pondering a pup

not considering a cat.

I don't want to take over harry's thread!

I just got an email saying that my dear Riley barks too much to live in a condo ;_;

I am going to go to some adoption events tomorrow.

Bette will be at one
http://photos.petfinder.com/photos/US/VA/VA210/13063626/VA210.13063626-3-x.jpg

<3 !!!

i'm sure you'll find another pup to ponder

my co-worker recently got a puppy and she is totally freaking out about barking but she is a nervous nellie

the lady told me riley has 4 applications from single family homes... she is popular!

i am pushing bette off to tomorrow i think becuase i want to go meet petey:
http://pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/4/b/7/89853449.jpg

t. silaviver, my upstairs neighbors' stupid dog barks ALL the time and it is the most annoying thing, so i don't want to do that my neighbors. also s had a puggle once that barked like crazy and he felt horrible. i think they might be moving out (thank god, the dude also has a fondness for slamming all the doors whenever he goes in or out).

i go to this website a lot when i want to torture myself: http://www.norsled.org/

petey was not at the event :( but i talked to his foster mom who said that she would bring him up from tennessee next week if i am approved...

i met nina. she is a 6-month old puppy and needs probably more training than i have time for, but super cute:
http://pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/6/e/c/97089764.jpg

then i met lonzo. i fell in love with him, and some other people took him home as a foster. honestly, i think he liked me better. because when they were holding his leash he still would come over and put his head on me or lean against me. so sweet. he is WAY cuter than this picture.
http://pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/3/d/2/97570212.jpg

after that i went to my local shelter and met binji, a "boxer mix" that i think is more of a pitbull mix (i don't think i can have that):
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/598345_10151207830151589_1900017384_n.jpg

and onyx, a cane corso mix. she is a BIG girl, but super sweet. she was very hard to photograph:
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/397103_10151207830386589_648093355_n.jpg

the shelter doggies are so sad in their little pens :(
their adoption fee is also a lot less than most places and they come with 4 obedience classes... should i get a 100 lb dog y/n?

i talked to a lady at petsmart and have been doing research. it seems like, despite being lolhueg, the cane corso is an easily trainable and obedient dog... less hyper and more manageable than boxers. hmmm.

i love lolhueg dogs!

huge dogs are the best

what will be your situ when you get a dog? can you take your dog to work? dogsitter?

lolhueg dogs are my favorite kind. i will have to crate when i go to work w/a dogwalker coming mid-day. i am now working from home one day/week and s is off every other friday, so it wouldn't be 94/7 alone time.

i have been reading up on the cane corso and they seem really awesome.

i am also in contact w/ a foster lady about stripes, a dane/lab mix. i need to find out how energetic he is (if lab or dane part is more dominant) and whether he'd go nuts w/out a yard.
http://photos.petfinder.com/photos/US/VA/VA610/24874736/VA610.24874736-2-x.jpg

yeah we had a good talk with the norsled people and they were like, you don't always need a big yard, or any yard, which was good to hear. it's good that you're looking at rescue places who ~know~ the dogs bc they're fostered - stuff like the barking isn't always something you find out till you get the dog home.

my in-laws nutty dog was chosen bc she was the shyest, quietest, cuddliest pup at the shelter... then they got her home and she was CRAZY. she was so ADD all the time. lots of obedience training and stuff calmed her down and she is a really well behaved dog now.

i want this cutie

http://d1ihe8iurr5ss7.cloudfront.net/animals/fullsize/s1077a4931227m12969499.jpg

Cecil is, more than most huskies, clearly a person in a dog suit!On death row because he can climb a fence and he chases cats...where did they do their husky research? He is incredibly intelligent, and understands most of what he hears. He is extremely vocal; Cecil has opinions about everything, and wants to tell you (and everyone else within hearing) what he thinks! He is learning to be crate trained, and coming along nicely!
He has only half a tail (we think he was born that way) but it is adorable and almost always wagging. Cecil loves the dog park, gets along well with all other dogs and people; in fact, Cecil has so much love to give that he hardly knows what to do with himself.
His ONLY problem is that he has severe separation anxiety: he needs someone with him most of the time, and would be perfect for someone who is home most of the time or can have him at work. Cecil is almost unbelievably well behaved! He has never had an accident in the house, and when left alone indoors (otherwise he WILL escape) with another dog, has never destroyed anything!So, to recap, Cecil needs 3 things:
someone with him most of the time
secure yard (he can get out, anyway)
an affectionate, husky savvy human to live with (who will make him so happy he will not want to leave!).
At less than a year old, Cecil is very playful and shines with a doggy companion! But he will leave other dogs, a juicy bone or anything else to be with the human who he will love forever. He is waiting...

Awwwwwww

an emotionally needy dog is basically the perfect pet for ytth and me

everyone who wants one please hurry up and get a dog and then post frequently about its talents and foibles.

i barely slept last night because i was thinking about dogs!

stripes' foster mom says he'd be fine in a condo! i can go meet him in annapolis next saturday. omggggg i don't know if i can wait that long. fortunately i have a busy week.

http://photos.petfinder.com/photos/US/VA/VA610/24874736/VA610.24874736-1-x.jpg

also pls to suggest names for this one bc i think stripes is dumb.

He is happy to go for walks but also happy to lay around the house. He is a very sweet pretty laid back guy. Mostly he just wants to be with a person and would be happy anywhere he had someone to call his.

Stripes is a 9 month old Great Dane Boxer mix. He was rescued from a high kill shelter in Georgia, only minutes from being euthanized just for taking up a kennel. Stripes is a very large boy who just keeps growing. He probably has grown 4 inches from just the month we've had him. He's a very goofy boy who loves to bounce around and play. He loves everyone and everything.

his listing says dane/lab mix but i was thinking his face is not even remotely lab and most dane/lab mixes (labradanes!) are black. boxer makes a lot more sense (this mix is called boxane which is not nearly as cool a word as labradane).

OMG I am approved to take him home Saturday if the foster mom can get a neuter appt this week! WOAH /liveblogging

!!!

Xp to estela: be careful what you wish for - once we get a dog, that us gonna be all I care about! there will be photos on every thread!

that is the dearest wish of my heart.

Nooooo after arranging all the details and even talking to the vet who neutered him today, everything seemed set, but i just got news that his heartworm test came back positive :( i feel really bad but i don't think i can adopt a sick dog.

:( :( :(

i am actually really annoyed bc the foster mom told me he was heartworm negative. i don't know if she was just playing me or if he had been previously tested and negative (i read it can take a while to show up). ugh. now i feel like a jerk but honestly i wouldn't have gone this far if i'd known that from the start.

your'e not a jerk and I wouldn't take such a sick dog either, the stress and labour and expense are potentially horrendous. signed, avid dog lover

There's no point taking a sick dog if you can't afford it - you shouldn't feel bad.

my coworker's dog had heartworm when she adopted him. or has it? i think he's ok now but i'm not sure what it cost
i typed heartburn first

I could afford $300 but not $1000 and I hear it can fall anywhere in that range.

Guys this process is ridiculous. I feel kind of judged and exposed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/fashion/thursdaystyles/23pets.html

one rescue group required THREE references!!

I found an awesome boxer in a shelter near Richmond but there is an app for him already so I have to wait til Friday to see if they get him. Ugh.

http://pet-uploads.adoptapet.com/e/b/6/97852101.jpg%3F336w

Ugh

Oh and btw Riley is still up for adoption despite the woman telling me there were FOUR apps from single family homes for her. These rescue ppl are craaaaazy.

Lady posted her on Craigslist today even!!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/pet/3447712801.html

they are one of the craziest bunches. i just watched a thing in court re: a lady who started as a cat rescuer but lost control and saw predictable results. then they requested that her address be shielded because of other crazies. i love animals but ugh

i just saw a dog outside my apt that i recognized and he was stopped and wouldn't walk with his owner and i sad are you being bad? and owner said lol we used to live here and i think he's confused. aww.

Awww!

I think it's so stupid that there are so many dogs that need homes and these people are like bogarting them!

In other news, I went to my sister's last night and her dog (a beautiful gap who is the sweetest ever) was attached to me the whole time. That only reinforced my idea that I should just dognap her (plot formed at thanksgiving). S is totally on board with this plan. Problem solved?

ugh autocorrect! Gsp (German shorthaired pointer), not gap!

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/196169_10151119931018414_1140537831_n.jpg

those are my favorite kind of dogs

Good luck! Most boarding places around here are very accommodating, they're just very expensive!

jordan's mum considers neko her grandchild so she's given us a big chunk of change towards boarding costs - we're sparing no expense!

Awww, that's awesome!

basil wants all this squirrels!
http://usercontent.packdog.com/post/photo/M8JzRX_66cc6c72d2e2d241e3f528544c0cc4f2934566b4.jpg

lol, basil looks very glittery-eyed and focused.

smoove, did you find somewhere for neko to stay? i know how stressful it is. we got lucky after the first year and found some wonderful people who have looked after harry for every vacation since then, but it was very difficult to leave him before that. now i never worry at all, he is like a part of their family and they love him and he loves them. i really hope you find somewhere excellent so you can have peace of mind on your trip.

I have to board b next weekend because all my better affordable options fell through. I feel guilty :(

she will be ok. 5 minutes after you pick her up she will have forgotten she was somewhere else for a weekend. i might have to board my girl for a couple weeks in july and i already feel bad about it but i'm encouraging myself.

we're going to check out one last place tomorrow, but she spent yesterday at day care at a place that is only a mile from our house and seemed really happy. unless this other place is absolutely amazing, we'll probably board her at this current place. they have lots of add-ons, like one-on-one play time, cuddle time etc. and its pretty small - they only overnight about 30 dogs at a time. and they have live stream video of all the play areas from 10-4pm!

Yay found a friend who can watch b most of the weekend so now she only has to go to boarding for one night!

B never seemed to be bothered by thunderstorms before but since our crazy one last week, she's now sitting up agreed every distant rumble :(

It's national mutt day!

I hope Neko is feeling better!

she's back to normal self - they didn't end up having to pull that back tooth, since the infection had reached the tooth BUT they discovered that 3/4 of her canines are fucked and either neither to be extracted or have root canals ASAP :( clearly we can't pull them, bc she's already missing a bunch of teeth, so we're going for root canals and crowns which is gonna cost about $3.5K, plus $1k we spent this week.

thank god we don't kids' college funds to worry about!

*hadn't reached the tooth

wow :(

:( sorry for the difficulty she's having (and you!). You guys are angels!

we didn't get a dog until we knew we could fully commit financially, knowing that these kinds of things come up. if we'd gotten a dog a few years ago, this situation would have been way more stressful, but we still would have made the same decision.

you are great doggy parents <3

you're not so bad yourself, lady!!! <3 back atcha

tbh we are terrible about training/obedience :/ but neko has the kind of personality where she just doesn't really give a shit about being good, or pleasing anyone.

cat-like, then?

I love her.

Basil got to hike off leash last weekend and ended up herding us most of the time, until she caught scent of...something...and decided tracking that was more interesting. We never figured out what it was but she kept looking up the hill and marking every once in a while. It was so interesting to watch! She also got brave and swam for the first time :)

http://usercontent.packdog.com/post/photo/KBg1tl_b7bff70e4f19ddc042a43555ae81a29d1699c5b4.jpg

xp she IS really cat-like! esp they way she plays with other dogs - you know how kittens do that thing where they kind of rear back, widen their front legs and spread their paws, real goofy-like? that's what neko does to any dog she meets.

i'm so jealous basil is so well trained you can take her off-leash. not gonna ever happen with neko ;_; we let her off leash when we go to this huge dog park (that's not technically enclosed), but it's always super stressful bc she takes off and goes straight down the rocks and into the stinky sludge at low tide. (this park is the size of several football fields, right on the bay)

Basil is only allowed off leash when we're way out in the middle of nowhere and we don't have to worry about lots of unfamiliar people or dogs. I just practiced using a 50 ft lead and tested her on that before we worked up to off leash. Fortunately she's kind of a pack dog so she doesn't like to stray too far before coming back to make sure everyone is still there/ok.

I once let her play off leash with her 2 best dog friends thinking she'd be so occupied with them she'd stay put and she darted off after another dog that came through the area, across the street and right past where the bus comes :( scared the crap out of me so no more free time in our neighborhood :(

hi dere.
http://usercontent.packdog.com/post/photo/CyR2RQ_0b8cc564f839d1f50d9e27dbf2578e74529202f5.jpg

such a good looking doggy

ty harbl

🐶

😍 Well done, stet!

today we went to the marsh and there was a solar dogclipse!
http://i59.tinypic.com/33c290p.jpg

(It also makes me think she is going to cross over into another universe wrinkle in time style or something)

~newsun~

run free, little doggy

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IqGTA0ep7mg/VI8F_VTkRLI/AAAAAAAAV4c/BxF0pQdXW58/s1856-d/IMG_2059.JPG

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dJW4zimiBD8/VI8GCen_TxI/AAAAAAAAV9c/xHiODohG3PA/s1856-d/IMG_2070.JPG

http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tIcgTOXQkKA/VI8GD0AezOI/AAAAAAAAV6U/o8FYxyaSDN0/s1856-d/IMG_2076.JPG

<3 she is glorious!

last week i saw a baby puppy neko and the markings around his eyes made him look like the count from sesame street (my great love.)

awww I bet that little baby was ridiculously cute!

yes, i died.

<3 <3

tez where are those pictures from? looks so fun

harbl that is sky meadows state park (out 66 past manassas but not as far as shenandoah). it is a lovely spot!

I am late but yesterday (22nd) makes two years of basil!

http://i58.tinypic.com/2crt00y.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/2rrw74l.jpg

<3basil

There is a hilarious corgi upstairs and when he runs back and forth it is quite entertaining!

my friend got a pup. it is not a saluki. it is not adorned with anything more than floppy ears.

floppy ears, though!

pup got a portrait
http://i59.tinypic.com/2vi36gx.jpg