The Dog House

I found a pic of the black lab I had while growing up.



His name was Bogie (after Bogart) and was most definitely my mothers dog. He weighed about 120 lbs. but liked to think he was a lap dog.

I remember playing a game of tag in the backyard with my brother and some of our friends. I was smaller than all of them and couldn't catch anybody. After a long time of fruitlessly chasing the other kids, I ran up to Bogie (who had been having a jolly time chasing all of us) and whacked him on the rump and yelled 'TAG you're IT!' I ran off laughing, but don't you know that crazy dog chased me all around the backyard until he 'bumped' me with his nose. He did an about face and ran off to where the other kids were waiting. Apparantly he understood the rules very well and I was once again 'It'. I could never catch him that night again.

He was such a great dog. The meter reading man was a mortal enemy. He was the friendliest dog to everyone as long as you came through the back door or the back fence with a family member. You jump over the fence or come through that gate alone, and you better run for it. I don't know that he would have really hurt anyone. His size alone deterred most from attempting to mess with him.

True to his lab nature, he loved water. We bought him one of those hard plastic kiddie pools and filled it up for him. It lasted a whole two days. There were little pictures of water dragons on the bottom of the pool and with the ripples in the water it must have looked like something moving under the water to him. He plunged his head under water and barked and barked at the little moving pictures. It was hilarious 'blorkpf blorkpf' is about as close as I can come to what underwater barking sounds like. Anyway, he finally managed to bite one of the dragons and put a hole in his pool.

Oh there are so many memories of that old doggie...too many for just one post.

Bogie was an exceptional dog, I can tell.

He was. I still miss him after all these years.

Those dog owning residents of Ireland could take advantage of this contest...
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/pets/win-six-months-supply-of-food-for-your-dog-1913349.html?from=dailynews

I love this shot! (of Dys and Sally in the redrocks)

So many here know the saga of my Boxer, who I had to put down 4 years ago.


She's gone, but we have lots of animals in the family.

My parents' little mutt


One sister has three dogs. Here's one of two German Short Haired Pointers


Here's her Irish Setter (a bi-colored version)


My other sister has a Malamute (the bigger dog hiding behind the bicycle)

Good to see Boo again..

And Pacco.

German Short Haired Pointers make the greatest lap dogs just because they don't really understand or want to believe that they're too big for one's lap.

It just dawned on me that with my new scanner I can put up some of my earlier Pacco photos, one a favorite old avatar. Later...

I'll have to see if I can scan slides with it - have at least a dozen slides of our irish setter back in his glory.

Didn't mean to be short of interest in your other family doggies, K. Just so good to see Boo (Bootsie?)

littlek, don't you want another dog?
same question goes to osso....

When our beloved Max died in June we were heartbroken, but being without
a dog, we didn't want to be either, so we found Lilly.

There are several reasons I won't get another dog for some time (or cat). I was 0only just able to pay off the vet bills this past June. I am in a house with someone who doesn't like dogs and in a building where the yard is dominated by the landlady's own dogs. Someday I'll have cats again. And even farther in the future, I'll have another dog. For now I have 5 family dogs, 2 dogs in the building and several kitty friends.

And me, I can't afford responsible pet care, and am not interested in edging on lack of care. I would realistically only want a dog in the future, as wildly allergic to cats as I am, and I know about the proper expenses. We'll see, ya never know.
As with me before I got the Pacc, and as with littlek, I've reverted to loving other people's dogs. Who else do you know who likes neighbors' dogs barking?

My favourite neighbours of all time:

What sweet looking buddies!

Aw, tell us about them..

Well, when we moved to the neighbourhood, B had just lost a dog and said he'd never get another. Then K's "parents" had to go to a nursing home and B took her in (K is the husky). She was already pretty old though, and B's sons were concerned that he would lose another dog quickly so they got him N (the Lab) as a puppy.

N was a riot and really well-behaved. I only ever heard her bark once and that was after being jumped at by our cat through the screen door (N was being nosy). If B had to be away for the day I was allowed to walk N. I took this as a great honour.

K was my special pal though. She was elderly and arthritic and just loved to come and sit next to me on our front porch if I was outside while my kids were playing. She had this way of leaning in to me that I found really comforting.

Our irish setter used to do the leaning in thing. Talk about endearing.

Thanks for the word pictures.

Poor exploited poochie!