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nancy

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Everything posted by nancy

  1. I just saw this in a Facebook post about help affording treatment for pets: http://www.dogheirs.com/dogheirs/posts/6603-resources-to-turn-to-if-you-are-having-trouble-affording-veterinary-care-for-your-dog
  2. Where are you? I know someone who just might be ready to take on some new pups. Theirs died of old age a year or so ago. Every dog they have had - in over 40 years, has been a rescue, a "foundling" or one that otherwise needed a new home.
  3. Hey, it survived better than the wicker waste basket Dixie attacked her first day here.
  4. Yes, nuking the pieces kind of dries them out so they are not soft and sticky. At 8 minutes, mine get too crisp. Then again, our microwave is at the top of the garrage attic stairs and used for nuking dog treats and our broth cubes for our rice. And it dates back to the mid 1980s. I prefer cooking methids that leave the kitchen swamped in great smells. And we've been retired since 2000. By the way, if you leave a handful of treats in a pocket, they do dry even more. Unless the cat can get at the pocket. Then you might need to do some mending.
  5. I buy a package of the cheapest hot dog available. I cut each into quarters the long way. Then I chop each into thin bits - sort of rounded quarter-circles. Then I nuke them in batches on High for ~7 minutes. And store them in a zipplock baggie. I keep a handful in my left pocket when I walk Dixie (the right pocket has the poop bags). THey are "high value" for her. Heck, the cat plunders for them. I like that they are small but special. I want to reward her without making her a pudge. If she behaves when I meet a neighbor, she gets one. We joke that she loves Elvis because we see him often, and if she doesn't eat him, she gets a treat. If she ignores the Muscovie boys (which takes great restraint on her part), she gets a treat for each. If she spots a squirrel but doesn't try to pull the leash out of my hand or me down the lawn face-first, she gets a treat.
  6. My brother had a rescue dog. When folks asked Keebo's breed, the answer was always "brown".
  7. Years ago, I had an aquaintance who owned several dobermans and bred them regularly. Yes, bred the few dobermans to each other. Brothers and sisters. She swore that, although inbreeding in humans could be a problem, inbreeding in dogs was a positive thing because you could maintain all those great traits. Yeah. Have to say it was an interesting area in which to live. Every bit of the spectrum of intelligence, aptitude, and responsibility.
  8. I answered the questions, but I didn't do the sign-up page. Will it count?
  9. I'm so glad to know that Dixie isn't the only Puppo Destructo! Dix turned the den wicker waste basket into a pile of rubble while we thought we were evaluating her as a rescue pet - we thought maybe a 2-hour visit. Then we learned that she was turned over to us - ours. OK, I'm a total softie. Knowing her 6-7 month history, I couldn't turn her away. She's just past 3 now, and not as chewy. I finally repaired the hole she'd made in the pad we had for Fergie, and put the pad in her crate. She and Maggie Da Cat seem to take turns in that crate, but the pad survives. While our den furniture was being reupholstered, we put the big dog cushion in the den. Where the big wing-back chair for which I have made doggie slipcovers usually sits. She didn't chew that. But she turned a caluclator that we left on the coffe table into tiny bits of blue plastic. Our daughter's dog gave Dixie an "indestructible" sort of duck and rope thing for Christmas. Within a half hour, the stuffing was all over the den. I'm just thankful that she chew less every year and doesn't swallow.
  10. I was pleased to see this article in the Yorkshire Post this morning: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/rural/farming/apprentice-farmer-realising-a-dream-after-being-paired-with-sheepdog-1-7074454 Hope the link works.
  11. Riika, that's exactly it! Dixie can hear a cat teat hit the floor rooms away - and knows exactly where. Of course, she's totally deaf when I try to stop her hauling me (other end of the leash) after a squirrel.
  12. Dixie certainly doesn't try to chase moving vehicles. She doesn't seem to know that they exist. Which can be scary on a walk, when she tries to step in front of one to see a cat or a squirrel. She loves to examine stopped trucks of any size (but the bigger, the better) and the yardwork trailers - and even the yardwork machinery. The guys who work around here know her and welcome her on her investigations. But she doesn't seem to know that a moving vehicle exists. She's ~3 year old. We've had her for ~2 years. We always have her on leash. But what can we do to teach her that vehicles move and can be dangerous?
  13. We let the vet deal with the body of our first dog - aback in the early 1980s. We buried two cats - the other one took off the day he was scheduled for surgery and never came back. We've buried hamsters and gerbils - and flushed goldfish. But we have Fergie's ashes in a box on a shelf in a bookcase (the ones we didn't toss in her favorite lake), next to some of my husband's parents - combined in a small box. Most of the in-laws went behind the home they loved best. Most of my parent's ashes are with my brother. He moves them around his house for good views or for comfort in the winter. That's how Dad finally got to see the Red Sox win the World Series. When my mother was in her late 80s, I took her to Lithuania to meet all her relatives. She had written to them, but had never met them because her mother was the only one to come to the US. First economics, then politics, kept the family separated. Mom had a ball! She was the oldest living member of her generation (and spoke perfect, if dated, Lithuanian) and was The Queen! One evening, she said, "Part of me wishes I could stay here. But I can't leave you and your brother and the grandchildren." She died just over a year later. We had her cremated. And I mailed about half of her ashes (NO, I didn't list them as THAT on the customs form: "family souvenirs") to her cousin in Lithuania. The family had a funeral in their old village and buried her ashes in the cemetery with her grandparents and other relatives. So, part of he now stays in Lithuania.
  14. I seem to remember hearing that we had to allow so much hunting of deer, elk, moose.... because there we no longer any natural predators to control the population. Now, I hear that reintroducing the natural predators reduces those populations so that hunters are not getting to kill enough trophy animals. Duh? The only acceptable predators are humans?
  15. Walking on our neighborhood roads seems to do enough for most of Dixie's nails. But, at Thanksgiving, I got a few complains about he nails, what I now guess are her small dewclaws. So I tried to clip her nails. Dixie is terrified of having her toes touched! She cries if I try to touch them. Well, we got her 2-1/2 years ago - when she was 6-7 months old. Who knows. So I gave up. Then, after reading this thread, I gave it another try last evening. She was in her chair (yes, I have made sort of slip-covers for the seat, the back, and the arms so she can use it but it can be returned to a normal chair for guests). I managed to feel all her nails. Only the dewclaws seemed a problem. And she let me clip those. Guess I'm learning to pick my issues?
  16. We are on our third dog - and on a bottle of doggie shampoo left from the lab-shepherd who died in 1982. Our first border collie mix, Fergie got 2 real baths. The first was in a motel bathtub when she dropped and rolled in something with fresh blood. The second was from something she rolled in over by the local pond. We had her for over 15 years. We have never bathed our 3-year-old border collie mix Dixie. We have discovered that these smooth-coated pups can get covered in mud at the start of a mile walk - and be clean by the time we get home.
  17. Saint Margaret's C-of-E church in Hawes, North Yorkshire. When I feel like a lost sheep, this is the shepherd (and his dog) I hope comes to me. Not some barefoot blond in a dress. I want the guy in mucky trousers and a flat cap - the guy who knows what he's doing. With a dog who also knows.
  18. If you are an Episcopalian, you heard the same lesson this morning: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24. I know that it is supposed to be about the Good Shepherd. But it sure sounded like the Good Border Collie or the Good Stockdog to me. And made me remember my favorite stained-glass window in the world:
  19. As to terminology: I can be called "from Lithuanian lines". All that means is that my mother's parents were born and raised in Lithuania. It does not mean that I am Lithuanian in any way other than that my grandparents were Lithuanian. It does not mean that I speak or understand the Lithuanian language or can cook Lithuanian foods. It does not even mean that I know anything about Lithuania. In fact, based on my Lithuanian heritage, I could also claim to be "from Tartar lines" as my grandfather knew that a female ancestor was "quite friendly" with a Tartar solder who was passing through. The whole "from lines" bit would sure put me off. I'd want to know who and what he or she actually did and how close is that dog related to the one you get. Then again, I've adopted rescues, with no real knowledge of "lines". But all I want is a smart pet who will take me for walkies.
  20. We got spoiled with Fergie. We could leave a board of cheese, crackers, and fruit on the coffee table and go upstairs for a half hour for a family phone call. Fergie wouldn't touch a thing - and would keep Maggie da Cat from snacking, too. But we got Ferg when she was 10 weeks old. Dixie has been another story. We got her at 6-7 months old - owned by a family, sent to the pound (honest!) when they moved, then in a foster home. She took food when she found it. Anywhere, anytime. She's now 3 - today is her birthday. She doesn't counter surf anymore. But the cat might - and will drop bits on the floor. So Dixie gets the blame if she's "dining" when we come in. Mostly, it's just that she's learned that she will get three meals a day and treats in between. And that surfing gets her in trouble.
  21. nancy

    Mags

    So sorry. The tragedy of pets is that we mostly outlive them. But they give us so much in their short lives that we cannot help ourselves from loving them.
  22. I don't know how much clout those of us who are out of state can have. But signing in favor of this law against irresponsible breeders sure couldn't hurt: https://www.change.org/p/rhode-island-state-house-pass-quinn-s-law-revised-laws-regarding-domestic-animal-breeders
  23. Dixie loves "Hide the Toy". She will even bring me a toy, take it to her chair, and hang it over the edge for me to take. She knows to stay until I come back and say "Find Ropey," or "Find Squeeky". We are going to start working on finding the right toy - someday.
  24. I'd be willing to have "pasture" if I could bring home a pair of Swaledale lamb twins some spring. One end mows, and the other fertilizes. Have to be able to convince Animal Control that all "Yorkshire Wool Dogs look like that - horns and all. Until then, it's trees, ground cover, moss, and "stuff".
  25. Our first dog, Vamp, left circles of dead grass where she peed. Fergie never did - in 16 years. And Dixie hasn't in two. I think it has more to do with the food than with the peeing position. Vamp ate cheap kibble and some cheap canned food. Hey, we were young and poor, with one, then two, then three kids and one, then two cats. With Fergie, and now Dixie, we are old, much better off - paid of the house and all the kids and retired - and have one cat. So the food is high-quality grain-free kibble and a bit of brand-name canned food. Then again, I have decided that grass is over-rated and an exotic invasive species. Ground cover, moss, pine needles....and all the trees that will grow are our yard. You can't see much of our house from the street. Or from any neighboring house. And We barely have to mow - and never rake!
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