie finding a new home....yours! Romeo barks and tries to bite the vacuum, but I think he is trying to play with it. He does the same thing with rakes and brooms, which makes yard work that much more difficult.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

We decided to dress up Romeo for Halloween. Instead of a full costume we decided on the "low tech" approach:

 

[Mike Frezon]

Awesome job, Adam. Sometimes the simpler costumes are the absolute best.

Since our kids are older, my wife and I don't really do much for Halloween anymore.

But we did just have the dogs dressed the other day for a sports-oriented photo shoot for her pet blog...

Brooks was wearing a little old-school football uniform.


Kelly was wearing the duds of some lesser-known baseball team.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Nice!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich /t/319721/ive-got-a-new-dog/60#post_3996240
Nice!

But rather demeaning to our "best friends."

Although they seem to enjoy the special attention.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Brooks is the only dog I've seen who looks happy in a costume. He's a good, beautiful boy who knows he's loved. Heh. Whew, that's quite a sentence. Um, how 'bout them Giants?

 

[Stan]

Oh come on guys, that's awful. Looks like the dog is "tolerating" the treatment, but certainly not enjoying it.

 

[schan1269]

I wish I had a picture of it...but...
We have a geriatric Maltese that is going on 18. Last year during September he slipped a disc in his back and we were worried about putting him down...
Anyway, we had a dog wheelchair left over from nursing a Yorkie back to health(stray found at the vet on day, was so malnourished that his digestive system essentially needed to be restarted). We put the Maltese in the wheelchair and he started walking on all fours again by January. But in the meantime we had gotten one of these...
http://www.amazon.com/Walkin-Wheels-Drag-Bag-Small/dp/B004ULLE1Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1351828077&sr=1-1&keywords=dog+drag+bag
Anyway, one of our Halloween guests goes...
"Isn't it a bit odd for a male dog to be a mermaid?"...

 

[Radioman970]

Scooter went as "Dog that Swallowed a Watermelon" just squeeze her to get the seeds.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Stan /t/319721/ive-got-a-new-dog/90#post_3996563
Oh come on guys, that's awful. Looks like the dog is "tolerating" the treatment, but certainly not enjoying it.

He didn't mind. He was just wondering what all the attention was about. He only wore the sign for the picture.

 

[Mike Frezon]

No Halloween costume:

 

[Stan]

No Halloween costume:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/content/type/61/id/170354/width/600/height/400/flags/LL

Great picture. My dog, a black lab who just turned four, is still in her puppy stage, not nearly as calm and relaxed as I thought the breed was. Not a chance I could catch a photo like that of her until she's a bit older.
I was told by a lot of people, some who have black labs, that they usually settle down after about age two. Later, some of those same people said no way, she'll be very active and want to play a lot, run, etc. until she's at least three, other people said four to five, even had one person say they really don't calm down until about seven. Who knows.
It's not like she's a hyperactive Jack Russell, but requires a lot more fun-time, walks and runs than I expected, but it's good exercise for both of us.
Re-reading some of the earlier posts and it was interesting to hear about the dominant/submissive problem you had with Moses. Not sure where it comes from, maybe genetics, how they got along with the rest of their litter, but I've discovered it has nothing to do with size.
My dog must be at least 75-80 pounds, but will never be an alpha. A six pound Pomeranian lives behind me and they sometimes get together, but the little dog is in complete control. Nothing violent, no growling or nipping, but it's obvious who's boss. Same thing with a six month old Shih-tzu puppy in the neighborhood, my dog just sits down in that "I want to play" position and is totally submissive.
She gets along great with another neighbors' neutered pitbull. They are probably the most "equal" in their doggie relationship, just running and playing together, yet sometimes completely ignoring each other. I can open my gate and in comes the pitbull, my dog just runs on out to check out his yard. Weird.
She met a new dog yesterday that escaped from its' yard. Fun to watch as they worked things out. My dog would chase the other, then things would reverse and the other dog chased mine. It seemed like they wanted to just run and play but were still deciding on how to proceed. Eventually the other dog wimped out and went back home, so maybe mine has a little alpha in her, but not much.
I named her Kylie, but should probably just call her "Party Girl". She just enjoys life to much and her entire reason for living seems to be just to have fun.
By the way, my yard is fenced but she escaped a few times when younger if I was taking out the trash or needed to open the gates, but that's how I discovered she's not a runner, I doubt she's ever been more than 100 feet away from me, has a very small range of homes and yards she visits and always returns when I call her name. I also never let her out if people are walking through the neighborhood so they won't be frightened seeing a big, slobbery black lab coming towards them. She isn't allowed to just run loose, unsupervised. I'm always nearby, carrying her leash if needed, watching everything she does and picking up after her if she happens to leave a "present" in a neighbors yard. Very rare, she almost always uses her own yard, but once in a while will slip.
I've thought of getting another dog, but right now we have such a special relationship, I'm afraid I'd lose it if I brought another dog into the house. She's constantly with me, usually sleeping on me or next to me. We're almost always together, running, playing, going for walks, etc. She knows my routines, I know hers and we've each gotten used to each others habits and recognize each others signs. When I'm leaving the house, when she needs to go out, just little things, but It's very comforting and I'm afraid I'd lose that if I got another dog, I'd become the third wheel.
Didn't mean to write a novel here, but sometimes I get going and can't stop.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hey Stan!

This is Hudson. He was my Labrador Retriever. He died back in 2006 at the age of 12. He was my best boy.

We had him solely until my wife got our little spaniel mix after several years. Nothing changed in my relationship with him as a result. We were as close as ever. I miss him all the time...but Brooks is doing a good job at helping me with that. However, my wife notes that bringing Brooks into the house has changed her relationship with Kelly a bit. Brooks is so huggable and loveable that she finds Kelly being even a bit more aloof than she used to be (almost catlike in some respects). So, I guess you never know.

Your friends are right. Lab pups are FULL of energy and spunk and almost seem wild at times. We were as surprised as anyone since our dog before that was a Dalmatian (another excellent dog) and we jut expected the Retriever would lay around with an air of dignity and do nothing but bring majesty into our lives. By were we wrong! He brought great love and companionship...but those first couple of years were rough and required great discipline on our part to rein him in. All dogs are individuals...and different.

Makes us appreciate, a bit, the idea of adopting an older dog like Brooks...already "broken in."

It's not like she's a hyperactive Jack Russell, but requires a lot more fun-time, walks and runs than I expected, but it's good exercise for both of us.

That's the spirit! Those times together...walking, playing etc. are what help cement that bond between pet and owner. The dogs appreciate those times soooooo much. And, I don't know about you...but I can use the extra exercise!

 

[Sumnernor]

I saw yesterday about a cat that found its owner some 200 miles away. http://www.ksla.com/story/20533966/lost-cat-walks-190-miles-to-get-home