I go weeks at a time without thinking to look in the hangout section, so I just saw the news about your old dog SamsGran. Even when you know they’re old and their time is coming, it still hurts like hell to lose pets. My sincere condolences go out to you and Himself.
1) For the first time in over twenty years, we have to actually bend over and pick up any food we’ve dropped onto the floor instead of yelling, “Yo! Dog!”
2) We stood in the kitchen with a handful of fat and gristle scraps wondering what to do with them.
3) Dirty pots and pans aren’t getting pre-washed.
4) We have absolutely no idea if someone’s walking past the house.
5) A young, healthy cat without a dog to torture is a loud, obnoxious, bored pain in the ass.
But in the good news/bad news department, it looks like we’ll be able to replace Murph sooner than we believed. Himself’s mother, who has really bad osteoporosis, hurt her back a couple weeks ago. The pain got so bad, he took her to the emergency room last Friday, and her medical team decided she needed time in a nursing home to learn better ways of doing things to not aggravate her back, plus she gets better pain management. Wenesday, Himself finally threw his hands up and admitted that taking care of his aunt was more than we could handle. (He hasn’t been back to work since he left the shop Friday morning to take his mother to the hospital.) So we bunged Aunt Mary back into the nursing home this morning, as well. We don’t know about his mom, but his aunt will not be coming back home.
So I’m going to call Murph’s vet, and tell her that we’re looking for another German Shepherd—one about a year old or so that needs a new home. And while she’s at it, we also want a Pomeranian.
1) For the first time in over twenty years, we have to actually bend over and pick up any food we’ve dropped onto the floor instead of yelling, “Yo! Dog!”
I always say that I don’t know how people survive with a toddler and no dogs. I’d have to mop my floors multiple times a day if not for our dogs cleaning up after the kid.
Another way to find a German in need of a home is the internet. I know that there are a few rescue organizations that have websites to help facilitate adoptions for dogs in need of a home. You might be able to find a local German shepherd rescue organization.
I agree with you 100%, Tater. The minute either of my grandkids came through the door, Murph’s eyes brightened, her ears went up and she started drooling because she knew a veritable feast of yummies was coming her way.
I already looked for a German Shepherd rescue group, but there’s none in Nebraska. But I did talk to the ladies at the vet’s office, and we may already have a winner.
I hope you’re okay with hair floatng around the house on the slightest zephr of air movement. We had one once, and she was an adorable and loving little fluffball. But her hair was so fine it defied gravity. You could be sitting on the couch, with no detectable air movement around you, and watch her hair drift slowly around.
I hope you’re okay with hair floatng around the house on the slightest zephr of air movement. We had one once, and she was an adorable and loving little fluffball. But her hair was so fine it defied gravity. You could be sitting on the couch, with no detectable air movement around you, and watch her hair drift slowly around.
It’s amazing how much hair little dogs can shed. Our chihuahua is all of 4 pounds but she has that course hair, much like a lab, that sticks to whatever it touches. Except for a dust rag or mop…
Our Yorkie, on the other hand, hardly sheds at all.
In the house, we have a tiny toy poodle and a Chihuahua. Poodles don’t shed at all. The Chihuahua sheds like crazy, but at least it doesn’t float around defying gravity. Outside, I have an Akita. Akitas go through a shedding spell three or four times a year. During those times, it is incredible how much they shed. I carry Suki with me in the truck most days, and when she’s in shed mode, I’ll just give her a good raking on the side of some country road. When I’m through, it looks like someones been shearing sheep there. Her undercoat is also incredibly fine, and sometimes during shed mode, the inside of my truck has a cloud of hair floating around in it. Its a pain in the ass, but its worth it to have her with me.
I hope you’re okay with hair floatng around the house on the slightest zephr of air movement.
You have obviously never lived with a German Shepherd. Not only did we have hairs “floating around the house on the slightest zephyr of air”, we had huge drifts of hair in every nook, corner and cranny and under every piece of furniture in the house.
The dog we had when we got Murph was a Sheltie that was about nine or ten years old, and who had absolute massive hissy fits any time anyone tried to groom him. I’d put him up on a table, tell one of the kids to keep a tea towel wrapped around the little bugger’s muzzle, the kid would panic at the first growl and I’d get nipped really good. All spring and summer long I’d fight with that miserable little git.
I was so happy to get a shorter haired dog, thinking I would have so much less dog hair to deal with. HA!!!!
After the first few weeks, we suddenly started noticing huge dunes of soft grey hair piling up in odd places. We thought that our dear, sweet little puppy was simply shedding her baby coat. HA!!! Talking around to other suckers owned by German Shepherds, we discovered that Shepherds shed their undercoats 365 days a year. And since the German Shepherd was about three times the size of the Sheltie ....
I’ve had two German Shepherds, but as yard dogs, not house pets. They didn’t come close to shedding like my Akita does. She sheds some on a contunual basis, and then massively three or four times a year. She routinely produces hair wads like you describe with a Shepherd, and it will float easily on a slight breeze, but not like that Pomeranian’s did. Sometimes there was so little air movement that the hair you’d be watching drift in front of you was barely moving at all. It was like it was simply lighter than air and would just stay suspended. I’m 53, have had multiple dogs all my life, (and my four sisters had Persian cats), and I’ve never before or since seen anything like that Pomeranian’s hair.
I don’t do “yard dogs”. It gets way too hot here in the summer, and way too cold in the winter. (There’s like a couple of days between winter and summer that are half way decent, and a couple of days between summer and winter. We call those two or three days “spring” and “fall”.) Right now there’s a big sofa just waiting for a dog. Murph didn’t get up on the sofa much during the day, but she slept there most nights—all comfortably stretched out with her head on a pillow or two. (The last couple of years or so she had to use an ottoman as a stepping stool.) Sleeping on the sofa made it very easy for her to get up in the morning. She just put her front paws on the floor, then slithered off till she was standing on all four feet. For an old, arthritic puppy, that made a pretty good start to the day.
As I said earlier, we had a nine or ten year old Sheltie when we got Murph. We also had two cats—Khan and Boo. One morning when Murph was still a baby, I came down to find the Sheltie in one recliner, Khan in the second recliner, and Boo in the third. And here was this baby GS racing from chair to chair, unable to get herself up. And the other three all had one eye open, looking down at Murph as if to say, “Will you just shut up and go away! You’re disturbing our naps!”
We’ve had a bad dog day. My parents’ Golden retriever, Bruno, was unable to move when he got up this morning. My mom is in Florida for business so my step-dad loaded him into the car and took him to the vet. They called me a couple of hours later to transport him from our family vet to the veterinary hospital because they realized they needed the specialists and more advanced labs, etc., to determine what was going on with him. He was extremely anemic so he needed a blood transfusion, also.
I talked to the vet a little while ago and they had discovered he had bleeding in his abdomen from his spleen. Her best guess is that he has hemangiosarcoma. Based on his age and the assumption that he would even survive surgery, his life expectancy is 1-2 months. If my parents opted to do chemo on top of the surgery, his life expectancy is up to 7 months. After talking to the vet, my mom called me and told me that they’re going to try to stabilize him for now (he’s lost a lot of blood and wouldn’t even be able to survive surgery at this point) but probably not do the surgery.
I’m really sorry to hear about Bruno, Tater. Goldies are just big hunks of burning love who wouldn’t hurt a flea. I followed your link to the hemiosarcoma(sp?) site, and it sounds really horrible—especially because it’s so sneaky and you don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late. Good luck.
Bruno has been resting comfortably at home since yesterday. We took him in for a blood test today and things are actually improving so they think that the transfusion helped stop the bleeding that caused this episode. Of course, it could start again at any time. We’re just trying to enjoy time with him. No one is able to guess how long he might hold on for.
Well, I’m going to resurrect this thread one more time.
Yesterday, Himself and I went to the Humane Society and adopted a new dog. Three months without a dog was as long as we could stand.
The new dog—Remy—is very small, not much bigger than the cat. She’s part Shetland Sheepdog, part something else. She’s black and white, and she has a very long, pointy nose and a long tale with a white spot at the end that acts like a beacon at night.
The Humane Society has no info on her because she was abandoned in the middle of the night in one of the open kennels they keep outside just for that purpose. They told us she had fleas and tapeworms, which meant she wasn’t all that well taken care of, and she had to be spayed even though she was four years old. But from the way she acts, she was definitely somebody’s spoiled darling. After being with her for a few hours, what we suspect happened was that she had belonged to someone elderly who didn’t have the money for vet visits. Either the person died or had to go to a home or just wasn’t able to take care of her any longer, so somebody from the family took her away in the middle of the night and gave her to the Humane Society. She wasn’t the least bit scared by Himself’s mom and aunt banging around with their walkers, so we figure she was used to the noise and motion of a walker. She must also have been exposed to cats, because she has taken our cat right in stride. Remy definitely wants to play with the cat, but the cat is still establishing dominance. I suspect that in a couple of days they’ll be playing like old friends. They’re both just about the same age, and like I wrote earlier, Remy isn’t all that much bigger than the cat.
We still plan to get another German Shepherd, but we can’t right now. One good swipe of a German Shepherd tail and little old ladies would be tumbling like bowling pins.
I got a new pup a few weeks ago. He’s a Pembroke Welsh Corgy. I’ve been taking my Akita with me to work for three years now, but I’m really looking to get a different job that isn’t so physically demanding. When I get one, the chances that Suki can go with me all the time are slim. She’s used to getting a lot of attention, and I didn’t want to just stick her in her yard all day everyday by herself, so I got the Corgy to be her companion. He really is a little imp. He’s about eleven weeks old now, and he’s constantly growling and barking at Suki. His facial expressions make me think of Stitch from ‘Lilo & Stitch’. Right from the start, when he and Suki played, if Suki gnawed on him a little too hard, he’d yelp, but then he’d snarl ferociously and attack her instead of trying to get away from her. He is soooo cute. He looks like something in a cartoon.
Elizabeth II of England has a whole flock of Corgis, and I’ve heard over the years that they are the terror of the entire royal staff. Evidently the Corgis have been spoiled out of their little gourds, and will snap at anyone who crosses them. :)
Sounds like you’ve got a good one, though—friendly and playful.
Many, many years ago, when Himself and I got married, I had a half grown Sheltie who, when left by himself in the house for the day, would chew, gnaw and rip anything he could get his teeth into. The final straw was when he gnawed off the corner of a brand new oak occasional table. Himself started taking the dog to work with him every day. The dog just loved riding in the car, and when Himself has to set stones out in various cemetaries, the dog just had a blast.
What’s really funny about the new dog—Remy—who’s only part Sheltie is how her ears flop over in perfect Sheltie conformation. We’ve had two purebred Shelties, and on both of them, their ears stood straight up, which is a very serious fault. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t have entered either one of them in a show because of their stupid ears. But now we have this little part Sheltie whose eartips droop over perfectly. LOL
Well, our Christmas season just got soured a bit. My wife’s fourteen year old tiny toy poodle just had a seizure of some kind and died last night. No warning period of weakness or failing health. She was old and almost toothless, but not sickly, and she still occasionally played for very short periods of time with our four year old chihuahua. Last night she hopped up on the couch to sit with my wife, and a while later my wife went to the kitchen for a bit, and Tiffany let out a kinda whine/wheeze combination, shuddered a little bit, and she was gone.
This was a dog I nicknamed Tiffany Tumor, because she was like a growth on my wife’s arm. She weighed a little over two pounds for most of her life, and a little under two pounds for the last couple of years. Historically, I never cared much for toy poodles, but I loved this one, and I’m gonna miss the little shit.
Poodles have a way about them, don’t they?
My condolences, that is difficult.
Yeah, it is. Thanks Rapid. Yeah, that little shit had a way of working her way into your heart. Like I said, I generally am not a fan of toy poodles. I really didn’t even want to like her, but I did; very much.
I generally felt the same way about Toys, and my wife doesn’t like small dogs.
I would have felt exactly like you, and the same thing would have happened.
Our new one is just as odd in different ways as the old one. :D
