How about you dog people???

[Walden]

I've a poodle. Smart as anything, and strong-willed as a cat.

[Redwolf]

Dogs are *so* lovely. But they are stupid. They depend on you 136.4%. They trust you 232%. Unless you have a heart of stone, cats are better.

Losing a cat will break your heart every time; but losing a dog will nearly kill you every time.

Ah, deeply felt and beautifully put, buddhu.

Which reminds me I'd meant to thank Redwolf for the story of Cedar, above; and to say...I'm sorry to hear that you lost him... after 18 years, so hard ... the description of the dauntless blind cat-chasing brought tears to my eyes.

We give them our hearts to tear, don't we.

It's terrible to lose them after so many years, but none of us would ever trade a day of it, would we? The years of friendship are worth even the heartbreak. My biggest regret is that he left when we were gone. He had been doing just fine (a bit senile and arthritic, but no sign that things were coming to an end), but evidently a week after we left, he started having seizures and the vet found he was in heart failure. I'm very glad that we knew we might be hard to reach and made provisions for something like that, and I'm more thankful than I can ever say that our faithful petsitter, who he loved, stayed with him to the end, but I can never quite forgive myself for not being there.

I'm about ready for another dog, I think...once your hands have held a leash, they're never content to be empty.

Redwolf

[missy]

dogs and their dietary habits..........

Had a boxer when Nate was born - BIG boxer (over 85lbs) named Porky. If I had named him, it would have been Hoover. He ate skeleton keys - would just walk up to the door and "slurp", down they'd go. Ate the ex's tie clasp 3 times (we figured out where the metal things were going by that time, and would hose down the yard...). Ate an entire cassette, case and all - all I found was one little white wheel.
But he was great with Nate - would let Nate grab onto his collar and pull the kid around in his walker, and Nate basically learned to walk holding onto the dog.

Got a dalmation next. Stubborn as all get out. Could only wag his tail in a circle, like a propeller. And ate green beans and tomatos off the plants in the garden. AND a box of 64 crayons - left the sharpener. Oh - and angelfood cake - he LOVED angelfood cake. I'd have to hide it in the microwave or he'd eat it - wrapping and all.

So far, neither Buster or Wyley have eaten too much in the way of weird, but you better pay attention to them when it's 3:30 and time to eat!! If you don't, they'll come over and start whapping you on the leg, and "arguing" with you!!

[Joseph E. Smith]

Yes my Bully has odd eating habits. He like rocks, bugs, grass, cat poop and my Arundo Donax.... reed cane. He can never get enough of it.

[Jack]

Yes my Bully has odd eating habits. He like rocks, bugs, grass, cat poop and my Arundo Donax.... reed cane. He can never get enough of it.

Maybe he suffers from pica. Have you taken him to a dog psychiatrist?

[Joseph E. Smith]

Yes my Bully has odd eating habits. He like rocks, bugs, grass, cat poop and my Arundo Donax.... reed cane. He can never get enough of it.

Maybe he suffers from pica. Have you taken him to a dog psychiatrist?

Nope. He's a happy boy.

[Redwolf]

Yes my Bully has odd eating habits. He like rocks, bugs, grass, cat poop and my Arundo Donax.... reed cane. He can never get enough of it.

Maybe he suffers from pica. Have you taken him to a dog psychiatrist?

Pica in dogs is usually caused by a physiological issue, and the appropriate person to take such a dog to would be a veterinarian.

Most dogs just eat strange things, though. Sometimes it's not really intentional...they're just checking something out (which they do with their mouths, not having hands) and happen to swallow. Other times it's normal for a dog, even if it seems odd or even gross to a human (poop eating, for example, is quite normal for a dog).

Redwolf

[jen f]

This isn't about eating weird stuff, but it's cute...

When my husband sneezes, Sasha has to go check on him. Even if she's asleep in another room, when she hears him sneeze, she has to get up, go to wherever he is, look intently into his face and wag her tail, as if to say, "Are you ok?" She couldn't care less when I sneeze, though.

[Tyler]

Ya ever see Turner and Hooch?
There's hardly an experience that I could tell you about that hasn't already been fictionalized in that movie.
My Dogue de Bordeaux is exactly like Hooch in so many ways....
one thing that some of you may find funny....
I'm a big drinker of Yerba Mate, a tea from Argentina and other South American countries, and I have several varieties on hand at any given time. Yerba comes as dry loose-leaf in kilo and half kilo paper bags like this...


I woke up one morning to find that somehow my fruit-bat of a dog has somehow gotten into the cupboard ABOVE THE FRIGGIN REFRIDGERATOR and selected a kilo of yerba, which she ate in it's entirety.
Now...it's always been a joke among friends and family that I would always try to get my animals to try yerba mate (cause animals hate it in general), so you could imagine my surprise when my dog went and helped herself. I was so floored that I simply couldn't get mad!!! I laughed so hard, despite the fact that the particular kilo she ate was one of an expensive variety (hey, at least the dog's got good taste, eh?).
I still have no damn clue how she got into that cupoard though....
I suspect greatly that the dog has learned how to move the furnature about, and to return it to it's rightful place before we notice...


so...all those padlocks on Scott Turner's fridge and cupboards....that ain't no fiction!

[Redwolf]

One year my mother-in-law bought a Christmas present for Cedar from a Lillian Vernon catalog. For years after, he would receive catalogs from various sources addressed to "Cedar Nickel." We used to joke that he used my credit cards on-line while we were out (hey, what poodle would let the lack of thumbs keep him from figuring out how to type?).

Redwolf

[missy]

I suspect greatly that the dog has learned how to move the furnature about, and to return it to it's rightful place before we notice...

hate to tell you, Tyler, but Buster and Wyley DO rearrange furniture! In fact, that's one of their ways of "punishing" us for not taking them "bye-bye". They will drag blankets off beds, turn over garbage cans, move chairs and tables, take the table cloth off the kitchen table, etc. All within 5 minutes of being left alone. We know the timing on this because one or the other of us has come home just after the other has left and found the destruction. However, if you come home several hours later, the bed or a chair are warm (aka - they've been sleeping on it) and they barely hear us come in.........

The dalmation learned how to open EVERY garbage can I had. He also learned how to open the screen door and would let himself out frequently. He didn't GO anywhere, just would come back up and start hitting the door to be let in - before I knew he was even OUT!

And why do dogs with huge dewlaps love to hang their head out the window, while their jaws go "flappy, flappy"????

[buddhu]

...And why do dogs with huge dewlaps love to hang their head out the window, while their jaws go "flappy, flappy"????

'Cause they can.

[dwinterfield]

Years ago, some friends and I were living in rural Maine. We rented a house from a guy who wanted his 6 kids to experience a different culture. He was doing the last two years of a 30 yr hitch in the Air Force in Okinawa, so he took the family. The day before he left, we stopped by the get the keys. We got them and he asked if we'd look after Corky, a roughly 2 yr old german sheppard mongrel. For the first few days Corky just lay on the back step and growled at us. Finally he realized we would actually let him in the house. This was a new concept for him. Corky was smart and had a great deal of energy and enthusiam. During the winter, we were shovelling the drive and had closed him in the house, because he was too rambunctious. But he really wanted to play, so he just went through the living room window. Sash, glass, storm window, everything. This is not helpful in early January.

As more months went by, Maine didn't work out and I ended up living in the basement at my parents house. I brought Corky along because I couldn't just leave him up there in late winter. After a few weeks, Mom suggested that it would be best if I looked for another place to live. I had leave. But she was very clear, Corky was staying. She kicked me out and kept the dog. They'd always had dogs and loved Corky. It worked out well for everyone. Corky started out as a farm yard dog in rural Maine but spent his last 10 years in suburban Boston. We had him fixed when he came to Massachusetts, but some habits were already well established. In the following years my father replaced no fewer than 3 screeen doors for neighbors (all different) after Corky let himself in to visit their young lady dogs at the special time of year. He loved the burbs.

[Cynth]

.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I woke up one morning to find that somehow my fruit-bat of a dog has somehow gotten into the cupboard ABOVE THE FRIGGIN REFRIDGERATOR and selected a kilo of yerba, which she ate in it's entirety.

Is that particular tea caffinated? If so, did you bring your dog to a vet? Caffiene kills dogs big time.