Help Me Make the Case

Shelter puppies are a good idea. There are also plenty of Free Puppy to good home ads in the paper. We had an Australian Shepherd that we bought from a farm. It was a working farm and they use the Shepherds with the horses. Our Pistol is a great dog. Great with the kids and we taught the kids to hold him down when he was little so he knows who is the boss. Great dog.

Biscuit is our Free Puppy. We got her from a person who had way too many dogs and kept letting them have puppies. She is a black lab mix. They did not know who the daddy was. But she is adorable and a good dog. We did the same training with her as we did with Pistol. She is 9 mos. old now and still very much a puppy - but it is already much better than it was.

It has taught my kids responsibility. They feed the dogs and let them out and clean up after them for the most part. I love the dogs too and get to feed them their last feeding and put them to bed. As the boys get older I will teach them to clip their nails and do all the other things. I already let them bathe and brush them.

I think it has taught them empathy as well. I try to get them to put themselves in the dogs place so that they will treat them well. I have seen a definite change in their thinking process with the dogs.

They are in the backyard more. They love the dogs. They love to play with the dogs. That means they are outside more. In my book that is great.

Puppies are hard work. When you are right smack in the middle of it - it seems a bit nightmarish at times and you will probably ask "what was I thinking?" more than once. But it goes quickly and if you do it well - you will be glad. My goals were crate training so they would love their pen and crate. They do. They are safe there and it is the first place they want to go during a storm or when things are weird around the house. I wanted them to poop in one particular place in the back yard. They do. Crate training really helped with that. We do not track poop through the house, nor am I scraping it off the bottoms of tennis shoes. It took me a good two months to do for one and almost 4 for the other...but it is done now - and well worth the effort.

And they are certainly a good alarm system. I know when someone is here. No matter what time it is - they hear and let me know. I am not sorry we have them...not one bit. You might have asked me that during the puppy stage and I would have said I wish we hadn't - but now, I think it was well worth it.

We went to a pet store this weekend as well, just looking. We want another dog but really shouldn't get one yet.



That surprised me as well. I'd read that they don't shed but didn't expect their hair to be that strong. They shed less than a human!



Yeah, but trust me it would be a bit of a pain to eliminate. You'd need to give him filtered water and special food to avoid it.



Harry just turned into a cuddle bug. He used to be too hyper but has grown out of it either from age or lack of balls. Much cooler to have him calm!



Well be ready for potty training and puking. Both are going to be kinda nasty for a while.

So, there's been real movement on this. A few things came together, including E.G. watching part of an episode of "Dogs 101" on Border Collies.

He really liked how smart they were and thought it was funny when I said "too smart though -- I wouldn't want one as a pet" and started telling Border Collie stories I've seen or read or heard from here and there. (Like, sneaking past all number of barriers to get to the refrigerator and then devouring contents, 'cause they were bored.)

He agrees that we don't want a dog that is THAT smart/ susceptible to boredom, but he really likes the idea of a smart dog, and seems to be forming an idea of a helper dog -- not a service dog per se but one that helps him "patrol the perimeter" and helps me with hearing-related things (like when someone is at the door). He also likes the guard-dog aspects -- not mauling an intruder or anything but being aware and barking as a deterrent.

Overall things seem to be moving towards him wanting a dog that would be his dog as well, rather than trying to figure out whether he could tolerate a dog that would really belong to me and sozlet.

There was a little light-bulb moment the other day. We were talking about Labs and Golden Retrievers, and he said something about how they were dumb. I said no, no, not at all, they're very smart and trainable. He asked whether they did bored destructive stuff like Border Collies then if they were so smart, and I said not really, they're too owner-focused -- they want to please, they want to do the right thing. (Not to over-simplify, any dog will be destructive if they're bored enough.) I said that's part of why they make such good service dogs, is the combination of intelligence and sweet/ calm disposition.

He really liked that and is now seeming somewhat positive about the idea of getting a lab or golden. He's interested in the idea of getting a service-dog breed, even if it wouldn't be a bona fide service dog.

At this point we (we!) are probably most interested in a mutt or purposeful mix with one or both of those breeds (Golden, Lab). (Depending on what the other breed[s] are of course -- for example, I wouldn't want a Golden/ Irish Setter mix.)

We also had a big discussion about the dogs he had as a kid and how they were outdoor dogs that were never really trained. We established that his parents really didn't know what they were doing in terms of dog training and that affected the kinds of dogs they wound up with.

The whole training thing seems to be a key. He likes the idea of a well-trained dog and trusts me to coordinate that. (I would of course extensively research before we did anything but I've been involved with training my own dogs, used to volunteer at the Humane Society walking and socializing with dogs, etc., etc. and am confident I could do a good job training a dog and educating E.G. and sozlet so that they do their part in the pack, too.)

So. Still not there yet and I'm still not getting my hopes up. If nothing happens from here, oh well. But interesting developments.

OK, he's making it really hard not to get my hopes up! Every day new questions about dogs, and doing his own research. He found this one. Loves the name (hey, it's a great name) and think it looks cool:

Black Mouth Cur:



Way too high maintenance, not going to happen. (Among the descriptions of the breed -- "should not be trusted with non-canine pets" [it'll gobble them] and that puppies "train themselves" to tree varmints and bay at them. We have a yard full of squirrels. I can imagine the chaos.) Cool dog though. It's the breed that played "Old Yeller" in the movie.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/blackmouthcur.htm


While he likes this one, he knows it's impractical. For a pet, he's still liking labs.

Yeah! I'm glad he's coming around to the idea.

BTW -- my border collie mix is a LOT less destructive than my dalmations were and dals aren't bred for anything other than companionship. I doubt any dog would have a chance too get bored with sozlet around but labs are such gentle dogs.

Ohhhh. I wish you lived here. We have a great shelter in our neighborhood. They do an amazing job socializing all the dogs. I just went to look at what they have available right now: http://www.familydogsnewlife.org/?cat=4

That's awesome news!

Labs and Golden Retrievers are my preference too for exactly the traits you mention -- smart and good disposition. I really want one. Ducklet is just a dog person, you can tell, and she spends all her tv time watching animal planet. We promised them pets for Christmas this past year so we went to the Humane Society several times looking. In the end, we decided that we just don't have the time for a dog right now. Our lives are super busy with school, work, volunteer stuff for school and girl scouts, and a new business. The poor dog would be lonely. We ended up getting two kittens from HS -- they were buy one get one free and came with shots, sterilizations, and chips. A whopping grand total of $85. So far they are working out really well other than the fact that ducklet keeps trying to put them on leashes and train them (she so wants a dog). But I have vowed that once our lives slow down a little we are getting a lab/retriever mix.

I really like what EG is thinking about the service dog aspect, and it's awesome that he's thinking of it in terms of a dog for HIM as well as the family. That will make all the difference. I can't wait to see what you get!

There are some great ones here too -- we keep looking! (The German Shepherd/ Chow is gorgeous...)

Oh, those shar pei/ boxer/ lab babies are amazing!

That's really where I'd want to go -- a mix of two or more of the breeds that we're interested in. And not a designer dog mix either, unless it happens accidentally (Labradoodle et al).

We're not at the point where we'd decide whether to get a puppy or a young shelter dog yet. I see positives and negatives for both.

One step at a time...!

You have kittens! Congratulations!

I'd love to see pictures. (Too cute about the leash... )

Yeah, I'm thinking this might be a really nice window for getting a dog -- sozlet's old enough (I'm seeing "8 and up" as a cut-off on a lot of dog-advice sites), but I'm still at home. (I do have to consider that long-term though -- I'm at home now, but when will I be going into the workforce full-time?)

BUT -- no decisions made yet. Don't want to get ahead of myself.

(Grinning ear to ear and loving Mr. Sozobe.)

Can't wait to see pics of your new pup in... I'm guessing March.

Excellent! There's a very good reason why these have been the most popular breeds for years.

PS Dalmatians were originally bred to be coach dogs and need scads of exercise, possibly explaining their destructo tendencies, boomer.

Well.... they were used in stables but more as a companion and protector of the horses than for any real working ability.

But yes, they certainly do need scads of exercise. And once you get finished with that, they need some exercise!

Sozlet, after we were talking about dogs and I reminded her that E.G. hasn't said "yes" yet and we shouldn't get our hopes up too high because it's still very possible he never will:

"I know, but it's like his 'no' used to be a thousand rows of a thousand bricks, and now his 'no' is like two rows of ten bricks."

Goooood luck, gals!!!!

that's funny, great way to put it

Awwwwwwwwwww....

http://columbus.craigslist.org/pet/993858034.html

Awwwww. Cute cute cute.

Huskies sound somewhat problematic. I keep checking craigslist and the Columbus Dispatch classifieds though and there seems to be a steady stream of this kind of thing -- family dogs, non-designer mixes, with puppies raised in the home. There is a lot that I like about shelter dogs but there is also a lot that I like about getting a puppy directly from its mom, and seeing at least the mom and what she's like.

Yeah, I can see that. Maybe you can find a pound puppy whose mom is in the shelter too? That's probably much harder.

Golden retrievers and labs.

yeah, perfect for kids.

Don't know much about dogs, but I have to share this.

Maybe 4 blocks from my home is a house that on a little bit busy neighborhood street, so it's got a wood frame/wire thing fence around it, mostly to keep the 2 little boys who live there, in. The kids are probably about 5 and um 3 and half.

Every day when I drive by I make sure I check out what "project" they are working on that day. They are completely oblivious to the world as they drag limbs from a tree, lounge chairs, flower pots etc. to their proper coordinates.

Every day, serenely watching over her charges is this big, don't know if it's any breed in particular, Nanny like from Peter Pan, dog.

She never takes her eyes off them. I can tell even though Mom (who's sometimes out there with them) is nearby in the house, nothing is going to endanger those boys.