Thursday, September 30, 2010

Koda's New Collar

Sometimes I feel bad for Koda it's hard being the oldest and unable to pass down your collars to your younger siblings. Not to mention that you take care of all your toys, leash and collar unlike your little sister who always gets new things because hers are wreaked.


So I finally caved and bought him a brand new collar!






Here he is wearing it...he was soo happy to have a new necklace



Do you normally wait for your dogs to tire out their things, or do you buy them new stuff once you get bored or their old things?

Bedtime

It seem as my house that the dogs have tons of beds yet somehow end up sleeping with a person at night.

Koda's Blanket:






Sophie's Bed Collection:



And of course the real culprits of sleeping in Baby Bear's bed would be the same ones who slept in mine during the day!




They left their nesting evidence behind! Do your dogs sleep in their own beds or make nests out of yours?

Wordless Wednesday: Flashback






Indy Bear

One of the reasons when looking for a new puppy we picked the Portugese Water Dog Breed was that when they are puppies they have tendancies to look like fuzzy little bears. They are also super photogenic at least Indy is. Sometimes I think he poses on purpose in funny positions.
























Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Eating Time



I have lots of trouble trying to keep each dog AND cat eating out of their own dishes, all of them are nibblers so its even more difficult. At first I tried buying different dog foods for Sophie and Koda but that didn't work since Sophie refused to eat out of her dishes and climbed all kinds of boxes to eat out of Koda's when I tried to raise his. Therefore I have been buying healthier, shareable, more expensive food .....just to make the dogs happy!

Which results in......


and this....


Of course they still like to sneak food out of Jack's dish as well....dogs. Does anyone else have problems with their dogs sharing food and dishes?

Wordless Wednesday


Monday, September 27, 2010

Bloggers....

The more I blog and follow different blogs I become more aware of the greatness of the blogging community. Many of those who I have discovered such as Laurie at http://dogfostermom.com, or Beth at http://catrescuer.blogspot.com, and http://shelter2home.blogspot.com all foster abandoned animals while still having time to post their adventures online. Other people own some crazy dogs or cats and help them create their own blogs such as Puddles with her family at http://wethreedoxies.blogspot.com. But what I have really discovered is a group of people who really love their pets and enjoy reaching out to others who have the same interests. Even though some bloggers have never met they enjoy sending blog awards as well as pet supplies thorugh the mail. It really seems like a community in the animal blogging world. I"m glad to be a blogger and enjoy reading everyone's newest posts.

Thanks for making the blogging alot of fun!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Picking the Right Pooch

All puppies are cute, but not all will grow up to fit properly into your family.










I should know I have had many different breeds in my life and had only one fit.


When looking to get a puppy you should defintely consider the space you have as well as how much energy you can deal with and who will be dealing with the puppy.


Space: If you only have a small amount of space, getting a big dog is not exactly realistic unless you can find ways to deal with the lack of space by taking your dog for long walks, runs, to dog parks, etc. A larger dog is alot harder to tire out than a small one. Finding a happy medium between space and size is always best.
Energy: How much energy a dog has is always a huge factor in how you plan on living with your dog. Some bigger dogs don't require much activity beyond a morning and evening walk and some small dogs just need some playtime to tire them out, while other dogs have walks and playtime and still have energy leftover. Make sure you can handle the amount of time and effort it takes to exercise your dog.
Puppy and Who: When getting a puppy consider who is going to be around the puppy, if it is small children make sure you don't get a small dog who is easily hurt by the children. As well with children make sure you don't get too bigg of a dog who will knock them over, of hurt them in its excitement.
My Experiences:
A Portugese Water Dog who has too much energy for my Dad's family, they walk him three times a day making his total walking time about 2 or 3 hours a day plus playtime in the house. He is way too energetic around small kids and doesn't like being left alone during the day. Looking back although we love him a better choice in dog breed could have been made.
A Yorkshire Terrier who is not happy being played with by kids. She finds being so small that they do not listen or pay attention to the signs she gives out and eventually bites and growls at them. She is easily tired out with a game of fetch or an adventure on her own outside. She is lovely but seems overwhelmed by kids and a better choice could have been made.
A Golden Retriver who is happy go lucky with everything, a part of the breed which works for my Mom's family. He loves kids and going camping with the family. He is versatile in every situation he is in. He tires out with a walk and some outside time on his own as well as some play time but isn't annoying if he doesn't get all his exercise. He was a good breed choice as when he was gotten, I lived with several farm animals as well as kids.
Overall I have enjoyed having many different breeds but if I ever get my own again space, energy and who will be huge considerations in my breed choice.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Breeders vs. Rescue

As you all know I recently joined the world of rescue and everything that goes along with it, I'm an avid supporter of Pitbulls, and recently a family member brought up breeding her new golden to mine (who happens to be recently nuteured now). This brought up a whole new series of questions about what I believe in....

When I originally recieved my Golden from a backyard breeder, I thought he was the greatest dog ever. Everyone complimented my family on how smart, well behaved, socialized, and beautiful he was and we considered getting a female to breed with him. Time passed and there was no opportunity for us to raise a female nor puppies so eventually we got him nutered.

I have always been into helping animals at the shelter but it never really clicked that backyard breeders and even registered breeders help to fill the shelters. I also always wanted to someday get a show dog and breed on my own. But now I'm not so sure.

I understand that by breeding show dogs you are helping to better the breed but what about all the puppies along the way, they might not all find homes and some might even end up in a shelter without you knowing. It seems to me that all dogs should be fixed and that breeding dogs should be very very minimal so that we can help to empty the shelters instead of filling them.