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I have too many dogs. . .

Ok, I always have too many dogs. When I was younger, I had one dog. When I got older I had one dog. Eventually I got a dog that needed another dog. Seriously! I got my second dog because my first dog was impossible to live with as an only dog. After a few weeks of adjustment it turned out that two dogs really were better then one. So two became my limit. . .with a rotating third as a foster. Eventually I ended up with a third dog. And three really was my actual limit. Why I have four dogs from time to time seems to escape me at the moment...

I have decided that I need to give away two dogs. I will put them all up for adoption and which ever two are the last ones here are the ones I'm keeping. Here they are in no particular order:


Topper:
Topper is a "6 year old" short hair chihuahua. He likes to cuddle under the blanket. He will bark if you leave him alone at work. He will pee on anything taller then him in your house. He likes to ride in cars and look out every window simultaneously.






Abby:
Abby is a 6 year old PURE BRED Italian Greyhound. She is a proven breeder. She will not smother her puppies. She must not be left alone at any time. She must be fed excessive quantities of food. She must go home with another dog. She must be allowed to sleep on top of you all night. She will pee in your bed and vomit on your pillow.





Pocket:
pocket is a 6 year old female Chihuahua/bat/squirrel cross. She must be made to wear clothes. *warning*She will bite if you try to cut her nails. She will bite if you take anything away from her. she will bite if you try to move her. She must be allowed to ride on your shoulder while driving. She must be top dog. Loves children. Must not go home with Abby




Mole:
Mole is a 10+ year old male dog that has to be alpha dog. He hates puppies. He must be fed breakfast at 8am, 7:45am, 7:30am, 7:15am. Must be adopted to a home without children. Must go to a home with other dogs. Must be taken to work every day.




If you are interested in any of these dogs, please email me at: dogsaredrivingmecrazy@dogless.com

Definition of a Rescue Dog

After reading this article today about the new first dog, it got me thinking: what is the definition of a rescue dog? I, along with many people, feel that this "rescue" has more shades to it then BYOBW did on Sunday afternoon. But, I have to admit that I never really thought that the Obamas would get a true rescue dog.

For starters, they needed a hypoallergenic dog and they wanted a puppy. This can be slightly difficult to find - especially if you are working on a time-line. If, however, you wanted to actually find a rescue dog, and spent some time looking, you would find poodles and Bichons as young as 3 months old in shelters across the states. Then the Obamas decided that they wanted a larger dog -and there are standard poodles in shelters as young as 1-2 years old. Then they decided that they wanted a Portuguese Water Dog. As soon as they said that, many people knew that the dog was going to have to come from a breeder. You see, the nice thing about PWDs is that they aren't over-bred. . .yet. The breeders are much more cautious of who they sell to and many of their families are "sport dog" families. Many also have spay/neuter contracts and most will take the dog back if he doesn't work out in the home (hence the rescue of "Bo")

All of this made me wonder what makes a dog a "rescue dog"? I have always considered my dogs "rescue dogs" because all of my dogs came from shelters. Mole was surrendered by his first owner because she was getting "too old" to care for him. He spent some time in a crappy cement cage before I took him and brought him into a shelter I used to work at. Pocket was found running down the streets of Livermore. Abby, well, we all know Abby's story.

But, just because my dogs came from "kill" shelters, does that mean that they were knocking on death's door? Not really. Mole's time was up, the shelter was over full, and he was over 5 years old. But was he really scheduled to die? I'll never know. Did pocket ever have one foot over the grave? Hell no! She was a nine month old Chihuahua - and this was before they became accessories! Abby, on the other hand, would have been kept in a cage for probably another year, before she was rendered. And Abby would probably have been put down by someone else had I decided not to keep her - and that might not have been a bad thing.

There are a lot of people who adopt dogs from Rescue Groups now. These dogs in these Groups are not at risk of dying, but they were at one point. If you adopt from these Groups, does that make these dogs rescue dogs? Or maybe not, because they didn't need immediate rescue? What about the people who have re-homed dogs from Craigs List or the paper? Are these dogs rescued? Or maybe they are pre-rescue because had they not been re-homed they would have gone to a "kill shelter."

Many people are using the term Rescue now because it is in fashion. Seriously. I have heard many people say that they rescued their dog when in fact, they purchased the dog from their neighbor's back yard, or from a "nice lady" in Montana. Those people Bought their dog.

So that brings me back to the Obama's dog - was that dog "rescued"? I'm going to defer my judgement until a later date when more information on the breeder comes out. But I have my suspicions. However, I am thankful that they donated money to a few shelters. Even if they can't take a dog from that shelter, the money could still go into saving the life of a dog.

Stealing Is Wrong

A few days ago, while I was at the Oakland A's home opener, I get this cryptic message from my boss:



This confused the crap out of me for two reasons 1) I was slightly tipsy 2) why was my boss sending this to me on a Friday night? Apparently, someone had stolen her garbage can and had left this "ransom" note. She thought that it was the macinator being funny. I don't think she knows the macinator very well, because if it has been her, there would be ink smudges on the side and the writing would be illegible. Never-the-less, they followed the note's instructions and found this gate


They did not enter the gate. If they had, my story would have ended there. . .

I spent the next few nights worrying about the lost garbage can. Trying to figure out who would have done it. What would I do to the person when I found them with the can?

Skip to a few days later. . .I was at BYOBW with some friends when I saw HIM

Superman stole the trash can!

So what did I do?

I did what any normal human being would do!

I called the cops!




I don't think that they ever caught him, though. Superman is faster then a speeding bullet and all this cop had was a "big wheel"

Beach Adventure

I'm going to throw it out there first thing: I do not have pictures of the Beach Adventure.

I needed a fun day out with the dogs. Since pocket's incident she has practically refused to go for walks. She walks super slow behind me and will often get dragged a few feet before I realize that she has stopped walking completely. I usually give in and carry her while the rest of the pack run on ahead. Its really sad that one split second can change a dog's perception on the world.

I have heard a lot about Point Reyes and decided that we all needed to get away for the day. We all like long drives and we hadn't been to the beach in a while - Abby has NEVER been to the beach. Point Reyes is only mildly dog friendly and only has a few beaches that even allow dogs, and all are on leash. And since most people work on Mondays I figured that it was worth a chance and we took the drive.

Once there I let the dogs out and we took the half mile hike down to the beach - pocket dragging and Abby whimpering in confusion. Topper and Mole were just excited to pee on new things! Once we were down at the beach, everything seemed to change for pocket. She got very excited and tried to run. She was so happy that I decided to risk my life and run with four leashed dogs just to make her even happier. The thing that surprised me the most out of all of it is that Mole seemed to get happier when he ran. He didn't want to stop running. It was so cute!

I am not sure what our next adventure will be. I'm limited now because of my self-imposed on-leash rule. And Abby only has so much tolerance for the "exciting and new". I promise to try to take pictures next time.

I need to give up my cats

I don't talk much about my cats because they don't actually live with me. They were "foster failures" from college when I volunteered at a cat rescue. I bottle fed both and, for some reason, they hadn't been adopted before I graduated in June, so they moved back home with me. Once home, it turned out that they liked my mother a lot more. Ahhh, the nature of cats. . .

Behaviorists will say that animals do not contain the cognitive ability to act out of spite - these behaviorists have obviously never lived with cats. I have one perfect angel of a cat, and one spiteful MoFo of a cat. I actually love them both, but if I show more love to the perfect angel, I had better sleep with one eye open or else I might get smothered to death!

I am not sure why people feel the need to give up their cats at 8 years old. But, I get a disproportionate number of people wanting/needing to give up their 8 year old cat. What is it about living with a particular animal for 8 years that suddenly makes you think that you can't do it for another 8? So what if he is pooping out side of the litter box? clean it up! Especially when you admit to me that you aren't cleaning the litter box as often as you should. Ok, he broke your favorite vase, but why the hell would you put something that valuable up high when you have a cat? Cats can climb, it is something that they do. Did it take you 8 years to figure that out?

I think that there should be some screening that we can put adopters through to see how they will react to the cat exhibiting cat-like behavior in 8 years time. I guess I can't complain too much that people are giving up their animals at such a fast rate when people give up their spouses in even faster rates.

And, just in case anyone is interested: I have two domestic short haired cats that I will need to give up in 2 years when they turn eight.