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|   | Subject: Dog person vs. non-animal person
Posted Jan 5, 2005 by wildcat58 | | Post: 1
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I'm a  person. I would probably be a  person, too, but I'm allergic. That and the fact that my Mother and I live together, and she is not an animal person at all. Cats in the house and my Mom, never work.
I'm the type of person who wants my animals in the house with me, Mom thinks animals should be outside. She will compromise if the animal is young, small, sick, or if the weather is terrible. When Mom first moved in with me, I had a , Leia. Wonderful female Huskey mix, I had gotten form the animal shelter.
Leia apparently had been abused at some point in her life, she wouldn't make a sound in the house. Any time she did get excited and bark or make any noise in the house, she immediatly would cower, and try to hide under a piece of furniture. I wanted her to bark, at least a little, and let any would be intruders know there was a big in the house. (Does it bite? No, but the intruder doesn't know that.)
The problem with Leia was, she shedded something fierce. Not long after Mom moved in, she started talking about moving Leia out. The basement is heated, Leia can have the run of that whole new section, Mom says. I think about it, the basement is nice, it's a walk in only. No cars going in or out. Already has a doggie door from where the previous owner's let their dogs run in and out. I've been down there in winter, it's not as warm as the main part of the house, but it's comfortable, and it's cool in the summer. It's just, well, she'll get lonely.
I decide to get her a companion. A stray wondered into the yard, and I thought about keeping her, Leia really seemed to enjoy her company. The owner showed up the next day. Mom agreed to a second , as long as they would be going outside. Off we go to the animal shelter. I don't see any adult dogs I like. All of them are either too big, or too agressive, or to old. I finally see a couple of puppies I like.
Mom and I are really not to sure about a puppy. We don't want anything that will get very big. Mom had agreed, since Leia was getting on in years, I would get a small I could keep in the house, when she was gone. Something that didn't shed too much. Something like the Poodle I had when I was a teenager. "Oh, these puppies won't get very big", the guy working at the shelter assures me, "they're brother's, they're Cocker Spaniel mix. They probably won't get much over 20 or 25 pounds."
"How old are they?" I asked.
"Seven weeks." he replied.
I couldn't take a dog home that day anyway, I had to fill out papers, and they had to check with my Vet, to make sure I was an okay "parent". So we went home to think about which dog did we want, if any we had seen that day. Twenty or twenty-five pounds, that was a little bigger than we wanted, but still a lot smaller than Leia was at 50 pounds. We decided to get one of the puppies. One had sort of a curly coat and the other was smooth coated. I wanted the curly coated one, he had already been choosen when we arrived at the shelter. So I got the smooth coated pup.
Cute little guy, kind of a red/gold color with amber/green eyes. Great, he's had his first shots!
I get him home, and the first thing I do? Give him a bath. Leia, she's a little leary, not mean or anything, just leary. Next day, he starts coughing, serious coughing, turns out, his first shot may have given him a mild case of distemper! 
So now we had two dogs, Leia and Luke, (hey, read my bio, what else could I name him, The Force made me do it!) and once he was big enough, they moved outside. Leia was a really good big sister, and he was a really bothersome little brother. He hit 20 pounds when he was about four months old and just kept right on growing. I came to the conclusion that his mom may have been a Cocker Spaniel mix, but his dad was a Labrador retriever.
That was about seven years ago, Leia is gone now, she died four years ago. Mom relented and let Luke in the house, all 60 pounds of him, even though he sheds. I'm just supposed to run the vacuum several times a week. Poor fellow, he missed Leia, or at least having a companion around. He barked and howled at night, we had to bring him in. When we were gone he was destructive, he never had been before. So we got a new puppy.
Vanyel entered our lives February, 2001. Chinese Crested/Poodle mix 1.5 pounds of attitude that announced "I will be the alpha male thank you very much."
Luke just looked at him as if to say "is it a toy or a snack?"
Van barked that high pitched yelp that five week olds have, and Luke decided that he had had enough fun for one night, he was going to his bed, let mom deal with this intruder.
Van was just getting his puppy teeth, and was chewing on everything in site, including me and Luke. I corrected, Luke didn't, he still lets Van chew on him. Oh, it took him a few days to come around, but he did. They have their own system for who's the alpha. I don't understand it, but apparently they've worked it out. Luke gets to go first on some things, and Van on others. Occasionally, they actually let me be the boss. Now Van is 14 pounds of attitude, and thinks he's bigger than Luke!
The number one rule around here is no dogs on the furniture. There are two exceptions to this rule however.
Exception #1: Dogs may be on the furniture if they are being held by someone.
Exception #2: Van may be on Wildcat's bed. (Only because Van doesn't shed.)
Which brings us back to s and my Mom. How do you keep a off of ALL the furniture in the house? It's just in their nature to jump up on things, isn't it? I don't know, I've never had a cat, always had dogs, and even them we had to train NOT to get on the furniture.
|  | Subject: Dog person vs. non-animal person
Posted Jan 5, 2005 by Ellen
This is a reply to this Posting.
| | Post: 2
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Here's to our pets! They are loveable aren't they. My friend S just got word her cat is sick, so that is very sad.
| | Subject: Dog person vs. non-animal person
Posted Jan 5, 2005 by wildcat58
This is a reply to this Posting.
| | Post: 3
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What's wrong with the ?
Oh, and how is your Mom doing, and the new baby?
| | Subject: Dog person vs. non-animal person
Posted Jan 6, 2005 by Ellen
This is a reply to this Posting.
| | Post: 4
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My friend's cat has cancer, poor thing. I feel bad for my friend.
My Mom continues to do poorly - I don't want to discuss too much on h2g2, it is too public and too permanent a forum.
My new grand nephew is doing wonderful, he is as cute as a bug!
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 for you & your Mum JEllenJ42
Wildcat58, "is it a toy or a snack" made me laugh out loud. Thank you.
I wish you could see the "Big Cat Diary" on BBC all this week, you get really involved with the lion, leopard and cheetah families.
There are two lion cubs, one aged 2 months, one aged 5 months, who are cousins, but more like brothers. Watching their antics has my son and I  
I'm not a person but I understand people's need for pets, I'm taking a sabatical (sp?) from having a pet due to my son being a little rough.
My daughter has 2 s who don't get on, and they rule the roost.
Andrew's foster carer breaks the mould of cat person/dog person. She has a dog, 3 cats (a mother and two grown up kittens) various other creatures including birds. When I go to collect Andrew, the whole couch is taken up (by animals). The kids are on the floor.
I bought my daughter a keyring with the motto "The best seat in the house belongs to the cat" and I don't think there are any truer words spoken.
Maybe you should write an entry, when you've finished your research, "How to keep cats off the furniture" I'm sure it'll be very popular with those who want their favourite chair back...
| | Subject: Dog person vs. non-animal person
Posted Jan 6, 2005 by wildcat58
This is a reply to this Posting.
| | Post: 6
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I may do more research on the thing and just do that!
GB, these two guys can be frustrating as all get out sometimes, and then have you at others.
The weather's been really nice for the past few days, mild temps in the 60's F. So Luke wants to stay outside a lot. The thing is, Van can't stand it! He wants to be with Luke AND with me. He stands at the door and whines constantly until Luke comes back in the house. He will go out for a couple of minutes, then wants back in. Even if I go out on the deck and sit, Van runs up and down the stairs the entire time. He can't decide where to be, with me, or with Luke.
Sometimes it's even worse inside the house, if Mom is busy in one room, Luke is in another, and I'm in a third, poor little Van nearly runs his legs off trying to keeps up with what everybody is doing! He thinks he has to oversee everything.
JEllen, didn't want a lot of details about your Mom, just a general, "how are things going?" Just know I'm thinking about you and your family.
Van obviously thinks he's human (and a mother at that)
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